It’s hard to know what Bill Alexander will talk about when he speaks at the public library next Monday. The Cornwall resident is the author of “Flirting with French.” It’s his third book, and it debuted on the Indie Best Seller List. But don’t expect him to tell you that, because it’s not his style.
He’s not likely to mention his public relation chores for his publisher, because he wants to talk about the book and not himself. But it’s interesting to note that on Sept. 16, he did 20 consecutive radio interviews while sitting at his desk at home.
It took him seven hours to answer questions for interviewers from 20 different cities. The tough part was remembering what he said when. Did he tell that story during the current interview or the one before?
What the author is likely to talk about on Monday night are the circumstances that led to the creation of his third book. “I knew I had a story to tell,” he said when we met at his home on Ridge Road. “But it wasn’t the story I wanted to tell. You never know where a book’s going to go.”
This book may have started with a vacation in France. The author and his wife Anne stayed at country inns; they biked the back roads, and mingled with the people they met in the towns and villages. But the author still felt like a tourist, because he couldn’t speak the language — at least not like a Frenchman.
Returning to the United States, Mr. Alexander was determined to remake himself the way Professor Higgins transformed Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.”
“I was told it would take 450 hours,” Mr. Alexander reported. “I did 900 and barely scratched the surface…. I wondered how something so easy for children could be so hard for adults.”
During the course of the book, Mr. Alexander answers that question and makes a startling discovery. Although he falls short of his goal with French, his scores on a cognitive assessment test skyrocket. He goes from below average to above average in a single year.
He summarized his experience in an Op Ed for the New York Times, but on Monday night he probably won’t dwell on the sudden improvement of his memory. He’s more likely to share the humorous events that occurred along the way (like the time he showed a map to a gentleman in France, and asked for directions — not realizing that the man was blind).
“I think Monday will be a fun night,” Mr. Alexander predicts. The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the library’s Community Room. The Friends will have copies of the book for sale, and the author will be happy to sign them.
Books can also be purchased at Barnes & Noble, and at book stores on-line.
