"Well, I was never one of those," the president said after a pause.

Matlin, who sat with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, talked about growing up a "deaf Marcia Brady" and about how books whisked her away to "fantastical lands."

Historian Douglas Brinkley read from "The Reagan Diaries," which he edited. The only times that Reagan did not make a daily entry in the dairy, a document whose existence surprised many presidential watchers, were the weeks after he was shot and when he was dealing with cancer.

"Getting shot hurts," Brinkley quoted Reagan from the diary. After the assassination attempt, Reagan recorded how he collaborated with Pope John Paul II to work toward eliminating nuclear weapons.

The cool, dry weather cooperated with festival organizers as festival guests, packed into the hotel ballrooms, took refuge on the curving terraces.

"It's a crowd you don't see every day," festival Executive Director Mary Herman said. "There are authors and people from all over the state."

Alex Butterfield, the man who revealed the existence of Nixon's White House tapes on July 16, 1973, dropped by, mixing with Robert Draper, the former Texas Monthly staff writer who was lionized for his book on President Bush, "Dead Certain."

"I feel like I'm walking around in a spacesuit," said Draper of his triumphant return to his onetime hometown. "It's an out-of-body experience because I'm so often on the other side of the notebook."

The Texas Book Festival continues today and Sunday on the Capitol grounds and includes free music and readings for the public.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/11/03/1103tbf.html