Three readings in three days

Powell's had a good line-up of readings last weekend, so I slept under a desk in their cuddly rare book room for three days (shhh, don't tell).

Paul Auster : Friday, September 19th

7:00 pm. Geez. Standing room only? (I shuffle to the back near two annoying people) (they do not move) (. . . three points if anyone out there gets that joke . . . three more if someone calls me annoying for attempted literary humor)

Auster read from Man in the Dark, opening with the first page . . . "I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness." Pretty good first line, yeah? It was a fine reading, but a little odd because the bulk of excerpts Auster read were two characters (Katya and August) discussing films. The reading ended up being mostly film commentary. Perhaps if I'd read the book I'd understand its significance to the story, but I left Powell's more excited about renting movies than cracking open the book. Auster refused to do Q&A, which bummed me out a bit (I don't know, though, it's more miss than hit with Q&A, so maybe not a huge loss). But, all and all, it was an interesting reading.

Chuck Klosterman: Sunday, September 21st

6:45. Yes! Found a seat on one of the side benches next to a guy who later told me I had a contagious laugh (three points for me if that was a compliment, minus three if he was really saying my hee-hawing is so loud it embarrassed him into a spazzy chuckling fit)

What can I say? Chuck's funny. Pop-cultural journalist and writer of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself To Live, Klosterman's first book, Fargo Rock City, was what caught my attention (Note: Klosterman worked at The Forum while I was still living in Fargo. Met him once at a party . . . my friend was all, "Wasn't that the guy who writes the weird hip section in The Forum? Yeah, he totally sucks.") (Aside: I wonder if Klosterman has been nominated for Rough Rider award . . . seriously, NoDak has a "Rough Rider" award!)

Klosterman read from his first novel, Downtown Owl, which is set in the fictional rural town of Owl, North Dakota, and follows three very different characters -- Mitch is a high school quarterback, Horace is a 73-year-old widower, and Julia is a newly arrived social studies teacher. The selection he read cracked me up, and I wish I had a quote but when I laugh my eyes squint too much for me to see, and therefore I cannot write while I'm laughing and therefore I cannot give you a quote, and for this I am sorry. Anyway . . . the Q & A was equally awesome because Klosterman just bantered on about interviewing Marilyn Manson, how Steely Dan rocks (and shut up they do so), writing fiction vs. nonfiction, his book's appearance on the OC, how 1 out of 3 girlfriends like his books, and about his look ("Some say I look like an aging lesbian. Others think I look like Sally Jessy Raphael"). Nice.

Irvine Welsh: Monday, September 22nd

6:45 Arrived with my friend Neva Feva after scarfing down some yellowish rice at Whole Foods. Wonderful Emily joined us after 7.

Welsh read from, Crime, a novel set in Miami, featuring a return for Detective Inspector Ray Lennox from Welsh's 1998 novel Filth. Recovering from a cocaine-and stress-induced breakdown, Lennox finds nothing but more corruption in the Sunshine State.

Welsh's American accent was awesome, he sounded just like John Wayne.

Final Tally
Me: 3
Sally Jessy Raphael: zilch-o (Ha! In your face Sally Jessy!)