No One's Got To Listen To The Words In My Head

Here is a man we saw when we went to the orchard last week.

I went to the Michael Chabon reading tonight with my friend K. and found him very entertaining. At first I wasn't sure if he was going to lecture or read. I was hoping he would read because I was interested in hearing some of his soon to be released novel, and because I love to hear authors read their own work.

There were many good things that happened at this reading. First, I was happy that Ethan Canin introduced him instead of the other person who normally announces readings in this town. I won't mention her name since she or some of her henchmen have Googled her and found my blog in the past. It made me feel a little guilty because although what I wrote wasn't really mean, it was a little snarky.

I've decided that from now on, I want Ethan Canin to introduce me whenever I enter a room because he is so gushy and sweet and he would make everyone really excited to meet me. On second thought, it would be too much for me to live up to. Plus, he would want to use writing passages and if he quoted my blog, people would run screaming out of the room I was about to enter.

I thought Michael Chabon was an awesome reader. He was very personable and he didn't use that singsong voice that a lot of authors use when they read publicly. He didn't try to get all cheesy and over-act it while he read either. The parts of the story he presented were perfect for this forum as they were full of dialogue and dialect and when I finally read the novel, I'm sure I'll be disappointed that I won't do it justice in my head.

He answered questions when he was finished reading, and after seeing how funny, charmingly self-deprecating and how well he thought on his feet, I was almost disappointed that he didn't lecture instead. He had a great bit about trying to restrain himself from using simile and metaphor. He said it was like a plague, and then realized that he was using it again.

I definitely got my money's worth from this free reading and I really want to see Alice McDermott on Friday, if only I could afford to pay someone else to taxi my girls around to all their activities.

On a completely non-litererary note...I don't mean to spread rumors, but I hear that there is this big ball of burning gases that sits in the sky and warms things up and provides much needed vitamin D for all the good girls and boys. Anyway, there has been talk that tomorrow, said ball of burning gases might actually make an appearance here in town. I'll believe it when I see it.