The Litterati

So I’ve been slacking on my author readings lately, but there have been a few memorable ones that I will share with you here:

Franzen: I’d heard from P. how awkward Jonathon Franzen, author of The Corrections, is in person, but I had to see for myself. The Brooklyn Book Fest hosted tons of writers—I also wanted to see Joan Didion but I think it was at the same time—of which JF was just one. Andrea, B. and I went early and were not disappointed. Admittedly, the first sentence out of JF’s mouth was “I don’t want to be here,” but it made sense when he began talking about the death of his close friend, David Foster Wallace, who’d committed suicide two days before. Throughout the talk JF became more enthusiastic and light-hearted, and at the end he apologized for his earlier statement and said that there was no greater way to commemorate DFW than to get together and discuss writing with people who loved books.

Myla Goldberg/Rick Moody/Josh Ferris/Sean Wilsey/etc: This was quite a coup—several young, contemporary authors whom I admire coming together to discuss a book they’d helped write and screen the documentary it inspired. State by State includes 50 essays by writers about their home states, or about states that they lived in or traveled to. The doc was pretty fun to watch, though it was strange to see them reading on screen when they were sitting in the audience. (Apparently strange for them as well. One of Rick Moody’s sparse but hilarious statements hinged on how nauseated he’d become since seeing himself chow down on barbeque onscreen.) The moderator was pompous and the resulting discussion a bit forced. But oh well. My crush on the beautiful Josh Ferris remains.