Generally Horrible Questions: Jeremy Ellis

Jeremy at the Tadao Ando-designed museum in Ft. Worth.
The man appreciates art and design.

Jeremy Ellis is the new(ish) manager at Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas.  He started the job in August, but has been working in bookstores off and on for most of his career.  We decided that the best form of hazing is to submit him to our list of questions.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Jeremy!

Generally Horrible Questions: Jeremy Ellis

1. How did you get into the bookselling business?
It was completely accidental. I was 22, out-of-work, and there was a bookstore at a mall I liked. I thought I would do it for awhile and then, eventually, find my calling. Since that job, I've only had brief interruptions from independent bookstore jobs. [Just when I thought I was out....they pull me back in?  Watch out for horse heads in your sheets, there, Jeremy.]

Brazos Bookstore

2. What's the best experience you've had working at the bookstore?
It's hard to pick just one experience. But I guess I could choose one per gig. As a bookseller at Taylor's Books in Dallas, meeting Anne Perry the day after seeing the Peter Jackson film 'Heavenly Creatures' which details the true story of Anne's early life as a killer. As a bookseller at Trudy's Fireside Books, author and illustrator David Small handselling me Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. As the event guy at BookPeople, hosting David Sedaris during his Me Talk Pretty One Day tour. As Marketing Director at BookPeople, my proudest moment was when the original 'This is My Favorite Book' was picked up by independent bookstores nationwide as the model holiday catalog. At Legacy Books and A Real Bookstore in Dallas, developing their websites. And now, at Brazos, my best days are those where I get to really talk to customers and help them find the book they didn't know they urgently needed. 

3. What book(s) changed your life?

I've read plays for years and years and they really have had the most visceral impact on my life. Both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America radically changed the ways in which I thought about myself and America. I think Arcadiaby Tom Stoppard is one of the most perfect pieces of literature of the 20th century. I return to the short plays of Samuel Beckett time and time again for their optimistic outlook. [Gianna's scared of thespians....]

4. What are you currently reading?
I just finished Canada by Richard Ford. It is one of the best novels I've ever read. Also just finished Jeanette Winterson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?. It is a remarkable book. I'm very excited to get into Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter Scott, but top of the stack, demanding immediate attention is What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander. [Damn straight. We will expect a book report about the Nathan Englander book next week.]

This one should
be on everyone's
reading list right now.

5. What's your #1 pick for reading groups?

Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre. I'm not usually allowed to lead reading groups.

6. Would you rather....David Mitchell, David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris
First, David Sedaris, because he makes me laugh.
Second, David Mitchell, because he makes me dream.
Third, David Foster Waller, because he makes me hurt.

[Fourth, David Arquette, because he makes you gag?]

7. What's the biggest lie ever told by a sales rep?
Nicholas Sparks was a passing trend.

8. What's your second favorite bookstore?
BookPeople

9. Gianna or Liz?

I love them equally for different reasons. I will never specify what these reasons are, lest Liz sick Zorro on me. [REALLY?  Why must we keep repeating this?  The correct answer is ALWAYS Liz.  Always.  Because Liz is the one who posts the stuff on the blog and she says so.]

10. The most depressing book you've ever read?

Jeremy (right) and his brother in
front of Brazos.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb was a downer, but I really enjoyed it. This was Oprah's second book club choice. I read it reluctantly, but ended up really loving it.

11. I've never read ____________.  And I'm so ashamed.

Any of the Harry Potter books. I'm not that ashamed.

12. Celebrity Memoir (Death is not an option): Snooki, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Kardashian Konfidential.

Justin Bieber. On the day he begins his public meltdown, I'll be able to pull factoids about his life out and say I saw it coming all along. And that hair... (Of course, I'm mesmerized by Snooki's mustache as well.)

13. Dumbest question ever asked by a customer?
Q: I see your fiction section. Where do you keep your non-fiction books?
A: Everywhere that isn't our fiction section.

14. I wanted to be a ___________ when I grew up.
A Broadway musical theatre star. Get a glass or two of wine in me, and I can't stop singing show tunes.

15. ________________ is my favorite book ever.
Too hard... Different eras of my life have had different favorites. During my late teens and early twenties it was Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. But then I met him, and he was kind of a jerk to me, and my youthful angst was receding. Anymore, I don't really have a single title that is my Number One. I love books for their individual ambitions and successes. [Are you just scared to say Twilight?  It's okay.  We'll eventually forgive you.]

Quick Questions: Holiday Giving

We asked some of our pals in the book business two questions--1. What is the best book you received as a gift this holiday season? and 2. What is the best book you gave/sold?  Here are some of the answers.

Seth Ransom Osborn– musician, BookPeople bookseller, pal of Vanny (pictured)  

Gave: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.

Seth's pal Vanny

Received - I got a pretty ok picture book of Big Bend but that's it. I bought myself a copy of The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor. It's real pretty.

Alison Kothe Nihlean – Mother of two and BookPeople bookseller

Books I gave as presents this christmas:

Bossypants on cd

Chris

Plenty by Ottolenghi

I Want My Hat Back by Klassen

Books I loved to hand sell:

The Tiger's Wife

Cutting For Stone

Home Field

Homesick Texan Cookbook

Chris Hoyt -- BookPeople receiving guy and proud Texan

The only book I was gifted this year was a Jack Chick tract from a well dressed hobo squatting near the Walgreen's Redbox. It was the perfect gift.

Elaine in the snow.

As for gifts given, I've lost count of how many copies of Dobie's Tales of Old Time Texas I've given to people. Strangers often stop me on the street asking how is it that I have come to embody all that is rugged and handsome and utterly Texas. To this I reply Dobie. 

Elaine “Lainey” Rathgeber – Sales representative for Southern Territory Associates and tennis nut

One of the best books I gave (because the recipient was so happy to get it) was The Art of Fielding and one of the best books I received was Rules of Civility.

Charley's pal Ophelia

Charley Carroll – Barnes & Noble Bookseller, community relations manager and generally cool person

You probably already know my book of the year...Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I handsold his first, The Name of the Wind, dozens of times and gifted it to my brother. Sadly, I did not receive any books as gifts.

Elizabeth Jordan – BookPeople book buyer and woman after Gianna’s heart

Best received: A signed first printing of The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. (It's the best not only because it was the only one I got).

Elizabeth...and a firearm.

Best given: The Complete Pogo Strips Volume 1 by Walt Kelly. My 80 year-old grandmother is obsessed with Pogo - quotes it all the time. She's not reading much anymore so it was great to see her so excited about a book again.

                         


John Kwiatkowski, Anne Kimbol and Matt Keogh from Murder by the Book in Houston 

Apparently, our friends and family don't seem to love any of us. None of us got books as gifts this year.

Anne’s book that she gave/and hand sold the most was Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James.

John, who loves Celine Dion

The book Matt --gave was The Friends of Eddie Coyle be George Higgins.

I (John) gave my nieces and nephews a big box of some of my favorite YA books for Christmas. Here's what was in it: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Spellwright by Blake Charlton, Heist Society by Ally Carter, The Oracles of Delphi Keep and The Curse of the Deadman's Forest by Victoria Laurie, Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Michele Sulka -- Liz's Random House rep partner for Colorado

Best received: A Storm of Swords, otherwise known as Book # 3 in George Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, because I have gone completely batshit crazy for these books. Can you say batshit on your blog? [We've certainly said worse.  You go with your batshit self!] I flew through book #2 and made it known that if book 3 wasn’t immediately at the ready when I needed it, there might be violence. People have described the series as The Lord of the Rings but with lots of sex, and that’s pretty accurate, but I like to think of it as The Sopranos with swords. And dragons. And lots of sex.

I gave a copy of Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl to my best friend’s daughter, who is 11 and reads constantly. We’re not sure where she got it because neither of her parents are great readers but she devours books and she’s in love with Jerry. She called to thank me and was so excited that it was one of the best moments of the whole holiday season for me.

Jeremy Ellis – Store Manager, Brazos Bookstore

Jeremy

Danielle wins the prize for giving me the best books this year. First, a beautiful edition of James and the Giant Peach in French, because we like to imagine we can read/comprehend the French. And second, an amazing craft edition of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell, in French and English, translation by Nick Sarno. 

I gave lots of copies of Schott's Quintessential Miscellany (at least 6) because they're endlessly fascinating and everyone can find something neat inside. The book I enjoyed handselling most was We Need a Horse by Sheila Heti, painted by Clare Rojas from McSweeney's Press. It's not for everyone, but for those who connect with the fable, it is the among the most remarkable illustrated books they have ever read.

Danielle Dubois Dimond – Bookseller and buyer at Brazos Bookstore

Danielle

BEST BOOK I RECEIVED THIS HOLIDAY - The best book(s) I received this year were first editions of three volumes of Anais Nin's Diaries.  I don't believe the whole set is still in print, so my husband did a little local used-book sleuthing for me.  I love reading authors' diaries because, as a writer myself, I'm really interested in what's going on behind the scenes with an artist's creative process.  Nin's diaries are kind of the holy grail because not only are they beautifully written, exhaustive, and subtly psychedelic, but they're naughty as hell, too.  High-brow wank material is clearly where it's at.

BOOK I HANDSOLD THE MOST - Definitely The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - we actually sold so many copies of that one that the Knopf editors sent me a signed copy!  I read this one immediately because the super-savvy book club I run at Brazos wanted to check the new Man Booker winner out as soon as this year's prize was announced.  It blew me away.  Barnes is a serious and intellectually rigorous writer who still manages to keep the pages turning.  His ruminative exploration of memory, responsibility, and age stood out from the crowd immediately as a "grown up" book - something we don't see a whole lot of these days, to be frank.  I certainly didn't sell the book to anyone looking for light and fluffy reading, but then again Brazos isn't known for light and fluffy!  The fact that book is so short seemed to help me sell it as well; shorter books tend to make better gifts, and even those customers who were apprehensive about reading something "serious" felt that they could weather it for 130 pages.  Almost everyone I've spoke to who's read the book has read it twice through.  A definite Brazos favorite.

Toni and Pat Conroy

Toni Hetzel -- Liz's Random House rep partner for Texas and Mississippi

I didn’t get any books for the holidays. I think people are reluctant to give them to me because I work in the industry. However, I set aside a copy of The Sense of an Ending to read during my break and loved it. A wonderful present to myself!

I, in the guise of Santa, gave my kids books for Christmas this year and the one they’ve loved the most is the National Geographic Ultimate Weird But True. 

Nicole Magistro -- Owner of The Bookworm of Edwards in Edwards, Colorado

Are you kidding? Bookstore owners never receive books for Christmas. It's a travesty!

My favorite book sold was Peter Sis's Conference of the Birds. A work of art, and a book that can't be duplicated on a digital reader. Just feel that paper quality!

Kester Smith -- BookPeople bookseller

Kester, Harry, and Rachel

I didn't get one book this holiday. I don't get books MOST holidays.

One of the (very few) downsides of being a bookseller in the know is that people don't think to buy me books or are intimidated by the idea of buying me books. They think of ME as the guy who gets THEM books (which I am). Best book I gave? Pulphead. To more than one person. Best book I hand-sold? Same. To around 25 or so customers.

Not that you asked, but my best sale was The Red Book by Carl Jung. A customer came to my register and saw it sitting behind me (where we keep the $200 books) and asked, "Hey, is that The Red Book?" When I responded in the affirmative, he said, "I've heard it's cool." My response was then, "It is. You should buy it." And he did.

Lisa Newman --bookseller and blog princess, Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi

1. Sadly, nobody gave me a book.

2. I think the best book I sold was 1Q84.

Maggie

Maggie Lowery Stevenson -- bookseller, Lemuria Books

Since I started working at Lemuria no one gives me books anymore so I have to give them to myself.  This year I gave myself the Delta Magazine Cookbook.

I sold many books over the holidays, but probably the ones I sold the most copies of were The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jusi Adler Olsen, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie, and Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.  I also I am very proud that I was able to sell 7 copies of Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya! [...No comment.]

Joe's son

Joe Hickman -- Bookseller, events guy, manager type, Lemuria Books, self-described "bad ass"

1.  You know no one even gave me a book. I think it's like giving a florest flowers - people are afraid to. Except I know other booksellers get books so maybe it's me - maybe I'm an ass. Actually, I didn't get too many gifts so....

2. 1Q84 

Clint Carroll -- BookPeople bookseller

I didn't get any books for Christmas, but I bought myself a copy of The Collected Plays Of Tennessee Williams, and I love it. I gave only one book this year and it was Home Field, published by UT Press!

Nolan Fellows -- BookPeople bookseller and talented artist

Nolan

I didn't get any books for Christmas, which isn't much of a surprise. My tastes are quite picky when it comes to books, movies, records, etc.

The book I love to tell people about and would give when I need to is How Soon is Never by Marc Spitz. It's a really great, quick read perfect for anyone who has ever loved music or a band way too much.

Gianna -- Book Land Adventurer, most willing to dispose of Liz's body in a remote location

Books I gave this year - I gave the photography book Timeless Mexico to my brother Chris, the Stephen King novel 11/22/1963 to my brother Ron. I gave my father the latest John Grisham  (The Litigators)and the ESPN book Those Guys Have all the Fun. I also gave my mother the latest Stephanie Plum book - she loves the series - and I bought my girlfriend a Running Press book called Upcycling...which she asked for...I think it's a crafty book which scares me.

I received two excellent books. One from Lizzy and one from the old lady. Liz gave me a signed first edition of the Diane Keaton memoir Then Again. I haven't read it as I don't want to mess it up. Hoping someone else will give me a unsigned 3rd edition so I can actually read it. My girlfriend gave me a truly cool book published by Lonely Planet called The Cities Book. I think she wants me to be smarter. To her I say good luck.

Liz and Gianna...awkwardly.

I also gave signed copies of Molly Shannon's children's book Tilly the Trickster to my best friend Lulu (who is a real choo choo charlie), and to my little friend Eleanor who is a class act.

I gave myself It Chooses You by Miranda July and an Art of Fielding UK first edition. I also gave myself a hangover on Jan 1st. My first in years.

Liz -- Book Land Adventurer, Gianna's foil

Despite repeated hints, no one gave me the $200 art book on my list.  I could be a little bitter.  I did receive some non-Random House books (I don't ask for RH books since I read them for work), including Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jabar and Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta.

I gave quite a few books this year, including Gianna's signed Diane Keaton memoir.  I managed to part with a signed first printing of Interpreter of Maladies; I considered keeping it for myself.  I also gave copies of In the Garden of Beasts, The Destiny of the Republic, and The Sisters Brothers...and about 10 other books.  I mostly give books because I mostly want books in return.

10 Cool Things: Brazos Bookstore

Brazos Bookstore has a long and storied history of serving the Houston literary community.  It's the place where Donald Barthelme and Larry McMurtry shopped for books back in the day.  Located in one of the "cool" areas of Houston--on Bissonnet between Kirby and Greenbriar and close to the West University, Rice Village, River Oaks, and Museum District areas--Brazos is a destination bookstore for anyone visiting the Bayou City.

Why do we love Brazos?


1. The store has a history of hosting great authors.  Like, Pulitzer Prize Winners and Nobel Laureates and Presidents.


2. Brazos carries a diverse selection of art, architecture, and photography books--one of the best selections in Texas.


3. Fantastic location for you hip kids and wealthy socialites.


4. Liz just lives a block away so you can visit her after your trip to Brazos. She hates this idea. Yep..I just doubled checked and she just hates this idea. Call for her address. [Do not call me.  I hate this idea.]

5. How often is a store known for having a great poetry section?  

Children's Books!

6. Under new management...and he's a ginger!


7. The Houston community loves Brazos.  When original Karl Killian was thinking about selling or closing the store, a group of passionate Brazos Bookstore fans came together to purchase the store and keep the tradition alive.


8. Two words: Open Bar.  [Not really.]

Gianna as Holden Caulfield, famous
literary whiner.

9. Did you know that Brazos has a Children's Book Section?  They do!  And they are focusing on the classic titles you want to give as gifts.  Truly beautiful books.

Liz as Ahab.  Arrrrrr!

10. The coolest Halloween idea we've seen--literary cut-outs created by one of their very talented booksellers!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 27

Day 27: Favorite Fiction Book

Gianna:

In my quest not to repeat, I won’t pick O’Connor or Toni Morrison here (but forced to pick I would have to say that Beloved is my favorite novel; we will stretch the meaning of this question as always). Too many great books to really pick, so I again thought of something I couldn’t let go of in recent memory.  I came up with Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply. I still get a bit giddy when I get to talk about this book. It is so delicious, beginning to end, that it makes me sad that I will never get to read it again for the first time. It is a book that at the end you say “son of a bitch!” and then if you are anything like me, you start backtracking. In a word, the novel is about identity, but it is oh so…chilling. Here are the first few lines, and if you can move on with your life without wanting to read more…well…I don’t know if Liz wants to be friends with you.  [In general I probably don't want to be friends with you, but I do love this book too.]

We are on our way to the hospital, Ryan’s father says.

Listen to me, Son:

You are not going to bleed to death.

Ryan is still aware enough that his father’s words come in through the edges, like sunlight on the borders of a window shade. His eyes are shut tight and his body is shaking and he is trying to hold up his left arm, to keep it elevated. We are on our way to the hospital, his father says, and Ryan’s teeth are chattering, he clenches and unclenches them, and a series of wavering colored lights – greens, indigos – plays along the surface of his closed eyelids.

On he seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan’s severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in an eight-quart Styrofoam cooler.

The hand weighs less than a pound. The nails are trimmed and there are calluses on the tips of the fingers from guitar playing. The skin is now bluish in color.

This is about three A.M. on a Thursday morning in May in rural Michigan. Ryan doesn’t have any idea how far away the hospital might be but he repeats with his father we are on the way to the hospital we are on the way to the hospital and he wants to believe so badly that it’s true, that it’s not just one of those things that you tell people to keep them calm. But he’s not sure. Gazing out all he can see is the night trees leaning over the road, the car pursuing its pool of headlight, and darkness, no towns, no buildings ahead, darkness, road, moon.

So yeah….Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon is my favorite fiction book of 2009 and certainly makes the list of all time.

Liz:

Listen. Allow me to be your god.  Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining.  Let me tell you a story.

As I read the opening lines of The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine I knew I would be in the assured hands of a master storyteller, and I knew that this novel would hold a special spot among the many great books I've read.  "Hakawati" means storyteller, the traditional storyteller who, like Scheherazade, spins stories ending with a cliff hanger each day to lure back listeners, and Alameddine's book is a splendid weaving together of multiple tales and the history of a modern Lebanese family.  Here are tales of the Arabian Nights and genies and great warriors and cunning princesses given a modern flavor as they relate to the story of a young man returning to his native Beirut to help with his dying father.  Here are stories of the wars in Lebanon and the great pigeon wars that take place over the buildings of Beirut and of princes and demons and magic carpets.  I was mesmerized.

I had really just started at Random House when I read The Hakawati, with the company only about a year.  I had stumbled across Rabih Alameddine's earlier novel, I, the Divine years earlier when I was a bookseller and loved it (that book is the story of a woman's life told through her multiple attempts to write her autobiography but she only ever writes the first chapter), so when I learned that Knopf would publish his new novel I dove right in.  The Hakawati was my favorite book I read that year, one of my desert island book picks, and the book that helped me realize what the most rewarding part of my job of a sales rep is.  I have the power to discover incredible books and then spread that love to the right booksellers.  The pleasure of working with the books I most love makes my job, for all of the frustration I sometimes feel, magical.  Booksellers at BookPeople in Austin, Brazos Bookstore in Houston, and Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi, in particular, all shared my passion for The Hakawati, and through their efforts numerous readers across my territory discovered themselves the genius of The Hakawati.

Can You Sign It As "Liz, Will You Marry Me?"

Texas Book Festival 2009! A couple of weeks ago I rose at an unholy hour to drive the three hours to Austin in order to attend the annual Texas Book Festival, held every year on the Capitol grounds. I have a love/hate relationship with the Book Fest, going back to its creator (Laura Bush; sorry, not a fan) and the days when I worked it with a bookstore in the tents and it was invariably rainy, freezing, alternately stifling hot, and my favorite, tornadic. I also would prefer that the Texas organization chose to support Texas businesses in their book sales. Nonetheless, Texas Book Fest hosted over 200 authors this year, including some of my all time favorites. I've skipped the event in years past, but this year two of the four "If I Lived Near You, You'd Issue a Restraining Your On Me" authors were in attendance. I would have hit the road any hour hour to bask in their awesomeness.

I arrived at the Capitol at 9:50 am, just in time to hear Richard Russo kick off the festival by reading from his terrific novel THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC. Russo's event was large enough that the organizers had placed him in the sanctuary of the Methodist church that's next to the Capitol. The place was packed. I was supposed to meet my boss Valerie there, but there was no way I would find her in the crowd, so I took a seat in the back (close to the door in case my presence in a holy place peeved a heavenly entity into some divine retribution lightning strikes). Russo took the pulpit after a brief introduction and kicked off his reading with an apology; his selected reading contained choice words normally not uttered in a House of the Lord. Words that I would use...and one of the reasons I'm not a minister. Or nun. Anyway, he was great--hilarious, charming, a strong reader, and he held the crowd for a full hour as he read of the travails of a son negotiating his divorced college professor parents' strained relationships. If you haven't read this book, find it and buy it and read it. It's classic Russo--humane, funny, poignant--but at a third the page count of some of his tomes. This book is my rare exception to my "I hate beach chairs on book jackets" tenet.

After the Russo event, still unavailable to locate Valerie, I instead found Gianna in the bowels of the Capitol building, where she was waiting to hear Dan Chaon, author of the amazing AWAIT YOUR REPLY (previously mentioned on this half-assed blog). Gianna and I had eaten dinner with Dan a couple of nights before, the day his book was named one of the 10 Best of the Year by Publishers Weekly (well-deserved). Dan is the antithesis of the jerkwad author; he's a delightful dinner companion and reader, and the kind of guy with whom you just want to sit around and talk books. He was part of a panel at the Book Fest, and as the room filled to capacity I relinquished my seat and set off to find my lost boss instead, leaving Gianna after a brief hello. I did find Valerie, though, and we walked through the tents of exhibitors. Unlike just about every other year, the weather was perfect and the Festival was actually festive. I ran into more friends that Saturday than I've seen since, say, the days when I was in college and saw all of my friends (and enemies) every single day. We strolled, gossiped, and then ate lunch with one of Valerie's old friends. Then Valerie said good-bye and I went off to stalk authors.

Specifically, I drove to Austin to see two people: Colson Whitehead and Margaret Atwood. Recently Gianna sent me an email asking me what my five favorite books of the 2000's were. I sent her a list and she sent me hers in return. The common thread? JOHN HENRY DAYS by Colson Whitehead. Everyone should read this book. I love it. Anyway, because lunch took awhile, I missed his reading, but like any good stalker I knew where to catch him in the signing tent and I was fourth in line, camera ready. The line attendant asked me if I'd like for the author to personalize my book. I answered, half-jokingly, "Will he write, 'Will you marry me?'" The woman laughed nervously and walked on. On the one hand, I like making people uncomfortable. On the other, I do work for his publisher and should mind my manners. When I introduced myself as his sales rep, though, he was generous and thanked me for my work on his books. He didn't propose...perhaps because I think he's already married and because he probably didn't know he was supposed to...but I still love him.

And from the wondrous Mr. Whitehead's presence, I walked down to the Paramount Theater, a few blocks from the Capitol, because if I had to maim children, I would in order to see Margaret Atwood speak. I can't think of an author I more revere. She's a tremendous writer, she's crusty and funny, and she's from Canada. I love Canada. I collect her books as a chronicle of my life--where I was and what I was doing at the times I first read them. I sometimes pretend that she's my grandma. We get along swimmingly in my imagination. And I love Canada. Anyway, I was thirty minutes early for the event and here's what I saw when I arrived: (left)
I, apparently, am not the only Atwood fan out there. The theater, once we were allowed to enter, quickly filled to capacity, and in the dark the place bubbled with anticipation. Finally, there she was. My granny, my elder Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every literary way. The format of the program was a Q & A with a moderator, Ben Moser, who happens to be the son of the manager of Brazos Bookstore in Houston. Ben, who is the books editor for Harper's, held his own versus the feisty Atwood, and both had the crowd laughing and engaged in the perils of global destruction (the cautionary tale of Atwood's latest novel, the dystopian THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD). I was enthralled. People aren't supposed to take pictures inside the Paramount, so I only took seven. Having already read and sold the book, and already a follower of Atwood's blogging and Twittering (she's a big fan of organic coffee), there wasn't a whole lot that was said that I didn't already know, except for the people who were there. I found their reactions to this author's work surprising. For example, it never even occurred to me that their aren't happy endings in Atwood's novels. She made a point of saying that none of her books is Hamlet, in which only one person is alive at the end. I guess I never read books expecting a happy ending. I consider that desire for cheery resolution a bit immature and simplistic. The real world isn't like that (or at least, my version of the world). I'm regularly surprised by readers who want happy endings. I tend to dislike books that end this way. Anyway, after the stage portion of the event, Atwood moved to the balcony area of the theater and began to sign books. I somehow managed to end up four people from the end of the line, and therefore had a ton of time to kill by talking to the other people waiting...and waiting...and waiting. We waited for almost two hours. The staff members working the event after a long day of big authors (Buzz Aldrin was at that venue before Atwood), looked like they would tackle people for a cocktail. Finally, though, I was standing next to her, talking to her, bumbling before her. And she was taking down my name for the restraining order. I'm quite convinced that Canada will confiscate my passport the next time I attempt to cross that border. I'm willing to risk Canadian jail though. Mounties are cute in those uniforms, ay?