Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Red Damask Drapes Are On Order

I've done a little redecorating on the left side of this blog.

For starters, I've eliminated What I'm Currently Reading. It's summertime, so a less cluttered look is desirable. Besides, it felt too much like homework.

I did finish reading Love And Louis XIV. In an interesting coinicidence, Louis XIV , Peter Lorre and Lady Jane Grey all died at the end of the books I read about them.

The moral of that story is if you want to live forever, make sure no one writes your biography (hey, I'm safe!).

I also added another appearance, May 20 at Middletown Thrall Library, in Middletown, NY. People may wonder how such a reclusive writer like me (I was mistaken just last Thursday for Thomas Pynchon at my neighborhood Shoprite)gets so many invites. Well, I demanded Middletown Thrall let me in, and since they're my library, they had very little choice in the matter (although they were explicit that the appearance will be cancelled if I have any overdue books).

The Cornwall library visit was pretty easy to come by, since I was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the woman in charge of their mother/daughter bookclub. Of course she had to let me be a bridesmaid since I hosted her wedding, but that doesn't matter. What does is they're still married and she's still talking to me.

Washingtonville was the toughest, since that involved strangers. After some protracted, occasionally heated, negotations, they agreed to supply the cookies. That's something Thomas Pynchon always insists on.

The other new item to the left, to the left (I am so au courant in pop music; it comes from my pathetic addiction to American Idol) is an addition to the list of awards Life As We Knew It is currently nominated for. Yes, it's back up to seven, with the Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award nomination placed in perfect alphabetical order between the Kentucky Bluegrass Award and the Nevada Young Readers Award.

I didn't go to elementary school for nothing.

Speaking of school, while I agree this shouldn't give me any unfair advantage, my brother got his Master's Degree from the University Of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan (whose library system doesn't have any copies of Life As We Knew It, not that I'm complaining, mind you).

According to Wikipedia (and who should know better), not a single one of Leo Tolstoy's siblings ever went to the University Of Michigan. Rumor has it one of his brothers was a redshirted quarterback at Ohio State though.

I'm off to tea and cookies and a little decorating talk with J. D. Salinger. If Tommy Pynchon or Leo Tolstoy drop by, I'll give them your regards.

3 comments:

Marci said...

Most biographies are written about dead people (the dead AND the gone?) because they can't call up the author and complain about inaccuracies. And since the biographer is almost always trying to be accurate (with some notable exceptions) they include the regrettable but accurate information about their subject's demise. If the demise is dramatic, as was Lady Jane Grey's, they tend to dwell on it.

I just realized that when you are writing in the comment block, you can't read the original post at the same time and see if there is anything else that you want to comment on, which might limit discourse.

Congratulations on Michigan and Thrall! I hope they have cookies there also!

The Cat Lover said...

The Ann Arbor Public Library certainly has Life As We Knew It. Becuase otherwise I couldn't have read it.

I have the urge to get a lot of canned food and perhaps a wood stove after I finish, which was about 45 minutes ago. And. I. Loved. It.

Like, a lot.


I can't put into words how much this made me THINK. Plus, it just made me so much happier that Bush is no longer President.

Hm. I can't decide what else to say. I think I'll make everyone I know read this book, for starters. :D

Only thing is...what happens to Michigan in your world where everything's messed up? Because I'd hate to think that we'd be covered by the Great Lakes and all those Buckeyes down in Ohio get to be all nice and dry.

Yep. That's it.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi The Cat Lover-

Boy, this is one old blog entry. I got quite nostalgic reading it.

I don't think I revealed anything about what happens to the middle west in any of the three Moon books. There were whole chunks of the United States I didn't mention, but I would think except for the cold and the Great Lakes areas, the midwest should make it through okay. No faultlines that I know about and no volcanos.

On the other hand, given U of Michigan's season this year, maybe a volcano or two would be an improvement!