Pinky's Paperhaus

Big Lonesome Cosmopolis

I'm getting a wicked slow start on my 75 books.

Book #2: Big Lonesome by Jim Ruland.
The only way I got through the brutality and sadness of the first story was to think of all the CDs I've heard that put their most challenging track first. If you can take that, they seem to say, then you deserve the rest. Jim's book of short stories treads between realities often overlooked and imaginary worlds that always have an element of danger. Maybe it's a surprise that stories like this can be full of heart, but they are. It didn't surprise me, since I've met him. Did I mention they're also funny? Yes, brutal, fantastical and funny.

Book #3: Cosmopolis by Don Delillo
I love Don Delillo, but if I'd started with this book I wouldn't. It's completely cold. I suppose I should be thinking it's Allegory with a Capital A, a post-Sept-11 book about the end of American/New Yorker arrogance, about the drive for self-extermination being inseparable from our drive for the acquisition of wealth and power, but I couldn't stop thinking I was reading Delillo doing Bonfire of the Vanities (a parallel John Updike caught, too). Was I just full of youthful exuberance when I read Ratner's Star all those times, or was it actually funny and a good story and thought-provoking and allegorical all at once? I guess I've got 72 more books to go; I could always re-read it and check.

So when I went to see Paul Auster the other night I was in the middle of Cosmopolis, which is dedicated to him. I bought a copy of Brooklyn Follies and was getting it signed. "I just happen to be reading this," I said, flashing Cosmopolis' cover. He looked at me and said nothing. I can translate, tho: he was saying SO? And I said, idiotically, but trying to spur a response, "It's dedicated to you." "Yes, we're friends," he said, and I moved dutifully on. But, um, Mr. Auster? We've all got lots of friends, but they don't all dedicate books just to us. There's got to be more of a story behind it. Did you read a draft for him? Did the two of you share a joke that he was writing in your style? Did you dedicate a book to him in trade? All that talk about storytelling and "Yes, we're friends," is all you've got? Thanks, I treasure the insight. Really.

Everybody's getting Frey'd

So tonight Paul Auster hit LA in conversation with the David Ulin. Sounds like the only thing we got that San Francisco didn't get came from Ulin, who said it had been a busy day; he'd been finishing this Sunday's LA Times' Book Review, which he edits, and he'd had to stop everything to watch James Frey on Oprah.

Sheez, I only edit this and I gave it a pass. I must have missed something good.

Too much Thursday

LA has no shortage of literary events, but we aren't drowning in them, either. So the occasion of conflicting excellent readings rarely happens. Sigh: this Thursday is the exception.

Tod Goldberg has just let his (I'm assuming massive) e-mail list know that he and Aimee Bender will be doing a joint reading Thursday night in Pacific Palisades. But over in  Beverly Hills, David Ulin will be interviewing Paul Auster, which is where I'll be. Sorry, Tod -- maybe putting your name and "massive" in the same sentence is some consolation.

Luckily, Aimee Bender is reading next Thursday at Skylight Books in Los Feliz with Stephen Elliott and Neal Pollack, who is now an Angeleno. Welcome to the neighborhood, Neal!

Gillian Anderson is Lady Dedlock

Thanks goodness I've already finished Bleak House, because I'd have no chance of getting through the Dickens classic before the PBS series starts tonight. The good news is that Gillian Anderson plays the cold, beautiful Lady Dedlock. The bad news is that she's gotten Madonna-itis: in an NPR interview yesterday, she sounded exactly like someone from Detroit who'd adopted what they think is a British accent. Hopefully that's confined to her civilian life, and in the series, which will be on Masterpiece Theatre, Sundays through February, she'll pick just one and sound either British or Midwestern.

The worst news is that during the NPR interview, Gillian spoiled one of the great mysteries of the book. It's  revealed halfway through, but with Dickens, that's after enjoying about 400 pages of story. What is she thinking? I truly hope the TV version doesn't start with the secret revealed. And wait, the worst gets worse, but first: SPOILER ALERT - stop reading if you haven't read the book yet.

The serious bad stuff is after the jump.

Happy litblog day!

This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day happened to fall on the unofficial LitBlog Day. To coincide with the latest announcement of the LBC, LAist.com features an interview with Los Angeles based litblogger extraordinaire Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation. I am the editor of LAist, and take full responsibility for any stupid questions. Luckily Mark answers them gracefully. Between you and me, I think he's downplaying the number of books he reads per month, maybe to make the rest of us feel better.

S-A-TUR-DAY - night!

This Saturday, ladies and gentlement, at the dark yet dazzling Mountain Bar on the fabulous Chinatown Plaza, it's Vermin on the Mount! Featuring:

BoingBoing editor MARK FRAUENFELDER is the author of a book that compiles the very worst things in this terrible world we live in. It's called The World's Worst, and you don't want to miss it.

MARC WEINGARTEN'S book, The Gang That Couldn't Write Straight, offers a close look and thick description of a unique period in American journalism Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Joan Didion re-wrote the rules.

BUCKY SINISTER is the author of several books of poetry, including Whiskey and Robots from Gorsky Press. Vermin has had some amazing poets, and Bucky is one of the amazingest.

ME, I'll be reading a short essay. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hold onto your purse.

Drinks begin flowing at 8, reading start at 9. I am NOT allowed to have a martini until after I've read. So I hope I go on first.

Liza Palmer podcast of fun

Liza Palmer visits Pinky's Paperhaus to talk about her debut novel, Conversations With the Fat Girl. It's the story of two best friends who bond over being fat; as they grow up, one gets skinny (gastric bypass-- ew!) and the other doesn't. In case you were wondering, yep, it's chick lit -- not that there's anything wrong with that. She talks about dysfunctional friendships, how big is big, and her subgenre, Fat Girl Lit.

Liza grew up in Pasadena and talks, in the complete online interview, about her experience of working in downtown LA and making the decision to jump off the fast track to middle class and try her hand at being an author. It worked -- her novel is on 5 Spot, a division of Warner Books, and can be found at both your local bookstore and Target.

75 Books Update #1

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was pretty amazing, but I didn't love the ending. Everyone else on the planet has already read it, so I'll say no more.

Read in 2006: books - 1; pages - 636
Subcategory: Pulitzer prizewinners - 1

Ed beat me to the finish on book #1 (and I think 2&3, but he's not spilling) Kim too; Gwenda and Megan are in but no reading reports yet.

Pursesnatch v. mugging

No podcast. Just a question: if a guy grabs your purse and smacks you with it, hard, as you try to grab it back, so that blood spurts from your hand all over your brand new 826 Seattle t-shirt, if your iPod, digital camera, wallet, keys (car and house) are in the purse, if you run down the street bleeding, somewhat spectacularly, from what is actually a mere flesh wound, shouting futile epithets as the guy ducks into a car that drives off, is that a purse-snatching, or have you been mugged?