The week in bookish LA is up at LAist.
If you attend one event tonight, it should be this.
Nam Le's The Boat would have blown me away were it not for the unfortunate mistake I made: beginning that first story as if it were a novel. I was so disappointed when that story ended, every story that came after was somehow tainted for me. I kept wondering how the characters in story #2 had anything to do with those in story #1. By story #3, my sadness was complete. Entirely my fault, not his. (Although where, I ask you, where on that book jacket or cover or spine does it say anything about stories?)
BEA is upon us and I'm in so much pain (five weeks of tooth/jaw pain will change you, possibly forever) I can barely hold my head up. I cannot imagine navigating busy booths and smiling with lots of people I've been waiting years to meet with my head screaming in a hot rage. This is a message to the universe: please let the pain subside.
