Jonathan Franzen will be reading tonight at The Aratani in Little Tokyo as part of the Aloud LA reading series put on by our fantastic Library Foundation of Los Angeles. I will be going to this event, despite the cries heard round the world (my shrill voice included) about being all Franzened-out. I am still all-Franzened out and I've not even read Freedom yet.
However.
It strikes me as rather convenient that this event takes place only steps away from both my house and an excellent, somewhat-secret alley bar and who am I to look that kind of serendipity in the face and not jump along for the ride?
More to the point, it gives me a chance to get back to one of my favorite activities: writing elaborately long posts about the bizarre behavior exhibited at "important" readings in LA. Hopefully the Angelenos in attendance will not disappoint and I'll have some juicy tidbits to share with you all in the coming days.
If not, I do expect that the discussion, led by Meghan Daum, will have many merits of its own. If you're still awash in Franzen-fest hate, I'll share with you a nugget of wisdom from Tod Goldberg that strikes me as exactly spot-on:
todgoldberg Reviewing the new Franzen this week. Here's my early verdict: When you can write better than him, then you can begin to whine and bitch.
