Nearly two weeks ago I went to the Don DeLillo reading in Beverly Hills, put on by the awesome Writer Bloc. I read Underworld a few years ago and have loved/hated him ever since. Recently I read Point Omega and found it much more accessible and *gasp* enjoyable. Here's why this little outing was so great:
1. When I mentioned it my husband he immediately was like "Go! We will make it work!" I've had to sadly stop going to readings since having Sawyer, since they require me to leave for LA by like 4:30 and Scott doesn't get home until 7:30. This time he left super early, got stuck in traffic, but called his mom to cover as a backup. It was just nice that he knew that it was important and wanted me to go.
2. I went with my good friend from work, who had a baby the same time as I did and has a million things on her plate as well. It was definitely a flashback to a few years ago when we went much more often.
3. The reading was moderated my Rachel Kushner, whose book The Flamethrowers has been on my shelf forever (she also wrote Telex from Cuba, which was pretty solid). She was great and I'll definitely read her novel this summer. They seemed to be friends, or at least friendly, so their interactions were enjoyable to observe.
4. DeLillo talked about his writing process, which I always love to hear authors do. He still writes on a typewriter! Endearing, but my God! Neither efficient or practical, but the guy is pretty old and it obviously has brought him a lot of success. But still. And at some point he writes a paragraph per page for the revision process- that's a lot of paper.
5. Andrea Grossman, the founder, started off the night by telling us that the night had turned into a "who's who" of the LA literary scene and if the building blew up we'd be screwed. I spotted a few of my older professors from UCLA and I know there were some people from the LA Times, but it was driving us crazy who else was there. Just the idea that there were so many creative, intelligent people in the same vicinity was cool. I remember that feeling when I was in college, of knowing I was at the bottom of the intellectual totem pole. It's actually pretty great.
I have been a lurking reader for, well, I guess a few years now! I'm feeling very brain dead after a tough semester (I work at a university), and I was wondering if you planned to do a summer reading list? I could use some advice for some light (but not too light) reading this summer! Thanks for all the recommendations I've stolen from you so far :)
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