Michael Chabon at City Arts and Lectures

Two weeks ago I went to see Michael Chabon with some colleagues. I’ve only read one of his novels, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Our Writer in Residence, Dan Schifrin, suggested our department go. I thought it a lovely idea and immediately agreed.

My Ecstasy Meeting the Not-so-Filthy Irvine Welsh

So if anyone actually reads my blog they’ll know Irvine Welsh is one of my top author obsessions. I would apologize for repetition, but if anyone is kind enough to read, I’m sure they’ll indulge my infatuation. If you truly love someone, you want the world to understand how brilliant that person is. And so I continue to expound on the pure genius of Irvine Welsh. He is witty, incisive, poetic, imaginative, and a great storyteller.

My apologies for misreading a cover

So, it turns out that The Marriage Plot did not, in fact, win the Pulitzer Prize. Nope, it was Middlesex. Funny, how the cover states “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.” Now one could argue that since it was underneath Jeffrey Eugenides’ name that the publisher is not stating that The Marriage Plot is indeed the winner. However, they could have done what many other people do—afix a sticker to the cover stating “by the author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel Middlesex.”

The Marriage Plot Needs Another Plot

As I’ve written in earlier posts, I’ll once again admit to being superficial when it comes to book covers. A colleague left a copy of Jeffrey Eugenides‘ The Marriage Plot on my desk. There are two glaring items for me to judge this book by: 1. the title, The Marriage Plot and 2. the cover’s illustration is an engagement ring. So, thanks, but no thanks. My colleague said that my boss had lent the book to her and she read it and really liked it (she admitted it was a simple plot but fun). She also said my boss really wanted me to read it. I put it aside to read at a later date. I thought perhaps I’d squirm out of reading it. But my boss eagerly asked me if I’d read it yet. No, not yet. I think you’d really like it. There are so many great literary references that you’d get and it’s really funny. How could I not appreciate such kind flattery? And so I picked it up and started reading.