Because I'm so shallow I need the validation of others, I was hugely gratified to go to a fiction reading at Chop Suey Books and see every chair taken.
Even better, additional chairs had to be brought in.
Who would have guessed that so many people other than me wanted to be read to on a Saturday evening?
Marie Potoczny got things started by saying, "Get ready to weep," as she read one of her short stories, I Don't Want to Know What's Not a Good Idea.
The story of a woman dealing with loss and longing was made all the more touching for Potoczny's reading style.
Occasionally she even laughed at her own lines, endearing herself to the audience.
Favorite line: "Halitosis is inexcusable for someone in the talking profession."
The second author was Emma Rathbone and she was reading from her well-received book The Patterns of Paper Monsters.
The narrator of the book is a17-year old living in Juvenile Detention and Rathbone read a section detailing his thoughts and memories of girls and sex (some hysterical, but others, like sex with one of his foster mothers, a bit disturbing).
I'm not usually a fan of books about teens, but the character was so engagingly written that I found myself chuckling at his thoughts and observations despite myself.
I'm not sure I'll ever outgrow the pleasure of being read to, but then why do I need to as long as Ward keeps bringing in authors to share their words with me and other listeners?
Tonight's reading was such a pleasurable way to begin my night.
Dinner was at 821 Cafe and by sheer happenstance I ran into a musician friend who took the barstool next to me moments after I ordered my favorite black bean nachos.
Julie Karr, she of the big and bluesy singing voice, told me that she'd just recently finished recording a CD with Lance Koehler at Minimum Wage Studio in Oregon Hill.
I was excited for her because hers is the kind of voice I can listen to more often than she plays shows.
Julie's a vegan, so I felt mildly guilty when my cheese covered plate of beans showed up, because she'd said that cheese was about the only thing she'd ever missed since going vegan eight years ago.
I admire the vegan lifestyle, but I'm constitutionally unable to give up bacon.
Or any kind of pig for that matter.
Or, god forbid, cheese. Or butter. Or cheeseburgers.
Okay, I could never go vegetarian, much less vegan.
Fortunately, when it comes to eating, I do not need the validation of others.
Perhaps that means that I'm only selectively shallow.
Perhaps it just means I like to eat.
Everything.
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You're so funny. I loved the part about not being able to give up bacon, etc.
ReplyDeleteI admire people who commit to and stick with the vegetarian/vegan life style but I always wonder if they've ever heard the expression "everything in moderation".
Ground beef, tenderloin and bacon tonight alone.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm making up for having been a vegan in another life.
Hey, thanks for your rave review and for coming to the reading. I hope you'll introduce yourself to me if we are ever at another event together. Very best, Marie.
ReplyDeleteYou can count on it!
ReplyDeleteYour story really touched a nerve with me because of a similar experince of my own many years ago, although there was no cat involved.
Thanks for reading.