In my areas.
A sort of counterbalance to that last entry: If you are reading this at a time when you could be buying John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise1, I urge you to close your browser and go buy it right goddamned now. I say this because the book itself is riotously funny, but also because Mr. Hodgman is a very friendly fellow who, when he showed up at the store today to sign the book2, not only graciously agreed to personalize a copy for my girlfriend, but personalized the fuck out of it, writing that I am a considerate boyfriend and referencing a conversation that I'd had with him about the recent Calvin & Hobbes box set, which my girlfriend bought me for my birthday. So bump Mr. Hodgman's sales up by five units, loyal readers. He's a nice guy, and nice guys deserve your money3.
1 As seen on The Daily Show!
2 One of the nice things about working at a bookstore in Manhattan is that occasionally authors will just show up and ask if we have copies of their book that we can sign. I know this phenomenon is not unique to Manhattan bookstores, but it being Manhattan, we get a ridiculously high percentage of honest-to-god writers, often because they, like Mr. Hodgman, live here. Recent authors who popped in to sign their books include Simon Winchester, whose books The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa are great stuff, Vikram Seth, who I'm told is good but whose books are way too long for me to even contemplate having time to read, Nate Blakeslee, author of the excellent Tulia, and the very nice Susan Jane Gilman, author of a pair of books I will never read, Kiss My Tiara and Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress. The dark side of this is that sometimes the authors are belligerent, arrogant, entitled, pushy, and/or they just bother me for some reason. No names named, of course.
3 Unlike Annie Proulx, who I'm told is kind of a bitch.
1 As seen on The Daily Show!
2 One of the nice things about working at a bookstore in Manhattan is that occasionally authors will just show up and ask if we have copies of their book that we can sign. I know this phenomenon is not unique to Manhattan bookstores, but it being Manhattan, we get a ridiculously high percentage of honest-to-god writers, often because they, like Mr. Hodgman, live here. Recent authors who popped in to sign their books include Simon Winchester, whose books The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa are great stuff, Vikram Seth, who I'm told is good but whose books are way too long for me to even contemplate having time to read, Nate Blakeslee, author of the excellent Tulia, and the very nice Susan Jane Gilman, author of a pair of books I will never read, Kiss My Tiara and Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress. The dark side of this is that sometimes the authors are belligerent, arrogant, entitled, pushy, and/or they just bother me for some reason. No names named, of course.
3 Unlike Annie Proulx, who I'm told is kind of a bitch.
posted by Dktr. Blasphemy at 12:40 AM
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