I bring it up yet again, because I had to draw your attention to this recent review at Salon.  It’s excellent, but I’m totally jealous that I didn’t come up with the review’s headline myself.  The Talking Heads song referenced is such a perfect accompaniment to the book, that I feel compelled to share it here:

Maybe David Byrne could play the role of Dr. Leo Liebenstein in the film adaptation of the novel.  Get me Spielberg on the horn.

(Here are links to just two previous mentions: my interview with the author and my review of the novel.

First, I’m going to give you all of the Copperfield crap, and I’m not going to apologize for it, not one paragraph, so if you’re not interested in how I came to see the future, or how I came to understand that the biggest truth in my life was a lie, or, for that matter, how I parlayed my distaste for hot dogs into an ‘84 RX-7 and a new self-concept, do us both a favor, and just stop now.

I kept reading.

Our instantly likable protagonist, William Miller is a vegetarian with coke bottle glasses. He’s slight, bookish, and reserved. It’s fairly easy not confuse William with his dad - Big Bill Miller, the famous bodybuilder or his two buffet-wrecking brothers.

After his mother’s death, William feels hopelessly lost in his own home - until he meets Lulu - his new stepsister. Here’s William’s description of his first encounter with Lulu:

All I wanted to do was look at her. She was Mr. Potatohead beautiful. Nothing fit right. But somehow this girl in the yellow socks, with the small nose, and the big ears, and the gap-toothed smile achieved a certain harmony, a beauty greater than the sum of its parts.

Lulu and William are thick as thieves until Lulu begins to act strangely after a trip, and their relationship becomes strained and distant. The sudden and seemingly irreversible change in their relationship provides the tension that drives the novel.  Essentially on his own, William eventually finds himself through college radio, an entrepreneurial stint in hot dog sales, and - yes- an ‘84 Mazda RX-7.

Evison is a fantastic writer and he populates this surprising novel with memorable and well-developed characters.  And there’s plenty of humor.  A scene with the young William oiling up his father in preparation for a bodybuilding championship while confidently dissing Arnold Schwarzenegger is especially memorable.  I recommend picking this one up for that one last trip to the beach this summer.

Friday night featured Jack Pendarvis reading from “the good part” of his novel Awesome, faking improv, digressing on wild tangents, recommending other books, performing Olympic-caliber self deprecation, and other neat tricks. Sealions performed a nice set of live music. A local art collective was cranking out robot drawings for donations, and the buzz of a silent auction kept everyone hanging around. It was a remarkable reading. Normally I’d insert a few pictures to support my recap, but my camera was in Atlantic City with my wife and daughter. Instead, you can read other accounts of the evening here and here.

I was expecting Friday night to be excellent, but Saturday’s excellent performances by Poetry Atlanta surprised me. The event was the second poetry reading that I’ve ever attended, which I’ll admit is my own shortcoming. (The first is a hilarious story in its own right that I’ll have to tell you over a beer sometime.) I clearly need to add more poetry to my day-to-day.

Each of the poets that presented their work had a unique style, and I enjoyed hearing each of them read. However, I’ll confess to having two favorites from the day. The first was Jon Goode, who has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and - apparently - gets flown around the country to perform. Goode presented three pieces and told the most hilarious funeral story that you’ve ever heard. I found one of the pieces that he performed Saturday online (although the video is from a performance somewhere else):

The second was poet/troubadour/wildman Kodac Harrison. Unfortunately I was not able to find his heart-warming opening duet, Got Laid Last Night, on the YouTubes. Here’s Harrison doing Angel of Mercy:

Both events were very well attended, and I hope that translated into good news for Wordsmiths.

This week I’m featuring the twee sounds of Belle & Sebastian.  The lit connection?  The band takes its name from a French children’s book series, Belle et Sébastien, by Cécile Aubry, which WikiPedia tells me was also a BBC television series.

The most obvious Belle & Sebastian song to kick off our play list is…

Wrapped Up in Books

In a nod to the Olympics, in front of which you can find me 24/7, here’s…

The Stars of Track and Field

Speaking of Track and Field, check out The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner live:

And finally, a nod to the language of the original stories:

Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

If you missed it, check out last week’s Lit Rock entry.

Plan your road trip at the Southern Literary Trail’s new web site.

The site will not focus on bestsellers such as those reviews found at The New York Times, but rather reviews of books that will be read and talked about by cutting-edge consumers. “As indie music zealots, we love sites like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Brooklyn Vegan,” says Lit Mob Publisher Doug Perkul. “What was amazing to me is that you have a few hundred sites that cater to tastemakers within the music scene, but no one is doing this for books and literature. Contrary to popular beliefs, people are still reading books and we intend to share our favorite titles with them and highlight amazing books in the marketplace.”

Sounds like our kind of place.  Here’s a nice quote from the “About Lit Mob” page:

The open letter to readers begins:

This is a tough letter to write as technically you do not exist.  They say that no one reads anymore and that you spend all of your time watching TIVO’d episodes of Dancing With The Stars, playing video games, or stealing music from your computer.

There are only a handful of reviews up so far on the slickly designed site, but I like the selection.  I’ll be back.

Friday:

I’m hard at work on my robot now.

Saturday:

At 2PM, Poetry Atlanta will be hosting a series of poetical events.  The performing poets include: Jon Goode (seen on CNN’s Black in America), Chelsea Rathburn, Beth Gylys, Karen Head, and Rupert Fike.

Capping off the afternoon’s poetry will be a special, stripped-down performance of local blues-poet legend Kodac Harrison’s Reach for the Moon, in which Harrison will be accompanied by Kristan Markitan. Wordsmiths is asking attendees to “pay what they can” upon entry (suggesting $5 a person).

See Wordsmiths for more info on all of the above.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is also in pre-production to be filmed by the Coen Brothers.  I am beside myself.

Chabon - is there anything that he can’t do?

My review of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union can be found here.

It appears that the woman involved in the episode was the basis of a character in novels by both Jay McInerney and Brett Easton Ellis.  McInerney says:

We dated for only a few months, but in that period, I spent a lot of time with her and her friends, whose behavior intrigued and appalled me to such an extent that I ended up basing a novel on the experience.

New York Magazine has the scoop (Thanks for the Link, Russ.)