Eustace Tilley is the cutest boy in school!
Not to suggest that some of these exceptionally nice and smart reviews make me happier than others, and I know this just affirms the notion that the New York media elite has a disproportionate grip on a writer’s sense of self-worth, but SHUT UP AND CHECK OUT MY BOOK’S “BRIEFLY NOTED” REVIEW IN THE NEW…
Read MoreFalling behind on my wrapping (up)
ST. LOUIS: What you’re about to read happened days ago, and I’m just getting around to filing a blog report. I’m on a train right now to New York to do a reading tonight at the Half King bar in Chelsea. It starts at 7 p.m., if you’re anywhere nearby. But backing up: I have…
Read MoreTrykoski’s lights!
For those of you in Dallas or anywhere near Frisco, I do hope you’ll find time to check out Jeff and Bridgette Trykoski’s lights this year. I won’t be able to — which feels strange after spending so much time over the last three Christmases doing just that — but I very much recommend it.…
Read MoreSome of my favorite books of the decade
All these books-of-the-year and books-of-the-decade lists are out now. I’m too far behind on ’09 to make any sort of guess about what book I liked most. But I can feel some coalescence about the decade by just looking around my study. If a book stuck around from my circa-2000 apartment and made it here…
Read MoreIt’s a great day for America, everybody…
The TV listings don’t lie! Barring some misfortune, I’ll be a guest on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson next week – Thursdsay, Dec. 17 – so set the DVR or stay up and watch! It’s on CBS, after Letterman. I like the show a lot and not just because they’re having me on.…
Read MorePa-rum-pa-pum-pum, etc.
Reached a Yuletide peace in Seattle. The book is out there and doing whatever it’ll do. The flights have all been on time. The hotels have offered solitude and quiet and high threadcounts. The morning TV anchors at Seattle’s Q13 were perky and interested for exactly four minutes, which in their world is lavish attention.…
Read MoreTom the Butcher examines Tinsel
Over at the Story Surgeons blog, my friend Tom Shroder has filed an interesting little dissection of Tinsel and what he thinks makes it tick, with a short excerpt. Tom is known to some as Weingarten’s beloved and alternately loathed “Tom the Butcher.” So many of us had the pleasure (seriously, a pleasure, even in…
Read MoreNotes by Northwest (and more reviews!)
Portland: Recuperative in an odd way. But sort of downbeat, too. I guess that’s what that place is all about. At the Powell’s reading Friday night, I drew about 25-30 people, and for some reason I decided to come across like a full-on Snarky Claus. About five minutes in, one woman got up and left.…
Read MoreArlo and his annual Christmas rant
The voice of God on I-5
How’s the book doing? Meh, is my overall hunch. I felt a bit down about that for a while yesterday. Landed in Seattle right after sunset, rented a car (sporty little Pontiac G5) and drove down to Portland in heavy traffic on I-5, with fog and some rain and a sense of vintage Pacific Northwest…
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