On vacation, but always working…I happened to be in Iowa
City during the fourth annual literary festival, so I went to a couple of
readings that ended up being excellent.
First, Sam Kean, one
of my former students from Johns Hopkins hit it big with his first book, The Disappearing Spoon, about the
Periodic Table of the Elements—but the fun stuff, not the dull stuff I remember
from high school chemistry! I predict
that his new book, The Violinist’s Thumb
will be equally popular: fascinating stories about our genetic code. Seriously.
The audience was held in thrall for more than an hour with Sam’s stories
about King Tut; the sad, horrible life of chimney sweeps in 18th
century England; and gory details about Einstein’s brain. Sam is a great, natural speaker who chooses
his power point photos wisely…here’s
information about his upcoming tour (in DC on 7/25!), and believe me: he is worth driving through a snowstorm—or
heat wave—to see. I wish all my science
teachers—or any of them!—had been this interesting.
My second event was another winner: Donald Ray Pollack read from his novel, The Devil All the Time. A year or so ago, one of my Converse students
(hi, Cheryl!) had seen DRP read at a library in Ohio, and she came to the
residency RAVING about his book of short stories, Knockemstiff, though she noted his work was very dark. Indeed, in the Q&A here, not one but TWO
men spoke about how they were reading Knockemstiff
and almost couldn’t go on because the stories were so depressing. Naturally, this made me even more eager to
read the book. I also enjoyed hearing
DRP talk about his path to writing, as it was a bit untraditional: he worked in a paper mill for many years
before finally entering an MFA program when he was (I believe) 45.
I also went to the publishing fair, and within moments ended
up with a handful of books from the University of Iowa Press table—every book
for a dollar! How can anyone go wrong
with that, and my diverse handful includes a collection of stories by Lee K.
Abbott, a book about a hobo who rode the rails, and a collection of letters
from a female homesteader.
Combine all these books with the books I’m swiping from my
parents’ house, and I definitely need a new bookshelf and about three weeks of
time to spend simply reading.