The Booksmith Soiree

[Orlowsky at aol.com]

Tonight's Booksmith blowout to celebrate the return of our hero was a little
on the underplanned side, but was well attended.  Despite the slapdash nature
of the event, I found it thoroughly entertaining.  After all, how many public
Pynchon events does one ever get to attend? Fifty people or so crammed
themselves into the back of the Booksmith to hear impromptu readings from the
Tinasky letters, M&D, Vineland and V.  (What? No GR? 'Tis true.  I was
tempted to read the Mrs. Quoad episode, but didn't have a copy immediately at
hand.)  Our own Redbug read stirring excerpts from deep within M&D.  A manic
woman in green provided a rousingly energetic reading of the opening of
Vineland.  She also won the costume contest, thanks to her aluminum foil
chainsaw and box of Fruit Loops. The nifty promotional item of the evening
was the Booksmith's own hand-crafted Pynchon masks, which a lucky handful of
attendees (yours truly included) got to take home. I snagged a few of those
trading cards, too.

But where were the P-listers?  Redbug and I had a terrific conversation
afterwards, ranting on and on in obsessive detail, and basking in the delight
of knowing that, for once, the other person actually CARED about all the
details, but neither of us met another P-lister.  Redbug even introduced
himself to the crowd before reading from M&D, but the P-listers were either
engaging in some in-person lurking, or were at home getting revved up for
Ellen.

Bob

P.S.  Boy, M&D is a beautiful looking book, isn't it?  Isn't it a little
ethnocentric to call it "flesh-colored," though?  How about
"parchment-colored"?