Here is another blog entry that I never quite got around to writing about, much less publishing. I meant to, don't get me wrong. But Franzen is one of those writers where there is so much to talk about, that you almost get lost thinking about where to start. There was so much that I wanted to say, and so I put it off until there was more time.
Then, a few years later, I noticed this in the list of unpublished material, and felt a bit shameful. It was one of quite a number of posts that were never published, but should have been at some point. A number of them were about author events, particularly about booksignings.
So, I set about to remedy that by publishing them, even well after the fact. Case in point, this particular blog entry about a booksigning by Jonathan Franzen, who is a damn good author.
The only problem? Well, I cannot even remember the event all that well. I remember feeling excited about finally seeing him in person, and wanting to get a couple of books signed, both of which I did. But I can hardly remember much of what he discussed, nor even remember the specific part of the book that he gave as his reading.
One thing that I do remember: he made a joke right from the start. There was a bottle of Fiji water there, and he opened it and took a drink, and said that even though it was quite expensive, it was indeed really good water, and not like that nasty water from the Adirondacks. Everyone laughed.
After the event, I actually spoke to him, albeit briefly. Usually, I do not talk much to noted authors, not having questions lined up in advance, and also not being exactly a social butterfly who manages to initiate and/or carry on conversations with strangers. Probably, I mumbled something about liking his books, and if memory serves me correctly, he seemed actually interested in what I liked about them. But again, I always feel self-conscious when having a conversation with a lot of people around, and with everyone pretty much with eyes and ears focused on him, I did not want to hold up the line, and so probably mumbled something unintelligible (even to myself).
Anyway, he talked about his then recently released book, Purity, which is a fictional account about the final days of East Germany. Even this book, which I read in the autumn of 2015, is starting to be a bit fuzzy for me. So, I may have to either reread it (it seems that I am rereading a lot of books lately), or will have to skim through it and/or watch some videos or read article of reviews of the book, to get more acclimated with it again. Much like this blog entry itself, I began writing a blog entry as a review of the book, and again, never quite got around to finishing it, much less publishing what I wrote about it. And it is a good book that deserves to be read and reviewed.
That said, it was not my favorite Franzen book. I really enjoyed Freedom, and in fact, while thinking about rereading books, think that it might be time to pick up that one again. It was recommended to me by a former girlfriend, and I loved it. Started to explore other books by Franzen, and became a fan. Another of his books that I really enjoyed (although not nearly as much as Freedom, admittedly) was The Corrections.
There was precious little that I managed to write about this particular event shortly after the fact. Unlike some other writer events, where I actually took some notes and/or began writing almost immediately after the fact, I do not specifically recall writing notes down for this one, nor writing anything in the immediate aftermath over the next couple of days. Just basically made sure that the pictures were there (and as you can tell, they were mostly of the advertising for the event, as pictures were discouraged during the actual discussion, as I recall), and began with a sentence or two, and they are not really impressive in the least, offering very little in the way of observations or summarizing either the event itself, or his actual writings.
Still, since this was what I wrote at the time, it seems logical to go ahead and include these two short paragraphs along with this. So, here they are, with the pictures of the Jonathan Franzen booksigning at Barnes and Noble at Union Square back in September of 2015.
Enjoy!
I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to see Jonathan Franzen speak about his latest book, Purity, as well as to get a few books signed by him.
The appearance was in support of his then new book, "Purity."
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