Reading Recap: Dutton’s Books

Audience: About 30.
Anxiety index: 5 (out of 10).
Surprise guest(s): Gil E., my ex-boss at ASI. And Fred S. who was in one of my writing classes at UCLA back in 2001.
Book given away: Veronica by Mary Gaitskill.
No. of Moroccans who said hello: 1/2.

I hadn’t been back in Los Angeles more than an hour when a Land Rover honked at me for actually stopping at an intersection. Ah, I’m back home, I thought. The smell, the sounds, the smog, the three or four languages I could hear at the coffee shop while I was waiting for my order, the big headlines that read “Storm Watch 2005” because there’s been, like, two inches of rain, the surly actors slash waiters, the lights of the big city all around me–I’d missed it all. And, above all, I got to see all my family and friends and catch up with everyone.

It was a special treat, too, to be able to read at Dutton’s, which was one of my regular hang outs during the many years I lived in L.A. There were quite a few familiar faces at the reading, and I had a great time talking about the book and answering questions.