OR

Below are the books I had signed at the Mark Z. Danielewski reading/signing tonight. First is the page in HoL the says "Muss es sein?" I showed him my tattoo with the same text and also said that I didn't get it because of HoL, but because of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He agreed on the greatness of tULoB and drew a weird little picture on the page (whats it mean? hmmm). Next is just the signed HoL followed by OR (Hailey's side because "being Sam, I should love Hailey")

The reading was great. He read from about 5 sections on Sam's side all throughout the book. Just from the way he read and talked about it I think that people are going to try to read into it way to much. He really emphasized that HoL was driven completely by story and plot, while in OR those matter little and the focus is wholly on character. At first I was really confused with the dates and whatnot on the side, but I think that is just there to give you the setting for the time they are living in, and what is going on around them. MZD even said it was just there to help you picture the world at the time.

One good answer he had to the question of why he puts so much into his books (or something like that, but worded more pertinaciously. The reading was at the U of W book and most of the question were way to wordy. You could tell everyone wanted MZD to they were smart. You know the people I'm talking about.). He then went on to talk about how he spends so much time on these books (10 years for HoL and 6 for OR) that he doesn't want them just to fade. He thinks it would be a huge waste of his time to put all this effort into a book and then see it made into a movie. If he reads a book and can see it being a movie he wishes it was. His goal in writing a book is to give the reader an experience that they can only get from the book. He doesn't want people to be able to get the same experience from a song or movie. I totally agree and think that is what makes him such a unique author.

He was a great guy. Extremely nice and well spoken. If you live in MN I suggest you don't miss it when he's there.

Anyway...one of the better readings I've been to (top 5 at least). Next is Terry Pratchett on October 13th.