12/29/07
At my office at school on the Saturday between Christmas and New Years — possibly the only body in the building (if this were a sci-fi universe and someone were scanning for life signs, I’d be the only blinking red dot on screen displaying the schematic of the Williams building).
I came here to write and to avoid distraction because our house is too messy, too cold, and too strewn with books.
It turns out that my little cube here at the Williams Building is also messy (though less so) and also cold (though less so) and if my desk is not strewn with books, Katie’s is.
Hi Katie! I hope you don’t mind that I just read most of Drown, and have filched Among the Missing because I’ve heard of Dan Chaon but never read anything by him.
However, you might be pleased to find that writing book you lent me, The Littlest Hitler, Best American Non-Required Reading 2005, and your new copy of Drunk by Noon on the desk when you get back.
I like Junot Diaz a lot, but reading him leaves me kind of depressed because the people in his stories have lives that are not happy. It’s hard to make the transition between his voice and stories back to my own.