Putting yourself and thousands of books outside in the middle of June is really just asking to be rained on, as the Printer's Row book fair in Chicago has learned basically every year it exists. Pre-rain, however, my lovely friend and I wandered pretty aimlessly through the shelves, discussing what bad readers we are and trying to figure out why we are not in the loop on what's "in" right now in the bookish world. I was of course keeping my eye out for any 18th century I might have missed, but (shockingly) found nothing of great interest on that front. I did buy Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, because on my reading list I had written "Also more Bill Bryson." I also, in an attempt to personally keep Sandmeyer's Bookstore afloat(Chicagoans: buy local!)bought Drown (Junot Diaz); What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver) and The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver - I had never heard of it before but my friend handed it to me and said "you must." So I will.)
Okay, but. We were wandering around this table that had "all books for ten dollars" which, you know, is good, but my book buying addiction tends to come from Bargain Books in Mishawaka, IN where I can get everything for $5 or less so I was being pretty picky. Just when I was about to leave (in a HUFF. No. Just kidding. Not huffy at all), I looked up and saw a little tab sticking out of a book saying "Eula Biss signing books TODAY" and I look down, and there is Eula Biss' book Notes from No Man's Land, and I look up and there is Eula Biss smiling around. Ladies and gentlemen, I nearly passed out. Well, I jumped. Literally. My heels left the ground. And I went bright red, and I said something along the lines of "ohmygodhiIloveyou." She looked mildly taken aback. If I could remember our conversation I would write it out, but I can't, and plus it was more me babbling at her than a real conversation.
Oh, but, who IS Eula Biss, you ask?
Eula Biss is an American essayist, who teaches nonfiction at Northwestern University. She wrote an essay called The Pain Scale, which I am absolutely in love with for several reasons. 1. I relate to it, it being about chronic pain. 2. It is supremely un-whiny while being at the same time incredibly emotive. 3. Eula Biss takes lots of outside sources and random interesting facts and puts them together to make an incredible essay. I am TERRIBLE at weaving interesting tidbits into my writing. Apart from the article I wrote about lupus where I incorporated Eula Biss. So that does not really count.
You can read most of The Pain Scale here: http://books.google.com/books?id=wKmKh7slk6wC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=the+pain+scale+eula+biss&source=bl&ots=TL79_9RPy5&sig=hjT1H7TfKCNiOgnV6pnseu53GP0&hl=en&ei=A3EVTKfwCsKHnQf8-fn7Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CD0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=the%20pain%20scale%20eula%20biss&f=false. Now. Go buy a Eula Biss book.
Having received a shiny signed copy of Notes from No Man's Land, I wandered away from the table to find where I was supposed to pay, only to realize, after Eula Biss waved merrily at me while I was hovering awkwardly near where I thought I was supposed to be, that I should've paid the woman who'd been standing next to Eula Biss the entire time. I then went back and assured them I was not walking off with the book. Sheepish look count: over 6 in the course of about 5 minutes.
Point: I MET EULA BISS TODAY!
Now. I really want to tell you all things about my last doctor's appointment, but I am also waiting for the results of 15 (fifteen.) blood tests and, really, all stories are better when they've got some sort of ending (even if it is the "to be continued" sort), so we are taking a Geek Out About Eula Biss Interlude.
No comments:
Post a Comment