Sad desk salad days

At Metro, Alizah Salario looks at some books about modern workplace culture that "just may give us clues into how the inhumanity of the desk lunch became acceptable behavior"—including...

"Personal Days" by Ed Park: If you must stuff your soul in a drawer each morning in order to tolerate going into the office, then this book has your name on it. In Park's stellar debut, as an unnamed New York company unravels, its employees grapple with the futiliy of their work and seek meaning beyond it. Think "1984" meets "Office Space."

The Believer Turns 10! Come Celebrate Thursday, March 7!

Join us March 7th, 7:30pm le Poisson Rouge 158 Bleecker Street NYC 10012 with Nick Hornby. Vendelia Vida. Heidi Julavits. Ed Park. Sheila Heti. Ross Simonini. Dawn of Midi. Gabrielle Bell. Amanda Filipacchi. DANCING. Champagne cupcakes, deviled strawberries, and drunken brownies from Spirited Brooklyn Get your tickets ($10) here. Price includes a copy of March/April Anniversary issue!

Can't make it? We'll be at Greenlight, Brooklyn, March 25th forward to a friend | Get $5 off a subscription (promo code: anniversary)

Two events!

On Thursday, February 21, I'll be reading at Temple University (along with student reader Jacob Mazer). It's free and open to the public. Location: Women's Studeis Lounge, 8th floor, Anderson Hall, 1114 W. Berks St. (Click above for more details.) Begins at 5.

And on Thursday, March 7, I'll be doing a PowerPoint presentation on Borgesian mammals in children's literature—part of the Believer's 10th anniversary party at Le Poisson Rouge. Also on the bill: Nick Hornby (!), the great Sheila Heti (!) interviewing the wonderful cartoonist Gabrielle Bell (check out her interpretation of this Emily Dickinson poem) and one of my favorite novelists, Amanda Filipacchi. Doors open at 7. 

Philly!

I'm excited to be reading for Temple University's Poets & Writers series! The reading is on Thursday, February 21, at 5 p.m.—more information here.

Totally wired

A smart review from Dennis Kaplan has appeared at Eclectica (way back in the end of 2011):

There is not much plot to Personal Days, but part of the joyride is in the succession of familiar moments held up for inspection: the awkward elevator encounter, the too-peppy email, the infuriating battles with computers. Park's primary weapon is humor, but the absurdities he throws at us evoke deeper questions: is this the only way? Are people really wired for this? In one minor but telling moment we witness a desk jockey named Laars trying to locate a file on his computer.

The next day, Friday, the Sprout asks Laars for a file from last year. Laars's system of folders is so byzantine, his naming conventions so idiosyncratic, and his memory so poor, that he often has to do a global search of all the contents on his computer if he's looking for a file more than a few weeks old. He tries to guess what word might spring up in the document title, then hits Search.

I don't understand, the computer says.

September World Tour (a/k/a St. Louis-NYC-NYC)

I'm excited to be doing some events this month.

First up is at Washington University in St. Louis, where I'll be reading from and talking about Personal Days. That's on Thursday 9/20 at 8:00 at Hurst Lounge. Details here.

Then there are back-to-back dates in NYC:

¶ On Thursday 9/27 at the Asian American Writers' Workshop (110 W. 27th St., Suite 600), I'll be reading with Katie Kitamura, author of The Longshot and the new novel Gone to the Forest. More details to follow.

¶ The following evening (Friday 9/28 at 7 p.m.) I'll be talking to Antoine Wilson about his new novel, Panorama City, at McNally Jackson (52 Prince St.).

Reading on June 13 in Washington Heights!

PERSONAL DAYS, DESPERATE NIGHTS: A Reading with Ed Park, Jon Michaud, S. J. Rozan, and S. A. Solomon A reading with Ed Park, author of the multi-award-winning novel Personal Daysand the founding editor of the Believer; Jon Michaud, author of When Tito Loved Clara (set in Inwood and named as Barnes & Noble Review’s Year’s Best Reading 2011); S. J. Rozan, editor of Bronx Noir; and S. A. Solomon, contributor to New Jersey Noir. Click here for more info.