Pretend ductwork

Around his plant-strewn work cubicle, low whirring air sounds emanated from speakers in the floor, meant to mimic the whoosh of conventional heating and air-conditioning systems, neither of which his 222,000-square-foot office building has, or needs, even here at 5,300 feet elevation. The generic white noise of pretend ductwork is purely for background and workplace psychology— managers found that workers needed something more than silence.
—"Soaking Up the Sun to Squeeze, NYT

"Living & Writing New York" — a reading at Fordham this Tuesday 2/8

I'll be reading and participating in a panel on February 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Fordham (the Lincoln Center campus, in Manhattan). The topic is "Living & Writing New York." I'm not sure what I'll read!

The other writers are Arthur Phillips, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and Jim Dwyer.

Rather complex directions here. It's in the 12th floor lounge at 113 W. 60th St.

Open City #30 — reading and party

The new issue of Open City has a story of mine—I'll be reading (with Alissa Quart) at the party around 8 tonight. It's at The Magician, 118 Rivington (Essex/Norfolk). $15 gets you open bar and a copy of the issue (which also features one of my favorite novelists of yore, Louis B. Jones)...

Reminder! SWEET: Actors Reading Writers (12/2)

This Thursday (12/2) at 7:30 p.m. at Three of Cups (83 First Ave. @ 5th St.), come listen to actress Joya Mia Italiano reading from Personal Days!

Other performers will do dramatic readings of work by Sonya Chung, Jonathan Dixon, poet Maya Pindyck, and the one and only Amanda Filipacchi, whose Love Creeps is one of my favorite comic novels.

(Here's the Facebook page for Sweet: Actors Reading Writers. And here's the same information configured slightly differently on my glorious webpage.)

"Bound to Last"

A piece I wrote on E. Gary Gygax's Dungeon Masters Guide (TSR) is in an interesting new anthology, Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book (Da Capo), edited by Sean Manning. The introduction is by Ray Bradbury, and contributors include Sarah Manguso (on Ripley's Believe It or Not!), Karen Joy Fowler, David Hajdu, Karen Green, Jim Knipfel (on Mason & Dixon), Anthony Swofford, J. Courtney Sullivan, Jim Shepard...

(Bonus! You can listen to me, editor Sean Manning, and contributor Sigrid Nuñez discuss the book on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show.)

Two new pieces

I have two new pieces up/out:

1. For Bookforum, I look at the 16th (and 14th) edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.

2. For the Poetry Foundation, I meditate on Garrett Caples's pamphlet, "Quintessence of the Minor: Symbolist Poetry in English," and John Ashbery and James Schuyler's novel, A Nest of Ninnies.

Dramatic reading! 12/2

On Thursday, December 2, Personal Days will be one of five books being interpreted—dramatically!—by SWEET Actors Reading Writers. The actress Joya Mia Italiano will read from the novel; also featured will be work by Sonya Chung, Jonathan Dixon, and Amanda Filipacchi—our greatest living "pure" comic novelist!

The event takes place at Three of Cups, 83 First Ave. at 5th St.