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B.J. Novak and "The Ghost of Mark Twain"
Mar. 12th, 2014 09:43 pmI got to meet B.J. Novak tonight. Most of you know him as Ryan Howard from The Office, but did you know he wrote a book of short stories? It's called One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories. And it's awesome.
He did a book signing down at Book People tonight, the local indie bookshop here in Austin. He read a few short stories from his book and I wish I could have heard him read them all. I'm going to have to buy the audio of the book because hearing him read his stories was just wonderful. They were even funnier that way. I was probably one of the few there who had actually read the book. You could tell a lot of people were only there because of The Office.
I've been to quite a few book signings and sometimes (like with Lev Grossman) I'm horribly nervous, and others it's not so bad. I wasn't really nervous meeting B.J. In fact, I went up to him and thanked him for writing "The Ghost of Mark Twain." He thanked me, and was very genuine about it, and told me that nobody says that to him.
This flustered me. Quite badly. I don't know why. I tried to tell him that part of the reason was because of when that publisher published that Huckleberry Finn that was completely censored. I didn't quite get that sentence out but I think he knew what he was talking about and agreed with me.
I can only wonder why nobody has brought this story up with him like this. I guess he's never met anyone as passionate about banned books as I am. "The Ghost of Mark Twain" is about censorship, but it doesn't go the route you think it does. It's awesome.
I got so flustered from his thanking me, it must have been the way he thanked me, that I totally didn't bring up what else I was going to say. Like how I had to listen to The Duke of Earl after reading ""Everyone Was Singing the Same Song"; The Duke of Earl Recalls His Trip to America in June of 1962," and how "The Ghost of Mark Twain" is my favorite story in the book. At least I managed to hold off my squeeing and giggling until I was away from him.
He was wonderful and I'm so glad I got to meet him.
Have some pictures :)
( pictures )
He did a book signing down at Book People tonight, the local indie bookshop here in Austin. He read a few short stories from his book and I wish I could have heard him read them all. I'm going to have to buy the audio of the book because hearing him read his stories was just wonderful. They were even funnier that way. I was probably one of the few there who had actually read the book. You could tell a lot of people were only there because of The Office.
I've been to quite a few book signings and sometimes (like with Lev Grossman) I'm horribly nervous, and others it's not so bad. I wasn't really nervous meeting B.J. In fact, I went up to him and thanked him for writing "The Ghost of Mark Twain." He thanked me, and was very genuine about it, and told me that nobody says that to him.
This flustered me. Quite badly. I don't know why. I tried to tell him that part of the reason was because of when that publisher published that Huckleberry Finn that was completely censored. I didn't quite get that sentence out but I think he knew what he was talking about and agreed with me.
I can only wonder why nobody has brought this story up with him like this. I guess he's never met anyone as passionate about banned books as I am. "The Ghost of Mark Twain" is about censorship, but it doesn't go the route you think it does. It's awesome.
I got so flustered from his thanking me, it must have been the way he thanked me, that I totally didn't bring up what else I was going to say. Like how I had to listen to The Duke of Earl after reading ""Everyone Was Singing the Same Song"; The Duke of Earl Recalls His Trip to America in June of 1962," and how "The Ghost of Mark Twain" is my favorite story in the book. At least I managed to hold off my squeeing and giggling until I was away from him.
He was wonderful and I'm so glad I got to meet him.
Have some pictures :)
( pictures )
