Sort Of Off Topic, But Still Bookish

I used to see Tao Lin's name now and then back when I spent my time at Readerville instead of blogging. I was never entirely sure if he was for real. It seems he is.

Lin has two books coming out. According to the TONY article, "Eeeee Eee Eeee concerns the travails of Andrew, a twentysomething pizza delivery guy with a penchant for intellectual contemplation and zero career ambition." This sounds as if it could be for that mystery age group of late teen/early twenty-something readers.

Here was the part of the article that really struck me, though. "It’s the first double-book fiction debut since Ann Beattie released Distortions and Chilly Scenes of Winter simultaneously in 1976."

I remember when that happened! Beattie had attended UConn. Maybe for graduate school. I can't remember. And I was working at UConn. Beattie got an enormous amount of press at the school over those two books. I, on the other hand, wouldn't have my first short story published for another seven years.

I was bitter and angry. That was before I found Zen, of course, and learned that desire leads only to unhappiness. I'm much better now.

By the way, that was also before UConn had heard of basketball.