Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

from the diary, January 2, 1989:

"[I] read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh [by Michael Chabon], which is [a novel] about a college student who has an odd summer falling in love with a girl, Phlox, and a boy, Arthur. Not bad."

At 24 I was hoping for something more gay. I remember Mysteries being recommended by a coworker at the Santa Rosa Jr College library. The coworker was a writer; he said he admired Chabon’s prose. Mysteries is a first novel.

These days Chabon’s novels get long waiting lists at the library. Chabon lives in Berkeley, so is a neighbor. I served him once at the circulation desk and he got irritated with me because he was in a hurry and I was doing something too slow, maybe trying to make sure I had his receipts ready and he just wanted his change. Ah, our brushes with celebrity!

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