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Excuse me while I geek out
Jan. 10th, 2009 11:36 amThe other night I was wandering the aisles of a used bookstore, not looking for anything in particular, when I thought of Louise Erdrich, author of Love Medicine, one of my favorite books of all time. It occurred to me that I didn't own and hadn't any read her other titles, and that I should see if any of them were in stock.
So I headed over to the Es in the fiction section, started scanning the shelves, and felt my heart stop when my eyes landed on the spine of a Tony Earley book. I hadn't thought of this author in years, but the name struck a deep chord because his short story, "Charlotte" is another all-time favorite.
I first discovered it thanks to Joe Meno, a writing professor of mine who recommended that I read it since it touches on wrestling. Earley uses in-ring conflict as metaphor, masterfully illustrating the shattered dreams of the story's narrator, a wrestling fan, through the outcome of a highly anticipated grudge match between two fictional wrestlers, Bob Noxious and Lord Poetry. I've been dying to add this to my library ever since, but had trouble finding it in stores, and never thought to just order it through Amazon.
Needless to say, you can imagine how excited I was over this random find, so I pulled the book, a short story collection, off the shelf. I checked the table of contents and sure enough, there was "Charlotte," better than buried treasure as far as I was concerned.
I forgot all about my quest for Louise Erdrich and bounced up and down, hugging the book to my chest, that's how important it was. I didn't let go until I had to hand it across the counter to the cashier. I couldn't wait to get home to read once it was scanned and purchased, and I'm happy to report that the story has held up nicely.
Nothing, and I mean nothing feels better than moments like this, finding pleasure and exhilaration where you least expect it. Doesn't happen to me all that often, but when it does the effect tends to linger for days.
So I headed over to the Es in the fiction section, started scanning the shelves, and felt my heart stop when my eyes landed on the spine of a Tony Earley book. I hadn't thought of this author in years, but the name struck a deep chord because his short story, "Charlotte" is another all-time favorite.
I first discovered it thanks to Joe Meno, a writing professor of mine who recommended that I read it since it touches on wrestling. Earley uses in-ring conflict as metaphor, masterfully illustrating the shattered dreams of the story's narrator, a wrestling fan, through the outcome of a highly anticipated grudge match between two fictional wrestlers, Bob Noxious and Lord Poetry. I've been dying to add this to my library ever since, but had trouble finding it in stores, and never thought to just order it through Amazon.
Needless to say, you can imagine how excited I was over this random find, so I pulled the book, a short story collection, off the shelf. I checked the table of contents and sure enough, there was "Charlotte," better than buried treasure as far as I was concerned.
I forgot all about my quest for Louise Erdrich and bounced up and down, hugging the book to my chest, that's how important it was. I didn't let go until I had to hand it across the counter to the cashier. I couldn't wait to get home to read once it was scanned and purchased, and I'm happy to report that the story has held up nicely.
Nothing, and I mean nothing feels better than moments like this, finding pleasure and exhilaration where you least expect it. Doesn't happen to me all that often, but when it does the effect tends to linger for days.
