Chuck Klosterman Book Reading, Quite Fun

Thanks to a dirty habit of reading the AM New York on the subway in the morning (which is promptly followed by reading USA Today on the train), I noticed Chuck Klosterman was slotted to read at the Union Square Barnes & Noble this evening.

Generally speaking, book readings are sort of weird - the primary reason being because they often take place in a bookstore... with a podium. Ever hear of a bar? Nevertheless, I popped in at 7 pm prompt and despite being amongst what I would estimate at 150 people, I got a seat up front.

Chuck came out, made a crack about the decision to walk up the stairs or the ramp to the podium, rattled off a funny anecdote about iPhone's being equipped with crappy versions of every phone application known to man/woman, and peeled open the cover of his new book, "Downtown Owl." Unbeknownst to me, the book is actually Klosterman's first attempt at a full length work of fiction, which is great news. Not wanting to reveal too much about the characters or confuse the fact that it is really based on three primary characters, he chose to read one chapter about a peripheral character, a gym teacher whose vice is impregnating high school girls.

The writing felt much like his personal writing, but obviously sans the herba buena induced internal dialogue which is replaced with fictional character dialogue. The charm is the same and the reading piqued the interest level for sure. I did space out for a while wondering about when I read this book, how weird it will be to get to the chapter a) I already heard read aloud and b) if I will visualize the exact surroundings of Barnes & Noble (primarily the instructions on getting an autographed copy of the book that are neatly adhered to the back of every single seat).

But, the best part of seeing a book reading or the like is hearing the bonkers questions people come up with at the Q&A.

Of course, some dude asked about Buzz Bissinger, Will Leitch, the Internet, and all that. Klosterman basically said what we all know. Blogs suck because there are too many and most aren't very good. So it goes.

Another guy asked come January, "Who will be the Super Bowl champ and who will be president?" Chuck first responded confidently, "Obama will win, but it's gonna be really close" and then decided on the spot, "Philadelphia will be Super Bowl champs." Good choice, but nobody will be Super Bowl champs in January. The game is actually in February.

One person asked the most impossible question of all time. I actually got nervous thinking that I was at an interview. "If you could go back in time and ask one person a single question, who and what would it be?" The answer: "Jesus. How did you let this all happen?" or something to that effect. It was pretty hilarious. Then he went on a funny tangent describing a game he and his buddies play where they ask random questions and once asked, "If you could call your 15 year old self for 20 seconds, what would you say?" This led to a mockery of his friends who said "Buy Google stock." I suppose I would tell myself to go see the Dead before Jerry kicks the can. Actually, I'd say to buy Google.

Finally, I almost forgot, someone asked him "If you had to give up either sports or music for the rest of your life, which would it be." Shockingly, he said he would nix music citing that he enjoys just sitting there and watching and listening to sports more as well as the fact that he liked sports first by a margin of 8 years old to 11. I think that might be a bad call actually.

Anyway, I always really liked Chuck Klosterman, but I like him more now. He genuinely wanted to stand up there and keep answering questions even after the B&N host gave him the "2 more questions" cue on separate occasions and he genuinely thanked everyone for coming. It always seems like you know a writerto some extent or a musician when you connect with their work, but it's definitely cool when you can kinda confirm it, which is what this reading did today.