Books: The Night Listener
November 8, 2009 | Books
I just finished reading The Night Listener: A Novel by Armistead Maupin. I feel sort of like a chump after reading it but not as gullible as Gabriel Noone (and, one might guess — Maupin). No, I felt chumpy because if I’d heard the true story, I’d forgotten it. The book is almost 10 years old. Gah. (It’s got a “bargain priced” sticker on it so who knows when or where I got it.) I know who Maupin is, but I’d never read any of his work. I’m not sure why I chose to read it now, but it’s the second book almost in a row to make me think, gee, are *all* the people in Wisconsin crazy? Which made me hesitate when I saw this book yesterday:
Except for the Oprah sticker on front, it looked terribly inviting. What I read on the book jacket made it sound like a wonderful story … except the thing about Wisconsin. Nah, I thought. I think I need to stop with the crazy cheeseheads for a while. But then the bookstore owner unintentionally talked me into it by telling me how much she liked it. So, I’ll read it soon.
In the meantime, I’m reading this.
I got to meet the author yesterday. More on that when I’m done reading.
But … back to Maupin. He’s such a helpless romantic, and that annoys me. But I can mostly forgive that because of his stories (especially the bejewelled elephants) and the way he tells them. His Gabriel Noone wanted to get the story right. And he did. Just not in the way he intended.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
[…] I got to meet the author last week, and it was fun hearing her tell the stories behind the book. Posted by Becky @ 9:09 pm […]
January 18th, 2010 at 6:02 am
[…] The Night Listener: A Novel by Armistead Maupin […]