Oh, and the Reading? That Went Great

I went to Housing Works last night to see Elliot Perlman read from Seven Types of Ambiguity, and the poor fellow had his left arm bound up in a sling. Turns out that he was in Seattle last week on his book tour and, trying to make it back to New York in time for another reading here, got stuck on the runway at SeaTac for nearly two hours before American finally decided to cancel his flight. So they told him that if he ran over to the Continental terminal, he could catch a ride with them. He does this, and they tell him, sure, but only if he goes back to the ticket counters and gets a ticket. So off he runs again, backpack on his shoulder and wheeling a suitcase behind him, and suddenly--BAM! He falls directly onto his left arm, breaking it. Luckily, a doctor passing by had the resourcefulness to create a makeshift sling out of her scarf, but he still had to get onto the plane with that broken arm, because he just couldn't miss the event here in Manhattan.

(Also on the bill at Housing Works: Adam Langer, whose Crossing California is due in trade paperback in just a month or so. Impatient readers amongst you can still spring for the hardcover, and in all fairness it would be money well spent based on what I heard.)