Read This: The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore

My latest Shelf Awareness review ran yesterday, for the much-anticipated The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, Benjamin Hale’s story of a chimpanzee who, after a combination of behavorial experiments and immersion into a human lifestyle, eventually develops the capacity to not just understand but use language… which brings with it the bittersweet gift of human intelligence. (And I do mean much-anticipated: The publisher backed this novel heavily at last year’s Book Expo America, making sure that booksellers and media alike were prepared to receive this as the literary find of 2011.)

I’m not 100% sold on this novel; as an unreliable narrator, Bruno so overwhelms the narrative that his blind spots when it comes to human nature can threaten to make other characters seem like little more than elaborate foils for his identity-forming adventures—and in a story that hinges so heavily on Bruno entering into the most human of human relationships, the character imbalances can be a serious problem. But there’s so much to enjoy in Hale’s telling—including sly allusions to everything from Shakespeare to Curious George—that I would encourage you, as I often do, to not simply take my word for it but read the novel for yourself and see if you even share my reservations.

8 February 2011 | read this |

Lady Jane’s Salon: 2nd Anniversary Tonight!

A little over two years ago, I was sitting in a bar with romance novelists Hope Tarr, Maya Rodale, and Leanna Renee Hieber. We’d just left a literary reading that I’d hosted, and got to asking ourselves why we never saw similar events for romance writers, then we decided we’d start our own. A few months later, we’d lined up the second-floor space at Madame X, where the red walls aren’t exactly velvet-lined but might as well be, invited a few authors to read, and spread the word to as many friends as we could. We kept doing it, the crowds kept getting bigger, and tonight I’m thrilled to be celebrating the second anniversary of Lady Jane’s Salon.

Our guests include Lauren Willig, the creator of the bestselling Pink Carnation series, Courtney Milan, and Caridad Ferrer, with a special appearance by Andrew Shaffer, the author of the totally nonfictional guide to Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love. We’ll also have at least one raffle prize and quite possibly a champagne toast. So if you’re in the New York City area, come join us at 7 p.m. at Madame X (94 West Houston Street); admission is just one used paperback romance novel or $5, both of which we collect for charitable donations.

The last two years have been really fun, and I’m totally looking forward to our third… especially this summer, when our salon coincides with the annual Romance Writers of America convention. But every month’s show is fantastic: We’ve demonstrated that genre fans will turn out eagerly for readings—heck, some nights I see more people in the audience than I see at “literary” events—and I’ve met a lot of fun writers, some of whom have come from the opposite end of the country just to meet some New York fans. For an idea that was hatched in the back of a bar, the Salon’s done more than all right!

7 February 2011 | events, lady jane's salon |