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I gave up on this gorgeous novel on p. 56 on November 1, because it was so meandering to the point of near plotlessness. But I gave my niece a copy for Christmas — she has a longer attention span — and as I wrote the inscription Christmas morning, decided to give it another go. I don't expect to finish it, or even try, but return to it — periodically — almost like a book of poetry, which it resembles. (I need a daily rush of prose inspiration regardless, but especially in the

I just had a wonderful time visiting my family in Chicago for Christmas. So good to see everyone. (And it cleared my head to break through on a chapter that was giving me fits in my gay soldiers book.) It always feels good to come home, though. Usually. I'd not been out of NYC enough, and starting to OD on it a but, but as we descended toward JFK, the most gorgeous sunset greeted us. None of these pics employed a filter — it just looked that great. Here's my favorite shot: Th

I'm visiting my family for Christmas, and signed several copies of Columbine at local bookstores around the Chicago suburbs the past few days: 4 copies: Barnes & Noble Old Orchard, Skokie, IL. 3 copies: Barnes & Noble Evanston, IL. 6 copies: Barnes & Noble Schaumburg, IL. 2 copies: Barbara's Bookstores at O'Hare at Terminal 2. You can phone them to order a copy, or I sign periodically at several NYC stores. Columbine ordering information here. If you know Korean speakers, her

So I posted here about giving up on Huck Finn, and also on my Facebook page. That drew a lot of heated reaction, by people who loved the book. My take on much of the response was essentially, No it did have a plot, because it was a character study, a commentary on race, a picaresque novel. Exactly. It had all those wonderful things, which is why I gushed so hard in my first post about Huck. But it didn't have much plot, so my interest waned. (But also, because it did all thos

Halfway through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I think I’ve given up. The writing is glorious, scene-setting vivid and satire hysterical, but . . . no plot. I get it, got what I’m going to. I need a story to sustain me. I do actually need to go back and study some of it more. Maybe I'll read a bit more then. I started A Little Life. Update: I got quite the Facebook response to this, and posted much more about it here.

What an exciting day. My Korean translation of Columbine just arrived. It looks beautiful. I love the tasteful layout inside and the elegant title pages for each section as well. I've gotten such a great response from Korean-American readers, and happy Koreans can finally read it in their native language. Of course we included all the updates in the expanded American edition, including the afterward, epilogue, school diagram and journal scans from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebol

and you see the mist curl up off of the water, and the east reddens up, and the river, and you make out a log cabin in the edge of the woods

I'm pleased to say Showtime's new Columbine documentary—the 8th and final episode of their really good Active shooter series—hit it