John Hodgman At Bookpeople

Most book readings/signings are boring and serve only to remind us why we hate books and prefer television shows about people pretending to date one another in exchange for prizes. But most authors are not reading from books that contain ‘all world knowledge’ including extensive information about hobos while accompanied by their own troubadour in a coon skin cap and then conducting Q&A via walkie talkie. John Hodgman, however, took all these quite obvious steps, and his reading was big success as a result.

I wish I’d taped it or drawn some of those courtroom style sketches to illustrate just how entertaining it was. All I have are my memories, which grow fuzzier with each passing moment. It’s the warm and fuzzy kind of fuzzy, not the bourbon and sleep on the lawn kind, but still, I’m too stingy to share. You should have gone. You should have lived in Austin and you should have gone. But you didn’t and now you have to live with that.