Sep 28 2008
Writering -or- Junot Diaz: Check.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao --by Junot Diaz
I have ticked off another box on my Writering Life List (…like birding, but with authors).
Junot Diaz was sitting across from me on the subway the other morning. I was on my way to work, so it was early; I feared my senses were still blurry from having just woken. But there was really no mistaking it. Having seen his picture everywhere when our friends at Harvard Book Store hosted a reading with him, I was familiar with that stubble, that hairline (or lack thereof), those glasses, and that peculiarly frowning mouth. It was him.
Did I go up him and tell him how much I loved Oscar Wao? Of course not! Would you casually saunter up to a pileated woodpecker if you spotted one and tell him how brilliantly red his crest was? Of course not! Most writers are known to be solitary creatures, skittish at the sight of fans clutching books to their chests, grinning shyly, practicing softly under their breath how to say, “I’ve been the biggest fan for…” without sounding like that guy.
So no, I did not bother him. Besides, he was reading.
(I squinted, but couldn’t make out what it was – a hardback he had cleverly removed the jacket from, white with red spine and lettering.) Also, he has already been spotted by a friend of mine, so I cannot claim a first on this. He teaches writing at MIT, so of course I’d run into him at some point, right? …But I was shaking as I nervously and ineffectually tried to make eye-contact. Besides, I’m never confident I’m saying his name correctly, anyway.
We have our fair share of brushes with fame here at The GCB. Besides all the authors who come to speak, we have a number of ridiculously famous writers, musicians, and actors stroll in to browse the shelves. I, naturally, never realize who they are until too late: until they’re out the door and I’m holding a crumpled credit card receipt yelling, “Who? That guy?!” at my coworkers.
This is why Writering is such a difficult pastime. How many of your favorite authors would you recognize on the street? I’d probably get all grumpy and snotty with John Updike just for being an old white guy before I realized I was talking to one of my favorite novelists of all time. (Jamaica Kincaid, on the other hand, I spotted down the street before she even came in the store – she is not one to look like anyone else.) But I’ll not complain; it’s more fun that way. And I won’t complain about being the second staff member to spot Diaz. I’ll definitely not complain about living in a city so rife with writers! In fact, I’ll enjoy my spotting and declare it a brief wondrous sighting of Junot Diaz.
Read more: Author Crush, Boston, Fiction, Globe Corner Bookstore, Junot Diaz, NewsLlalan specializes in all things Ohio, but has funny stories from all over the US and Canada, plus a few snort-inducing ones from Thailand. And not only does she read books from around the world, she also samples beers in as many languages as possible. Favorite style: the multi-national American Double IPA.
Junot Diaz: swoon inducing writer, sure. But possible subway tease? I feel like my life has a little less meaning now that I am no longer in the same city as my new(ish) favorite fiction author.
Maybe we should start an interactive map and post pictures of our sightings. But, you know, not in a stalking kind of way. We could call it the “Junot-meter” (rhymes with thermometer)!