Reading News

On Tuesday I picked up my signed first edition of Lawrence Block's Enough Rope. This is a collection of pretty much all his short stories in one place. The thing is huge, nearly 900 pages, and nicely organized. There are 9 Matthew Scudder stories in it and I think I've only read one or two, so needless to say I'm totally stoked. I've been pondering some short fiction of my own (an ailment I occasionally come down with like a winter cold). I even have a pretty solid, fleshed idea of one that I'm going to tinker with this morning. (I know, insane considering all the work I have to do for the novel, but I can't resist.) So it'll be nice to read through some stories in the Block collection for inspiration.

Oh, and if you're wondering how I got a signed copy, Mr. Block, though not touring for this book's release, when to the publisher's warehouse to sign copies and send to certain specialty mystery bookstores across the country. Lucky for me, The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood is a frequent host of Block's when he's in Los Angeles and was on the list to receive signed copies. I love The Mystery Bookstore.

I've been glowing since Tuesday. The only setback is I'm already in the middle of reading two books while trying to write my own and time is scarce. And school starts up again in a matter of weeks. Will I ever get to read Enough Rope? Tune in next week to find out! Same bat time...Ah, you know the routine.