Library Saturday!

In the process of finishing DYING LIGHT, which I wrote about a while back. "Prof lit" could probably be its own subgenre, people who write about the academic life, university politics, etc. Richard Russo is another who covers this a lot [STRAIGHT MAN and THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC most of all.] Not all of Hays' stories are about this, but a good number of them are about teachers, coaches, etc., who find themselves in trouble. Well, now that I think about it only three of the stories were, but they are the ones that stick out most in my mind.

Does anyone else find it strange when they have some kind of personal acquaintance with an author, read their book, and find out that it has a lot of sexual shenanigans going on in it? Two of my professors [both Southern male ex-jock types, btw] have written books like that. I don't know, probably people who aren't English majors aren't as likely to make the acquaintance of authors. Anyway, I always find it strange--as if the author is admitting me to their private life. Even if it is fictional. One great idea from one of the Donald Hays [he actually goes by "Skip"] stories...basically, if you hang around a writer long enough, you will eventually end up as material.

Very excited to find that one of my other favorite authors, Larry McMurtry, released another memoir last year that I somehow did not find out about, and the local library has a copy which I shall pick up tomorrow!