I walked to the one place in Los Angeles I knew I had to see: Family Bookstore. It's a small place on Fairfax with a curated collection of art books, magazines, fiction and comics. But I was there to see Trinie Dalton read from her new Two Dollar Radio book, Baby Geisha. I loved Wide-Eyed and much of Sweet Tomb and couldn't wait for more sticky stories to warm my winter.
The start of the reading was sort of weird because we were all huddled in the dark listening to the beginnings of a few of the stories in the first part of the book. Because Dalton's characterization is a big part of what I like about her work, it was strange to hear her luscious stories being filtered through her calm speaking voice, which made each piece seem similar to the one before it. The reason we were in the dark was for the second part of the reading: a slideshow of plant images that went along with readings from some in-progress stuff she is working on. I really enjoyed this part of the reading. It was a interesting look into process--she showed lists of plants and images of those plants piled up into a collage as she read stories inspired by them. I found the combination of the images and reading hypnotic. Even though I felt strange saying it to her face, and even though I called it "Burgertime," it was great to be able to tell her how much 'Animal Story' meant to me.
Check her out at Spoonbill & Sugartown in Brooklyn on March 11th @ 7pm.
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Family Bookstore, inside:
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