Comments on: The Real Amazon

By: CJ

CJ — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:30:48 +0000

You’re the greatest, Allison! I’m sure I’m not the only gay man who wished he was a lesbian when DTWOF first appeared in print.

I finished reading Fun House tonight. Thanks.

By: Deep in the Heart » Blog Archive » fun house, amazon, and alison bechdel

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:02:10 +0000

[...] Thursday night Jen and I did something we rarely do – we went to a lesbian event. Since the event was one block away from our house, we hardly had an excuse not to go to Alison Bechdel’s reading/book signing of her new graphic novel, Fun House. Bechdel is the author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a series started during the 80s and continuing today. The bookstore in the strip, Madwimmin Books, is based on Amazon Bookstore, formerly located near Loring Park (near where Joe’s Garage is now), but now conveniently located a block from our house. See Bechdel’s pictures and comments on the event here: http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/the-real-amazon [...]

By: towheedork

towheedork — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:39:08 +0000

I should add that, at the time of my misspelling, my duties included editing the company catalog. We were not in the coconut business, so I don’t think many people noticed (whew), but still. Just what you want in an editor, eh?

And, if you should happen to remember my turn through the book-signing queue at all, and have the time to answer pointless questions here, my girlfriend and I wonder: were you laughing with me, as she thinks, or at me, as most people tend to do? Don’t worry. I’m used to it.

By: towheedork

towheedork — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 03:58:40 +0000

I fifty-something (how many of us were there?) thanks and appreciation for visiting the Amazon. And I know there were many more who’d dearly wanted to show up to express theirs in person but couldn’t make it. You’re incredibly gracious dealing with inarticulate stammerers–long practice? Like those who, instead of a simple adoring “thank you”, must mention the dumbest, most obsessive things. Here’s another of ‘em, and I do feel bad about “outing” you when it’s something like this, since now it’s not just my boringly personal bullshit: we’ve both fallen victim to a misspelling/misprint/typo of “desiccated” in a horribly public way. And I have to kind of love you for it, even while I cringe in sympathy. I’m sorry.

(in case you wonder, mine was a company-wide office-supply conservation effort in the form of a poem. “Lament of a Dessicated [sic] Sharpie”. I told you I was a big dork. I suspect you’ll find some consolation in the fact that you have several million more fans than I have, are many orders of magnitude cuter than I could ever be, you can laugh all the way to the bank while the best I’ll ever manage is a feeble titter, etc.)

Oh, don’t mind me. Thank you, congratulations on the Times list, and happy touring/homecoming. Never forget, you rock like Bach.

By: Deb

Deb — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 03:44:13 +0000

You know you still have your feet on the ground when you can have a donation jar for your plane fare collected at the best grass roots book stores! Having started a few non-profit agencies the good old fashioned grass roots way, I really loved the pix of the donation jar! You may get as big as a “super star” but as long as you have a donation jar along the way in your stardom, you will be fine!

By: --MC

--MC — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:15:50 +0000

Speaking of touring, Tom Waits is planning an eight day tour of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Ohio this year. His statement about the tour is “We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky.”
Perhaps if somebody owed Alison money in Kingston ..

By: Abigail Garner

Abigail Garner — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:48:35 +0000

To Chaka and others who feel slightly snubbed that Alison isn’t speaking somewhere specific:

I doubt Alison has the luxury to “consider” the Caribbean, much less “reconsider” it. You’d be amazed at how little control an author has about where she is traveling/speaking. It’s the issue of who will cover the expenses. The Midwest let of the tour was exceptional and very grassroots, as you can see from the donation jar and a volunteer driver to take the road trip with her.

I say this as an author who also received emails from people who thought I was deliberately overlooking their town/country/bookstore. Unless/until the publisher is backing her up with a serious travel budget, it’s not fiscally possible.

Hopefully Fun Home will continue to climb up the NYT list, and her publisher will see it as a no-brainer to send her on a world tour. If that happens I will eat these words happily.

http://www.AbigailGarner.net

By: Jaibe

Jaibe — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:10:27 +0000

Maybe that’s why your publisher underestimated how many books you’d sell, if they wrote off the entire midwest. Sheesh, what coastal thinking! If you look at the red/blue divide *by county*, you’ll see everwhere with a dense population (e.g. all along rivers & such) voted blue.

By: Chaka

Chaka — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 16:33:38 +0000

Alison, your journey is so fresh…But is there any reason as to why you won’t consider leaving the United States and coming abroad to promote Fun Home or any of the work that you have been doing for the past few years? In order for me to get your book, I had it sent from my home in Brooklyn, to Kingston, Jamaica West Indies to Havana, Cuba..Please reconsider…You have heavy fans all over the Caribbean…

By: --MC

--MC — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:23:14 +0000

How can we contribute toward paying for Alison’s missionary jaunt to the benighted Midwest? Where can I Paypal? The Catholic guilt is killing me.