Thisbe Nissen: Tour Diary
Preliminaries - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - Day 6 - Day 7 - Day 8 - Day 9 - Day 10 - Day 11 -Day 12 - Day 13 - Day 14 - Day 15 - Day 16 - Day 17 - Day 18 - Day 19 - Day 20 - Day 21 - Day 22 - Day 23 - Day 24 - Day 25 - Day 26 - Day 27 - Day 28 - Day 29 - Home Diary -
July 25 -
July 26
Day 4: Monday June 5, New York, NY
Still recovering. Erin (Ergenbright, my good friend and co-author of The
Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook, due out god-knows when from Harper Collins) arrived in
NY from Portland, Oregon late last night, and we laze around the house until
I have to go meet folks downtown for a Newsday interview. And of course, now
that I'm in NY I am compelled to feel horribly ugly, which is how I show up
for the photo shoot. The photographer is very kind and makes it almost
painless. The Newsday interviewer appears to have led the exact same life I
have and I want to stay at the tea shop chatting with her long after the tape
has run out and all her questions answered. Erin and I wander NY for a while
and run into my childhood friend / high school friend / prom date/ friend at
the Angelika movie theater downtown where none of us can decide what to see.
Erin and I go to eat at Dojo where I must come whenever I am in NY for my
favorite hijiki salad. Another independent bookstore has closed down -- this
one on West Broadway, where Chris and I browsed last time we were in the
city. It's a sad thing. We finally do go to the movies and see The Center of
the World, which we both liked quite a lot, and which I'd almost be compelled
to see again. Really good. After the movie, on the way to the subway at
Astor Place we stop into B&N to see where the book is (something I seem to
absolutely HAVE to do at every bookstore I pass, which makes me feel very
pathetic somehow, but apparently not quite pathetic enough to stop doing it)
and it's not anywhere. Not on the front kiosk thing, not on the
recently-reviewed-in-the-Times rack, not on the new fiction shelf. I am sad--
do they hate me? what did I do wrong when I last read here? -- but Erin takes
matters into her hands and accosts a poor clerk while I hide in the corner
and pretend to browse the new sci-fi releases. Turns out they've sold 13
copies in the last few days. "So why haven't you ordered more?" Erin
demands. There are promises to get right on that. We slink away.
We stay up too late to watch David Letterman, because Bo Ramsey (local Iowa
City guitar legend and friend) is playing with Lucinda Williams. We are
nearly asleep when he finally appears on screen in all his glory. Yay Bo! We
fall to bed, exhausted.
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