Friday 13 August 2010

Time magazine has made Jonathan Franzen their coverboy using the line “Great American Novelist”. It’s a big deal because, as the Los Angeles Times reports, the last living novelist Time had on the cover was Stephen King back almost ten years ago.

The Time piece seems gently reverential right down to the “crow’s-feet behind his thick-framed nerd glasses” and his forthcoming fourth novel, Freedom, is called “the story of an American family, told with extraordinary power and richness”. As part of the Franzen fiesta there’s also five novels that inspired him, plus there’s his recent pick of The Man Who Loved Children for his favourite summer read.

We’d probably add to it his New Yorker essay on his love of the Peanuts comic strip, but the real question is whether Oprah will be picking up his new book after he snubbed her book club with The Corrections.

Charles and Meyer before meeting Easton Ellis

Few authors attain rock star status, but Bret Easton Ellis' Australian tour has had it’s fair share of pyrotechnics and brought out some odd fans. Like who? According to Elmo Keep, Easton Ellis was asked to help Delta Goodrem out with Stateside work. He told Keep, “I’m getting phone calls from Brian McFadden’s manager asking if I can get Delta a job in LA. And I’m like, ‘I don’t really know what she wants to do.’”

But now he’s hit Melbourne, the requests are much simpler. Author Kathy Charles and blogger Angela Meyer met him yesterday. Both were excited at the prospect, Charles bringing along a galley proof of Easton Ellis' Lunar Park that she bought on eBay for US$120 for the cult author to sign. And what was she expecting from the man? “I think he’s going to be really nice, because that’s what everyone says he’s like,” Charles said.

Easton Ellis himself was getting psyched for tonight’s appearance with Alan Brough. When asked what he’s expecting tonight, Easton Ellis said “It’s going to be different than most events I did on this tour of the US, the UK and now Australia, because it’s a very big event.” We’re expecting nothing short of Glamorama.