I Met Michael Chabon and Embarrassed Myself

ByAnne Logan
36 Comments
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I have a terrible admission to make: I’ve never read a book by Michael Chabon. What is wrong with me? I know he’s a good writer, and I NOW know he’s a nice person, so what is my problem? I need to fix this asap, so I’m on the hunt for a good Chabon book.

How do I know he’s a nice person? I’m so glad you asked! This past week he visited the University of Calgary as part of the Distinguished Writers Program, and I was invited to an (exclusive!) reception before his keynote event where we got to meet him in person and eat delicious free food. I made the rookie mistake of talking to too many people and missing the majority of the tasty noms, so of course I was starving for the second half the night. But on the bright side I did get a chance to chat with Chabon, and our conversation went something like this:

Me: (nervously approaching Chabon) Hi, I’m Anne Logan, President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

Chabon: (graciously pretending like he knows what the WGA is) Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you.

Me: Thank you so much for visiting us, it’s an honour to have you here in Calgary. Would you mind if I took a photo with you? I have a book blog and I’d love to post about this.

Chabon: Of course, but it has to be a selfie.

The Chabon selfie
The Chabon selfie

Me: (trying desperately to make eye contact with the photographer) Oh really? Because my phone is pretty old, it’s from 2011 and it doesn’t always work very well, so maybe a picture from the event photographer would be better?

Chabon: Did they even make cellphones back then?

Me: Um…yes?

Chabon: No, let’s do a selfie, I’ll show you how

Me: Uh ok

(Chabon then maneuvers us into a suitable selfie position, I ask him if I have to flip the phone around, he laughs at me and pushes the button on the screen that does this instead. Somewhere back at home, my husband probably cringes as he can sense that I’m embarrassing myself out in public somewhere at that very moment. Yes, I’m a blogger who doesn’t understand technology very well, and I doubt I’m the only one!).

Me: Perfect, thanks very much!

Chabon: No problem, it was fun!

(Chabon is then distracted by another admirer, and I quickly email myself the photo before my phone inevitably dies or freezes).

Back to my conundrum-which of Chabon’s books should I start with?

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36 Comments

  1. I’ve read a few by Chabon and really enjoyed them all. I recommend The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay or The Yiddish Policeman’s Union to start. His non-fiction book Maps and Legends is also really good if you’re at all interested in the process of writing.

  2. That’s very funny. At least you didn’t have to pretend you read some of his books. Try The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay.

    2. Well, sure. I guess I meant more that you didn’t have to admit never having read him. But if that doesn’t bother you, then it wouldn’t have been embarrassing?

    3. yes I guess not, although maybe he could have been a big jerk about it, and acted offended that I haven’t read his books either-I suppose it’s a toss up. Although for the record, he didn’t seem like that kind of author :)

  3. Oh, I see Naomi says not. Well, in that case, maybe Wonder Boys would be a good choice. Or Moonglow, his latest, is really interesting.

  4. What an adorable post. Great picture, great admission. You are not alone. I’d love it if you’d join our FB group called Networking Bloggers. We are there to help each other through blogging issues. :) I published one of your reviews last October. I’m updating it to promote it on social media. I’d like a picture of you to add to your bio section.

    2. Easy peasy, just go to networking bloggers on FB and either click the join button or permission to join. I think it’s still a public group. Maria was talking about closing it, but either way, I’ll click you in. I hope you don’t mind that I added your picture to the bio section of the post you wrote for me. I cropped Michael out of it a little bit.

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