Galassi, Clegg Simultaneously Release

Yesterday was the on sale date of superagent Bill Clegg's second book Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery [Kindle] detailing the slow comeback from his quick ruin in Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man [Kindle]. This month also sees the publication of supereditor Jonathan Galassi's third book of poems Left-handed [Kindle], about an older married father who unexpectedly falls in love with a younger man, called Jude, inspired by Bill Clegg. Both writers are touring now, but don't expect them to read together.

Try as he did, Salon's Thomas Rogers couldn't get Bill to discuss the poems or his longtime boyfriend Ira Sachs' movie based on their relationship and breakup:

"You’ve been the rumored “muse” of a few projects that have gotten coverage in the media in the last few months. How does it feel to be the subject of that kind of attention?

"I don’t really have anything to say about that.

"One of those projects, the film “Keep the Lights On,” recently got a distribution deal. Did you have any participation in that?

"I guess I can’t really speak to any books or films that any other people wrote that I may or may not be connected to by speculation in magazines and elsewhere. It’s not my place."

Ira himself has said Keep the Lights On draws from personal experience and his distributor officially pitches the movie as "autobiographical." It premiered at Sundance, won the Teddy at Berlin, just screened in Hong Kong, and soon plays Tribeca. Music Box will distribute.

Because the media is celebrity-obsessed, Bill's books by movie stars overshadow the fine midlist literary work he represents like Matthew Gallaway's gay love story The Metropolis Case [Kindle], Jaimy Gordon's National Book Award winner Lord of Misrule, Bonnie Jo Campbell's Once Upon a River, Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires, Rivka Galchen's Atmospheric Disturbances [Kindle], John Donatich's Catholic novel The Variations [Kindle], and Daniyal Mueenuddin's marvelous stories set in India, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders [Kindle], several of which you've read in The New Yorker.

Jonathan Galassi will be at 192 Books on April 19. Bill Clegg talks to Katherine Lanpher at B&N Union Square tomorrow night and reads at Book Soup in Los Angeles on April 18.

Comments

[Dunnadam.blogspot.com]

I found it interesting how for the most part, although they are both telling the same story, both Sachs and Clegg make sure to tell THEIR side of it and not too heavily involve the other in their narrative. The one moment of cross over in both stories is the hand holding with the hooker.

I have read Clegg's books, Galassi's book, and tonight I saw Sachs' film and after having spent two weeks living these people's lives, I am really glad to be finished and to be able to walk away.

So many thoughts came up, the meaning of life, our interactions with our selves and with others, our insecurities and how we hide them and what we sacrifice along the way. Shame and guilt, and is shame selfish, and how to accept the past and move on, and how to learn from our mistakes and how to make better decisions.

Deep in thought for two weeks, and as I said, I am ready for a release. I head about Galassi's book from this blog and have referred many people to this post recently. Thanks much.