“PINOY SUNDAY tells the story of Manuel and Dado, two Filipino migrant workers who discover a discarded sofa. This transforms their normal Sunday into a tale of adventure, perseverance and self-discovery.“

…

“MANUEL and DADO carry the couch out of the city and into the industrial hinterland. The adventure never stops; they further encounter a near-suicide attempt and an old man who offers to ferry them and their couch—only to bring them farther from their destination. Once back on track, they decide that following the river is the shortest way to their dormitory.”

This is not a post to get the 2 readers of this blog to buy the book (you know who you are. Wait, who are you?) but I was rather surprised by the Kindle price. That’s a really cheap book.

Coen and I read The Hobbit on the Kindle app version on my phone while we were in Brazil and I have to say, it was not a bad reading experience at all. Though it did get a bit tricky when we wanted to scan back to try to remember who so-and-so was.

(Of course Powell’s has the real thing used for 10.95 )

“Simply one of the best, most enjoyable, and most original books I’ve read in a very, very long time. This novel about a fantastic orange couch is a lyrical story of a heroic quest undertaken by flawed but intrinsically good people. Humorous and glorious, celebratory of the sacred thing that lies inside each (OK, most) of us — I’m recommending Couch to everyone!”

– Beth Simpson, Cornerstone Books, Salem, MA

How fun – thanks Beth! Here’s Couch on Indiebound, which will let you pick up the book at your local bookstore.

“Couch is an ambitious novel, particularly in its good-hearted search for deeper meanings: faith, politics, and the nature of existence all receive some sort of attention here. By asking readers to readjust expectations of what the novel can look and sound like, Parzybok might very well be previewing a kind of literary-adventure hybrid niche that may be back in fashion.”

Thanks, Phil!

Danger Pony!

1) Couch was selected by Indie-Bound as a ‘Top 10 Reading Group Selection’ for Spring/Summer 2009, as mentioned on the Indie Bound website.  Christian Crider of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida said:

“Couch follows the quirky journey of Thom, Erik, and Tree as they venture into the unknown at the behest of a magical, orange couch, which has its own plan for their previously boring lives. Parzybok’s colorful characters, striking humor, and eccentric magical realism offer up an adventuresome read.”

Thanks, Christian! Here’s a link to Couch on Inkwood Books website, which seems a happy place to buy the book, or try the Indie Bound link above if, good god!, you haven’t bought it yet!? Oregonian Molly Gloss’s book The Hearts of Horses was also recommended which Laura Moulton, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant all raved about it.

2) It’s a tad early to mention this, but the Richard Hugo House in Seattle asked me to be a part of their Hugo Literary Series, about which I’m extremely excited. While I was there I saw the ‘My Avatar’ installment, featuring Christa Bell, Jennifer Finney Boylan and Vikram Chandra, super impressive performances all. The theme will be ‘Visiting Hours’ and that will happen in late November of this year. If you don’t know about the Richard Hugo House – spend some time on their website, it’s a powerhouse of a literary organization.

3) A subversive, anonymous, third-person-plural organization who call themselves ‘PDXWD‘  (formed of:  ‘a mash of wires and ponies’) talks about Couch and parking structures today. They appear to be recommending it over War and Peace, subversive indeed!

In a possibly related article: Danger Ponies banned!

4) Can someone please write a comic book called Danger Ponies?

I’m here at the Liquid Planet cafe in Missoula, Montana – across the street from Fact & Fiction where I read tonight.

The ugly house I lived in while I went to Evergreen

Two cyclops

I heart The Stranger

Secret Garden books!

Embedded scissors near Third Place Books

I rented a Prius - and spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about gas and bickering with the passive-aggressive, know-it-all (but generally fun) car. One example: I have a habit of leaning my arm on the passenger seat, which Prius would then interpret as a passenger there and would sound its PASSENGER SEATBELT! alarm. It was spooky, as if I'd picked up a ghost rider along the way.

A propellor plane! I was too shy to talk to my seat-mate who was cute and reading articles on astro-physics. Instead I went deep into reading The Manual of Detection and laughed into my sleeve half the ride over.

Fact & Fiction - so nice. They made their own posters! I want one.

<—- IS THIS IT?!

If I find the time, I may also read at a book store. The cinnamon roll quest is scheduled around the following divine cinnamony space-time manifestations:

Portland, OR – Powell’s Books, March 16th, starting at 5:00pm. I’m part of Powell’s Smallpressalooza put on by Kevin Sampsell of Future Tense, so there will be a lot of readings this night. Here’s the full list and it looks great:

5:00 Starlite Motel (“Night Bomb”)
5:15 Zachary Schomburg (“The Pond”)
5:30 Tim Sproul (“How to Leave Your Hometown for Good”)
6:00 Ronault L.S. Catalani AKA Polo (“Counter Culture”)
6:15 Emiko Badillo (“Broken Hipster” zine)
6:30 Matt Briggs (“The End Is the Beginning”)
7:00 Moe Bowstern (“Xtra Tuf” zine)
7:15 Karen Giezyng (“Bumpstart” zine)
7:30 Lia Cunningham (“The People I Love Best” zine)
8:00 Molly McNett (“One Dog Happy”)
8:15 Benjamin Parzybok (“Couch”)
8:30 Evan Schneider (“Boneshaker” zine)
9:00 Samuel Ligon (“Drift and Swerve”)
9:15 Jeff Stewart (“March of Time & Skin”)
9:30 Riley Michael Parker (“Our Beloved 26th”)
9:46 – 12:01 – Dionysian cinnamon roll engorgement!

Should be a great night. I have no idea what I’ll read, but there certainly seems to be quite a few books in the store to choose from.

The rest of the schedule may be seen in detail here: http://booktour.com/author/benjamin_parzybok

March 17th – Olympia, WA – Orca Books!

March 18th – Tacoma, WA – Garfield Book Company at PLU

March 19th – Seattle, WA – Seattle Public Library – Ballard Branch (via Secret Garden Books)

March 21th – Bellingham, WA – Village Books

March 23rd – Missoula, MT -Fact & Fiction

March 24th – Dillon, MT – The Bookstore

March 25th – Spokane, WA – Auntie’s Books – oh look, an Ugly Couch Contest at Auntie’s! – click to see fullsize:

Please help me find the perfect cinnamon roll.

Yours,
Ben

The reviewer, Ed Park (author of Personal Days) talks about Charles Portis and quotes side-by-side from one of his books and Couch, which is fun to see. I was given True Grit by my friend Mel Favara (of 1000 reading series) last year and loved it – I’ll have to pick up the others.

At any rate, here’s the review of Couch in the LA Times.

Thanks, Ed!

(incidentally – here’s Ed Park at length on Charles Portis: Like Cormac McCarthy, But Funny)

Thanks Charles!

Also: this morning the pseudo-fog was lovely over the school and afforded a photo of a white sun, which Sylvie called the moon.

Click for large version.