Miranda July read at 192 Books
To be accurate, Miranda July read at Paula Cooper Gallery. It sits just around the corner from the tiny 192 Books, who organized the reading, and where it was originally supposed to be held. Perhaps best-known for having written and starred in the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda’s in New York promoting her collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. It comes in two choices of cover: yellow and pink.
Continued after the jump.
Miranda said that having parents who were publishers meant attending several readings growing up, and that there are few things she enjoys as much as being read to. I’ve been to a lot of readings in New York, of varying quality, and I can’t recall any other time when the reader’s held my attention from start to finish. This isn’t so much because Miranda’s an especially captivating writer, but she’s nailed it both as a performer and a commentator on modern isolation. Someone asked her what her favorite medium to work in is, and someone else asked how she decides to choose what medium to work in at a given time. Her answer to both entailed a similar idea: that they work as a whole and not as separate entities. The book gives you the same impression: it’s distinction is not so much in being a book, as opposed to a film or a play, but in being a piece of work by Miranda July. Whichever medium she chooses, she manages to offer endlessly refreshing ways of talking about loneliness, and the ideas of love and loss that go with it.
The two stories read from book were “The Shared Patio” and “Ten True Things.” She seemed sure of the first choice, but about the second she was hestiant (both were great stories). She conceded that it should be easy enough to pick from an entire collection, but knowing the flaw of each made it similar to having a closet full of clothes yet feeling like you have nothing to wear- “This makes me look fat, I already wore this one,” and so on. She decided she couldn’t read the one perfect story she wants to read because she hasn’t written it yet. Someone asked later if she would ever consider translating these stories to a collection of short films. Miranda said that she has done short films before, and would do them again, but not with these same stories. They were written a long time ago and there are already newer things to say.
She will also be reading from the same book at New York Public Library on the 25th.
(with Rick Moody)
