Barnes and Noble reading tonight, 4/5

I am doing a reading this evening at Barnes & Noble in Chelsea, at 7 o'clock, and of course my thanks in advance to all of my friends, family, strangers and forgiving former corporate partners who are making the trek down to see it. This is a huge day for me not only because Mergers is being published, but also because, two years ago on this day, Saul Bellow died. I'd had my heart broken, or at least injured, for the first time when I met Eugene Henderson in 1998. He had a voice that said "I want," (a sentiment that would grow to define many subsequent generations), and somewhere in the reading of that book I decided that writing a novel had to be the very best thing that you could hope to do with your life.

Tonight I am going to read from the MoMA chapter of my novel, because it is a New York crowd and Yves Grandchatte is one of my favorite characters. But afterwards I am going to read one of the final passages from Henderson, the one with Smolak the Bear and the rickety roller coaster, and I hope that we can all take a moment to enjoy the work and revere the memory of the American master who died on this day two years ago.
-Dana Vachon