Wally Lamb

Last night, the annual Art & Letters Live had its kick off authore, Wally Lamb. I found him to be a very good speaker. Sometimes, authors can write well, but they are unable to really connect with their audience in person. For example, Sue Monk Kidd, the poor woman had no clue what she was doing. She spent a hour going through her new book at the time "The Mermaids Chair". She went on and on and on. By the end of her speech, I realized I didn't have to get the book, she had told me the whole story.

Anway, I digress.

Wally read a autobiographical essay he had written and a short excerpt from his most recent book. Then they had question time. It turns out, Wally has some very very rabid fans. A few women ran up to the Mike and proclaimed they were Delores from "She's Come Undone" and how had he gotten into their head. Other people discussed personal emails they had sent to him on specific dates. And there were the last crazy few who had spent hours finding common threads between his three books that even Wally didn't think existed.

But the last question was a good one. The woman said it was obvious to her that all his book titles come from songs. That got me thinking. I immediately realized the first one. I started to sing "Shes come Undone" in my head. The second book title I couldn't place. "I Know This Much Is True". Wally laughed and talked about for a month when he was finishing up that book, he couldn't get the old Spandeau Ballet song "True" out of his head. The next thing you know, half the crowd was singing the lyrics and bopping their head.

Made me laugh.

And now, I can't get the lyric out. I will be sitting here writing a report thinking, and then all of a sudden the phrase "i know this much is true" will go through my head. And of course I have to half sing it outloud. Thanks Wally.