Engine Summer

I imprinted on Alan Mendohlson, the Boy from Mars as a kid because I identified so hard with Leonard Neeble, despite not being like him in so many ways. It was in college when I moved to a city that had a Pep Boys Auto Store that I realized who Manny, Moe, and Jack were. And then when I discovered his books of essay/memoir/what-have-you and found so many instances from his life that he (claims existed, perhaps) put into his books, I had that thrilling It's all real! moment over again. I attempted to press those onto my boyfriend at the time who loved The Worms of Kukumlima, but he refused to read them, saying that if he found out stuff had actually happened, it would have destroyed the magic. Which probably goes a long way towards explaining why he eventually became an ex.

I has a short email exchange with Pinkwater back in the day--1994, I think, right when I discovered the internet and made a home page that linked to Pinkwater's official unofficial home page (with the text "He understands"). He emailed to thank me for doing so, and at the behest of another friend who also had read a lot of Pinkwater, I asked him what the sarcophagus he'd licked tasted like (IIRC, "dry and dusty"), and told him her story of how, as a museum professional, she waited until nobody was looking and touched a Picasso.

Pinkwater, Monty Python, and Gordon Korman informed a hell of a lot of my sense of humor.