The Granta party last night at the Crocker Club — the occasion being the release of The Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists — was a smash hit. David Kipen, proprietor of Libros Schmibros, lead a lively discussion with two of the contributors, Carlos Yushimito and Carlos Labbe, who opined, among other things, that the Nobel Prize for Literature went to Mario Vargas Llosa as a kind of consolation prize to the continent for overlooking Roberto Bolano (!) (BTW, Yushimito's fictional contribution to this issue of Granta is particularly good, involving a man dancing in a crocodile suit — I refuse to say more.)
Other highlights:
Amy Nicholson leading the attendees in a rousing writing game where everyone added a single sentence to a story, culminating in a kind of read-off just as engrossing as any dance-off, the winner (determined by the bartender applause-o-meter) receiving a plastic axe, among other bounties.
Granta Cocktails in thimble-sized glasses for the steal of $3! Ingredients: Vodka, pomegranate juice, and other various liquors I can neither pronounce, afford, or remember.
Janet Fitch's obsession with Amy Nicholson's shoes, which resembled Dorothy's ruby slippers, if Dorothy's slippers had spiky heels, glittery jewels on the toe and were festooned with spikes on the backside.
David Daley from Five Chapters spruced up the crowd, as did Carolyn Kellogg of Jacket Copy. If you missed the event, hope to see you at the next literary soiree. Hopefully there will be as many games and cocktails.
