His name is Salvatore...can't be coincidence.

I just finished reading Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan. If you're from the Eighties, have any affinity for the Eighties, or you're addicted to romance--you should read this book. A key character in the story is "Salvatore," which is a name I love. One of my favorite poems features a "Salvatore." [The poet and his book are quite obscure, and I will now tear apart my apartment to find this poem. I think I turned it into a graphic poster because I loved it so much.]

And, I just came across a great interview with Salvatore Scibona. He's a former fellow, of the Mass. Cultural Council, and he discusses his experience as an author on their awesome (and getting better) blog, ArtSake. I'm going to quote the lines that made me swoon, but you should take the time to hit the blog and read the full interview. I'll post links below.

Mr. Salvatore Scibona:

"But also, what could be more unlikely, more uncanny from a writer’s point of view, than that a stranger he will never know should walk down a street with years of the writer’s thoughts in her bag? A book is such an elegant technology, something so complex in such a crude device."

"The finished novel is like a house that stands on the ruins of a previous house that stood on the ruins of another house that was built on a meaningless little patch of ground."

These expressive and lovely ideas will now drive me to a bookstore where I can peruse his new novel, The End. The description on the book's website states that it's a "...about a single day in 1953 as lived by six people in an Ohio carnival crowd." I've requested the book through my library, but impatience might drive me to purchase it despite my scholar's income. As well as checking out this book, I will browse August: Osage County, Madonna's brother's dish-all, and keep desperately searching for the July Vogue Italia, which is the issue featuring black models (editorial, not ads, and, yes, that makes a difference).

Links:

ArtSake interview with Salvatore Scibona
The End
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist