We went to see Larry McMurtry speak at Rice University this evening. He is the author of the books (among many others) Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, and Terms of Endearment. He also co-wrote the screenplay to Brokeback Mountain.
He is about 73 years old, and while still certainly creative and productive (he just finsihed another novel) comes across as a very cranky old man.
He really, really loves books. And by books, I don't necessarily mean the contents, but the physical books themselves. Doreen and I certainly share that feeling with him, but he seems to be taking it to an extreme. It seems he believes that nobody under 40 reads books anymore, and that the publishing industry, along with bookstores, will soon fail. He even thinks that the Kindle is a bad thing.
It was interesting to hear him talk, though. And one thing for certain is that the crowd was old.
Now, Apropos of nothing, we did run into our learned friend David Archer there. (I do not believe, though I may be wrong, that he hails from Archer City). For a while, no matter where we went to see a cultural event, we ran into David. Once, we even ran into him (and his lovely better half, Phyllis) in New York City! (Imagine that!)
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