Harper

Harper

I read a lot of contemporary fiction. A book a week at least.

Longtime loves (skip down if you hate lists):

JD Salinger, Edmund White, Harold Brodkey, Jeanette Winterson, Robertson Davies, Paul Auster, Toni Morrison, Amistead Maupin, TC Boyle, Kurt Vonnegut, Elizabeth George, Donna Tartt, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor.

I like movies. Open Your Eyes (Abre los Ojos), written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar is in my top five. Wim Wender's Wings of Desire is another fave. Punch Drunk Love. Nurse Betty. Chasing Amy. The Blair Witch Project. American Beauty. Muriel's Wedding. Leaving Las Vegas. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Dead Ringers. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. The Exorcist. The Red Shoes.

I'm a 20 year fan of the Athens, GA band R.E.M. I'm a spanking new fan of The Flaming Lips. Everyone should go out this minute and buy their latest CD, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." My friend says it's "soul-hugging music." That sounds cheesy, but it's true. Beck's new one, "Sea Change," is pretty darn wonderful, too.

I've worked as a receptionist, a transcriptionist, a farm hand, a shop girl, an innkeeper, a bookstore mgr., a talent booker, perfume-demo-spritzer, a waitress, a SAT tutor, health food deli clerk, a proofreader/editor, a maid, a florist, a line cook, a barrista, a library assistant, and an au pair. I've held virtually every retail position at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. I'd like to open my own bookstore--call it Matchitatt's. I'd make a great small business person.

These days I take care of my mom, who has a form of dementia. If I can possibly swing it, in 2003 I'd like to volunteer a couple of hours a week for the California Democratic Party.

My life's grand ambition is to write one or two Surpassingly Good short stories. I live in California.

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