i've posted some more photos from the brentanos signing. check 'em out in the gallery here.

let's see what else. oh, book soup has posted a nice ad for my reading next week. you can find that here. if you live in LA and have nothing to do next thursday, come on down. i promise it will be a reading like no other.

BE ended its first week on amazon at number 35,503, which is truly amazing seeing as it started the week around 250,000. thanks to all who bought a copy!

also, while on the subject of amazon, i find it curious, and funny, that there are already a dozen independent sellers selling the book used on amazon. one even has a copy in "acceptable condition." guys, the book came out 5 days ago. what are you doing? buying new copies and throwing them in with the wash???

lastly, if you live in nyc, i'm told there will be a BE excerpt in the city section of the times tomorrow. i'll post a link once they do.

the tour is officially underway!

thanks to everyone who came out tonight. you made my first reading an exceptional experience.

when i have time, i'll post a bunch of photos in the gallery. but for now, here's the window display, which really was done quite well. hats off to meesha and all the wonderful people at brentanos!

next stop: san diego.

today's the official publication!

and already i'm being told that we're going into a second printing in a few days!

also, the washington post gave BE some nice coverage this past sunday: "Potentially tired sendups of corporate culture and dating rituals are freshened by quirky detail and Israel's keen power of observation."

oddly, they also criticized my writing in a pejorative way by comparing it to woody allen. sure, yeah, who on earth would want to be compared to one of the all-time greatest humorists of the last 100 years?

anywho: check back often. things are buzzzz-buzzin' and i'll tell ya what's a hap-happenin'

hate to say it, especially as i see what kind of blizzard y'all are suffering through back home, but the rains have stopped in LA--it's sunny, warm, possibly 80 today. not a bad place to be at the moment.

newz: BE's official pub date is in two days! that's the 25th, if you're counting. there'll be a full moon that day/night, which strikes me as good sign. tho i guess if you think about it, 1 out of every 27.5 books is published on a full moon. so maybe it's not that special. would be interesting to know if those that were, sold better. anyone up for a research project?

in other news: i'll be reading at brentano's in century city this week. go here here for a list of other readings.

and, lastly: BE seems to have made its way to the "hot list" of this cool bookstore in massachusetts. if you're from that neck of the woods, be sure to stop in and buy the book. or say hello. or use their bathroom.

(go eagles!)

finally able to break the good news: BE is available through amazon! pre-order your copy now by going to this page on my website. by doing so, you'll be putting a few more kopecks into my pocket, rather than amazon's.

my editor at random house, danielle durkin, messengered over a couple copies of BE yesterday. hot off the f'in press. you'll be able to pre-order copies through this website (via amazon) in a couple days. stay tuned...