A Twisted Valentine's Day Delight from Chuck Palahniuk

I don't generally celebrate Valentine's Day. But this year I have an admirer, and for that I'm grateful. I received candy, flowers, and oh, a snake. Seemingly rubber, but mainly poisonous. It came with a card too. Inscription reads:

"To the Always-Lovely Daniel Goldin--

--Until Death Do Us Part...

Love,
Webster Carlton Westward III"

No fool I, I immediately handed over the snake to Stacie, who I convinced to pose with my treats, in exchange for getting first crack at a reader's copy of the new Chuck Palaniuk novel, Tell-All, which was somehow included.

It's coming out on May 4th, a send-up of Old Hollywood and new-style gossip mongering, super-sized with Palaniuk mayhem and gore.

And though I don't feel like my life was actually threatened, the package provided me with not just a good laugh, but still provided a demonic twist. The box was spilled with litter and spilled all over our carpet. It's going to take forever to vacuum it all up and will probably destroy my already-sensitive machine in the process.

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Speaking of Portland madness and Palahniuk pals, I just can't help but tell all about my success recommending Katherine Dunn's Geek Love to a book club I've been working with for a long time. It's about 25 women and when I promised them they never read anything like it, they couldn't help but agree. I hear it was a very good discussion and reinforces my mantra--reading groups are for reading outside your comfort zone.