sumo wrestling and problem reading

Went out to Boswell Book Company today to pick up the copy of Geronimo Rex they told me had come in. The fiction section's shunted to the ass of the store. I went back there and saw a reading going on, chairs placed in front of most of the alphabet.

David Benjamin was talking about Sumo wrestling to a half dozen...sumo enthusiasts? I squirreled my way to the H's, barging through the crowd, and grabbed what I needed. Then I moved on, reading spines and listening more, thinking, What the hell? Sumo? Or maybe: What the hell? Sumo!

Then I went to the front of the store. There were more people, sitting in a square of tables by the magazines, where I wanted to look for Noon. Some kind of group therapy for book addicts.

They were saying, "My name is —. This is my 8th time here. I used to start so many books at one time that I didn't finish any. Now I start more and finish them. All of them. Then start more."

There was guilt, remorse, nervous laughing. There was sympathetic sighing. Like problem drinkers telling each other, it's ok. Stop your old ways of drinking. Try this drink instead. You'll be ok. You'll be fine.