nicole krauss and cynthia ozick reading @ 92Y.

the bite in the air signifies more than just sweater weather, it also points to the return of the reading series at the 92Y. tonight’s reading featured nicole krauss reading from great house and cynthia ozick reading an excerpt of her new work, foreign bodies.

nicole krauss charmed the audience from the start by surveying the crowd, commenting that she hoped that some of us were there to see her. apparently during the signing portion at a recent reading a young woman walked up to her and said, “i just love the movie of your book!” after some confusion it was sorted out that the girl had her mixed up with nicola krauss, writer of the nanny diaries. oof.

nicole krauss is equally well spoken and thoughtful behind the podium as she is on the page. before diving in to the reading portion she pulled out a glass of water from behind the podium and commented, “oh! my water has my name on it” then paused a beat and said in deadpan, “i drank from cynthia’s.”

hearing krauss speak about her characters gives a sense of just how deeply she inserts herself into their experiences and thoughts to give them authenticity. the section she read from tonight was about an old israeli man contemplating the end of his life and a strained relationship with his son, whom he has never been able to understand. when asked by a member of the audience why she identified so much with the thoughts of an old man, krauss responded that she likes using characters to express and talk about things that feel like herself without overtly focusing on the personal—a marriage of the personal with the invented.

next week: jonathan franzen and lorrie moore, 11/15, 8p.