“But I never finished telling you about the two men.”

This is one of my favorite first lines because it sounds like there’s been a whole conversation going on before this story starts. It’s from the Denis Johnson story called “The Other Man.”

Generally, I don’t prefer crude writers who glamorize violence and misery, which are often accompanied by ill treatment of women, but some, like Johnson, include redemption in their writing, and that I love.

One of the remaining bookstores in L.A. called Book Soup is holding a tribute to Denis Johnson on Thursday evening, 7 p.m. I’m going!