Fiction Mondays: Pittsburgh Stories

This weekend, I visited Pittsburgh for the first time. I really enjoyed the city and got to see the Warhol Museum, the Strip District, and the South Side. It's a very Midwestern city, for being in Pennsylvania...they say "pop"! What is that? I thought for today's Fiction Monday, I would share some great Pittsburgh literature.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel by Michael Chabon. This is one of two Pittsburgh books by Chabon, and despite what looked like a really crappy movie adaptation (did anyone see it? I did not) it's a really cool book about being young and in love, and having a gangster for a father.

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. This one actually had a great movie adaptation. An old, jaded writer and a young, slighly fanatical one have an adventurous and absurd weekend in Pittsburgh. They try to deal with a dead dog, a divorce, and a stolen piece of clothing that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe.

Fences by August Wilson. Wilson wrote a cycle of ten plays, including this one and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Nine of them took place in Pittsburgh, and this is one of my favorites. If you haven't read him, check it out. I don't know if it's available online, but the version starring James Earl Jones is really excellent.

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