Paul Schmelzer as signed by Jonathan LethemI met Jonathan Lethem, who wrote popular novels like Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, at a reading at the now-defunct St. Paul bookstore Ruminator. He gamely signed my my name in his novel Amnesia Moon before putting his own John Hancock on the first page of Fortress of Solitude. I didn't mention that the first-edition, ensleeved in cellophane, was checked out from the Minneapolis Public Library. (What does it mean that a collectively owned book was enhanced in value by the author's signature? It's not like anyone can cash in on it.)
