Lethem: You haven’t read him - yet

Saturday’s Get Lit! festivities closed out with a reading/signing by novelist Jonathan Lethem (lee-thum) at CenterStage.

The scheduled 10 p.m. reading got under way late because there was a band playing. But by 10:17 novelist Jess Walter was at the podium, introducing the Brooklyn author of such books as “The Fortress of Solitude,” “Motherless Brooklyn” and, most recently, “You Don’t Love Me Yet.”

Lethem chose to read a passage from the latter novel, a scene that forced him to take on seven different personas, from a narcissistic and overly hip DJ to a clueless would-be member of a wannabe L.A. band named Monster Eyes.

The thing is, Lethem doesn’t take the easy route. His books can’t be easily defined as he switches from genres (sci-fi, mystery, literary, nonfiction, etc.) and are sometimes blends of more than one. And in the question-and-answer session that took place afterward, he demonstrated the ability to ramble and provide intelligible answers at the same time.

Lethem is the kind of guy who is his own best publicist. Just listening to him makes you want to go out and buy what he has put on paper.