One of my father's former students is an avid reader who also enjoys corresponding with his favorite writers. Apparently on more than one occasion he has written letters to authors, getting their attention by pointing out typos he has found in their novels. Thus some will write back. He often ends up with autographed copies of their books for his efforts. He was visiting our house once and noticed a copy of a John Updike book I was reading. He mentioned that he exchanged letters occasionally with Updike, and would I be interested in an autographed copy of one of his books? I gave an enthusiastic yes, and sure enough a few weeks later a package arrived from him containing an autographed hardcover of "Rabbit at Rest," which had the added benefit of containing a brief mention of my hometown in the novel itself!
