When pop culture-journalist and author Chuck Klosterman read from his new book at Elliott Bay Book Company Sept. 22, those in attendance were treated to a literary reading and stand-up comedy routine all in one.

Klosterman, perhaps best known for his best-selling 2003 collection of essays, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, read from his newest release, Downtown Owl. Although Downtown Owl is Klosterman’s fifth book since 2001, it represents his first novel. Klosterman said that the decision to produce a piece of fiction was largely motivated by the creative license it offers.

“Partially I wanted to write a novel just to see if I could do it,” said Klosterman in a nasally voice at the Elliott Bay reading. “But mostly I wanted to have people say things that wouldn’t be attributed to me.”

Klosterman was expectedly casual, wearing a black KISS T-shirt and drinking a beer as he read the oft-laughing audience a chapter from Downtown Owl.

The novel, released by Scribner Book Company Sept. 16, is set in a small North Dakota town in the early ‘80s and details the lives of three citizens: a high school jock, a schoolteacher and a farmer. Although this setting seemingly parallels Klosterman’s own life — he grew up on a farm in North Dakota — he clarified that the book is not about him.

“Downtown Owl is not autobiographical,” said Klosterman “Though I would like to eventually write a real memoir, but my parents will have to be dead.”

It was comments such as this that kept laughter reverberating throughout the crowded bookstore.

Those on hand for the reading were apparently avid Klosterman fans, with nearly everyone in the store carrying a copy of one of the author’s publications in anticipation of the book signing. One such enthusiast was Western Washington University student Nick Knight, who drove down from Bellingham for the event and owns all of Klosterman’s work.

“He’s hilarious,” said Knight. “I love the way he dissects life, breaking it down to its essentials. He’s an important author for people my age because he writes about what we’re obsessed with: pop culture.”

Although the event was advertised as a literary reading, the true highlight of the night was the question-and-answer segment. For more than an hour, Klosterman fielded questions about everything from his writing process to his opinion of U2’s Bono. When one audience member asked if he hated hipsters, Klosterman cleverly flipped the question.

“You know who hates hipster? Hipsters hate hipsters because they’re the only ones who know who the hipsters are,” he said. “In New York it’s become very difficult to distinguish hipsters from retarded people; I’ll see a guy on the bus with his pants on backwards and a pail on his head and I’ll think ‘that guy’s either retarded or he’s the coolest guy around’.”

Like his books, Klosterman’s discussions were primarily concerned with facetious pop culture analysis, but when questions concerning politics and law reform were raised, Klosterman did not steer away from these more contentious issues.

“Laws won’t change society; you need to change how society perceives society,” he said. “If you want to change the world you have to become Bob Dylan, become an awesome singer-songwriter.” Or, perhaps, a best-selling author.

Reach reporter Joe Darda at arts@dailyuw.com.