It’s not easy to write “funny.” (Trust me, I’ve tried.) Teddy Wayne makes it look like a breeze, from his hilarious “Unpopular Proverbs“ in McSweeney’s to his sharp debut novel, Kapitoil. The book follows Karim, a socially awkward programmer from Qatar, as he helps a firm on Wall Street prepare for Y2K. On the side, he comes up with Kapitoil, a controversial program that predicts oil prices. As Karim ascends through his company, he also gets involved with a female coworker who makes him question his views of the country and himself. The book has been hailed as brilliant, poignant and compelling and has garnered Teddy several Book of the Year awards.

I was incredibly excited to get in touch with Teddy for BookStalked, and he came through with some fascinating tales re: Kapitoil bumper stickers, speaking to a friend’s mother’s book club, and an unforgettable interview with David Foster Wallace.

• What’s one of the most memorable readings you’ve given and why?

“The city of Bend, Oregon, chose Kapitoil as their book to read through the library for 2011. They flew me out for a few days last April, and were incredible; they’d made Kapitoil bumper stickers, bookmarks, calendars, and they estimated that a few thousand people had read the book. I gave a few readings, but the centerpiece was in front of a lively crowd of about 500 on a Friday night at a theater. On top of it, they were as friendly and welcoming as you could hope a city that read your book would be. It was a bit of a disappointment to return to my drab apartment after that, as I had only 499 people there.”

• Any particularly intriguing (or conversely, awkward) audience questions that have stuck with you?

“Not at a reading, but during a friend’s mother’s book club, I called in and spoke on speakerphone. The women all asked probing, polite questions, until someone who disagreed with the politics of the novel said something like, “So, what—the book is just saying America is bad, even though we give people like the main character all this opportunity?” I tried my best to answer diplomatically, though in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have punctuated my thoughtful response with, ‘Awk-ward!!!’”

• What’s a reading that you’ve attended that you’ll never forget?

“I saw David Foster Wallace read at the Strand Bookstore in New York in 2006, and wrote about it for The Wall Street Journal. The reading itself wasn’t memorable, but my brief interview with him after was, to me.”

Thanks, Teddy! For more on Kapitoil, see this BookStalker post.