John Updike’s memoir showcases his artistry and his delight in it. Self-Consciousness: Memoirs by John Updike. Ballantine/Fawcett. 271 pages. Without trying, I was always reading something by John Updike. It was hard not to, especially if you read The New Yorker, where his fiction, essays, and reviews appeared for fifty years. I love his memoir, Self-Consciousness, much of which explores what made Updike awkward and shy: his introverted boyhood, his stutter; and his many adult afflictions, especially psoriasis and bad …