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Ayun Halliday

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/Ayun_Halliday

born

Indianapolis, Indiana , The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.ayunhalliday.com/

twitter username

zg2nyc

influences

Spalding Grey, Lynda Barry, Jeffrey Brown, Los Bros Hernandez, Lewis T...more

member since

May 2008

About this author

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I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and came of age at the height of the preppy craze. For some unfathomable reason, my grandparents had a subscription to The New Yorker and every week, I’d paw through it daydreaming about a glamorous future where I’d be a celebrated stage actress living in sin with some hot, devoted trumpet player in a Greenwich Village loft with a skyline view that I’ve since learned is only possible from Brooklyn or New Jersey.

After graduating from Northwestern University with an impractical, expensive degree in guess what, I embarked on an exciting career as a waitress, with occasional time-outs for globetrotting of the dirty backpack, banana pancake variety.

In 1988, I joined The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago theatre company...more I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and came of age at the height of the preppy craze. For some unfathomable reason, my grandparents had a subscription to The New Yorker and every week, I’d paw through it daydreaming about a glamorous future where I’d be a celebrated stage actress living in sin with some hot, devoted trumpet player in a Greenwich Village loft with a skyline view that I’ve since learned is only possible from Brooklyn or New Jersey.

After graduating from Northwestern University with an impractical, expensive degree in guess what, I embarked on an exciting career as a waitress, with occasional time-outs for globetrotting of the dirty backpack, banana pancake variety.

In 1988, I joined The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago theatre company notable for presenting 30 original plays in the course of 60 minutes and ordering pizza for the audience whenever the show sold out. Greg Kotis auditioned for the ensemble in 1991 and fortunately, we cast him because otherwise, I might not have married him and moved to New York City where we rented a 340-square-foot apartment in the East Village for $1150 a month.

Boy, were we surprised when a big old stork swooped down a year later, especially since the baby it dropped off had three thumbs and required immediate treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Shortly after Inky’s first birthday, I put out the first issue of my zine, The East Village Inky which was and still is written and illustrated entirely by hand because computers tend to take a digger when I’m around.

After a few years, the shadow of the stork fell upon us again and we moved to Brooklyn. Milo was born underwater so lickety split, he almost came out in the Tompkins Square playground.

Greg wrote Urinetown! (the Musical) which, to everyone’s amazement, made it all the way to Broadway and now he’s such hot doodie he might burn you, so don’t touch him! Don’t tell him I called him hot doodie either because he’s rigorous about his modesty and I already drew a couple of pictures in , The East Village Inky where he dances around naked.

I eschewed housekeeping and wrote a book called The Big Rumpus so I could remember what life was really like when my children were small and so that you’d have something to purchase in bulk for Mothers Day and every other major holiday.

Then I had to write another book in case you pride yourself on hating kids or break out in hives at the thought of reading another birth story. That one is No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late The The East Village Inky guerilla marketeering squad thinks it’d make an excellent present for the special dirty backpackers in your life. Should they happen to enjoy it, perhaps they could go on Amazon and post a glowing customer review, to counteract all the nasty ones posted by readers of less discriminating tastes.

Playing in the ashtray of my tattered memories proved such fun, I started rooting through all the crappy day jobs I held while pursuing an elusive dream of life on the golden-but-not-nearly-wicked-enough stage. If you, too, have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageously low-wage fortune, reading Job Hopper is going to feel like taking off your girdle. If you’ve been pulling down six figures since the day you graduated B-school summa cum laude, reading Job Hopper is going to feel like taking off someone else’s girdle.

The next dough to come pumping out of the template was Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste. The publisher called it a love letter to everything I’ve ever eaten and a few of the things I wish I hadn’t. I might add that it’s got one of the gnarliest indexes I’ve ever seen, short of The Merck Manual. It made me so hungry, I had to have a food blog for a couple of years just to justify some of the crazy things I stuffed into my pie-hole.

Figuring that it might be a good idea to let the fertile fields of autography lay fallow fo(less)

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Ayun Halliday's Blog

mungo is missing

Dare to be Heinie with Ayun Halliday!</>

Mungo is Missing! Please help us find our indoor cat who vanished Thursday April 25 from 122 Dean St (top buzzer)

He is male, orange-tiger-striped, neutered, and has a vague M shaped mark on his forehead. Has claws and is likely freaked out. Will likely respond to his name being called in a high pitched voice or the sound of rattling dry cat chow.

Pl...

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Ayun Halliday's Books

Average rating: 3.45 · 3,559 ratings · 541 reviews · 12 distinct works · Similar authors

	No Touch Monkey!: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late 3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 avg rating — 1,970 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Big Rumpus: A Mother's Tale from the Trenches 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 343 ratings — published 2002	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peanut by Ayun Halliday (Goodreads Author), Paul Hoppe (Illustrations) 3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 avg rating — 361 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste 3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 223 ratings — published 2006	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Job Hopper: The Checkered Career of a Down-Market Dilettante 3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 194 ratings — published 2005	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo by Ayun Halliday (Goodreads Author), Dan Santat (Goodreads Author) 3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 2009	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zinester's Guide to NYC: The Last Wholly Analog Guide to NYC 4.51 of 5 stars 4.51 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2010	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Sarong In My Backpack 3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2005 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mama Lama Ding Dong - A Mother's Tale from the Trenches 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2006 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Digestate: A Food & Eating Themed Anthology by J.T. Yost (Editor), Darryl Ayo (Contributor), Josh Bayer (Contributor) 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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In the Shadow of the Banyan

by Vaddey Ratner (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 30, 2013 05:08am

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New Girl Law: Drafting a Future for Cambodia

by Anne Elizabeth Moore (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 31, 2013 12:47pm

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Not Under Forty

by Willa Cather

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Feb 22, 2013 03:47pm

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Ayun Halliday is now friends with Kim Redding
14 hours, 54 min ago · like
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book is the bomb and Lynda Barry is the bombalurina. This book seems to be the crossroads, the point where she transformed from her perfectly incredible and delightful self, to the milk of human kindness filled, self-forgiving, fully honest role...more
Apr 30, 2013 04:19pm · see review
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars Sarajevo: Survival Guide by Miroslav Prstojević	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is an extraordinary document. Picked it up on our trip to Whogoslavia in 1997. It's a historic record, black comedy, a creative use of the guidebook format, an emotional floatation device, and a zine in spirit - originally conceived of and circu...more
Apr 30, 2013 07:33am · see review
Ayun Halliday made a comment on their review of All Quiet on the Western Front "Thanks for the hot tip, Drew! If all goes according to schedule, we get to WWII today!"
Apr 30, 2013 07:19am · see review
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It really is the Great American Novel. It really is. I think John Steinbeck is my favorite American author. Certainly my favorite non-living male American novelist. On a side note, Jane Darwell was the perfect choice to play Ma Joad in the movie.
Apr 30, 2013 07:17am · see review
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Good thing no one thought to assign this to me when I was a schoolgirl, because I would've hated it, thought it was for boys and the most boring thing in the world. Inky apparently had to read it last year or something and said it was 'depressing'. I'd...more
Apr 30, 2013 05:40am · see review
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars Misery by Suzanne Heller	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Not the Stephen King best seller where Kathy Bates takes her sledgehammer to James Caan's foot. (Wait, am I supposed to say SPOILER before or after? I always forget. Sorry...) Bought this in one of Chicago's many late great used bookstores when I was...more
Apr 30, 2013 05:30am · see review
Ayun Halliday rated a book 5 of 5 stars Reverend Jen's Really Cool Neighborhood/Les Misrahi by Reverend Jen	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Twin this with the Zinester's Guide to NYC and you'll have a hot ayuss visit to New York. Not all of the places mentioned will have survived, but that's the nature of the beast. It's an historic record by a true original. It'll make you want to write...more
Apr 30, 2013 05:14am · see review
Ayun Halliday added Elsa's housebook: A woman's photojournal by Elsa Dorfman	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you run across this in a used bookstore, snap it up. Slice of life meets a peek through someone else's guestbook, with photos of all involved. This is the way all the cool hippie people exhibiting at the Broad Ripple Art Fair looked when I was a l...more
Apr 30, 2013 05:11am · see review

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- Martial (40 AD - 104 AD), Epigram V, xxxvi”
― Marcus Valerius Martialis, Epigrams

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