Emma Straub's Blog, page 5

Two Good Things

1. Today we finally put up the Scalamandre wallpaper that I bought a year ago on Ebay. It is perfect. I've loved it since I was in high school and would admire it on the walls at Gino's, an Italian restaurant that was across the street from Bloomingdale's. Wes Anderson also used to admire it there, and he used it in the Royal Tenenbaums, and now Kate Spade has it in some of her dressing rooms, which is like so many things I love all at once, I can hardly stand it. Except that I can stand it, and I will now stand it every single day, happily.

2. Tonight I went to see Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler at WORD. They read from their new book and riffed affectionately off one another, and were completely adorable. When I said hello to Maira, and reminded her that we'd previously met at BookCourt, she said, oh yes, and then did a hand gesture that clearly meant *hair pouf*, and I died of happiness and satisfaction.

love

Emma

From the Department of Good News, 2012 Edition!

Yesterday, the mail lady delivered a very exciting package: my first copy of the Riverhead edition of Other People We Married, hot off the press. The book looks simply gorgeous: the cover is the same, but the book has new blurbs from Kelly Link, Thisbe Nissen, and Karen Russell, and is newly copyedited, and I couldn't love it more if I tried. The pub date is February 7th, a month from today, and it will be available everywhere. Swoon.

Because I did so many events to support the book in New York City in 2011, I knew I only wanted to do one giant smash for the new edition. I am pleased as punch to announce that I'm doing Upstairs at the Square on March 8th, with my dear friend Stephin Merritt. The event will be free and open to the public, held at the Union Square Barnes + Noble, at 7pm. Stephin will sing some songs, I will read a bit, and then we will both be interviewed live on stage by the vivacious Katherine Lanpher. The Magnetic Fields have a new record out in March, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, and it is SO GOOD. After the event, we head off with the rest of the band for a tour of the US and Canada. (Tour blog TK)

The final piece of good news is a rather incredible feat of numbers: it turns out, that with 768 books sold at BookCourt, my book was the 3rd best bestseller of the year, after Patti Smith's Just Kids (#1) and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad (#2). Number 3! I'll take the bronze any day of the week, ladies. A pleasure doing business with you.

Here's to 2012!

love

Emma

Get Thee to the Film Forum

If you live in New York City, you have three more days to get to the Film Forum to see Otto Preminger's 'Laura,' one of the best movies of all time–it's noir, it's hysterically funny, it's got great costumes, and a man who writes his gossip column (on a typewriter) in the bathtub. I went this afternoon, and discovered a heretofore hidden secret truth: if you have Judith Anderson speak the word 'adored,' you have a perfect movie. (Note: the above image is a still from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rebecca,' and features Anderson, on the left, as Mrs. Danvers, a wonderfully evil domestic, which is, of course, the best kind of all, as all lovers of the BBC's Downton Abbey well know.)

Yours in black and white,

Emma

Real! Live! Writers!

Click here to watch me interview all the 5 Under 35 Winners, and the writers who nominated them.

Note: you can tell when the cameraman tells me I'm too loud. It happens repeatedly. What can I say?

love

Emma

The Emma-y Awards 2011, Vol. 1

Most Underused Actor: Casey Affleck

Okay, so yes, technically I feel like I'm related to Casey Affleck, which I grant you is weird and kind of creepy, but I feel I can still be objective about this.  Casey endeared himself to me forever with the classic song "I had a double burger," which is the kind of thing I sing all day long. He was the best part of Tower Heist, he got artsy with Joaquin, he's got a funny shaped mouth and I just love him to pieces.

Best Sax Solo of All Time, Ever: My dear friend Ian Young, playing with M83

Though 2011 was the year the Big Man departed for the astral plane, it was also the year that rock n roll rediscovered the saxophone.  The highlight of that trend was M83 hiring my friend Ian to blow people's minds. Exhibit A.

Best Book I Forgot to Put on My Best Of List: Amor Towles' Rules of Civility

This first novel made me giggle with delight. I want sixteen more just like it. Rich kids and strivers in New York in the 30s? Doormen? Love triangles? Car wrecks? Yes please!

Best Baked Good that I Didn't Make: City Bakery's Pretzel Croissant

How did no one tell me about these before 2011? It's like everything I love, all together. If only they made a chocolate pretzel croissant. But this one will do for the foreseeable future.

Best Play: Lynn Nottage's By The Way, Meet Vera Stark

Okay, yes, so a lot of my Top Picks have to do with the 1930s, and Hollywood, and glamorous ladies. So sue me! I was doing research. Nottage's play, about a young African-American actress and the woman she works for, had me on the edge of my seat, and it wasn't just because I was staring at Spike Lee and his wife, who were at the safe performance.

Best Idea We Ever Had: Houseswapping

This July, we spent a month in LA. We swam and ate guacamole and I worked my ass off. I want to do it every year, forever. If you live somewhere else and would like to spend a few weeks in Brooklyn with the two most beautiful cats in the world, holler at me. Places we like: Oregon, Maine, Texas, California, anywhere. Seriously, holler. This is where I live.

Best Restaurants: Gjelina (Los Angeles), Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY), the Russian Tea Room (NYC)

My husband took me to Blue Hill at Stone Barns to celebrate the sale of my novel. It was a lovely way to mark a very hectic and exciting and overwhelming period of time. Shockingly expensive, but how many times do you sell your first novel? Only once.

People I'm Going to Miss: Coach Taylor and his crew.

I know a lot of people who don't watch television, which I suppose is their prerogative, but they're missing out on some of the best, most heartbreaking narratives of our day. Case in point: Friday Night Lights. Do you know how much I care about football? Not at all. Not at ALL. Do you know how much I cried during the course of this series about high school football in texas? A lot. A LOT. It's poetry, pure and simple. Ignore the second season. Everyone makes mistakes. The only thing that is mending the hole in my heart is Parenthood, also written by Jason Katims, who is clearly the best person in the world.

2012 is going to be a biggie, and I'm looking forward to it. Clear eyes, full hearts.

Happy new year.

Yours,

Emma

ESVS in the NYT! BFF 4 EVA!

I am so thrilled to have an essay in the New York Times' blog Townies. It's all about Christmas, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and my 6th grade boyfriend, and where I'm going to be buried.

Read the piece here. Ho ho ho!

love

Emma

Joy to the World

I am a bit of a grinch (more on that next week), but this year, I'll be damned if I didn't find a little holiday spirit lurking deep within the depths of my soul.

Reason #1:

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe asked me to participate in their Second Annual Christmas Carol Marathon this afternoon, and I read alongside VIP humans such as Ira Glass, Law and Order's Jill Hennesey, , Lorin Stein, John Hodgman, and then about 50% of my Twitter friends, including Julie Klam, Ann Leary, Alexander Chee, Elissa Schappell, Kurt Andersen, AND SO MANY MORE. My first "job" in high school was at Housing Works (quotation marks because it was a volunteer position, but still), and I love the whole operation. If being in a giant bookstore filled with people listening to Charles Dickens doesn't warm the cockles of your heart, well, then, how very sad for you.

Reason #2:

One of my favorite customers came into BookCourt on Friday with a holiday card for me–she is the mother of an extremely cute child, and he and I flirt shamelessly whenever possible. When I finally opened the card, after they had left, what I read made me cry. Here is what it sad: "Just wanted to say thank you for your kindness and warmth though out the first year of xxxx's life. I know it's your job to be pleasant, but you've gone beyond the call of duty to make us feel welcome every time we visit BookCourt. Best of all, you've made the book store a place that xxxx loves and have helped instill a lifelong love of books–the greatest gift of all."

You see? Just like that, this Scrooge is ready to deck the halls. The world can be such a glorious place.

Yours, swimming with love,

Emma

You Know You've Got a Good Date When

When the women at the next table stop by to tell you how good you look together, and when the champagne is only the beginning, and even after Carine Roitfeld and a fleet of twenty-three-year-olds swan in, your date is still the sharpest-looking woman in the room.

Love,

Emma

Miss Piggy, My Dad, The Magnetic Fields, Cool Hats

Today was a banner day on the internet. My dear friends The Magnetic Fields announced their new record (designed by M + E!) and tour (woo hoo! Here we come, world!). My dad's office and funny captions appeared on Write Place, Write Time, one of my favorite snoop-y Tumblrs. My essay about Miss Piggy, Literary Icon, went up on the Paris Review Daily. All in one day!

And as if that wasn't enough, my mom and I spent the afternoon at Bard's Decorative Arts gallery, looking at the most amazing hats. This was one of them. What could possibly be better?

Yours,

Emma

Gift Guide for Gravyboat

All she needs is a pillow. Preferably with some cat-worshipping Egyptians on it.

Oh, just kidding, she already has one.