Chloé Caldwell's Blog, page 19

This Friday

A Walk Through the Self-help Aisle

I love self-help books. I told this to Cheryl Strayed’s husband one night after babysitting and he said, “It’s great to hear you say that. No one likes admitting that, but what would we do without self-help books?” A few weeks ago, I saw Augusten Burroughs read from his self-help book This Is How. Even Augusten Burroughs was like, You are not supposed to read these books on the bus. Can you imagine?!

I’m sorry–what? I’m not allowed to read my self-help books on the bus? I don’t believe in that rule. It’s not like it’s offensive literature.

Here’s five books I read in the past 6 months or so that I loved.

 

 

 

Mellow Pages Library

Someone from Mellow Pages Library in Brooklyn wrote this joint review of LGLA and Fast Machine by Elizabeth Ellen.

I wish Mellow Pages was around when I lived in Bushwick. Looks pretty sweet.

Mellow Pages is an independently-run library & reading room located in Brooklyn, NY focusing on providing limited-print fiction and poetry to the neighborhoods of Bushwick, East Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy. With a collection of over 1,200 titles and zines, come check out the space and have a coffee, crack into a new one

 

Happy Birthday Lena Dunham

I love her.  Here’s one of my favorite clips in GIRLS.

Typewriter Bandit

Last night at work, I rung up a girl’s books and then she handed me this little card. It reminded me of stuff I used to do in NYC. So keep your eyes out for the Typerwriter Bandit. She’s trolling around Portland.

 

She bought the book Story of the Eye by George Bataille and I asked her if she knew the Of Montreal song “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” that references that book and she said she did and that she was thinking about that too. OMG.

My Life As A Dyke

Hey! My friend Erika’s e-book/mini-memoir My Life As A Dyke is available on Thought Catalog. I love this piece so much. Get your copy here. 

Being a lesbian doesn’t come natural to everyone. That’s what Erika Kleinman learned during her sexual awakening in 1990s Seattle, when she began dating a host of butch women who were all too willing to show her the ropes. My Life as a Dyke recounts Kleinmans’ relationships with candor and humor while making one thing clear: no matter who you’re interested in, dating can be a nightmare.

Also: my Thought Catalog e-book The New Age Camp is on Goodreads now–if you have a sec please review it.

Check it out. Noah Kalina’s photograph that we used as my book cover is hanging in the TC office in Brooklyn:

Spontaneous Union Square Reading

This is my friend Aaron (check out his blog of adventures in taxi driving + cheese making + all over bipolarity here) reading from my essay “Masturbating With Moxie” in Union Square, New York City. Last summer.

 

 

 

Papaya Salad

Below is my dear friend Milcah Orbacedo talking about her mission in the world. We were at Thai Peacock for lunch, eating Papaya Salad, and she was saying interesting things so I taped her.

Oh–I did the inaugural interview for Book Talk Magazine, a new online journal that just launched.  Read it in full here. 

Book Talk: Your essays are also extremely personal, and there’s a lot of talk out there that says, you know, memoir-type writing is selfish writing, or too self-serving. What do you have to say in response to those kinds of critiques? And, why is writing about yourself a good thing?

Caldwell: I feel that we live briefly on earth, and should make whatever kind of art we want. Nothing kills a good idea for an essay by the self-doubt of but does this matter? Do I matter? Who would care about this experience anyway? I’m so narcissistic, so lame.

I have way too many friends that let that voice win out, and it actually kind of breaks my heart. If it’s important to you, then it’s important. It’s not narcissism that drives nonfiction writers, it’s transcendence of the self for sake of connection with the reader.

I don’t believe in selfish writing. I’m very un-grounded when I don’t write and I act out my emotions instead of putting them to the page. If you’re anything like that, then writing is not selfish. It keeps you sane.  Do you know how many worse things people could be doing than writing? They could be stealing or snorting drugs or killing people. Writing is a good thing for anyone who does it, no matter what or why they write. It makes me sad that writing gets all these bad names like “masturbatory.” I say, let the people write. It’s good for the soul.