Ann Patchett's Blog, page 24
July 31, 2020
One Direction, Unadulterated Joy, and Girl Worship: An Interview With Maria Sherman, Author of Larger Than Life
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Maria Sherman has written for just about any outlet you can think of — NPR, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, NME, MTV, SPIN, Glamour, Pitchfork, Remezcla, and on and on — but she wasn’t sure she was ready to tackle a book just yet. That is, until an editor reached out and said she’d be the perfect choice to write one. The result: Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands From NKOTB to BTS, just out from Black Dog & Leventhal.
It’s already gotten a ton of attention, including mentions from, well, NPR, Rolling Stone, MTV, and on and on. A snip from a review by Cat Zhang at Pitchfork: “Larger Than Life’s real strength is its recognition that boy bands, like many cultural entities, exist at the intersection of multiple overlapping and conflicting forces.” Indeed! Larger Than Life is a fun, dot-connecting, intersectional, and informative tour of the boy-band universe from a writer who’s both a fan and a sharp-eyed critic.
Musing editor Steve Haruch interviewed Sherman about the book, what makes a boy band and more. Get your copy and check out the conversation below!
Steve Haruch: Can you talk a bit about your background as a listener/observer of boy bands?
Maria Sherman: Certainly! I self-identify as a late in life boy band fan. Because of my age, my childhood lines up with the Backstreet Boys/*NSYNC Y2K era of boy band fascination, and while I did love those acts, I found myself more inclined to the Blink-182 pop-punk that received major play on TRL during and immediately following their careers. One Direction opened my eyes in 2011 — I became a fan, and then curious about them and the boy band phenomenon on general. Why weren’t those groups given the same critical consideration as other pop stars? Especially when this music is so formative for so many? And so, I’ve written countless articles on the topic, eventually leading to this book.
SH: Ah! Since you mention Blink-182, that leads me to another question: What is the difference between a boy band and just a band that has cute guys in it that is trying to get girls to like them?
MS: Public perception, LOL. I consider Blink-182 to be, like, the world’s first pop-punk boy band, but that’s a contentious stance to take. Boy bands tend to write songs from a place of girl worship, Blink-182 were very harmful in their depictions of women. There are other reasons, too: Blink, even though their chords were soft and muted, still presented as more threatening and delinquent to parents than, say, the virginal, un-tattooed skin of Nick Carter. Also, they played instruments, which the popular boy bands of the time did not. I think it’s a variety of factors more so than one hard and fast rule.
SH: Taking the difficult stances! A related follow-up: What was it about One Direction that drew you to them? And can you talk a little bit about that lack of critical consideration?
[image error]Maria Sherman (photo by Jatnna Nuñez)
MS: It’s a bit of an ineffable quality, really — One Direction accomplished within me what all boy bands hope to accomplish within their fan base: giddiness. Well, not giddiness, but a feeling of unadulterated joy. They were playful, and they made playful music meant to make the listener feel good. More than that, One Direction meant to embolden young women, which is something I’ve always valued.
As for a lack of critical consideration: I think much music press is founded on the idea that innovation and authenticity are the qualities that make art good, and because boy bands are historically not songwriters, they’re written off. But why, then, do people write so eloquently about other pop soloists and not One Direction? I think there’s still work to be done in divorcing boy band fandom studies and thought from the dangerous, misogynistic image of a “hysterical” young woman. And for what it’s worth, 1D did a lot of co-writing. 
July 20, 2020
What Makes a Family: An Excerpt From The Road From Raqqa by Jordan Ritter Conn
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The Road From Raqqa is the story of Riyad Alkasem, who today is chef and owner of the restaurant Cafe Rakka in Hendersonville, just outside Nashville. (The choice of spelling does get explained in the book.) On its most basic level, The Road From Raqqa is a story about the American dream — finding love, raising a family, becoming a successful entrepreneur, appearing on Diners, Drive-ins and Drives. It’s also a classic immigrant tale. Riyad comes to the U.S. from Syria, escaping authoritarian rule and later violent conflict, learning English and American customs — not to mention the finer points of the American palate — along the way. It’s an unforgettable story of both finding home and knowing the home you once knew is both gone and within you forever.
In Nashville journalist Jordan Ritter Conn’s capable hands, this rich, layered story unfolds in vivid episodes, following Riyad, his brother Bashar, and other members of the Alkasem family through both turmoil and joy. It will deepen both your understanding of Syria and your understanding of the United States, and it will make you even more grateful for every person you can call family. The following excerpt comes from the prologue of the book, which Conn says “seemed to feel the most important to Riyad,” even though it’s mostly not about him.
“Any time he begins telling his story, he starts by tracing back his family’s lineage in Raqqa,” Conn says. “He once called me in the middle of the night, a little panicked, because he wanted to make absolutely certain that I had the exact order of his ancestors correct. His and Bashar’s story unfolds in so many settings — Tennessee, California, Aleppo, Germany — but at its core, it’s a story about that lineage there in Raqqa, about the ways those traditions persist in all these other corners of the world.”
Please join us online on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 6pm, live on Facebook for a discussion between Jordan Ritter Conn and Riyad Alkasem. The book will be published on July 21. Meanwhile, you can pre-order your copy today and enjoy this excerpt now.
They used to tell a story in the desert about an eighteenth-century warrior named Ibrahim, who led an Arab army across the Levant—known long before as Mesopotamia—fighting on horseback and on camel for the Ottoman Empire. Ibrahim was loyal to the Ottomans and ruthless to their enemies, and so the empire’s leaders rewarded him with a gift. It wasn’t much, just a swath of land in the desert, tucked inside the elbow of the Euphrates River, some of the land bare and desolate, some of it green and alive.
Only Ibrahim didn’t care much for land. He was a warrior, not a settler. So he left the land untouched and continued to roam the Levant and to wage battle, uninterested in anyplace where he could not find a fight. Ibrahim had a son named Issa and a grandson named Hamed, also nomadic warriors, and Hamed had a son named Taha. When they would tell this story centuries later, the boys and girls of the desert would speculate that Taha did not like to fight like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, because if he liked to fight, then he would have continued roaming in search of violence, but instead he came to the land that had now been passed down to him, and he wondered if perhaps he should stay there, if perhaps he should build a life.
Taha found a spot that he liked. Dangerous tribes inhabited the land’s western and eastern edges, but here in the center was a river and an ancient wall, long ago abandoned, and the river and wall together formed something of a cocoon, and Taha decided that here he would be safe. Here he would stay.
He put up a tent and decided to make coffee. He took a stone rod and used it like a mortar and pestle to smash the beans. When they were fully ground, he mixed them with water he boiled on a fire. He waited.
A breeze wafted in from the Euphrates, carrying the smell of coffee across the desert to small and scattered tribes. They took the smell of the coffee as an invitation. One by one, members of each tribe came to Taha and joined him. Together, they sipped.
Taha asked them to stay. Settle here, he said, and let’s work together, share our resources to build a community. To convince them, he offered pieces of his land. Some said yes, and more tribes came. As the years passed, Taha gave away more pieces of his land until there were twelve subtribes in total, and together they decided that the sliver of land just north of their settlement would be the community land, to be divided among every male descendant of every original founder for as long as their city stood.
A city. Yes. That’s what it was now, with homes and markets and mosques and a school. They called it Raqqa. It would stand for centuries, here on this plot of land passed down from Ibrahim to Issa to Hamed to Taha, and its people would remain close-knit, cloistered as they were and uninterested in the outside world. Yet they would always greet visitors with extravagant welcome, providing warm beds and hearty meals and fresh coffee, just as Taha had once done.
Taha had a son named Jurf, and Jurf had a son named Hammoud, who had a son named Kasem, who had a son named Muhammad, who had a son named Abdul-Rahman, who had several sons, the oldest two of whom he named Riyad and Bashar. And Riyad and Bashar grew up learning the stories of their ancestors and of their city, and they saw themselves as carrying on the traditions passed down from Taha on the land passed down from Ibrahim.
And then one day new warriors arrived, and the people of the city looked overhead to see them, in airplanes sent by leaders in Damascus or Moscow or Washington, D.C. And those warriors dropped bombs, and those bombs pounded the city until it was barely anything more than what Taha had found on his journey through the Levant so many years ago. And Riyad and Bashar wondered what makes a city when its people have fled or died, what makes a home when a house has become rubble, what makes a family when brothers and sisters are sent to scatter across the world.
[image error]Excerpted from The Road from Raqqa by Jordan Ritter Conn Copyright © 2020 by Jordan Ritter Conn. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Jordan Ritter Conn is a staff writer for The Ringer. He previously worked at Grantland and ESPN: The Magazine, and he has written for The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. He is a two-time finalist for the Livingston Award, and his work has been cited or recognized by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Slate.
See Jordan Ritter Conn in conversation with Riyad Alkasem, moderated by Mallory Rubin on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 6pm, live on the Parnassus Books Facebook page. Feel free to pre-order your copy of The Road From Raqqa in advance by clicking here.
July 15, 2020
Field of Dreams, but Nightmares: An Interview With Rory Power, Author of Burn Our Bodies Down
Rory Power’s extraordinary new thriller Burn Our Bodies Down is our July ParnassusNext selection. The novel follows Margot Nielsen, a girl desperate to find the family her fiercely secretive mother refuses to talk about. When she runs away to her mother’s hometown to meet a grandmother she never knew, she finds the blighted fields of the Nielsen family farm in flames. As the story unfolds, Margot must unearth her family’s twisted past and face the secrets hidden in those burning fields before it’s too late.
Power is no stranger to stories with dark mysteries at their heart. Her debut novel (and July 2019 ParnassusNext selection) Wilder Girls captivated readers with its chilling story of a girls’ boarding school caught up in a mutagenic plague. I, like so many of our booksellers, fell in love with Power’s writing and could not wait for her next book. I’m very excited for the chance to interview her today, and hope you all love this book as much as I did. —Kay Witherow
Kay Witherow: Your debut novel Wilder Girls hit the New York Times bestseller list and our ParnassusNext subscribers loved it. Where did you find the inspiration for your follow up?
Rory Power: Burn Our Bodies Down came from a Hail Mary pitch during a phone call with my editor that was, verbatim, “Field of Dreams, but nightmares, and no Kevin Costner.” I was, at the time, looking at a photograph by Ellen Jantzen, which features a hand reaching out of tall grass, and I took huge inspiration from that. The book also centers around generational trauma and the damage that can pass between parents and children, which is something in my own life I’ve been wanting to write about for a long time, and it slotted in well with the original pitch once I began to develop the idea.
KW: Both Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down deal with very heavy emotions, which you manage to capture with remarkable clarity. What’s your approach to writing the darker aspects of your stories?
[image error] “A masterpiece: an incredible and unnerving mystery that will creep up on you, twisty and labyrinthine, like the eerie cornfields of its setting.”
—Holly Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder “The kind of slow-crawling horror that’ll keep your nightmares up at night.” —Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
RP: I definitely struggle with this sometimes, and the key for me has been finding a balance between how any given aspect of a book hits the reader and how it hits the characters. Many of my characters, in Wilder Girls in particular, are used to what’s going on around them, and so while what’s happening is (hopefully) shocking to the reader, looking at it through a more matter of fact lens helps me make sure nothing is lost in translation, so to speak.
KW: I really respect the way you write your characters’ flaws. They make mistakes, they experience ugly emotions, their problems don’t have easy answers. Why do you think that’s something important for teen readers to see in their fiction?
RP: I remember how I felt as a teenager — like every decision I made locked something about my future irrevocably into place. I wanted to be reassured that the missteps I made at that age wouldn’t necessarily define me, and that I could make mistakes and encounter difficult things without being limited by them. I think reflecting that messiness in fiction and making it a normal part of a young person’s life can help to take the pressure off, in a way.
KW: Both of your books also deal with characters that are extremely isolated in their own ways. Is there something about isolation that particularly interests you?
RP: Logistically it’s much easier for me to work with a character all alone, because then I don’t have to deal with questions like: but wouldn’t somebody notice all these things happening? But on a more serious, thematic level, my experience of adolescence was very much one of being alone for those important, difficult moments, and of slowly learning to find help and community, so I tend to default to that in fiction.
KW: On a lighter note, is there a piece of media that’s brought you joy lately? Either something new, or something you go back to time and time again for a pick-me-up?
RP: Carly Rae Jepsen’s E-MO-TION album for listening, Veep and Succession for watching, and The Tenth Girl, by Sara Faring, for reading (it’s incredible on first read, and then rewards rereading very richly).
KW: We always ask this question last: what’s your favorite thing about indie bookstores?
RP: All the most important books in my life have been hand-sells from indie booksellers, filling requests as specific as, “I would like to read another surrealist novella in translation,” and as vague as, “What book feels kind of rainy to you?” That personalization, care, and generosity of time is something I value tremendously.
July 10, 2020
What Matters Most: 10 Great New Reads for the Young and Young at Heart
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School’s out … for summer? For longer? No matter what comes next — and no matter your age — it’s always a good time to get lost in the pages of a new book! From cozy read-along picture books for the little ones to thrilling YA fantasies, we’ve got some great ones picked out for you!
PICTURE BOOKS
Recommended by Rae Ann
You MatterThis is a beautiful story about perspective and connections. It’s a reminder to everyone that on good days and bad, you matter.
Recommended by Rae Ann
LiftBy Minh Lê & Dan Santat
Iris loves elevators, until her little brother decides it’s his job to push the buttons. When she finds a magical world behind the elevator door, everything changes.
We have signed copies!
Recommended by Rae Ann
A Family for LouieThis is an adorable dog book! Louie dines in fine restaurants, but what he really wants is a family.
Recommended by Chelsea
Ollie and AugustusWhen Ollie starts school, he worries that his dog Augustus will be lonely. So Ollie searches for a friend for Augustus but doesn’t find success. Instead, Ollie learns that he and Augustus are best friends regardless of what happens. A sweet story full of visual humor with beautiful pencil drawings, this book is a must-have for dog lovers and children starting school.
INDEPENDENT READERS
Recommended by Chelsea
GlitchBy Laura Martin
Glitchers — those born with a gene allowing time travel — train at the Academy, and Regan Fitz and Elliot Mason have been enemies from day one. When they get a letter from future Regan, their enemy status must change if they are to save everything they hold dear. This fast-paced thrill read is full of action centered around historical events. It’s my favorite middle grade novel to date!
Recommended by Kay
DoodlevilleBy Chad Sell
Drawings come to life in this heartfelt follow-up from the creator behind The Cardboard Kingdom. Drew is a young artist struggling with her doodles’ more mischievous natures and her own negative feelings. When she accidentally creates a monster, Drew must team up with the other members of the Art Club to set things right. Perfect for any young artist who might have monsters of their own.
YOUNG ADULT
Recommended by Rae Ann
The Damned (The Beautiful #2)By Renée Ahdieh
Celine Rousseau can’t remember the night she almost died. She has unknowingly set into motion a war between the creatures who watch her from the shadows hoping that she may not survive. This sequel to The Beautiful is full of atmosphere and mystery.
Recommended by Kay
A Song Below WaterA Song Below Water is an excellent blend of fantasy and contemporary elements. Morrow mixes sirens and magic with very real social issues to create a powerful story about finding your voice in a world that wants you silent. Add in two protagonists who both felt real enough to jump off the page, and you get a story that will stick with readers long after they finish.
Recommended by Chelsea
I Killed Zoe SpanosBy Kit Frick
When Anna arrives at a small village in the Hamptons to nanny for the summer, she learns that she bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a missing local named Zoe. Anna dives head-first into the mystery and becomes so convinced that she and Zoe are connected that when Zoe’s body is found, Anna confesses to killing her. This mind-bending mystery kept me guessing at every turn.
Recommended by Chelsea
A Song of Wraiths and RuinWhat a debut! Set against a competition of magic and skill, a crowned princess and a refugee realize that to save someone they love, they must kill each other. I especially enjoyed the magic system, lore, and mythology that Brown incorporated. I eagerly await the next volume of this duology.
ParnassusNext — Our July Selection
Burn Our Bodies Down
By Rory Power
Margot Nielsen has never managed to get her strangely secretive mother to tell her anything about their family. But when her desperate search for answers leads her to a town called Phalene and a grandmother who’s clearly hiding secrets of her own, Margot only finds more questions. As a creeping blight poisons the fields and a fire turns up a disturbingly familiar body, Margot must untangle her family’s past if she ever hopes to leave Phalene alive.
Here is some early buzz for the novel:
“Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling.” —Maggie Reagan, Booklist (starred review)
“Burn Our Bodies Down is a masterpiece: an incredible and unnerving mystery that will creep up on you, twisty and labyrinthine, like the eerie cornfields of its setting.” —Holly Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
“Rory Power’s prose hits like a lightning strike in this deliriously creepy tale, the kind of slow-crawling horror that’ll keep your nightmares up at night.” —Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
Look for an interview with author Rory Power coming to Musing next week!
ParnassusNext is the book subscription box for YA lovers. Every member of ParnassusNext receives a first edition hardcover of each month’s selected book, signed by the author. There is no membership fee to join — and no line to stand in for the autograph. Not only will you have one of the best YA books of the month when it comes out, you’ll have it straight from the author’s hands, with an original, authentic signature! Set up a subscription for yourself or buy a gift membership for your favorite YA reader for 3, 6, or 12 months.
July 8, 2020
Go Forth and Read: 19 New Books for July
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Here in Nashville, it’s hot, and the uncertainty in the air is thick as the humidity these days. But if it’s escape you seek — into a good twisty story, a historical refresh or something else entirely — our booksellers are back with a brand-new batch of hand-picked recommendations! Read on to find your next read, from fiction to poetry, essays to romance and beyond. Oh, and if you haven’t already, say hello to our summer intern, Sparky’s friend Gus!
FICTION
Recommended by Becca
The Vanishing Half: A NovelBy Brit Bennett
The lives of twin sisters take very different paths. Their children meet years later, and secrets are revealed. This book is already a New York Times bestseller, and HBO won the rights to the story at auction with a seven-figure deal!
Recommended by Heather
Don’t Turn Around: A NovelIn a world where the line between fact and opinion is blurred and everyone gets to be judge, Barry takes us on a chilling ride through right and rights. Her pacing is brilliant. her characters believable, and the outcomes hit awfully close to home. I couldn’t put it down!
Recommended by Chelsea
Take a Hint, Dani Brown: A Novel (The Brown Sisters #2)I will devour anything Talia Hibbert writes. This time, she returns to the Brown family with Chloe’s sister, Dani. She’s a driven, prickly, academically obsessed career woman. When brooding (but secret teddy bear) security guard Zafir rescues her in a fire drill, the world is taken with #DrRugBae. They agree to continue the faux-mance for appearances’ sake, but both catch unexpected feelings. I loved every second of this, and I look forward to Hibbert’s next one.
Recommended by Erin
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch MassacreBy Max Brooks
It’s not every day I’ll say I enjoyed sci-fi horror with more than its fair share of gore, but that’s only because I’ve never read any. I didn’t read Brooks’ World War Z (or see the movie), because I’m not a zombie person. Replace zombies with Bigfoot, though, and you’ve got a terrifying survival story that was exactly the book I didn’t know I wanted.
Recommended by Becca
Home Before Dark: A NovelBy Riley Sager
In the wake of her father’s death, Maggie Holt receives a surprise inheritance: her father’s remaining fortune from his bestselling account of their family’s 20-day stay in a “haunted mansion,” and (unexpectedly) the mansion itself. Ignoring her parents’ efforts to keep her away from Baneberry Hall, Maggie discovers that her father’s made-up ghost story is much more real and much more horrifying than she is prepared to handle. For fans of The Haunting of Hill House and The Amityville Horror.
Recommended by Kathy
Friends and StrangersA lonely new mother adjusting to small-town life meets a college senior who becomes her best friend, as well as her nanny. Eventually the true differences in the women’s lives become apparent and lead to life-changing decisions for both. A story that will leave you thinking about boundaries, privilege, and power dynamics in relationships, I found this such a relevant and thoughtful book, like all Sullivan’s novels.
Recommended by Sissy
The Stone Girl: A NovelIf you liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you’ll love this thriller. There’s less romantic interest and more friendship, but plenty of brain power, kicking ass, and survival. While a few scenes take place in Paris, the majority of the action is set in the Adirondacks. Sexual assault has fractured all the main characters, and they are dead-set on justice.
Recommended by Sissy
Survivor Song: A NovelI happen to find comfort in pandemic novels, even during a real-life pandemic. Tremblay’s writing is smooth as glass. I felt intimately connected to his characters, best friends from college. One is a doctor, the other is a pregnant woman who desperately needs to get to a hospital. All the action takes place during one day — and I found myself forgetting to breathe as the stakes got higher and higher.
Recommended by Ben
Things You Would Know if You Grew Up Around HereDuring the Texas Hill Country’s calamitous Memorial Day floods of 2015, uncannily empathetic Boyd must traverse the torn landscape in search of Isaac, her closest friend. Drenched with magical realism, the world grows wild, time unspools, secrets emerge from the earth. In the wake of the storm, Boyd, Isaac, their families, and strangers will all be changed, but in what ways? This is a truly immersive and electric debut.
Recommended by Rae Ann
The Boyfriend ProjectWhen a confrontation with her boyfriend and his two other “girlfriends” goes viral online, Samiah and her new friends swear off relationships to focus on themselves. Strong female friendships and an office romance make this funny book a must-read for fans of Jasmine Guillory.
Read our interview with Farrah Rochon here!
Recommended by Rae Ann
A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby (Rogues and Remarkable Women #1)Funny and smart with incredible historical details. This first book in a new Regency romance series is a multi-layered novel about family, second chances, and women standing together and standing up for themselves.
Read our interview with Vanessa Riley here!
NONFICTION
Recommended by Karen
Heroes: The Greek Myths ReimaginedBy Stephen Fry
Last year I recommended Fry’s Mythos, which was a retelling of the stories of the Greek gods. Here his witty and informative storytelling turns to the human heroes in Greek mythology. This book is gorgeously illustrated, but I would recommend using it as a companion to the Libro.fm audiobook read by Fry. So entertaining all the way around.
Recommended by Jordan
This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being DopeIconic writer and poet Shayla Lawson has blessed us with this collection of personal essays, poems, and observations about what being a Black woman in America means in a variety of contexts. Both enlightening and entertaining, this book sheds light on the ways black women and girls have influenced culture while being underappreciated and shortchanged.
Recommended by Sissy
Notes on a Silencing: A MemoirNotes on a Silencing is the Educated of 2020. The painful reminder of how long women must wait for justice (if they get it) is hammered home in this riveting memoir of sexual abuse. Her descriptions of the wealthy boarding school set the scene, but her personal revelations about feelings of deserving punishment and not deserving a voice are what bring the story to life. Many women will see themselves in young Lacy.
Recommended by Ben
Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of TimeIntelligent and wide-ranging, this book brims with mythologies, climate science, and philosophical musings, all shot through with Ehrenreich’s personal experiences in the American Southwest. A paean to the desert, as well as a spirited exploration of time, writing, culture, memory, and progress, he ponders how others have seen this singular world, and how we should live within our present political and geological moment.
Recommended by Andy
Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road (Hardcover)Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft, shares his love of driving and his fears of the future in Why We Drive. The philosopher-mechanic writes of the freedom that driving provides and argues that in our quest for safety we have lost the skills and freedom that the open road offers. From rebuilding a 1972 Volkswagen to exploring automotive subcultures across the country Crawford challenges us to examine the impact of technology on contemporary lives and what we lose as drivers become merely passengers.
Recommended by Steve
A Fish Growing Lungs: EssaysA collection of linked essays about living with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder — which is eventually discovered to be a misdiagnosis — A Fish Growing Lungs is a calm, thoughtful, disarming look at mental health that touches on addiction, love, identity, family, friendship and, yes, heavy metal music, along the way.
POETRY
Recommended by Ben
The Clearing: PoemsIn this stunning debut collection, the verbs are vivid; the metaphors imagistic; the topics ranging through small town secrets, parenthood and childhood, physical love, violence and tragedy. These bold poems are imbued with the grittiness of landscape, biology, geology, and anchored by the recurring motif of searching below the surface for things like fossils and rot, yes, but also veins of gold and memories.
Recommended by Ben
Anyone’s SonDecades of life are distilled here, from a conflicted childhood on a farm in central Texas, to hard-fought middle-aged peace in the deserts of New Mexico. At its core is the desperate yearning for an erotic, intimate connection with another man. From crickets and constellations, to cowboys and cold beers, and finally to canyons and contentment, David’s longing and honesty burst from these precise narrative poems.
In-person book club is on hold for the moment.
First Editions Club: July Selection
Inheritors
From the O. Henry Prize-winning author comes a heartbreakingly beautiful and brutal exploration of lives fragmented by the Pacific side of World War II.
Spanning more than 150 years, and set in multiple locations in colonial and postcolonial Asia and the United States, Inheritors paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of its characters as they grapple with the legacies of loss, imperialism, and war. Written from myriad perspectives and in a wide range of styles, each of these interconnected stories is designed to speak to the others, contesting assumptions and illuminating the complicated ways we experience, interpret, and pass on our personal and shared histories.
A retired doctor, for example, is forced to confront the horrific moral consequences of his wartime actions. An elderly woman subjects herself to an interview, gradually revealing a fifty-year old murder and its shattering aftermath. And in the last days of a doomed war, a prodigal son who enlisted against his parents’ wishes survives the American invasion of his island outpost, only to be asked for a sacrifice more daunting than any he imagined. Serizawa’s characters walk the line between the devastating realities of war and the banal needs of everyday life as they struggle to reconcile their experiences with the changing world.
A breathtaking meditation on suppressed histories and the relationship between history, memory, and storytelling, Inheritors stands in the company of Lisa Ko, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Min Jin Lee.
More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.
July 3, 2020
Real But Also Not Real: An Excerpt From Becoming Duchess Goldblatt
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Anyone who spends time clicking around the literary neighborhoods of Twitter knows Duchess Goldblatt — a voice of kindness, encouragement, and slightly off-kilter humor. But what no one knows and everyone has been guessing at for the past few years now is: Who is she?
In the most fascinating case of concealed identity since Elena Ferrante (and we still don’t know who she is), Duchess Goldblatt has Twitter-befriended thousands of fans, including many of our favorite authors, who haven’t met her but interact with her online as if she’s a revered elder. Celeste Ng and Rebecca Makkai are friends of the Duchess, as is Laura Lippman. So’s Alexander Chee. Singer Lyle Lovett tweets back and forth with her like an old friend. Meanwhile, fans of Her Grace (as she chooses to be called) swap theories and parse clues as to her real identity. Is it a famous author we already know, tweeting as a pseudonymous alter ego? Someone who works in publishing? Who knows!
Now, the person behind the popular Duchess Goldblatt account has written a book. According to the publisher: “Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media.”
You may be wondering: What does a book tour look like for a writer who wishes to remain anonymous? It looks like literary friends hosting virtual parties to talk about all the things that make Duchess Goldbatt — and all the books we love — so charming: voice, character, mystery, and storytelling. To that end, Parnassus is delighted to host authors and friends-of-the-Duchess Elizabeth McCracken (Thunderstruck, Bowlaway), Benjamin Dreyer (Dreyer’s English), and Mary Laura Philpott (I Miss You When I Blink) for a lively literary conversation on Wednesday, July 8, at 7 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central.
Does it sound a little wacky? Oh, it will be.
For everyone who loves Duchess Goldblatt — plus all those who have never heard of her before now — here’s an excerpt from her new book, Becoming Duchess Goldblatt. As you’ll see, the anonymous author’s memoir is interspersed with the tweets and Twitter-exchanges that made the voice of Duchess Goldblatt famous. You can read more about the book in this New York Times profile, “Duchess Goldblatt Is a Mystery, Wrapped in a Riddle, Inside a Twitter Account.” Meanwhile, enjoy this preview, order your copy of the book today, then join us online on the 8th!
“Show me how to set up an account on social media,” I said to my work pal, Naomi, one day, in boredom. I was lying down on the desk in her office, staring at the ceiling. “I’ve never been on there. I feel like I’m missing out.”
“You’re not missing anything,” she said. “It’s all the people you haven’t seen since high school posting pictures of their kids.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing what people are up to,” I said. “As long as they can’t see me.”
“If you’re out there, they can see you,” she said. “It’s reciprocal. That’s the whole point. It’s why they call it social media.”
“And yet somehow I’m feeling like this is not the time for me to establish a public presence out amongst the people,” I said, waving my hand in the direction of the hallway, by which I meant the street outside, our town, the world. She nodded.
Naomi knew enough of the salient details of my story that she supported my intuition not to start posting anything personal online at that very moment. She and I had both learned the hard way that family court judges and divorce attorneys are not typically the first to leap forth in an embrace of harmless good fun.
“Could you set up an account for me so I’m anonymous?” I asked.
“Anonymous?” she said. “You mean fake?”
“No. I can’t lie. I don’t want to trick anybody,” I said. “I’m thinking it could be obviously fictional.”
“You’d need a pen name,” she said.
I thought about it. “You know that classic parlor game that lets you figure out your drag queen name? You take the name of the first pet you ever had as your first name, and take your mother’s maiden name as your last name. I’ll tell you the funniest one I ever heard,” I said. “A dear old friend of mine: His first dog was a black lab named Duchess, and his mother’s maiden name was Goldblatt.”
“Duchess Goldblatt.”
“It’s so fun to say. And it sounds made up, so I think people would take the hint right away that this is not a real person.”
“All right, so then you’ll need a picture to go with the name.”
I liked the idea of a person who was real but not real, so I searched on the term ‘elderly lady.’
One of the first images to come up was an oil painting from the Dutch Golden Age.
It was a 1633 painting by Frans Hals, titled “Portrait of an Elderly Lady,” and was included in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington.
The subject is shown in formal 17th-century dress: a black gown, a stiff wire-backed ruff at her neck, a modest white cap covering wispy hair, and her hand clutching a book, suggesting she had some education. She’s smiling gently. You can see there’s a twinkle in her eye, a slight sauciness in her gaze, that shows she had a sly wit.
“She’s perfect. That’s her,” I said. “Look at her cute little face, the twinkle in her eyes. She looks like she has a sense of humor. That’s Duchess Goldblatt.”
“She’s great,” Naomi said. “But once you start making connections, people will see who you’re friends with and figure out it’s you in five minutes. Is it critical that you stay anonymous?”
I considered this. I’d recently borrowed thousands of dollars for a divorce attorney. She liked to cup her hands into a pretend megaphone to help her scream at me louder. (“Wake up and smell the coffee!” she’d shout at me. “Stop being an idiot!”) I’d sold my jewelry. I’d taken in a boarder.
Strangers were scrutinizing and questioning my bank account statements, credit card statements, tax returns, receipts, decisions, choices, motives, integrity, and heart. I’d lost my family, my dear ones, my livelihood, and was about to lose my home.
Naomi saw my face. She nodded.
“I feel you,” she said. “Say no more. You don’t want any pain-in-the-ass spineless sack of shit seeing what you’re putting on social media and getting pissy about it.”
She was a good egg, that one. You can see why I had taken to lying down on her desk.
“OK. So we’ll keep you anonymous,” she said. “We just have to think of how.”
Now that the lightweights and barflies have cleared out and I have the place to myself, I’d like to sing a few numbers from my first album.
The Duchess Goldblatt Dog Show started on my birthday one year when I had nothing to do and nowhere else to go. And then the Duchess Goldblatt Cat Show, and its popular spinoff, the Duchess Goldblatt Cat Show: Belly Division started — when? I can’t remember. Whatever day it was, I was both waving and drowning, desperately trying to keep afloat. An online dog beauty pageant struck me funny. Duchess invited everyone to attend, and reminded them that admission was free; they ought not purchase tickets from scalpers.
“How are you hosting a dog show?” asked my friend Jackie, when I told her about it.
“How am I not?”
“Where are you getting the pictures of all those dogs?”
“I’m not getting the pictures. People are posting pictures of their dogs to show me.”
“And what do you do when they show you their dogs?”
“Nothing, really. I say nice things. I tell them their dogs are the glory of God incarnate and a joy to behold and so on, and then other people chime in and comment, too.”
“And why are they doing this?”
I shrugged. “Why not? It’s fun. Everybody likes sharing pictures of their pets. Besides, Duchess Goldblatt tells them to.”
“You tell them to do stuff and they do it?”
“Yep.”
“What else do you tell them to do?”
“Oh, you know, I tell them to do their best creative work, extend forgiveness to others, practice patience. It’s the sort of thing my Dad used to tell me to do, come to think of it. Most of the time when she tells them to do something, it’s just me talking to myself. She uses her powers for good. Duchess gave them mindfulness assignments last year for springtime sacrifice during Lent.”
“No, sir. You did not. You’re making that up.”
“Not at all. They took it very seriously.”
“What did you make them give up?”
“I didn’t make anybody do anything. Only the people who requested an assignment got one. Each person got something different. She suggested little sacrifices each person could consider making to help them practice mindfulness. You know, as a way to calm down and center your thinking.”
“What kinds of sacrifices?”
“Don’t look so frightened. It’s not like I told anybody to go off their insulin. It was all tiny things that they wouldn’t really suffer without, but they’d have to think about every day, like giving up wearing the color blue, maybe, or using ice cubes. I think I told someone that every time she used a pencil, she should pause for a moment and extend her heart in gratitude for the gifts she’d been given.”
“You told someone to give up ice cubes?”
“Yep.”
“Did he do it?” “Of course. No one would subvert Duchess’s will. And a lot of people told me the things she chose for them to give up happened to be exactly the things they cared about. So somehow she picked the one little thing that would be meaningful.”
Someone has just reminded me that last year at this time, I gave out assignments for mindful sacrifice. Let me know if you need to re-up.
Whatcha got for me this year, your grace? —CT
Whenever you see the color purple, I’d like you to take a deep breath and hold it for a count of seven.
I could use your spiritual guidance, your grace. — D
I would like you to give up black pepper and in so doing, pause for a moment’s contemplation of the nature of suffering.
I’m on board. Let’s do this. —E
I’d like you to give up basil, dearest, and in the moment you do, pause to forgive yourself.
Ready and willing over here, too. —W
Whenever you see the color orange, you will find a kindness in your heart for your mother-in-law
Tough one for me. —W
I know it is.
I’m ready for my sacrifice, your grace. Last year, it was silver jewelry, and if it were confession Tuesday, I’d admit it was hard. –P
I’d like you to stop using the word “very,” and in so doing, pause in contemplation of the gifts you’ve been given.
I need one, your grace. –AD
I’d like you to pick up and write with blue pens, not black pens or pencils. In so doing, contemplate what loving kindness means.
If you would, please, your grace. –BCD
Whenever you hear the word “trump,” I’d like you to extend yourself in loving kindness to all who may not deserve it.
Now that is a challenge to rise to. Thank you, your grace. –BCD
I knew something was wrong as soon as Jackie called and I heard how sweet and cheerful her voice was. I’ll tell you right now that Jackie calling me on purpose, wanting to talk to me in the middle of a weekday, is never a good sign.
“How’s everything going?” she asked, her voice bright. “Having a nice day?”
Uh oh. “What’s wrong?
“Nothing. Why would anything be wrong? No, I’m just curious if you’d like to explain why a giant box of pies has been FedExed to my home from a diner in Kansas,” she said.
“Oh, that,” I said, relieved. “That’s for Duchess.”
“No shit it’s for Duchess,” she said. “Who the hell else gets packages delivered to my house? I don’t have room in my refrigerator for this.”
“Seriously? You don’t have room? How many pies did they send?”
She lowered her voice to the hiss she normally reserves for teenagers and dogs. “Get your ass over here and pick up these goddamned pies.”
“Coming!” I said. (See, this is how I burn through the Man on the Outside couriers every six months. A lot of people don’t have the patience for good, clean fun.)
It turns out she did have room in her refrigerator for them (which I could have told you already; who can’t make room for a couple of pies in an emergency?)
“Blackberry’s my favorite,” I told her. “How in the world did they know?”
“Magic,” she said, taking one of the pies out. She sliced it up and we took our plates to the back porch, where we sat in reverent silence. Jackie was quiet for a long moment, her eyes closed, savoring each bite. “This is the best pie I’ve ever had.”
She opened her eyes a crack. “Now who the hell is sending you pies from Kansas?”
“It’s a restaurant, the Ladybird Diner, in a city called Lawrence,” I said. “I’ve seen pictures. It looks like a really special place. They love Duchess. They created a new pie recipe and named it specially after her.”
“Why would a diner in Kansas name a pie after Duchess Goldblatt?”
“I should think it would be obvious, Jackie. They love me. Let’s go on a road trip. Let’s visit!”
“A road trip to Kansas?” she said. “Do you have any idea how far Kansas is?”
“Yes.” (No.) “Maybe next summer you’ll take me? I’ve never been to Kansas.”
“Of course you’ve never been to Kansas! It’s a thousand miles away!”
“So this is the perfect opportunity,” I said. “We’ll take a road trip, have a little pie.”
“I am not driving you to Kansas,” she said. “Put the thought out of your mind.”
“You know what’s really strange about all this with Duchess?” I asked her.
“Uh, yeah, I do, actually. Everything is strange about it,” she said.
“No. Duchess remembers things, little details. My memory is gone, you know that. I don’t remember anything.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Duchess remembers people’s pets’ names, their kids’ names, their spouses, what they do for a living, what they do for fun. I don’t know how she’s doing it.”
“Are you trying to remember this stuff?”
“No. You know I don’t remember anything. She remembers it without trying.”
“Are you writing it down somewhere?”
“Come on. You know I don’t care that much.”
“That is very true,” she said. “Remember that time you forgot my dog’s name?”
“You’ve had so many dogs. I can’t remember them all.”
“I had one dog. One,” she said. “You knew Sparkles her whole life! She considered you part of her family!”
“My point,” I said, “is that Duchess is somehow tapping into other parts of my brain to remember everything. Look through her list of people she’s following.” I handed over my phone. “Ask me about them.”
She started scrolling through the list, reading names out loud.
“I see here you’ve got a Shirley in California.”
“She’s a favorite. She dressed up as Duchess one time. Hang on. I saved the picture.”
“What did she use for the hat and the ruff?”
“I don’t know. I think she maybe made the ruff out of fabric or coffee filters,” I said. “Here. Look.” I took the phone and found the picture of California Shirley I’d saved.
“Jesus Christ,” Jackie said. “She’s wearing coffee filters.”
“Isn’t she adorable?”
“She’s beautiful,” Jackie said. “All right, let’s see who else is in here. Benjamin Dreyer?”
“Love him. He’s in New York. He’s become a real friend.”
“What do you mean, real? You’ve met him?”
“No, of course not. I mean we’ve shared the deepest truths of our hearts with one another. Although he has been writing a book for a few years now, maybe four or five years, and Duchess has told him when the book comes out, if he has a party, she’ll come to life for him.”
“How is she going to come to life and go to his party?”
“Me. I mean me. I would go to his party.”
“You’re going to leave the house, leave town, go to New York City, and go to a publishing party? How are you going to introduce yourself?”
I paused. It was possible I hadn’t thought all this through.
“OK, next. ‘Good Maggie.’ ”
“Good Maggie! Duchess calls her Goodness. When she got married, she and her husband held up a giant portrait of Duchess between them at the wedding.”
“No.”
“Oh yes. Her mother had it printed up and framed. Took it with her for the wedding. Duchess was invited to the wedding, as a matter of fact.”
“What? These people invited you to their wedding?”
“No, not me. They invited Duchess. She said she would have gone, too, but only if they’d let her officiate.”
“I can’t believe the mother of the bride brought a portrait of Duchess to her daughter’s wedding.”
“She handmade Duchess Goldblatt Christmas ornaments one year, too.”
“We’ll come back to that. Cedar Waxwing.”
“Duchess told him to use that name for some reason. I forget why. His real name is Nate. He has a cat named Ted and he sends Ted’s pictures in to the Duchess Goldblatt Cat Show. He made me a video on New Year’s Eve saying ‘Happy New Year, Duchess,’ with Ted.”
“You have a cat show? Don’t answer that. Let’s keep going. Howard Mittelmark.”
“Howard’s a wonderful writer and editor. He reads Duchess very carefully. He, more than anybody, can tell when I’m struggling and the sadness comes through in Duchess’s voice, and he’ll send me a private message to check in on me and make sure I’m okay. No pets, as far as I know.”
“Connie Schultz.”
“Oh, yes. The columnist. Journalist. She’s married to Sherrod Brown.”
“I don’t know who that is,” she said.
“Senator from Ohio. They have a long-haired dachshund named Franklin.”
“Are you telling me there’s a senator who knows about Duchess Goldblatt?”
“I should certainly hope so. If anybody needs to benefit from the bright shining light and wisdom of the universe that Duchess embodies, it’s the US government.”
“Right. Let me ask you this,” she said, putting the phone down. “What’s my job?”
I paused for a minute. “You’re kind of like a social worker,” I said.
“A social worker?” she repeated.
“No? A manager of social workers. You’re a manager.”
She glared at me. “You are unbelievable.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t help it. I’m not doing it on purpose.”
“It makes no sense,” she said. “How are you remembering all these details about people you don’t even know?”
“I have no idea,” I told her. “Although it does kind of feel like I know them.”
“They don’t know you. They’re not your real friends. They don’t even know your name.”
“They know my heart,” I said. “They know my voice. Those are the best parts of me. I never really liked my name anyway, to be honest with you. You know what’s funny, come to think of it? I used to have an incredible memory. It was freakish. I’ve lost so much ground, but it’s almost like Duchess has found a path back to my memory. She’s turned the lights back on.”
“If Duchess is able to form new memories, then your memory is still there. Why do you think you’re forgetting so much?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll tell you what: it’s a relief. If I run into someone I used to know, and I can’t recall their name or their parents’ names or every way they ever let me down, all I think is: thank God. I thank God for taking my memory away. Losing my memories can only be good for me.”
All lost manuscripts have since been found, numbered, bathed in rose water, and shredded for confetti. It’s what they would have wanted.
* * *
Join Benjamin Dreyer, Elizabeth McCracken, and Mary Laura Philpott
in a celebration of Duchess Goldblatt!
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
at 6pm Central/7pm Eastern on The Internet
July 1, 2020
Authors in Real Life: Vanessa Riley and Farrah Rochon
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If you love a good romance (and who doesn’t love a story about love?) we have two brand-new books for you to add to your summer reading list. The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon is a laugh-out-loud novel set in Austin’s tech industry, starring a heroine who swears off dating when a confrontation with her cheating boyfriend goes viral. A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley sweeps the reader into Regency England, where a West Indian heiress risks her life to be near her son after her husband’s mysterious death.
Get to know Farrah Rochon and Vanessa Riley as they answer our Authors In Real Life questionnaire:
I’ve been listening to:
[image error]Vanessa Riley
Vanessa Riley: I’ve listened to a lot of smooth jazz and gospel. They settle my nerves and keep me focused on creation.
Farrah Rochon: Mostly audiobooks. I’m making my way through Karin Slaughter’s expansive backlist and just finished Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.
I love to watch:
VR: Mythbusters. I love how they approach problems or fables or flukes and test them in a methodical way. Oh, and the explosions. I love those.
FR: True crime shows. I’m a huge fan of Dateline, 20/20, 48 Hours and Forensic Files. You’d think I wrote murder mysteries instead of romance.
Something I saw online that made me laugh, cry, or think:
VR: Too many videos are making me cry. Every time I see someone walking while black, breathing while brown, or living while other, being persecuted; it breaks my soul.
FR: I recently read an account from a young black actor who played Prince Hans in a live performance of Frozen the Musical. His pride in playing the character — that isn’t traditionally played by a person of color — and his heartache over how he was subsequently treated by some behind the scenes, really affected me and caused me to think about how those in the live theater world I love so much are treated.
Best meal I’ve had in the past month:
VR: Toasted coconut bread French toast. Think decadent layers of island flavor and hot buttery maple syrup on a plate and then my tummy.
FR: My parents treated me to a seafood platter from a local seafood restaurant for my birthday. I’m still dreaming about those fried crab claws and crawfish tails.
[image error]Farrah Rochon
A creator who’s doing something I admire or envy:
VR: There are so many I admire like Alyssa Cole, who keeps pushing her storytelling to new levels and new genres. I love this new generation of novelists breaking ground like Tomi Adeyemi, Angie Thomas, and Brit Bennett. I also admire the longevity and continued excellence of Beverly Jenkins and Toni Morrison.
FR: I’ll be honest, I admire the heck out of all those TikTok creators. The videos are so clever.
A book I recently recommended to someone else:
VR: Books I recently recommend were Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie (fun Bridgette Jones feels), Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project (fresh tech romance fun), Kwana Jackson’s Real Men Knit (fresh takes on masculinity), Sarah Maclean’s Brazen and The Beast (women power and forces of nature combined) and Julia Quinn’s First Comes Scandal (laugh-out-loud fun).
FR: (Im)perfectly Happy by Sharina Harris.
The last event I bought tickets to was:
VR: I don’t remember. It’s been a long time. 
FR: The national tour production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at New Orleans’ famed Saenger Theater.
Most meaningful recent travel destination:
VR: The last trip of 2020 was to a February book club meeting in North Carolina. It was good to see and hug readers. My hand sanitizer swag was gone in five minutes.
FR: I visited India back in 2018 and was completely blown away by the history, the culture and the people.
I wish I knew more about:
VR: How to grow grapes to bottle wines. I have a plot of land in the south. I have ideas.
FR: Soap making. Weird, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do but have never taken the time to learn.
My favorite thing about bookstores:
VR: These are my favorites: The smell of new books. The joy of see people holding newly purchased treasures. The smiles of knowledgeable staff recommending books the love.
FR: The smell!
June 19, 2020
Quarantine Reading: Samantha Irby, Bess Kalb and Mary Laura Philpott
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A canceled book tour may seem like the least of all possible worries in the world we live in right now. But for many authors who had planned to release new books this spring, there’s real disappointment in plans gone sideways. Whether it’s a launch party, a multi-city tour, or simply going out and toasting the milestone with friends, the celebration of a new book is a rite of passage most authors won’t get to experience in this stay-at-home season. Still, many are trying to look on the bright side, focused on sharing their books with readers in other ways. Musing caught up with the writers of three memoirs to find out what author life is like these days and how it feels to connect with readers virtually instead of in person.
Before we dig into the conversation, let’s take a quick tour of the books:
Wow, No Thank You.: EssaysFans of Irby’s wildly popular prior books — Meaty and We Are Never Meeting In Real Life — were thrilled to get another personal essay collection by the hilariously unguarded writer, who has also written for television. (Together with Aidy Bryant, she co-wrote Hulu’s series Shrill, based on the book by Lindy West.) Entertainment Weekly calls Irby’s latest “the perfect book for right now,” and goes on: “Irby can never make fun of herself enough, which is good news for us: Her misery makes for great company.”
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) storyBy Bess Kalb
Bobby Bell died at age 90, but her larger-than-life personality takes center stage in her granddaughter Bess Kalb’s debut book. Written mostly in Bell’s voice, like a letter from the great beyond, this collection of wisdom and anecdotes pays tribute to the loving bond between granddaughter and grandmother. Kalb is a natural comedy writer (whose work you’ve likely heard on Jimmy Kimmel Live! or seen in The New Yorker), but she also shines when telling more poignant family stories. Novelist Jodi Picoult wrote, “I have not been as profoundly moved by a book in years.”
I Miss You When I Blink: EssaysIt’s been a year since the hardcover release of I Miss You When I Blink by former Parnassian (or “bookseller emeritus,” as she says) Mary Laura Philpott. Now a national bestseller, the debut memoir-in-essays earned Philpott comparisons to Nora Ephron and closed out 2019 by landing on best-of-the-year lists from NPR to Esquire to Real Simple. It’s out now in a special new paperback edition, complete with a technicolor cover and bonus features such as an author Q&A and discussion guide for book clubs.
1. First off, how are you? Safely at home?
Samantha Irby: I am at home in southwest Michigan, which … it’s not as much of a hot spot as the east side and Detroit. I don’ t mind being at home, so this hasn’t been — you know the people who need to get out and see people very day? That’s not me. I feel a little guilty because I’m like, “Being at home is OK!” Everybody’s healthy and a little stir crazy, but I’m like I got a pile of books, our internet works, so I’m fine.
Bess Kalb: Yes! Hunkered down in Los Angeles with my husband and 8-month-old baby. The baby is loving it.
Mary Laura Philpott: We’re doing fine. Everyone’s healthy. Worry and grief are in the air, but it has also been joyful in some ways to have the whole family back home with me during the day again. (I wrote a little about those conflicting emotions recently.) There are four of us in one house — so inevitably someone crashes someone else’s Zoom call at least once a day. Nothing says “professional” like a beagle climbing in your lap and sneezing all over the screen during an interview.
2. In terms of book-related activities, what did your spring plans look like before the pandemic changed everything, and how does it look different now?
[image error]Samantha Irby
SI: So I was supposed to go on tour I think for a month a half. I enjoy seeing people and hugging people and having them heap praise on me, but traveling is miserable. I hate it. No one really talks about how on book tour you are meeting people and expected to be yourself while also being dirty and tired. You’re recycling clothes and hoping people don’t breathe in too deeply when you hug them. It was supposed to start in Iowa … I was going to come to Parnassus, and you were going to get a chance to see me dirty and sweaty. … So this is a big change from what I was supposed to be doing right now, but I don’t mind it. I gotta say, I’ve done some virtual Zoom events and I am really going to pitch this if I do another book; I’m going to pitch this as my future tour because it’s nice! I’m very happy to be clean and at home, but I do miss the hugging people of it all. But now you can’t hug anyone or you will die, so it’s probably better that I’m here and not touching anybody.
BK: I had a book tour planned, and then suddenly four or five days before the publication date, there was no book tour. I was supposed to go to New York to read at Symphony Space, and instead the venue did a Zoom reading for Facebook Live, and it was a surreal experience. I read my book alone in my office in my house to an unseen audience of solitary people. It was also different from a traditional reading in that I wasn’t wearing shoes. I’ve said yes to every online opportunity presented, because I love to connect with readers in any way I can. I’m doing radio interviews and podcasts from my bedroom closet. And I’ve done a few virtual book clubs, too.
MLP: We’ve had to cancel live events, obviously, but I’ve been connecting with readers in some fun and unexpected ways. I attend book clubs virtually [https://marylauraphilpott.com/bookclubs/] whenever I can, and I’ve done more online events via Zoom and social media. I’ve learned how to prop up my phone and sit so my head is visible onscreen and it doesn’t look like an interview with my neck or my armpit!
3. How are you feeling about the pandemic?
[image error]Bess Kalb. Credit: Lucas Foglia Photography
SI: It’s scary, right? the flu is also scary, there are so many scary things and I’m immunocompromised, so I often have a heightened fear around catching something I won’t be able to get rid of. The scariest part is you have to be dependent on other people. … You trust the scientists to come up with the vaccine or whatever. I have faith in that. But faith in people not storming the capitol so they can get a haircut or whatever, that is the part is the most distressing to me, that we have to rely on regular idiots. Like, I am a regular idiot, but I know how to stay home and just cringe when I see how long my hair is.
BK: I’m just glad the book is resonating with people in a time of crisis, and helping distract them from this strange and stressful time.
MLP: In a parallel universe, I might be sad about having a new edition coming out just as everything’s shutting down, but what can you do? And the way the book community has innovated not only to get books out to readers but to take care of its people has been amazing. If this paperback gives people something to do other than grind their teeth about reality, I’m glad. So I’m bummed out but also impressed and hopeful, and just sort of … oddly relaxed, I guess?… because nothing’s within my control. And of course, you can’t get too upset about any of this when people are losing their lives. It’s not hard to keep it all in perspective.
4. Let’s take a moment to share some love. What’s another book coming out this season that you’re excited about?
[image error]Mary Laura Philpott. Credit: Heidi Ross
SI: Michael Arcenaux’s I Don’t Want to Die Poor. His and mine were both on the edge of like, “They’ve all been printed — get out there and sell ’em.” His first collection I Can’t Date Jesus was so good and funny and the new one is also so good and funny. I hate this word and it gets used on me a lot — it’s relatable. And Michael writes from a very open and genuine place, which is just so nice. And I mean it’s truly a nightmare to be doing anything book-related at this time but his book is very good. I just got a book from Parnassus called The Unsuitable by Molly Pohlig and it’s a gothic ghost story — i just started it but I’m really excited to read that. The Herd by Andrea Bartz. I loved her book The Lost Night. I really love a thriller. That is my lane. I really want a fast-paced who-killed-who-in-a-sexy-way kind of book, and The Herd has all that and more.
BK: Mike Birbiglia’s The New One. It’s hilarious. And poignant! Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You is a soul-cleansing tonic for these times. [Editor’s note: I swear we did not plan this.]
MLP: Can I name more than one? In memoir, the book of the season has got to be Wayétu Moore’s The Dragons, The Giant, The Women; holy moly, it’s breathtaking. And then there are two smashing novels with very different moods from a couple of my favorite novelists: All Adults Here, an ensemble story by Emma Straub about a loving but imperfect family, joyfully balances wit and soul; and Sea Wife by Amity Gaige, about a family who decides to live on a boat for a year, perfectly captures the uneasiness and claustrophobia a lot of us are feeling right now.
Bonus Q — to answer in just one sentence: What’s your local independent bookstore, and what do you love about it?
SI: It’s called Book Bug and I really do love it and spend so much time there. I love that they truly try to create a sense of community.
BK: Skylight Books. A gem in my neighborhood and a wonderful place to spend the entire afternoon.
June 8, 2020
Novels and Otter Things to Read: New Books for Young Readers (and the Young at Heart)
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Everybody needs a good story, and our booksellers have a whole new batch for young-at-heart readers of all ages! Whether it’s a high adventure, a fun animal story, or a nature or art book to explore, we’ve got lots of great choices. We hope you’ll also check out our list of anti-racist books for young readers as well!
PICTURE BOOKS
Recommended by Rae Ann
The Night Is for DarknessBy Jonathan Stutzman & Joseph Kuefler
The Night is for Darkness is a perfect bedtime read. It celebrates the beauty of the nighttime world and the joy of family time together.
Recommended by Rae Ann
Lone WolfThis picture book about a dog mistaken for a wolf is a delightful read-aloud for dog lovers and families who envision a pet in their future. Maple’s journey to discover herself is heartwarming and funny.
Recommended by Becca
I Am Jax, Protector of the RanchBy Catherine Stier, Francesca Rosa (Illustrator)
Jax the Great Pyrenees bravely steps up to guard the sheep on his ranch when the lead dog is injured by coyotes! Adventures and plenty of treats follow. This is first book in a new series exploring the lives of working dogs, ideal for the 7-10 year old dog lover in your life!
Recommended by Rae Ann
Hurry Up!: A Book About Slowing DownBy Kate Dopirak & Christopher Silas Neal
This is a book about slowing down to enjoy the world around us. The beautiful rhymes will make you want to read it over and over … slowly.
Recommended by Becca
My Art Book of HappinessYou’re never too young or too old to learn about art history. You’re also never too young or too old to learn about feelings. You’ll notice something new in the art every time you read this little book, and find plenty of opportunities for conversations about art and big feelings.
Recommended by Heather
If You Take Away the OtterBy Susannah Buhrman-Deever & Matthew Trueman
Otters. Gorgeous illustrations. Those are enough to recommend this book. But its message about the importance of biodiversity and the interdependence of species makes it important as well as beautiful. It is a great message to share with children, grandchildren and to ponder ourselves as we consider the future of our planet.
Recommended by Chelsea
Here Comes OceanBy Meg Fleming, & Paola Zakimi
Beautiful illustrations and rhyming, repetitive text describe a sunny day at the beach. Perfect for fans of collecting, animals, and the ocean!
Recommended by Jackie
Be You!Another great inspirational book from Peter Reynolds! Illustrations add to the simple text, creating more opportunity for discussion during a read-aloud.
INDEPENDENT READERS
Recommended by Rae Ann
Zeus, Dog of ChaosZeus is surprised when his first service dog assignment is middle school. If you like dogs and funny books, this story narrated by a German shepherd is for you.
Don’t miss our virtual event with Kristin O’Donnell Tubb on Wednesday, June 10 at 2pm!
Recommended by Jackie
How to Disappear CompletelyBy Ali Standish
Emma has a lot to deal with, living in a new town, going to a new school, missing her Gram, and now noticing spots appearing on her skin. Would be good for fans of Wonder.
Recommended by Jackie
MañanalandMax loves stories, and soon discovers his grandfather’s tales about tomorrow might have more basis in reality than he originally thought. Max soon finds himself on a quest seeking answers about a family secret and trying to help someone else.
YOUNG ADULT
Recommended by Rae Ann
The Jewel ThiefWhen her father, the King’s crown jeweler, sinks into depression, Juliette takes on the task of cutting the priceless stone. Intrigue and romance in 17th century Paris. Based on the story of the Hope Diamond.
Recommended by Chelsea
We Are Not from HereForced to flee the same evil in Guatemala, three teens set off to the United States. Though their journey is harrowing and traumatizing, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña cling to hope that if they just keep going, they will make it to safety. This timely novel shines a huge, unflinching spotlight on the crises to our south and calls us to understand and empathize.
Recommended by Kay
House of DragonsFive teens and their dragons are forced into a high-stakes competition where only one of them is meant to survive. Between the fantastic cast of characters and the perfectly paced plot twists, this is a “stay up until 2am because you have to know what happens next” sort of read. If you’re looking for sheer fantasy entertainment, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Recommended by Becca
Clap When You LandAfter a flight from New York City to the Dominican Republic crashes into the ocean with no survivors, the Rios family is split apart — not only by loss, but also by the secrets that come to light in the aftermath. The rhythm of Acevedo’s free verse highlights the emotional journey of two young girls from opposite sides of the world, brought together by loss and betrayal on a scale that most could not imagine.
Recommended by Kay
Nowhere on EarthBy Nick Lake
What begins with a plane crash in the mountains of Alaska becomes a survival story with a heartfelt core and a scifi spin. Stranded in the woods with only her little brother and an injured pilot, Emily must use everything she knows to keep them all alive in the face of freezing temperatures, hungry bears, and the mysterious gunmen hunting them. This story about protecting what you love is equal parts tender and thrilling.
Recommended by Andy
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the BeginningBy Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi
Jason Reynolds does a masterful job of adapting Ibram Kendi’s work for young people. This book not only shines light on our past but also provide tools to confront racism and give us hope for the future.
ParnassusNext — Our June Selection
Burn
By Patrick Ness
Sarah Dewhurt finds her already difficult life in Cold War America thrown into chaos when a dragon reveals she plays a key role in a mysterious doomsday prophecy. Dangerous cultists, government agents, ancient magic, and more are destined to collide in this exciting alternate history full of twists and turns.
Here’s some early buzz for the novel:
“A gripping, powerful novel of courage and resilience.” —Kirkus
“A wild ride of fanaticism, redemption, assassins and dragon-worshippers. Mind-bending in the best possible way.” —The Observer (London)
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
Patrick Ness will be on the Parnassus Books Facebook page for a live chat on Tuesday, June 9th at 2pm CDT.
ParnassusNext is the book subscription box for YA lovers. Every member of ParnassusNext receives a first edition hardcover of each month’s selected book, signed by the author. There is no membership fee to join — and no line to stand in for the autograph. Not only will you have one of the best YA books of the month when it comes out, you’ll have it straight from the author’s hands, with an original, authentic signature! Set up a subscription for yourself or buy a gift membership for your favorite YA reader for 3, 6, or 12 months.
June 5, 2020
26 New Reads for June
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Our monthly staff picks are here, as always, to point you to what our booksellers have been reading. Of course, these come at a particularly difficult moment, and we hope that in addition to these titles you’ll check out our anti-racist books list, read more black authors, and work to help bring about real change.
FICTION
Recommended by Karen
A Children’s BibleBy Lydia Millet
This allegorical and satirical novel depicts adults that have abdicated all responsibility, dangerous storms, infectious diseases and children that have to take the reins of responsibility for their own lives.
Recommended by Karen
A BurningJivan is a young woman working hard to make life better for her family and others, when she is falsely accused of a terrorist attack in a crowded train station in India. The debut novel is written from three points of view and is by turns funny and tragic. Just remarkable.
Recommended by Kathy
Conjure WomenBy Afia Atakora
A novel that explores the secrets and relationships between a mother and daughter who are slaves and healers, and the white plantation owner’s daughter in a remote part of the South during the Civil War. The author avoids stereotypes and predictable plot lines to make this such a good read.
Editor’s note: Also recommended by Madeline Miller!
Recommended by Kim
RodhamMaybe you like Hillary Rodham Clinton. Maybe you don’t. Either way, you’re going to want to read this novel that re-imagines the life of Hillary Rodham if she had never married Bill Clinton. A fascinating story of a smart, independent woman who rises through the ranks in both her career, and American politics. Gen X women, your book of the summer is here.
Recommended by Kathy
Redhead by the Side of the RoadBy Anne Tyler
Who doesn’t know a man like Micah? He’s a well-meaning but slightly insensitive tool who lives in his own world, except when he doesn’t. I laughed my way through this short novel, and who doesn’t need that today? The best Anne Tyler novel in a long time.
Recommended by Sissy
Pretty Things: A NovelTwo women share the spotlight in this thriller. One of them has a history of lying low in order to take from people with “too much” while the other is an Instagram star who seems to have everything. Their lives collide more than once with disastrous, life-changing consequences. Janelle Brown has drawn vivid, sympathetic characters, women isolated in a world where we’re all on display all the time.
Recommended by Ben
Sorry for Your Trouble: StoriesBy Richard Ford
These short stories are brief yet deep dives into his characters’ internal lives. Set in places like New Orleans, Chicago, Maine, Paris, and Ireland, these snapshots illuminate the power of old loves and defining friendships, loss and grief, the uncertainties and ambiguities of our lives, the almost-ness of connection. A poignant new collection from a fine writer.
Recommended by Sissy
The Stone Girl: A NovelIf you liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you’ll love this thriller. There’s less romantic interest and more friendship, but plenty of brain-power, fighting, and survival. While a few scenes take place in Paris, the majority of the action is set in the Adirondacks. Sexual assault has fractured all the main characters, and they are dead-set on justice.
Recommended by Chelsea
Beach ReadBy Emily Henry
This definitely lives up to its title! January and Augustus were college rivals, successful authors of opposite genres, and unexpected next-door neighbors both dealing with writer’s block. A bet to write in each other’s style fuels their competitive side and forces them to spend time together. This delightful enemies-to-lovers tale also deals some emotional depth as January and Augustus must come to terms with recent events in their lives. Now if only there was a beach in Nashville to read this on.
Recommended by Sissy
Take Me Apart: A NovelBy Sara Sligar
These days when I pick up a thriller, I’m almost expecting an unreliable narrator. I was pleasantly surprised with all the twists in this novel! I never knew what was coming next. A woman arrives at a dusty old house to inventory a dead photographer’s belongings … what could go wrong?
Recommended by Kathy
Old Lovegood GirlsBy Gail Godwin
The power of friendship between two women at a Southern college in 1958 and how it resonates throughout their lives. The novel made me examine my own college friendships and wonder how good a friend I’ve been to those I cared about many years ago.
NONFICTION
Recommended by Karen
Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French CookingBy Bill Buford
I actually listened to this book on audio. Love it when the author reads their own work and Buford is a very good reader. Who doesn’t want to be transported to France and immersed in a foreign culture at this moment in time? Buford is an obsessive about the details, frustrations and joys of learning a new cuisine. Great Father’s Day gift.
Love to listen? Get yours through our audiobook partner Libro.fm and your purchase can support Parnassus. They also have an anti-racist book list.
Recommended by Cat
The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A MemoirBy Wayétu Moore
This is a powerhouse of a memoir in which Moore tells the story of her family’s escape from their home in Monrovia, Liberia during a civil war and her upbringing in the U.S. She manages to write about all the various aspects that make up her identity in a way that is stunning but doesn’t shy away from the difficult and damaging.
Our First Editions Club pick this month — see more below!
Recommended by Sissy
Stray: A MemoirDanler perfectly describes the way addicts take over and change our lives, whether we give them permission to do so or not. Even after healing, the aftershocks of an addicted love one shake our lives. I loved the tone of this memoir as it was full of hope, full of mistakes, full of tears and also laughter.
Read our interview with Stephanie Danler here!
Recommended by Heather
Fire in Paradise: An American TragedyBy Alastair Gee & Dani Anguiano
Growing up, my grandparents lived in Paradise. Although they’ve been gone for many years, news of the fire there hit me hard. That idyllic little town, the gates my grandfather built, their little house couldn’t be gone. The book captures the lives of many who fought through the horror and of the environmental changes that made this fire possible — and likely to happen again.
Recommended by Sissy
Trumpocalypse: Restoring American DemocracyBy David Frum
Frum imagines what America needs once Trump is gone: “After we evict the squatter, we must repair the house he trashed.” Clear, precise, hopeful words from a guy who’s not running for office. I loved it.
Recommended by Andy
The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American CapitalismThe assassination of President McKinley sets up a monumental clash between J.P. Morgan and Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt is convinced that the influence of the wealthy had to be checked in order to save the country. Richly told by Susan Berfield, lessons that were learned during this tumultuous period in our history are just as applicable today.
Recommended by Jordan
Weird but Normal: EssaysBy Mia Mercado
This hilarious and relatable collection of essays unpacks what it means to be a human while navigating racial identity, gender roles, workplace dynamics, and all the things that truly are weird but normal. Mia Mercado is here to make you laugh and feel seen with essays about the dumb screen names we all had in middle school, horribly awkward pre-teen pagents, dealing with unwanted body hair, and more. Read this one if you want to laugh out loud.
Recommended by Andy
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in AmericaKendi effectively argues that racism is alive and well in America and that if we are ever to confront this insidious problem we must understand how these thoughts are enshrined in the American experience.
(Also part of our anti-racist reading list.)
Recommended by Heather
100 Drives, 5,000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to Do, What to SeeBy Joe Yogerst
I’ve spent a lot of time during the pandemic thinking about going somewhere. This book came out just as the country shut down and has been a great resource. I’ve shared it with family and we talk about where to go, what to see along the way, and what to eat. This book provides solid information — I had already been on several of their suggested routes and they nailed it! — and plenty of ideas for new places to visit.
Recommended by Ben
The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: And Other Excursions to Iceland’s Most Unusual MuseumsDid you know Iceland has museums dedicated to phallology, sorcery, herring, and sea monsters? Well now you do! As she explores the country’s most peculiar museums, her observations contain the best aspects of travel writing: curiosity, whimsy, fascination, wit. She befriends curators, muses on the meaning of displaying objects, ponders why we tell the stories we do. It’ll make you want to visit Iceland, and open your eyes to the marvels all around.
Recommended by Kim
The Chiffon Trenches: A MemoirA must-read for anyone who loves New York City, Paris, and nineties fashion. ALT gives readers an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at fashion, Vogue, and of course, Anna Wintour. If you saw the documentary, don’t worry about overlap. This memoir is full of new stories and details. Come for the gossip, stay for the fashion.
Recommended by Erin
Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History’s First Global ManhuntBefore Blackbeard and Calico Jack terrorized the high seas, Henry Every was already a pirate legend. His savage attack of an Indian treasure ship sparked a diplomatic crisis, prompting the first global manhunt. One of history’s most lucrative crimes, it helped launch the East India Company’s ascendancy, the Golden Age of Piracy, and the British popular press. (And a Disney ride and billion-dollar film franchise.)
Recommended by Kim
Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why: EssaysA book so smart and funny, I wanted to clap at the end. Do yourself a favor and just read the table of contents. You’ll laugh at the essay titles alone. A great, quick read for all of us with news fatigue.
Recommended by Andy
In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific ExplorationBy Shane O’Mara
Walking is a uniquely human endeavor that provides obvious physical benefits. Moreover, Shane O’Mara argues that besides those physical benefits, walking makes us happier and smarter. Although wonky at times as he describes the biomechanics of walking, he demonstrates the impact on our cities, our culture and our lives that walking provides.
Recommended by Steve
Brown Album: Essays on Exile and IdentityWriting as “a spokesperson for my people, a role I never dreamed of and never asked for,” as she puts it, Khakpour writes about her Iranian American experience and in the process carves out something both personal and political.
In-person Book Club is on hold for the moment.
First Editions Club: June SelectionThe Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir
By Wayétu Moore
When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on yet another journey, this time to the United States.
Spanning this harrowing journey in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore has a novelist’s eye for suspense and emotional depth, and this unforgettable memoir is full of imaginative, lyrical flights and lush prose. In capturing both the hazy magic and the stark realities of what is becoming an increasingly pervasive experience, Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect many migrants around the world, and calls us all to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family
More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.
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