Ann Patchett's Blog, page 30
August 6, 2019
The Heat Is (Still) On: 25 Books to Read Now
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We’re in that in-between time, when it’s still hot as blazes, vacation season is receding in the rear-view mirror, and autumn still seems like a distant dream (because it is). Luckily, August brings a whole lot of great new reads, including some newly available in paperback, and our booksellers have selected the best of the batch. Read on to find a new favorite!
FICTION
Recommended by Ann
The Great BelieversI just read this in the paperback and found it engrossing and tender. Makkai does a wonderful job reminding us that the saddest stories are often the most essential. I loved this book.
Recommended by Karen
Chances Are . . .Three mismatched friends from college meet years later in Martha’s Vineyard, a place that was a turning point in their lives. That summer in 1971 was when Jacy, the woman they all loved, disappeared without a trace. This is an engrossing mystery from a writer who always satisfies.
Recommended by Cat
SummerlingsWhat better way to wind up summer than with this fantastic novel of a 1950s childhood summer, complete with a spider infestation, neighbors who may be Russian spies, a neighborhood block party, and best friends.
Recommended by Chelsea
This Is How You Lose the Time WarBy Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
This epistolary novel may be the most moving, beautiful, and romantic book I’ve ever read. Two time-traveling agents from warring factions start a correspondence and eventually fall in such love that, if discovered, would be the end of them both. I still think about the beauty of this book daily.
Recommended by Mary Laura
The Gifted SchoolIf you miss the badly behaved parents from Big Little Lies, if you couldn’t get enough of the college applications scandal earlier this year, or if you live in a place with a crazy-competitive school admissions scene, this story of families flipping out over a new “gifted school” in their Colorado town will crack you up and make you cringe.
Recommended by Devin
The Nickel BoysElwood has Martin Luther King, Jr. as his guide, a hope of attending college, and a grandmother that keeps him on his path. When Elwood is taken to The Nickel Academy after accepting a ride from a stranger in a stolen car, he is stripped of his rights, his freedom, and his dreams. Well researched by Whitehead, this is a fiction book based on a now-closed reform school in Florida.
Recommended by Kathy
Twilight SleepOut of print for several decades, this is Edith Wharton”s novel of the Jazz Age with surprisingly modern themes — sex, drugs, and the role of work and money in one’s life.
Recommended by Sarah
TravelersThis is a timely novel about the complexities of the immigrant experience. It follows the interconnected stories of six African immigrants in Europe trying to find the balance between the idealism of a fresh start and the realities of navigating a new identity and culture.
Recommended by Kay
The Mere WifeIf you’re searching for something on the stranger side, this modernized, magical realist take on Beowulf might be the tragedy for you. Using often dreamlike prose to retell an ancient story of mothers and monsters, this book will eat your heart whole.
Recommended by Kevin
The DispossessedTFW you want to go back three years in time to slap yourself for leaving unread on the shelf a life-changingly excellent book about the tragedy of striving for utopia. /facepalm
Recommended by Mary Laura
Any Other PlaceFrom Kentucky to Korea, place plays a role in the emotional struggles of all the characters in this gorgeous collection. And holy moly — I know we’re not supposed to look at a collection of short stories as just a precursor to a novel, as if we’re waiting for the author’s “real” book; but as I read Any Other Place I kept thinking that when Croley gives us a book-length story, it’s going to knock everyone’s socks off.
POETRY
Recommended by Ben
Night Sky with Exit WoundsThese confessional, lyrical, lean poems are full of yearning: grappling with a lost homeland, a complicated father figure, the desire for sexual union. Exploring the trauma of war, starkness of violence, and physicality of gay romance, they engage life’s full spectrum that runs from pain to ecstasy. His recent debut novel confirms what we glimpse in this imagistic collection: that this young writer’s name is one to remember.
(Watch the new episode of A Word on Words featuring Ocean Vuong on Nashville Public Television.)
NONFICTION
Recommended by Ann
Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural LifeIf you are in menopause, have gone or will go, you must read this book. It’s brilliant and fierce, a comforting dose of solidarity and a riveting read. Thank you, Darcey Steinke!
Recommended by Margy
I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV RevolutionNussbaum is on Fresh Air as I write. This book wrestles with how we separate (not reconcile) artists and their art. How do we deal with the queasy feeling we have now over the work of Woody Allen, John Updike, Louis C.K., and the ever-growing list of problematic creators when that work has shaped us?
Recommended by Steve
The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter WorldIf the climate crisis has you freaked out, Amanda Little is here to freak you out a little more. But there are also smart people trying some extraordinary things to solve it, and Little provides fascinating glimpses into their lives and work — vertical indoor farms! AI robot weeders! lab-grown meat! — that make the future feel more tenable.
Recommended by Steve
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-DelusionIf you’ve read any of Jia Tolentino’s work for The New Yorker, you already know. Whether she’s writing about growing up religious (attending a Houston megachurch dubbed “The Repentagon”), the complexities of her college town Charlottesville, or the titular trick mirror, aka the Internet, Tolentino is sharp, knowing, self-effacing, compassionate, wickedly funny, and highly relatable.
Recommended by Betsy
Slouching Towards BethlehemThe selection for Parnassus Classics Club next month! After being blown away by two essays in Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror, I revisited this 1960s/’70s portrait of America. In perfect balance, Didion is both inconspicuous and whip-smart in her exploration of place, making her a prime witness to the ways in which a shifting landscape changes its characters and vice versa. Read it and come to book club!
Recommended by Keltie
The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous FutureOne of my Dad’s favorite novels was The Greenlanders. He loved Norse history and epic sagas. I loved this book for the same reasons: stories of great explorers, hero scientists, and what brings us to this apocalyptic moment in the life of an ancient ice sheet. It is an elegant tale about what the least populated place on Earth can tell us about what lies ahead for the rest of the planet.
Recommended by Ben
The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and BelieveBy reframing what is meant by “Christ,” Franciscan priest Richard Rohr asserts that the divine is in all things, that we’re all more loved and connected than we realize. Drawing from Buddhism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and other theologians to flesh out his perspective, he depicts a mystical, inclusive vein of spirituality. While some may find him a bit too New-Agey, he shakes up Christian dogma with refreshing insights.
Recommended by Sissy
God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle AmericaA journalist by trade, Lenz investigates faith and politics as she reveals her personal story of divorce in the wake of The Election.
Recommended by Sissy
The Ghost ClauseNorman explores how lovers miss one another even while living together. Can we make up for lost time once a shared life is over?
Recommended by Keltie
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted AmericaI recommended this last year as a must-read for anyone who wanted to understand the opioid epidemic through an accessible narrative about how it unfolded in one small part of America. I make this second appeal for the paperback — because these very stories are the starting point for prosecutions making headlines right now. I think Beth Macy and some scrappy Virginia lawyers are to thank for that.
Recommended by Sydney
Raised in Captivity: Fictional NonfictionKlosterman is back, and this essay collection is just as quirky and on-brand as ever. Fans of his previous work will enjoy the cultural elements that make this title a “fictional nonfiction.” Some chapters are relatable, some absurdly strange, but all satisfying and thought-provoking.
Recommended by Keltie
Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and ReturningThis is a memoir of two parts: first, Elliot Ackerman sits down for tea with a rebel fighter in a Syrian refugee camp; second, Ackerman remembers his own Great Battle, as a Marine in Fallujah years before. Both have blurry contours. Did he once fight against this man with whom he now shares tea? Did the words that came with the Silver Star he won in Fallujah make too pretty the tale?
Recommended by Kevin
The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own MakingSexton’s last book chronicled Trump’s 2016 campaign. This one takes a deeper look at one of the primary forces underlying it: toxic masculinity. The cultural criticism of American masculinity is balanced here with beautifully rendered, tragic recollections of the male role models of his youth.
First Editions Club: August SelectionChances Are . . .
It’s a bit of a hallmark in the YA genre, but not employed as frequently in adult literature: the coming of age story. But who doesn’t love to learn the defining moments in a character’s life, the things that made them feel as though they had crossed into adulthood?
I’m a firm believer that a coming-of-age can happen multiple times in a person’s life — and at any age — so I was thrilled to pick up Chances Are… and read what I truly believe is one of the best such stories for adults in recent memory. As anyone who has read Richard Russo knows, he has an extraordinary skill for narrating everyday life and for highlighting the unassuming moments that form the core of his characters — not to mention a knack for the absurd and hilarious. Chances Are… showcases these gifts, as well as building a slow-burning mystery in the form of a disappeared friend of our three protagonists.
Russo is at the height of his talents here and it is my utmost pleasure to put a signed first edition in your hands.
Yours in reading,
Catherine Bock
Inventory Manager
(Note: This book was published on July 30, 2019. Signed copies will ship after Richard Russo’s appearance at the store on Aug. 14.)
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.
[image error]Parnassus Book Club — Upcoming Meeting Schedule
August — Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate*
Monday, Aug. 19 at 6:30pm
Thursday, Aug. 22 at 10am
*Note: Join the Parnassus staff, in conjunction with Citywide Book Club, for a discussion of The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
September — So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Bernieres
Monday, Sept. 16 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 6:30pm
Thursday, Sept. 19 at 10am
Classics Club — Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Monday, Sept. 30 at 10am and 6:30pm
Are you a member of our store book club? Would you like to be? Parnassus Book Club and Classics Club meetings are free and open to anyone. Buy the book, read along, and join the discussion!
July 31, 2019
Decision ’19: Shop Dog Mayor
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Nashvillians — at least those who didn’t vote early — are headed to the polls tomorrow to elect a new mayor. (Or perhaps decide which two candidates will head to the run-off.) We at the bookstore have been closely watching a different race as well — the race to see which of our canine employees will be the Shop Dog Mayor of Parnassus!
Our election works a little different than the other one in town. All month, we’ve been asking people to “vote” by dropping a donation in the jar of their favorite shop dog. Whoever garners the most “votes” by the time the polls (aka the doors of the bookstore) close at 8pm on Aug, 1 will be declared Shop Dog Mayor. We will be giving all donations to Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue.
You can read up on the candidates via their Shop Dog Diaries, or just peruse this handy guide below. Special shout-out to Alethea Hall, who designed all the campaign logos. And stop by and help decide the Shop Dog Mayor, while also supporting a great organization that’s working hard for our furry friends around Music City!
[image error]Bear
The elder statesman of the bookstore, Bear is the strong silent type. His leadership style is a mix of quiet gravity, patient forbearance, and lying down to rest often. So relatable! His policies may not always excite the base; he does wear a doggy diaper, after all. But you won’t meet a dog more loyal to his owner – he’s rarely far from Sissy’s side — and that means he’ll be loyal to you as well, dear voter.
Strengths: wisdom, Zen-like calm
Platform: naps for all
[image error]Mary Todd Lincoln
Detractors may say she spends too much time on her Best of Nashville-certified Instagram account, but Mary Todd Lincoln counters that her magnetism and photogenic presence are a boon to the bookstore’s social media presence. Hard to argue there. While she mostly keeps to the back office, MTL is always happy to entertain her adoring public when a visit is requested. If energy and enthusiasm (and fabulous hair) are what you’re looking for in a Shop Dog Mayor, look no further!
Strengths: youthful vigor, media savvy
Platform: doing heckin’ zooms
[image error]Opie
Not one to cede ground, Opie would like to remind voters that while Bear may be his elder in years, ol’ Opie Brennan is still head shop dog around these parts. That’s right: a natural leader who knows what it takes to be in charge. If that involves barking until Pete in receiving (or the delivery person, or anyone) gives him a treat, well, that’s known as perseverance — a quality the younger pups might do well to learn themselves. Just not with Pete or anyone else who has access to snacks. You can’t spell “hope” without “Ope.”
Strengths: leadership experience, strong work ethic
Platform: will stop barking if you give him a snack
[image error]Sparky
No other dog in this race has better name recognition than Sparky Patchett. Given his extremely chill demeanor and down-to-earth personality, you’d never guess that he lives with a bestselling author, or that he appears on every single spread in the picture book Lambslide. Affable and easy-going, Sparky is arguably the shop dog most voters would like to have a beer with, though he does not partake himself. Probably the best-read of the candidate slate as well.
Strengths: high-level connections, strong personal brand
Platform: whatever’s clever
* * *
Don’t live in Nashville and still want to make a donation to Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue? Just go to this link!
July 22, 2019
It’s All About the Book: Notes on Book Clubs
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If you’ve ever been to our bookstore, you may have noticed the Book Clubs fixture near the front, between the local authors table and the poetry section. And you may have even seen Kathy Schultenover, Parnassus Book Clubs Manager, attending to the shelves, binder in hand, making sure everything is in order — or leading the Parnassus Book Club in discussion. Maybe you’re a book club member who shops this section regularly, or perhaps you’ve wondered about it. Or maybe you took Kathy’s advice and gave your book club a reboot this year. Whatever the case, we think you’ll enjoy these observations she collected recently about the many clubs around Nashville and their varied approaches. Check it out!
Here’s Kathy with the scoop:
Parnassus Books has had an active Book Club Registry since we opened almost nine years ago. Local clubs let us know their monthly selection, we add it to our Book Club shelf, and then club members can purchase their books at a discount. It’s a lot of fun to see what clubs in the community are reading, and it helps others choose books for themselves or their own clubs. Lately I’ve been curious about our registered clubs, so I sent out a brief survey to learn more about them.
While each club has its own personality, they also share a lot of similarities. Many clubs:
Choose their selections by having members bring suggestions to an organizational meeting.
Are led by a member who serves as a facilitator on a rotating basis.
Read predominantly fiction, with the occasional memoir or other nonfiction title sprinkled in. Several clubs will also add in a classic once a year. (And many noted that unpopular choices can make for great discussions.)
Don’t meet in December or they have a special meeting format where members might read poems or present a cookbook. Club members may hold a book exchange.
Take the summer off for time to refresh and do “free reading.”
But I also learned that many of our clubs have interesting and sometimes quirky traits that make them unique. Here are just a few:
There are at least two Vanderbilt Women’s Book Groups. One of the clubs has a tradition of beginning the meeting with each member summarizing the book in one word.
There’s a Mother-Daughter club which started when the girls were in fourth grade and was mother-led. Now in eighth grade, the girls choose the books and lead the discussions.
Two groups, Christ the King and Book Buddies, meet at Catholic churches but not all members are Catholic.
Chautauqua has been meeting for 29 years. They’ll read on a theme for several months at a time, like the works of Shirley Jackson or Women and War.
The Nashville Women’s Breakfast Club only meets quarterly since so many of its members are also in other book clubs. Each quarter focuses on a different category of books: fiction, nonfiction, classic, Nashville/local interest.
Bonding Over Books meets in restaurants all over town.
Book Squad meets at a gym. Club members sit on yoga mats in their workout gear.
The Karen Weeks club will discuss their 400th book in 2020.
The “No Guilt” club attributes its success and longevity to espousing a “no guilt” policy if a member hasn’t read the book.
The West Meade Club has a 40-plus year age range with everyone from young mothers to grandmothers.
The Germantown Club has a 9-year-old member. An avid reader, he comes to meetings prepared to report on something he has read recently, then goes off to read while the adult members discuss their book. The son of two members, he’s been coming since birth.
I was especially struck by two things that nearly everyone mentioned in their surveys. First, their clubs were cited as great sources of friendship and support, especially around life’s milestones — births, marriages, divorces, and deaths — and in sharing in the joys and rough patches of daily living. And, while socializing and fun were important to all, most made serious book discussion a priority in their meetings. These are not the book clubs who exist just to drink wine!
I’m glad to know more about the groups we serve. The dozens of clubs in the Parnassus Book Club Registry are a vibrant force in the reading life of our city!
* * *
Want to start your own book club? Just stop by the store and fill out a simple form — ask at the register! Or you can participate in one of our store clubs. Here are the upcoming dates:
Parnassus Book Club
Discussing Only to Sleep
Monday, July 22 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, July 24 at 6:30pm
Thursday, July 25 at 10am
Classics Club
Discussing The Big Sleep
Monday, July 29 at 10am and 6:30pm
July 19, 2019
Jeremy Finley and Rea Frey on Their New Books, Obsessions, Recommendations & More
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Jeremy Finley and Rea Frey are both Nashville authors, both have novels coming out later this summer, and we thought our fellow Nashvillians (and book lovers beyond) might like to know a little more about them and their new books. Frey’s new novel Because You’re Mine will come out Aug. 6; Jeremy Finley’s The Dark Above will be out July 23, and he’ll celebrate with a book launch party here at the bookstore that night at 6:30. To help readers get to know them better, we invited Finley and Frey to fill out our Authors in Real Life questionnaire.
My new book is about …
[image error]Jeremy Finley
Jeremy Finley: As an investigative journalist, I am always intrigued by what happens to families long after a child goes missing. Do they crumble? Do they ever give up hope? And what happens if that child is ultimately found under mysterious circumstances? That’s the crux of my new book, The Dark Above (July 23), the sequel to my 2018 novel, The Darkest Time of Night. The book takes place 15 years after the youngest grandson of a U.S. Senator went missing, forcing the wife of the politician to expose her controversial past as a UFO researcher in order to find him. With the government widely discrediting her, accusing her of staging her grandson’s disappearance to further her research, her family is once again thrust into headlines when disasters begin to unfold across the globe, all tied to those who unexpectedly vanished, only to return with frightening abilities.
[image error]Rea Frey and family
Rea Frey: Because You’re Mine (August 6) starts with one question: What would happen if you died and left your child without a guardian? For Lee, a single, recovering alcoholic, this is one of her greatest fears. She’s raising a seven-year-old on-the-spectrum-son, Mason, and finds herself falling for her son’s occupational therapist and home-school teacher, Noah. Her best friend, Grace, is also single and raising an only son. But all three have secrets. When Lee, Grace, and two girlfriends decide to go on a quick mountain getaway, Noah insists he can stay with Mason. What’s the worst that could happen? Forty-eight hours later, someone is dead. As their secrets unfold and pasts revealed, a new question surfaces: How well do we ever really know our friends?
I’ve been listening to …
Finley: Nashville’s new soul station, 102.1 the Ville. It’s a life changer. I am constantly turning up the volume in the Jeep and pointing to the dial in gratitude. “They’re playing ‘Car Wash’! They’re playing ‘Superstition’!” My youngest daughter is already hooked on Aretha, but I think my oldest is just glad we’re not listening to classic rock 24/7.
Frey: Billie Holiday and Billie Eilish. Apparently, I have a Billie fetish.
I love to watch …
Finley: Horror movies, and I almost never get to watch them. My girls and my wife are not on board, so I’m relishing in the fact that my nephew is attending Belmont, and together we’ve seen the remake of Pet Semetary and Us, Jordan Peele’s latest, brilliant movie. There’s something about summer, with a chaos of cicadas and crickets outside, that’s proof of something unseen lurking in the dark. [inset: here you might pull an online image from a Jordan Peele movie and link it to a good review/article]
Frey: Dead to Me (please return soon!) and The Bachelorette. YEP. I SAID IT. THE BACHELORETTE IS MY PORN. DEAL WITH IT.
Something I saw online that made me laugh, cry, or think …
Finley: I work as an investigative reporter, thus I exist on a heavy diet of pretty bleak and gruesome information online. Therefore, I am a huge fan of the Instagram site “Drunk People Doing Things,” to remind me that there is a glorious world out there full of intoxicated people falling off tables.
Frey: Anything by Gary John Bishop, but this post in particular: “Thanks for looking. Now shut down your Social Media and go do something to impact your life.”
Best meal I’ve had in the past month …
Finley: The trout at Park Cafe is one of the many reasons that it’s our favorite restaurant in town. They grill it to perfection. The bonus is we know which table to request, because if you sit in the right position with the fireplace behind you, the reflection of the flames in the windows makes it look like the cars in the parking lot are on fire.
Frey: At Cafe Roze — the avocado hummus with grilled bread, miso cauliflower, roasted chicken with polenta and broccolini, a glass of Cab, and olive oil cake. You’re welcome.
[image error]David Grann, also a Parnassus staff favorite, gets the nod from Finley.
A creator who’s doing something I admire or envy …
Finley: As I stated above, I’m pretty in awe of Jordan Peele these days. Get Out was such a revelation, and Us really turned out to be something I was never expecting. I aspire to write the kind of stories he produces, thrillers that veil deeper contemplations on humanity.
Frey: Brooke Castillo. From her life-changing podcast to her multi-million dollar life coach school, she is putting out content that’s literally changing the world.
A book I recently recommended to someone else …
Finley: I would stand on the corner and hand out David Grann’s books to everyone who would take one. I bow down to his research that delivered The Lost City of Z and 2017’s blockbuster Killers of the Flower Moon, which delivers the kind of outrage that makes him the king of investigative book-form journalism.
Frey: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Where the hell was this book when I was writing my first two books?
The last event I bought tickets to was …
Finley: I didn’t buy them, but the last ticket in my hand was to a Metallica concert. My friend Trevor scored them at the last minute, and oh, the joy; the mass of other 40-something-year-old men and women thrusting their fists in the air, knowing that in meetings the next day, we would scarcely be able to hear because of the ringing in our ears.
[image error]Autographs: like mother, like daughter. When they recently saw a copy of Frey’s first book, Not Her Daughter, in a bookstore, “my daughter insisted we buy a copy, so she could sign her name in it.”
Frey: Elizabeth Gilbert’s tour stop for City of Girls here in Nashville. I bought two tickets for myself and my seven-year-old daughter, because I wanted to treat her to a REAL author event. Right on time, she came down with a nasty virus. Instead of taking someone else, I snuggled my daughter and read her a book. Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my personal heroes, and I hated to miss it, but I was right where I needed to be. #motherhood
Most meaningful recent travel destination …
Finley: I just attended a conference in Houston for the journalism association Investigative Reporters and Editors. Aside from the fact that the hotel had a lazy river IN THE SHAPE OF TEXAS, it was a much-needed boost to learn and be encouraged by other reporters in the investigative trenches. It was a rejuvenation of the soul to remind each other that challenging the powerful is work worth doing, and it was fun to have people come up and say, “Hey, didn’t you write a book about aliens or something?”
Frey: We just got back from Blue Mountain Beach, a yearly vacation we take with my family on my daughter’s birthday. Every year, she turns one year older by the ocean. There’s magic in that.
I wish I knew more about …
Finley: Cryptozoology. (Huh, is the usual reply. It’s the study of hidden animals. It’s a deep rabbit hole that I hope I will emerge from, clasping the outline of my next thriller.)
Frey: That the key to life isn’t happiness, money, success, or relationships — it’s managing your mind. The only thing that’s ever “not working” is your thinking. My daughter, who is homeschooled, goes to Acton Academy, and is learning all of this at seven. She’s receiving an emotional education — not just memorizing facts she won’t use later in life.
My favorite thing about bookstores …
Finley: The thriller/mystery and science fiction sections. As someone who is deeply entrenched in the realities of our time in my daily work, I tend to make a beeline for worlds that I can escape to in order to briefly escape our own.
Frey: That I can walk into any bookstore in the world and feel instantly at home. And the fact that I can sniff books in public and not be considered a total weirdo.
* * *
Meet the Authors!
Jeremy Finley
Author of The Dark Above
Parnassus Books
Tuesday, July 23 at 6:30pm
Rea Frey
Author of Because You’re Mine
Urban Cantina
Tuesday, August 6 at 6pm
July 16, 2019
11 New Summer Reads for the Young and Young at Heart
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If the midpoint of summer has you struggling to come up with new ideas to keep the young ones in your life entertained, might we suggest a trip into the bookstore? Not only are there a whole host of shop dogs just waiting to be greeted (and maybe check to see if you’re hiding treats), but we’ve also rounded up 11 new books guaranteed to please the young (and young at heart!) readers in your life. Dogs, books, air conditioning — is there a better way to spend a summer afternoon?
And don’t miss several kid-friendly events at the end of this post!
PICTURE BOOKS
Recommended by Ann
Good Boy By Sergio Ruzzier, Sergio Ruzzier (Illustrator)
A boy. A dog. A handful of words which add up to more than would seem possible. Take two minutes and read it. Brilliant.
Recommended by Rae Ann
How to Read a Book By Kwame Alexander, Melissa Sweet (Illustrator)
The rhythm of the words on the page and the mixed-media illustrations in How to Read a Book make a lovely combination in this picture book about one of my favorite activities.
Recommended by Jackie
Where Are You From? By Yamile Saied Méndez, Jaime Kim (Illustrator)
Lovely illustrations and lyrical text give a beautiful answer to a simple yet complicated question.
Recommended by Jackie
Bilal Cooks DaalBy Aisha Saeed, Anoosha Syed (Illustrator)
Bilal is six years old and excited about sharing his favorite food with his friends. It takes a long time to cook, which gives Bilal time to start worrying about whether his friends will even like it! This cute story touches on themes of patience and teamwork, and how luckily, good food always has a way of bringing people together.
Recommended by Chelsea
You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks By Evan Turk, Evan Turk (Illustrator)
A celebration of our national parks, You Are Home, featuring 22 illustrations, is as informative as it is beautiful.
BEGINNING READER
Recommended by Katherine
Hum and Swish Jamie doesn’t know exactly what she’s making as she pushes sand, shells, and rocks together into a one-of-a-kind beach creation. Instead, she enjoys the process, knowing that the finished product will turn out just as it is supposed to be. Rhythmic like ocean waves, Myers’s story reminds us to enjoy the moment. Hum and Swish is perfect for beach-side reading with your introspective little one.
INDEPENDENT READER
Recommended by Kay
This Was Our Pact Ben’s town has always released lanterns into the river during the annual Autumn Equinox Festival. When he and his friends decide to find out where the lanterns disappear to each year, they discover more adventure than they could ever have imagined. This story is bursting with magic and wonder, while never once losing sight of the realistic young friendship at its heart.
Recommended by Steve
Aru Shah and the Song of Death (A Pandava Novel Book 2) (Pandava Series #2) Aru, Mini, Brynne and Aiden are back for another shape-shifting, dimension-crossing, magic-weapons-wielding adventure, and it is a whole lot of fun. Where else are you going to find immortal creatures listening to “Despacito” on a portable speaker? We especially enjoyed narrator Soneela Nankani’s ability to bring the story and a big cast of characters to life in the audiobook.
Recommended by Rae Ann
Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon By Suzanne Slade, Thomas Gonzalez (Illustrator)
The true story of the 2,979 days between JFK’s announcement of the United States’ goal to land on the moon and Neil Armstrong’s actually stepping onto the moon. Featuring astronaut stats, archival photos, and illustrations that make you feel like you’re right in the cockpit, this is a must-read for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.
YOUNG ADULT
Recommended by Kay
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me By Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (Illustrator)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a graphic novel so honestly depict the kind of toxic, doomed high school relationships so many of us experience, or the vital (often messy) friendships they become entwined with. The art and dialogue are perfectly paired to break your heart over and over again.
ParnassusNext — Our July Selection
Our July ParnassusNext selection, Rory Power’s Wilder Girls, is a survival story unlike any you’ve ever read. It’s about three friends who must try to uncover the true cause of a mysterious illness that has trapped them in quarantine at their remote boarding school for more than a year — and the lengths they will go to survive, to heal, and to expose what they discover. Unsettling, raw, and utterly engrossing, Wilder Girls is perfect for readers who love Nova Ren Suma, Laura Ruby, and Andrew Smith.
Here’s what some of the early reviews are saying:
“Wilder Girls is so sharp and packs so much emotion in such wise ways. I’m convinced we’re about to witness the emergence of a major new literary star.” —Jeff Vandermeer, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation
“A staggering gut punch of a book.” —Kirkus, starred review
“Wilder Girls is the bold, imaginative, emotionally wrenching horror novel of my dreams — one that celebrates the resilience of girls and the earthshaking power of their friendships. An eerie, unforgettable triumph.” —Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn
“Power’s evocative, haunting, and occasionally gruesome debut will challenge readers to ignore its bewitching presence.” —Booklist, starred review
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.
Cool off with the kiddos indoors and join us for one of these upcoming events at the store!
Katja Russell and Nick McGinn, authors of A Bunny Named Barnaby: It’s a Bun Life —
Where’s Waldo Celebration — July 30, 3-4pm. (Learn more about the Find Waldo Local scavenger hunt here.)
Weekly Storytime — Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and Thursdays at 4pm
July 9, 2019
20 New Books to Distract You From the Heat
[image error]There may be no better place to catch a break from Nashville’s heat than inside our store. Where else can you browse through hot new books in the delightful cool of flowing AC? It’s just another reason bookstores are the best.
Or maybe that beach bag of books you started at the beginning of the summer is beginning to run low? If so, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Whether it’s new fiction, thrillers, romance, or nonfiction, these 20 new reads will easily replenish a dwindling summer stash.
FICTION
Recommended by Mary Laura
Very NiceA writing professor (who’s also a famous novelist), his 19-year-old student (whom he probably shouldn’t have slept with), her beautiful, lonely mother (uh oh), and a supporting cast of friends and family populate this juicy, witty ensemble story. Pack it with your smart beach reads.
Recommended by Katherine
The Most Fun We Ever HadEngrossing family saga? Check. Gorgeous, insightful writing? Check. The most fun I’ve ever had with any book yet this year? Triple check. I was blown away by this debut novelist’s ability to write a book that feels both modern and timeless. This one is binge-worthy but so exquisite that you’ll want to set it down every so often just to marvel at its existence. It reminded me why I read fiction in the first place.
Recommended by Chelsea
The Gone DeadThe Mississippi Delta becomes a character in its own right as Billie returns to her hometown to claim her inheritance: a little cash, a shack that once belonged to her father, and her missing memories of the night he died. As her memories come back, Billie wonders if her father’s death was an accident at all. Setting present day Mississippi against stories of the Civil Rights era, Benz examines the racial tensions of a small Southern town.
Recommended by Mary Laura
The Need The story begins as Molly, a scientist, and her two young children hide in her bedroom from an intruder. I won’t spoil anything here, but what looks at first like a home invasion is not quite what it seems. No one else writes like Helen Phillips, who illustrates in this stunning speculative fiction how parenthood changes our perceptions of time, love, and selfhood.
Recommended by Ben
Say Say SaySavage’s debut follows Ella, a young caregiver; Bryn, a client; and Jill, his brain-damaged wife. Sparse on action and dialogue, it gets subtle power from Ella’s ponderings on Bryn’s tender care for his suffering wife, and her bond with her girlfriend. Intimate and lyrical, it explores creativity, aging, spirituality, and the complex nature of love: how relationships — professional, romantic, platonic — intersect and bloom in new ways.
Recommended by Lauren
Fleishman Is in TroubleThe story of Toby Fleishman’s insecurity — paired with his new post-divorce sex life — paves the way to an explosive, visceral experience of how it feels to be a woman in the world. I was pulled with rapt attention to the very last word. This book is searingly smart, irresistibly funny, and undeniably of the moment. You’ll likely miss it when it’s over.
Recommended by Mary Laura
Honestly, We Meant Well“What is family if not a bunch of secrets we keep from each other?” Order up another frosé and slide your deck chair into the shade. I don’t want you to get sunburned, and you’re not going to want to leave the pool until you’ve finished Grant Ginder’s latest summer romp about a family/friends/lovers trip to Greece, where everyone’s baggage is full of dirty laundry.
Recommended by Kathy
Woman 99 Charlotte gets into the asylum where her sister has been imprisoned by their wealthy parents. After meeting several inmates, she realizes that many aren’t insane, just inconvenient. This is a captivating story of mental illness treatment for women in the late 1800s and the power of sisterly love.
Recommended by River
Whiskey When We’re DryDebut author John Larison writes with the absolute power of a master. This book is for fans who wish Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry would sit down over a bottle of whiskey in a small town out West and write a book together. Just out in paperback, now I have a great reason to pick it up for the summer and read again!
Don’t miss John Larison
in the store on Wednesday, July 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Recommended by Sissy
The Body LiesThis British thriller gave me a lot to think about. Baker deals with the timely issues of consent and the role of dead girls in contemporary writing.
Recommended by Sissy
ProvidenceIf you liked The Time Traveler’s Wife, you’ll love this slightly magical and mysterious novel.
Recommended by Cat
The TravelersPorter’s novel features a bunch of small snapshots of two families in the decades between the 1950s and Obama’s first term in office. You’ll love diving into this fantastic fiction.
Recommended by Devin
Red, White & Royal BlueThe First Son of the United States and the Prince of Wales get into a scuffle at a royal wedding and are forced to become friends to mitigate the public relations nightmare they created. What follows is THE BEST hate-to-love romance I’ve read. I usually read books I love quickly, but I forced myself to slow down while reading this one so I could savor every perfect moment. My favorite of 2019 so far.
Recommended by Rae Ann
The Stationery ShopFrom 1953 Tehran to present-day United States, The Stationery Shop is a journey of family, love, loss, and renewal. Beautifully told in vivid detail, this is the story of two sisters from their fractured adolescence to an American university and beyond. Perfect for fans of historical fiction and family stories. This is also makes for a wonderful audiobook.
Recommended by Rae Ann
Summer of ’69 The perfect beach read! A blended family is forever changed by the summer of 1969 when their lives are touched by the moon landing, Chappaquiddick, and Woodstock.
Recommended by Chelsea
RecursionWhat if you suddenly had memories of a life you didn’t live, but you still remember it all the same? False memory syndrome has struck, and NYPD detective Barry Sutton is determined to figure out its cause. A fast-paced mystery/sci-fi thriller, Recursion hits hard with big questions about memory, reality, and identity.
NONFICTION
Recommended by Ann
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland RIVETING. This account of the Troubles is told through the lives of a few minor players. You’ll feel like someone is slipping you a gun wrapped in a dishtowel under the table in the pub. It’s history-turned-thriller.
Recommended by Karen
Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss If you don’t know Margaret Renkl from her fabulous NYT op-eds, then you’ll soon know her for this collection of beautifully written personal essays. Renkl lives here in Nashville, but the buzz on this book is national. If you have lived through the loss of a loved one, or are moved by the natural world in unexpected ways, I dare you to pick up this book. You will not put it down.
(Late Migrations is also this month’s First Editions Club pick. Read more about it below, and don’t miss Renkl here in the store tonight, July 9, at 6:30 p.m.)
Recommended by Katherine
Three Women Absorbing, difficult, and necessary, this book examines the sexualities of three real American women, based on almost a decade of reporting by journalist Lisa Taddeo. As I flew through the pages, I couldn’t help but think that Taddeo’s writing felt prophetic of the #MeToo era we find ourselves in today. Read it now, because everyone is going to be talking about it.
Recommended by Chelsea
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide By Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark
I am a diehard murderino, and I was thrilled when Georgia and Karen announced a book. Full of their personal stories and advice, this delightful, heartfelt book reads like a conversation among you and your two wise best friends.
First Editions Club: July SelectionLate Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
I could stand on a street corner and proselytize about Margaret Renkl’s Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss. Renkl, who is a regular contributor to the New York Times, writes about the birds in her backyard, her dogs, parents, in-laws, childhood, motherhood, plants, you name it. She takes the life at hand and shapes it into works of meticulous beauty and insight.
What amazes me most is the book’s impeccable shape. The tiny mosaic chips come together to form an indelible whole. As much as I loved each separate essay, I was completely unprepared for the punch the book delivers in the end. Do not miss this one.
Yours in reading,
Ann Patchett
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.
Parnassus Book Club — Upcoming Meeting Schedule
July – Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne*
Monday, July 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 24 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 25 at 10 a.m.
*Note: Clubs meet one week later than usual.
August – Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate*
Monday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 22 at 10 a.m.
*Note: Join the Parnassus staff, in conjunction with Citywide Book Club, for a discussion of The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss on Wednesday, August 21.
Classics Club – The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Monday, July 29 at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Classics Club – Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Monday, September 30 at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Are you a member of our store book club? Would you like to be? Parnassus Book Club and Classics Club meetings are free and open to anyone. Buy the book, read along, and join the discussion!
MORE INDOOR FUN — Join us at one of these great upcoming events featuring local authors:
Kem Hinton and Seab Tuck, authors of Seablets — July 11, 6:30 p.m.
Derek Evans, author of Made to Change the World — July 15, 6:30 p.m.
Scott Hylbert, author of Task Lyst — July 16, 6:30 p.m.
Katja Russell and Nick McGinn, authors of A Bunny Named Barnaby: It’s a Bun Life —
Jeremy Finley, author of The Dark Above — July 23, 6:30 p.m.
Mark Grisham, author of Bedlam South — July 27, 2:00 p.m.
* * *
[image error]Mary Laura hands over the keys to Musing. (They’re dangling from her left hand and are invisible.)
One more thing… a note from Mary Laura:
Five years ago, I sweet-talked Parnassus into letting me start this digital magazine. Since then, it has been my great joy to hold a megaphone to the voices of the brilliant authors, booksellers, and readers who come through these doors. Lately, it’s also been a joyous experience to work alongside Steve Haruch, who joined the Parnassus team last year and has been lending his talents to our marketing and communication efforts. Steve’s a great writer, editor, and thinker and has contributed some excellent pieces to this site. Recently I said, “Hey, how ‘bout we trade places — you run this thing, I’ll just contribute?” I’m so crazy-grateful he said yes.
So please join me in shouting, “Hurray for Steve!” Meanwhile, I’ll still be reading and recommending books and hanging around the store. Next up: I’ll be in conversation with Oyinkan Braithwaite at Parnassus on July 30. She’s coming all the way across an ocean to discuss My Sister the Serial Killer, the book EVERYONE has been talking about since last year. Come say hello! – Mary Laura
PS: We also owe major thanks to Kate Parrish, a wildly talented writer, editor, and get-it-done person who manned the dashboard of the site this spring when I left to go on book tour for I Miss You When I Blink and is still making sure nothing falls through the cracks. Thank you, Kate!
July 3, 2019
Margaret Renkl and Billy Renkl Talk Life, Collaboration, and Late Migrations
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Parnassus Books is delighted to introduce two people who just might be Tennessee’s most creative pair of siblings — writer Margaret Renkl and artist Billy Renkl. You can meet the Renkls in person at an event to launch the new book Late Migrations on Tuesday, July 9, at 6:30pm. Our First Editions Club selection for July, Late Migrations, as Ann Patchett says, “has the makings of an American classic.” Here, brother and sister reflect on their creative partnership, which started long before this book.
[image error]Margaret Renkl. (Photo: Heidi Ross)
Margaret Renkl: I can hardly remember a time when we weren’t working together on something made with your pictures and my words. Do you remember the first one? Was it that little book we made for Mimi and Granddaddy’s 40th wedding anniversary? That was in 1970, so you would have been 7, and I would have been 8.
Billy Renkl: Honestly, how can you bear to remember those? I do remember that one, though — mostly because it was about 12 pages long and I ran out of things to draw on page 3. You’ve never run out of things to say, though. It’s like a well that constantly refills from below every time you take a bucket out. Where do you think that comes from?
[image error]Billy Renkl. (Photo: Susan Bryant)
MR: Language is the medium we’re born to; no one ever runs out of words. But I don’t recall that you’ve ever, ever run out of things to draw, either — or paint, or construct, or reconfigure. Remember when someone stole your tackle box full of oil paints in college, and you didn’t have any money to buy them all over again, so you switched your entire senior project from painting to drawing? The bookstore had sticks of Conté on sale 10 for a dollar, so you just switched media entirely.
But I know you’re going to dispute my argument that language is the medium we’re born to. Go on, tell me how art is really the medium we’re born to.
BR: Actually, both are pretty inadequate, or at least slippery. We are born to other things — like eating, and sleeping and making out. But language comes with all these promises of clarity: dictionaries and grammar books and thesauruses. At least art allows you to stand mute in front of it. Somebody might tell you, “No, the word ‘rabbit’ can’t mean that.” But the bunny in the Bellini St. Francis at the Frick? Well, I’m quite sure what he means to me is just for me.
MR: Will you tell the story of how you switched to collage?
BR: It happened just as quickly as the time I switched to drawing in college. I was doing a residency in Switzerland, and I wanted to explore the role of the Alps in Swiss identity. So I made a collage of a human heart out of a maps I’d cut out of an old middle-school atlas. And that collage was more specific, and conveyed more precisely what I wanted to say, than my drawings had ever been. So, that afternoon, I turned away from drawing. I’ve made mostly collages ever since.
[image error]Honeysuckle, by Billy Renkl.
Come to think of it, that was about the same time you stopped writing poems and committed to prose — and you didn’t have to leave North America to do it. How did that happen?
MR: It was almost that instantaneous for me, too, in a way: I was pregnant and had gone into preterm labor, so my doctor put me on medication and bed rest to stop the contractions. I’d already had two devastating miscarriages, one of them pretty late, and I was a complete wreck — far, far too distraught to write poems, which require a kind of intensity of energy and focus that I no longer had. But I needed to write something, and compared to poetry, writing essays really did feel like playing tennis with the net down, to crib from Robert Frost. With essays, I could keep writing even in a crazed mental state.
BR: “Crazed” is a word I’ve heard you use about grief, too. Mom’s death came so suddenly. She was completely herself one day, and then we were planning her funeral the next. I imagine being able to write was a help in the face of that heartbreak.
MR: I’m sure you’re right that language can obscure at least as often as it clarifies, but after Mom’s sudden death it was immensely comforting to find words for what was happening to me, which seemed so huge and overwhelming so much of the time. Or the effort to find words, at least, was a comfort. I couldn’t bring Mom back, but I could keep sorting and rearranging words into paragraphs that at least approximated how I felt and what I was thinking about.
But let’s talk about Mom and Dad for a minute, and grief. There are two threads in Late Migrations: essays about our childhood and family life, and essays about events in the natural world that echo the family events. But the art you made focuses exclusively on the natural world. Is that because it was too painful to dwell on the family essays?
BR: Oh, no. I don’t think about the past as much as you do, or as clearly, but I don’t find it particularly painful. I’m just not especially interested in illustration that offers a thin representation of a narrative moment. I wanted the collages to help create an atmosphere within which a reader would encounter your words.
MR: I love the way you used antique photo mounts to provide the borders for the nature collages. They mimic images from an old family photo album, which is a really subtle visual way to convey the human kinship with the natural world. That kinship is one of the most formative experiences of my childhood. Some of my favorite memories are set in the woods around whatever apartment we were living in at the time, or all over Mimi and Granddaddy’s farmland. Is there a story you particularly remember from all the time we spent in the woods as kids?
BR: That’s funny. I remember walking around Clopton with Lori and you — the cemetery, the road to the store, the pecan orchard where Mimi and Granddaddy’s house burned — but I only remember being in the woods alone. You and Lori are threaded through almost every memory I have, as if there was no point in remembering something that didn’t include the two of you, but not playing in the woods. Were we there together? Maybe we just went there together but for different reasons. What story do you remember?
[image error]Margaret and Billy Renkl, several years ago.
MR: I remember making little boats out of bark and sticks and leaves and racing them in the creek. And I remember making little houses out of moss and mud, and how yours were always a thousand times more elaborate than mine. And catching tadpoles and bringing them home to raise in a terrarium in your room. I can’t believe you don’t remember those days!
BR: I remember that you laughed and laughed when I tried to get you to name your Bantam chick “Pheasant” because it sounded nice. But I’m pretty sure you named the toads: Otoado and Dotoado. Even when the summer seemed endless, as it does when you’re a kid, I understood that the transformation from tadpole to toad happened at a blinding speed, right in the corner of my room. Unfortunately they didn’t stay in the corner of my room — I do remember mom’s shriek from the kitchen. Dotoado and Otoado should definitely be in the next book.
MR: I did not name those toads. No way did I name those toads.
BR: Did too.
Margaret Renkl presents Late Migrations
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
Artwork by Billy Renkl will be on display
This event is open to the public and free to attend!
July 1, 2019
Notes From Ann: Visiting Sandra Boynton’s Studio, Re-Visiting Her Classics
To be clear, this is not a piece of investigative reporting. This is a story about my wry, quixotic friend Sandra Boynton — who I call Sandy, but who I will refer to here as “Boynton,” because calling her Boynton makes me sound more like a journalist.
If you’ve been a child, had a child, and/or known a child in the last 40 years, you’ve met a Boynton book. More than likely, you have counted, sung and ABC-ed along with her bewildered cows, bright pigs and sullen ducks. You’ve danced the Barnyard Dance. You’ve barked dramatically in the voice of all 10 of the dogs in Doggies. Even if you’ve read these books 10,000 times, the child nestled beside you asks you to read them again. And you do so with pleasure, because the rhymes (“The sun has set not long ago / Now everybody goes below / to take a bath in one big tub / with soap all over — SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB!”) are never what you see coming. Like a swing hanging from an oak tree, the cadence manages to lull and thrill at the same time.
The same is true for the illustrations, which convey puzzlement, joy, vulnerability, love and movement — the bristling energy of life — with just a few pen strokes and whisks of watercolor. These are pictures for children. And for everyone else. Not to mention these books are very funny.
“I have the best job imaginable,” Boynton says. And she does.
[image error]Three editions of Moo, Baa, La La La (from top left: 1982, 1984, 2019)
So, it certainly makes sense that Boynton, though she has published more than 70 books, continues to march forward — her most recent books include EEK! Halloween!, Silly Lullaby and my uncontested favorite But Not the Armadillo.
But a few months ago, Boynton decided to march backwards as well: She wanted to redraw some of her early board books. Even though anyone with eyes could have told her they were already perfect. Could Moo Baa La La La be improved upon? Should Van Gogh have gone back to swirl another star into the starry night sky?
She was quietly determined, and, with her publisher’s blessing, spent two intensive months carefully recreating seven of her iconic board books. And then she found she didn’t want to stop. She wasn’t satisfied until she had redrawn ELEVEN of them. (“This is the ninth out of seven,” her email said when she sent me digital images of the updated Happy Hippo, Angry Duck.)
But why? “Not to change them,” she says. “Simply to sharpen the lines, rebalance the layout, gently correct some art awkwardness here and there. Printing has had certain limitations, particularly back when I started. And then there’s a wearing-out and straying-from-the-original that can happen over time. Worse, the eventual digitization of old film separations further compromised things.”
[image error]Three editions of Doggies (from top left: 1982, 1995, 2019)
I knew Boynton was working long obsessive hours on this project. But looking at the updated pages she was emailing me as she went along, and comparing them to the Boynton books in my house, I couldn’t really see the difference. I hesitantly mentioned that.
“Good,” she said. “That’s good. I know the books will be better — more effortless, more pleasing. But I’m not looking for anyone to consciously notice any change.”
I was out of my depth. Two full months spent on doing near-invisible work? To really understand what the heck she was up to, and how she was going about it all, I realized I should make the trip northward to her studio in the farmlands of the Berkshires, so that she could walk me through the history of Boyntonia and show me this redrawing process.
The re-purposed barn that is her office, studio and diner is where the hippos happen. Yes, there is a replica of an old diner in the barn, complete with a wooden phone booth of the type that Clark Kent changed clothes in. There is a very small movie theater, apparently teleported from the 1940s, countless plush chickens and so many delightful relics of Boynton’s American 1950s childhood (a skate key, a Space Station Morse code kit). It was hard not to get distracted.
Boynton, who pretty much exploded the greeting card business while in grad school for drama at Berkeley, with things such as the birthday card “Hippo Birdie Two Ewes” and the Christmas card “Dependent Claus” (in which an anxious-looking Santa holds a reindeer too close), showed me her earliest book, a prototype of Hippos Go Berserk! drawn in ink on board.
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“I had transferred to the Yale Drama School. I made this book as my January term project. I don’t know what it had to do with theater, but somehow they approved it.” She sent that prototype to what was then Harper & Row publishers. Soon enough, they rejected it. A college friend was working at Harper as an intern and asked Boynton if she wanted to see the internal readers’ comments. She did want to. And she remembers them.
“Does the world really need another counting book?” the weary reader wondered. Another said: “In the middle of the book, the author begins to count backwards!” I ask how many copies of the book have now sold. “A whole lot,” Boynton answers with a smile.
[image error]Three editions of The Going to Bed Book (from top left: 1994, 1982, 2019)
We go through more boxes. Horns to Toes. The Going to Bed Book. Blue Hat, Green Hat. Each box has the original art, and mechanicals with text-crowded tissue overlays indicating to the printer what color goes where and suggesting type placement. Inside the Horns to Toes box, there are two very different sets of original art. It turns out that Boynton had already once redrawn — long ago now, in the mid-1990s — some of her very first books, from the early 1980s.
“The printed books had gone horribly wrong,” she explains. “The line had oddly thickened, the colors were dense and dreary. The publisher had changed printers a number of times along the way, with no one bothering to refer to my approved proofs.”
Now we go stand at her computer desk, so she can show me how she went about this. It’s a large screen. She works in Photoshop. (“I love Photoshop!” she exclaims.) She finds the “Doggies” folder and opens a spread. She clicks on a layer of the many-layered file, to show me what the old book looked like. Then she switches to the new page and demonstrates how she traces over the old outline, using a mouse. (“People who know what they’re doing would be incredulous — this is no way to work.”) Then comes the watercolor. Sure enough, the page looks the same, but better. Maybe.
[image error]But still: Why go back when you could spend that time forging new trails for frantic chickens to follow?
“It’s really for me.” Boynton says. “The new technology, and the slow steady evolution of my own skills, mean that I’m finally at a point where I can manage all the details of how I want a book to move and look. It doesn’t mean I’ll do it perfectly, of course. I’m sometimes amazed and dismayed, down the road, at my own misjudgments. But it means it’s all in my hands. … These books finally look right to me. That’s exhilarating.”
***
This story first appeared in The Washington Post and is posted here with permission.
June 26, 2019
How the Shop Dogs Make the Most of the Dog Days of Summer (And You Can, Too)
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Hello from the shop dogs! We find ourselves smack in the middle of our favorite time of year: summer — the season when everyone agrees lounging around is the best use of time. To celebrate the arrival of our new pal, Cat’s puppy Goober (he’s the one who doubles as a floofy brown bear, see above), we’ve put together this lifestyle guide and reading list to help him live his best dog life. Now if we could just get him out of the pool long enough to get started . . .
PS: If the little human critters in your life need a good way to spend hot days, don’t forget about our annual Find Waldo Local scavenger hunt in July! Read on to the end of this post for all the details on how to participate.
[image error]Meet Cat’s new pup, Goober! He’s still deciding whether he’s going to hang around in the store or work from home, but either way, we have some suggested reads for him on how to attain “good dog” status. (Sure, technically we “can’t read,” but that doesn’t mean we don’t have great taste in books. Books taste great.) We’ve suggested he start with Good Dog by Cori Doerrfeld, Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart, Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day, and — if he’s going to hang around all this literature — How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander.
[image error]Sparky recommends conserving energy on sweltering days by finding a beloved author to carry you around. (Pictured here: Kate DiCamillo, author of classic novels such as Because of Winn Dixie, Flora & Ulysses, The Tale of Despereaux, and lots more.) For younger pups, he also recommends lying low with a stack of picture books about summer, such as Summer Evening by Walter de la Mare, A Lullaby of Summer Things by Natalie Ziarnik, and Summer Color! by Diana Murray.
[image error]Opie suggests Goober learn to sit as soon as possible, because when you can sit, you can beg for treats. Reading-wise, he suggests Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan for when Goober’s a little older. It’s a sweet coming-of-age story about a girl spending her summer working at an amusement park … playing the part of the hot dog. While Opie may have been disappointed this young adult novel didn’t involve actual hot dogs, he enjoyed its humor and heart. See also: Sarah Dessen’s The Rest of the Story , another wonderful YA novel about a magical summer. (It was the June pick for the ParnassusNext subscription box, and we still have a few signed copies!)
[image error]What with her nose being situated especially low to the ground, bathing beauty Mary Todd Lincoln excels at finding lost toys and snack crumbs in the grass, plus seashells and tiny sand-life during her walks on the beach. She keeps Backpack Explorer: Beach Walk nearby to help with shell identification, and loves all the fun games and activities it includes to help beat boredom during those rare rainy beach days.
[image error]Fun fact about Lewis: he loves travel. Whether it’s a road-trip vacation, a sleepover in the living room with a sleeping bag, or camp (why can’t kids take their dogs to sleep-away camp, can someone answer that?) he always comes prepared with a tote full of books perfect for reading by flashlight. He digs Camp, a graphic novel for kids by Kayla Miller; The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, a fun and adventurous novel for kids by Lamar Giles; and Super Summer: All Kind of Facts and Fun , a fascinating volume of interesting information by Bruce Goldstone.
[image error]It’s time to tell the truth: Eleanor Roosevelt has a book-eating habit. (Pictured here — resting up after shredding two paperbacks.) If your little ones are similarly tough on books, may we suggest some sturdy board books? Jane Foster’s Summertime and Summer Babies by Kathryn O. Galbraith and Adela Pons make nice choices.
[image error]May we offer you a basket for all these books? Bear loves his job as the official greeter. Work is fun! On that note, here are two books about kids who get summer jobs as dog-walkers: Rules of the Ruff by Heidi Lang (for middle grade / independent readers) and The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (young adult).
And remember, the air is cool and the sofa’s comfy here at Parnassus. Pop in and pat a shop dog anytime. We’re waiting for you.
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The dog days of summer are lots of fun for young humans, too!
The FIND WALDO LOCAL scavenger hunt begins July 1, and children are invited to come to Parnassus to get their official Waldo Passports anytime throughout the month.
After you collect 10 signatures on your passport, return to Parnassus Books to collect your reward and a coupon to Parnassus Books. If you manage to find Waldo at all 20 participating locations, bring your passport back to Parnassus for those rewards PLUS be entered in a drawing to win great prizes!
Then, mark your calendar for July 30 from 3-4 p.m. and join us for our Where’s Waldo grand celebration! We’ll hold our grand prize drawings at 3:30, including a special prize donated by AshBlue, and we’ll have yummy refreshments and fun activities. Waldo himself will even stop by to pose for pictures!
(Fine print: Parnassus Books encourages readers of all ages to participate in Where’s Waldo, but buttons, coupons, and prize drawing eligibility are limited to children ages 14 and under. Limit one entry per participant. The hunt for Waldo can be a team effort, but passports and prizes can only be claimed by individuals. To be eligible for the prize drawing, you must turn in your completed passport by Monday, July 29, 2019, at Parnassus Books. You do not have to be present at the party to be eligible to win a prize in the drawing, but some prizes will be limited only to party attendees.)
Check our website for more details, or just stop by anytime.
June 20, 2019
Sisters Gone Without a Trace: An Excerpt from Julia Phillips’ Disappearing Earth
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If two is better than one, then we’re all in for a real treat when Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth, and Alix Ohlin, author of Dual Citizens, join us at Parnassus on Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30 p.m. to sign and discuss their books. In anticipation of their arrival, we’re pleased to share an excerpt of Phillips’ latest novel right here. (And if you missed it earlier this week, read an excerpt from Ohlin’s Dual Citizens here!)
One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls — sisters, ages eight and eleven — go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across their tightly woven community.
Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty — densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska — and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.
In this excerpt, it is October. The two young sisters have been missing since August.
“We forgot the tent,” Max said, turning to Katya. The beam of her flashlight flattened his features. His face was a white mask of distress. The forest around them was black, because they’d left Petropavlovsk so late — his last-minute packing, his bad directions. His fault.
In the harsh light, he was nearly not beautiful anymore. Cheekbones erased, chin cleft illuminated, lips parted, he looked wide-eyed into the glare. Katya and Max had been together since August and as of September were officially in love. Yet the tent. Disgust rippled through her. “You’re not serious,” she said. She caught the tail of her repulsion before it passed; she had to hold on to it, a snake in the hand, otherwise she would forgive him too soon.
“It’s not here.”
Katya handed him the flashlight and started to dig through the trunk. Shadows lengthened and contracted against their things: sacks of food, sleeping bags, two foam mats. A folded tarp to line the tent floor. Loose towels for the hot springs, a couple folding chairs, rolled trash bags that unraveled as she shoved them. Katya should have packed the car herself, instead of watching his body flex in the rearview mirror this evening. Pots clanked somewhere deep in the mess.
“Max!” she said. “How!”
“We can sleep outside,” he said. “It’s not that cold.” She stared back at his outline above the circle of light. “We can sleep in the car,” he said.
“Magnificent.” We forgot, he said, we, as if they together kept one tent in one closet of one shared home. As if they jointly made these mishaps. As if she had not needed to leave the port early this afternoon, drive twenty minutes south through the city to shower and change at her own place, drive thirty-five minutes north to get to his apartment complex on time, then wait eighteen long minutes in his parking lot for him to come out.
He’d told her earlier in the week he would bring his tent. His car, a dinky Nissan, didn’t have four-wheel drive, so they were taking hers, and he had loaded such a stack of stuff into the trunk — enough to merit a second run up to his apartment, a return trip with his arms full — that Katya told herself he had it handled. Instead of checking she tuned her car radio to local news of a shop robbery, an approaching cyclone, another call for those two little girls. She gripped her steering wheel. Once Max finally climbed into the passenger seat, she said, “That’s everything?”
Nodding, he leaned to kiss her. “Let’s get going. Take me away,” he said then. She checked the time (forty-one minutes late) and shifted into reverse.
Now they were going to spend the night in her mini SUV. Dependable as the Suzuki was, bringing them these four hours north of the city over roads that turned from asphalt to gravel to dirt, it made terrible sleeping quarters. Two doors, two narrow rows of seats, no legroom. The gearshift would separate them from each other. Neither of them would have space to lie down.
Katya sighed and Max’s shoulders bowed in response. She wanted to touch those shoulders. “It’s okay,” she said. Her disgust slithered off to wait for his next error. “It’s all right, bear cub, it happens. Would you gather us some wood?”
Once the flashlight was off bobbing between trees, Katya moved her car over the flattened patch of weeds where a tent was meant to be staked. The mistake had been hers in not asking earlier . . . next time they’d do better. Max was simply the sort of person, like so many others, whom she had to supervise.
Soil shifted under her tires. She didn’t turn the headlights back on. Slowly, her eyes were adjusting to the dark. She had visited these woods as a child, and though she must be seeing two decades of growth, the birch trees in the starlight looked to her exactly as they had when she was a girl: aged and grand and magical. The world outside had steadily warped, become less predictable and more dangerous, while spots like this were protected. Here, there was no radio news, no city stresses, no schedule to disrupt. The tent had served as the last opportunity for disappointment. There was no reason left to get worked up. Katya had to remember that.
When she opened the door, her keys chimed in the ignition. She pulled them out and the nighttime rushed in. Bats chirping, insects whirring. Dry leaves brushing against each other at the tops of the trees. Max, far in the woods, cracking branches for their fire. The steady waterfall noise of the hot springs.
Katya cleared her head with the sounds. Max’s company left her overstimulated; back in the city, at his apartment, she sometimes excused herself to the bathroom just to sit on the closed toilet lid and cool down. Even having him give directions from the passenger seat overwhelmed. His clumsiness, his sincerity, the shocking symmetry of his flawless face lit her up.
“It’s the honeymoon phase,” her girlfriends told her. Oksana, who worked with Max at the volcanological institute, said, “He’s an idiot. It’ll pass.” But Katya had been with other men, even lived with one for a while in her twenties, and never gone on this kind of honeymoon. Max activated a new sense in her. Just as the ability to hear lived in her ears, taste in her tongue, touch in her fingertips, a particular sensitivity to Max was now concentrated below her belly button. He reached for her and her guts twinged. Her sixth sense: craving.
He might be an idiot, but it wasn’t passing.
Craving him distracted Katya from other things. Like the tent, she reminded herself, as she took her head lamp from the glove compartment. Strapping it on, she got to work — organizing the bags, unpacking their groceries, reclining the front seats as far as they would go.
She stood back to scan them in the thin light of her lamp. Not very far at all.
Max returned to a set-up camp. Peeled potatoes bumped in a pot filled with stream water. Katya had laid half a smoked salmon belly, alongside slices of radish, tomato, and white cheese, on a plastic bag on the hood of her car, so they could snack before dinner. Together, in the brisk air, they built the fire. “I fell out there,” he confessed once they had the flames going. He turned to show her a smear of dirt down his back.
She pressed her fingers to his shirt, the heat of his skin underneath. Ripples of muscle. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Mortally wounded.”
She had to laugh at the length of the stain. “You’re not much of an outdoorsman, cub.”
“I am,” he said. “Give me a break, Katyush, it’s dark.”
“I know,” Katya said. Still. Over the fire, the potatoes were boiling. She took her hands away from him to stir the pot.
The firelight painted them both orange and black. Max’s chin, his fine bones, the tip of his nose, the knob that ended his jaw. Too handsome. With one boot, Katya nudged a burning log into better position.
The only other weekend Katya and Max had spent away together was the one in August when they first met. Oksana had invited Katya as a plus-one on a work retreat to Nalychevo Park. Katya did not dare refuse; Oksana’s terrible summer, spent going through her husband’s phone as their marriage crumbled, had hit its low only days before when she managed to walk her dog past the abduction of those little girls. Oksana had spent hours with the police as she tried to describe a kidnapper she hardly remembered. “The only reason I noticed him at all,” she told Katya on the drive up to the park that weekend, “was because his car looked so good. I thought, Where does he get that cleaned? My van looks like trash after one turn around the city, while his shone.” Oksana checked her mirrors and shifted into the left lane to pass a truck. “I told the officers that when they find this guy, before they cuff him and beat him unconscious, they have to ask him for his best car-wash tips.”
“My God,” Katya had said. “Are you sure you want to do this right now?”
* * *
Excerpted from Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. Copyright © 2019 by Julia Phillips. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, 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.
Meet author Julia Phillips
as she presents Disappearing Earth
with Alix Ohlin, author of Dual Citizens
Tuesday, June 25, 2019,
6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
Presented with The Porch
Wine & light snacks
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