Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature

by Zibby Owens

reading to me and then reading myself,

I wasn’t emotionally invested in the project this time. It wasn’t my blood, sweat, and tears on the page, but that was perfect. It felt like I’d just had my heart broken, and now, instead of getting in a new committed relationship, I was just dating. This book felt like a dinner downtown, a blind date that was going well, not a deep, amorous relationship. It was my rebound book.

I was so close to never feeling that happiness. And yet, somehow, it had found me. The flower from Manhattan.

Despite all the controversy, I still think A Million Little Pieces is one of the best books ever written. And that James Frey has some motherfucking talent.

As soon as I sat down, a hippie-dippie mom friend leaned forward and, in a low, sultry voice, slowly said, “I can’t believe you just did that for your third child. I wouldn’t even have showed up.”