A Summer through Fall Reading List
Pausing my Substack, but here's a list of books that were in my queue
Currently I’m doing a lot of mentorships and classes and the last of the work on my memoir edits, and something needs to come off of my plate, so it’s going to be this substack. Thank you for supporting it; but I want your $5 to go toward another writer. Or just get an overpriced coffee.
I love writing these because they feel free and fun, but I need to streamline.
Here’s a list of the books I’ve had in drafts to write about and can’t prioritize with all of my other obligations:
1) On Compromise: Art, Politics, and The Fate of An American Ideal by Rachel Greenwald Smith. Releasing from Graywolf August 2021. Trust me when I say this will be the next “cool girl instagram” book.
“Rachel Greenwald Smith is the cool, funny, intellectual older sister you never had. She's the person you admire and fear at the dinner party, for her perceptive and intelligent observations might make you feel inferior. Not to worry though, Greenwald Smith takes care of us in these heady and essential essays; using unexpected music, literature, films and personal experiences throughout her musings. This is a nuanced and thought-provoking book for our times.” —my blurb for the book
2) Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity by Jill Louise Busby. Releasing September, 2021. Pre-order here. Isn’t it funny, (I mean, isn’t ironic) that Jill’s book is called UNFOLLOW ME and will get her even more followers than her at one point went viral account already has?
I met Jill aka Jillisblack at the time, at a weird-ass event at The Wing two summers ago. We connected about how fucking uncomfortable and awkward it was. I read her book in full last Sunday afternoon. Here’s the blurb I gave the publisher:
“Unfollow Me is an emotionally risky, trope-turning manifesto of a book. Whether she’s writing a letter to white hippiecrites, describing the disassociation that comes with online personas, or exploring the hell that can be micro-fame, her excavation is distinctive and nuanced. Jill Louise Busby for President.”—my blurb for the book
3) Notes To Self by Emilie Pine. First released in Ireland in January 2018, re-issued in American in 2019. The book was named An Post Irish Book of the Year 2018 after a public vote. I found this book on my 35th birthday at The Strand, in the basement, while browsing. It was the best birthday gift ever.
4) My husband bought this book at a used bookstore somewhere; I don’t remember where and I’m dying to read it. JUST LOOK AT THE COVER.
5) NUDES by Elle Nash, published by SF/LD April, 2021. I haven’t read NUDES yet, but I’ve known Elle for almost a decade—she took the first online writing class I ever taught— and will always and forever read anything she writes. Elle is one of the most bad-ass and inventive writers I know.
In other news, I published two essays last week:
Turns Out It’s Pretty Good: Being Married, The Cut
1998’s Stepmom is Nearly A Perfect Movie, Romper
Classes & Mentorships, etc.
Revise, Submit, and Publish is a 3 month mentorship that begins June 15th.
Writing About Relationships is 4 weeks and begins May 25th.
Catapult year-long essay generator: 12 Months To A Full Draft, begins August 22.
Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Words of Summer begins May 31st. If you want to give yourself the gift of creativity, sign up.
Oh, and Highlights does personal or group writing residencies! A student of mine went and had a productive time.
Onward and upward with the arts.