Podcast appearances and mentions of Kate Bolick

This week we travel back in time 100 years (!) to meet Edna St. Vincent Millay, girl poet and emblem of 1920s Greenwich Village bohemia. We are joined by the writer (and my former professor) Kate Bolick, who wrote extensively about Millay in her 2015 book Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own. We discuss Edna's passionate free spirit, her tragic end, and the self-renewing Dream of writerly collaboration in downtown New York. More importantly, we discuss the age old question of how to build a sustainable life as a woman artist — how to define “meaning” vs. “noise” for yourself, and how to live it out with poise.Discussed:Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own, Kate Bolick (2015)“All the Single Ladies” Kate Bolick in The Atlantic (2011)Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Nancy Milford (2002)“How Fame Fed on Edna St. Vincent Millay” Maggie Doherty in The New Yorker (2022)The Long Winded Lady (collection of essays by Maeve Brennan in The New Yorker)

¡Inicia la séptima temporada de Femme Normal! Edna y Merce platican sobre cómo aprendieron un gran concepto de Kate Bolick: el panteón de autoras. Si han escuchado las entrevistas de la Serie FIL, entonces ya tienen una idea de por dónde va. Acompáñalas a fangirlear sobre sus autoras contemporáneas favoritas, mientras explican por qué son maestras de su oficio. Muchas gracias por escuchar Femme Normal. Luchar contra el patriarcado toma mucha energía, y para eso necesitamos cafeína. Apoya la producción de Femme Normal comprándonos un café para seguir sacando contenido y luchando desde nuestra trinchera. Da clic aquí-> https://ko-fi.com/femmenormal Visita nuestra página oficial: femmenormal.com ¡Búscanos en redes! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femmenormal/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FemmeNormal También puedes escuchar el podcast en tu plataforma de audio favorita, y no olvides reseñar tus episodios favoritos.

Today the Little Sleep Ladies celebrate Louisa May Alcott's birthday by discussing a collection of essays called March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women by Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley. The book relates not only each writer but also the readers to the March Sisters. Liza and Riss jump through topics: Which March Sister are you? (Along with Hogwarts Houses), Relating ourselves to aspects in the essays, What Little Women means for many women (and women writers!), etc. Join us in reliving Alcott's beloved classic Little Women once again by listening to this episode! And be sure to let us know on our Social Media (@LSMRpodcast) which March Sister are you???

[REBROADCAST FROM DECEMBER 23, 2020] We air highlights from our conversation with Anne Boyd Rioux, author of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters, and Kate Bolick, co-author of March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women, about the classic novel, from our Get Lit with All Of It event.    Missed the event? Watch it in full here. To find out more about our Get Lit with All Of It book club, and our partnership with the New York Public Library, click here, and follow us on Instagram at @allofitwnyc.

Amanda and Jenn discuss books about trees, great middle-grade audiobooks, dystopias, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, the digital hangout spot for the Book Riot community, Literati, and Flatiron Books, publisher of The Paris Hours by Alex George. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. Feedback The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden (rec’d by Summer) Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (rec’d by Summer) Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (rec’d by Eric) Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (rec’d by Elizabeth) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (rec’d by Michelle) Questions 1. Hi Amanda and Jenn! Absolutely love the show. It’s almost stressful how many amazing books there are to read! I’m a straight single woman in my 30s who just recently left a good relationship headed towards marriage just because it didn’t feel right. I’d love to read fiction or non-fiction about women who did such a thing – left a good, decent man or relationship and still created happy lives, or women who found love a little later but were still able to have kids/a partner like they wanted. In this vein I’ve loved Spinster by Kate Bolick, The Rules Do Not Apply, and am about to read No One Tells You This by Glynnis McNichol. Thanks! -Polly 2. This summer, we are moving from California to Virginia and I’m looking for audiobook selections for the drive.  In the fall, I begin my MLIS specializing in Children and Youth Service/Public Librarianship.  I also have two daughters who may or may not listen in — a 9 year old and a 12 year old.    What are some more current middle-grade or YA audiobooks that would keep us all entertained, and will help prep me for my future in the library?     I’ve already listened to Harry Potter, the Lunar Chronicles, and some Rick Riordan.  We’ve also got a pretty solid book collection of popular titles including things like The Mysterious Benedict Society, Book Scavenger, Mr. Limoncello’s Library and Al Capone Does My Shirts.  Last thing — please no narrator with a British accent.  I know it’s weird, but it puts me to sleep so not good for driving!  I love listening to you — and because of that my TBR is out of control!   -Lisa 3. Hi! I was so glad to hear you were reading the Outrun by Amy Liptrot, I live on the island of Westray which is 15minutes by boat from Papa Westray (our little sister island) which as you know is the location for a lot of the Outrun. I hoped you enjoyed reading about our islands and way of life as a part of the book. If you enjoyed the Outrun and reading about ‘living on the edge’ and nature, I think you will enjoy ‘Heida: A shepherd at the edge of the world’ by Steinunn Sigurdardottir & Heida Asgeirsdottir which is a diary of the year former icelandic model turned sheep-farmer Heida fought to save her land from becoming a development site for a power plant, all while managing her flock of 500 sheep at the base of Katla, one of Iceland’s most notorious volcanoes.  So for me! I’m looking for some fiction where the forest (in a non-creepy way) is key to the book. While being in lockdown on a small idyllic scottish island is certainly nothing to complain about, I miss trees, we have had no trees here since the Vikings chopped them all down way back when! And now it’s too windy so any miracle trees we can get to grow just grow stunted, spindly and sideways. So I’m looking to get my beautiful forest fix through my books until I can travel to the mainland again and hug some trees. Thanks!  -Isobel 4. Hi ladies! I’m in need of escapist reading – and that means Queer Fantasy Romance. We’re talking magick and mages, sexy humans falling for even sexier elves, turmoil + angst, and through it all – a happy ending. Books in a similar vein that I’ve loved are the Charm of Magpies Series by K.J. Charles, Salt Magic, Skin Magic by Lee Welch, and The Kingston Cycle Series by C.L. Polk. These are all Victorian-era ish historicals (my fave) but I would love to find something more high fantasy, to ramp up that escapist itch. Bonus for an audiobook – that’s my favorite way of getting sucked into a novel! -Michelle 5. I’m looking for a dystopian/sci fi book.  This isn’t something I read often, but I like to kind of pepper my usual historical fiction/graphic memoir/ YA reading with it every once in a while when I need to shake things up a bit. Station Eleven, Age of Miracles, and Severance have done this for me recently.  I love how everything in my daily life starts to seem weird when I’m reading a book that makes me think about how everything could be changed.  Can you help me find something,  please?  I love the show! -Brooke 6. I need a good realistic fiction book to get me hooked back on reading.  -Christian 7. Two of my favorite books, Saga (Vaughan/Staples) and The Blind Assassin (Atwood), have pulp-y books as a main component of the story yet I have some how never read any myself.  I would love a few suggestions for books or authors to check out.  Almost anything goes, except I cannot stand when ancient or immortal beings start romantic relationships with teenagers/early 20-year-olds.  Eww, just eww. Thanks!!! -Kristin Books Discussed Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert  Untamed by Glennon Doyle (tw: alcoholism, bulimia), Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (tw: loss of a spouse, bigotry) The Overstory by Richard Powers (tw suicide, self-harm) Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst The Tensorate series (The Black Tides of Heaven #1) by JY Yang  The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn Braised Pork by An Yu Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Everisto (tw: domestic violence, rape, racism, homophobia, self-harm, depression, child abuse) I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart (tw sexual abuse of children) Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

Today, Annie is diving into listeners’ bookish dilemmas with some literary therapy. Topics include romance novels, tackling nonfiction, genre shame, and, of course, Little Women. Pretend Annie is coming to you live from Seattle, because she is Annie Jones, and she is listening. Want to leave a voicemail for the next round of Literary Therapy? Email podcast@bookshelfthomasville.com, or leave a voicemail here. Bossy Pants by Tina Fey Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe Dead Wake by Erik Larson The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Inheritance by Dani Shapiro Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Know My Name by Chanel Miller I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Americana by Bhu Srinivasan An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino 27 Dresses by Jesse Russell Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy by Ann Boyd Rioux March Sisters by Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado & Jane Smiley Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. This week, Annie is reading Handle with Care by Lore Ferguson Wilbert. If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

This week, I'm delighted to welcome author Kate Bolick to the podcast.  Kate Bolick is the author of the bestselling Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own. Today we're discussing her wonderful essay on Meg in March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women. If you can't stop thinking about the new Greta Gerwig adaptation, I would … Continue reading Ep. 49: Author Kate Bolick Discusses March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women →

This week Liza and Kimmy are joined by new dater OLIVIA to discuss her date #5! They also discuss breakfast dates, pinky rings, making out in the morning, phone calls before dates, and the etiquette of Instagram handles in your bios and insta-stalking your app matches. They also kick off a 51 First Dates book club, with the selection SPINSTER by Kate Bolick (join the secret Facebook group for more!) Follow us @51FirstDates on Instagram! Send your worst first date stories to 51firstdatespod@gmail.com. And don't forget to join our secret Facebook group!

This week, Liberty and Tirzah discuss Pumpkinhead, Wonton Terror, Last Ones Left Alive, and more great books. This episode was sponsored by Chase Darkness with Me by Billy Jensen and Bombas. Pick up an All the Books! 200th episode commemorative item here. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, iTunes, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Books discussed on the show: Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks A Better Man: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi Wonton Terror: A Noodle Shop Mystery by Vivien Chien  All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat Dead Voices by Katherine Arden  What we're reading: Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann More books out this week: This Book of Mine by Sarah Stewart The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains by Joseph LeDoux The Sixth Wicked Child: A 4MK Thriller Book 3 by J D, Barker The Battle by Karuna Riazi  From the Shadows by Juan José Millás, Thomas Bunstead (Translator), Daniel Hahn (Translator) Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire (Star Wars) by Delilah S. Dawson  The Aussie Next Door by Stefanie London The Beekeeper of Aleppo: A Novel by Christy Lefteri  Human Relations and Other Difficulties: The Collected essays of Mary-Kay Wilmers  Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat  The Girl Who Lived Twice: A Lisbeth Salander novel, continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series by David Lagercrantz Overthrow: A Novel by Caleb Crain  The Passengers by John Marrs The Truth Behind the Lie: A Novel by Sara Lövestam A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman Tin Badges: A Novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra  Five Days Gone: The Mystery of My Mother's Disappearance as a Child by Laura Cumming  Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?: A Novel by Brock Clarke  The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age by Bina Venkataraman Shadow School: Archimancy by J. A. White Doxology: A Novel by Nell Zink March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women: A Library of America Special Publication by Kate Bolick, Carmen Maria Machado, Jane Smiley, and Jenny Zhang The Extinction Agenda by Michael Laurence What Red Was: A Novel by Rosie Price The Secret Life of Sam Holloway: A Novel by Rhys Thomas  Tell it to the World: An Indigenous Memoir by Stan Grant Sidelined by Suzanne Baltsar The Ventriloquists: A Novel by E.R. Ramzipoor 

The Guilty Feminist Presented by Deborah Frances-White and Geraldine Hickey Episode 154: Flying Solo with special guest Kate Bolick Recorded 3 March 2018 at the Sydney Opera House. Released 17 June 2019. The Guilty Feminist theme by Mark Hodge and produced by Nick Sheldon. Tickets are on-sale now for The Guilty Feminist Live at the Royal Albert Hall https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2019/the-guilty-feminist More about Deborah Frances-White http://deborahfrances-white.com https://twitter.com/DeborahFW https://www.virago.co.uk/the-guilty-feminist-book More about Geraldine Hickey https://twitter.com/geraldinehickey https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/geraldine-hickey-things-are-going-well More about Kate Bolick http://www.katebolick.com https://twitter.com/katebolick For more information about this and other episodes… visit guiltyfeminist.com tweet us twitter.com/guiltfempod like our Facebook page facebook.com/guiltyfeminist check out our Instagram instagram.com/theguiltyfeminist or join our mailing list eepurl.com/bRfSPT Big Speeches workshops in London 21 and 28 July in London. Book your place now. Guilty Feminist jewellery is now available https://www.road-from-damascus.co.uk The Negotiations special episode of the podcast is now available to purchase. http://guiltyfeminist.com/product/include-yourself-podcast/ Come to a live recording! Sunday 7 July, The Royal Albert Hall. Tickets on sale now. Wednesday 17 July, Kings Place in London. Tickets on sale now. 2, 3, 4 August, Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe. Tickets on sale now. Saturday 10 August, Underbelly South Bank. Tickets on sale soon. Saturday 24 August, The Secret Policeman’s Tour, Edinburgh Playhouse. Tickets on sale now. Monday 7 September, The London Podcast Festival. Tickets on sale now. Monday 21 October, Kings Place in London. Tickets on sale now. Leave us a review and rate us on Apple Podcasts!

Maxwell Anders, Charlie Gold, and Sommer Bailey explore and share on the ups and downs of dating, sex, and relationships in the city.On Episode 7 - Dying alone, Max, Charlie, and Sommer open about their fears of being alone and dying alone. Do they drive us to seek out relationships and compromise our standards? We go over this episode's dating quiz "Will You Die Alone?" We discuss the dating books we are reading "All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation" by Rebecca Traister and "Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own" by Kate Bolick. Our episode guest is Jon, founder, and co-host of the wickedly irreverent and popular Dallas podcast Secretly Timid.Music featured on this episode:L.T.H. (AA's Refix) by Abstract Audio (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Citizen_X0/30395 Ft: Alex Beroza Michael BurnzLiving Nightmare by Snowflake (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/54422 Ft: Blue Wave TheoryUnbury Your Heart ( Remix ) by Dysfunction_AL (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/destinazione_altrove/56417 Ft: Snowflake

As a middle-class girl from a happy family, Kate Bolick’s life was on track: go to college, get a job, and then, become a wife. But after losing her mother, Kate began to question this predictable trajectory.  In 2011, when she was in her thirties and still unmarried, Kate wrote an article that wove together her personal story with an economic analysis of singledom in the 21st Century. It was called All the Single Ladies and it became an online sensation. It served as the catalyst for Kate’s first book called Spinster: Making a life of one’s own. The memoir reflects on the intergenerational lessons and legacies of feminism, and is a call to arms for autonomous women everywhere. -- Video of Kate at All About Women 2018 All the Single Ladies article on The Atlantic

American writer Kate Bolick’s blockbuster Atlantic article, ‘All the Single Ladies’ examined the the remarkable demographic shift away from marriage, and grappled with what resisting the intense social pressure to couple means for women. Now, her book Spinster combines memoir, feminist theory, cultural criticism and sharp historical research. At All About Women 2018, she took to the stage with moderator Jess Scully for a brazenly political and deeply personal discussion about the opportunities of modern singledom. Watch the full talk on our Youtube Channel.

Amanda and Jenn discuss Civil War reads, diverse middle-grade books, reading slumps, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked. This episode is sponsored by City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty and Weregirl & Chimera by C.D. Bell. Bookstore giveaway!   Questions 1. Dear Amanda and Jenn, I am a middle school English teacher and I have a student looking for a book recommendations. She has read To Kill a Mockingbird, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Giver, and Would You Reach Me and enjoyed them all. She seems to like books that tackle serious social issues as well as science fiction. Our school library is a little outdated and doesn't offer much in the way of books with diverse characters, so I'd like to direct her to something more current and with diverse characters. Thanks in advance. I love the podcast! --Rebecca   2. Hey Amanda and Jenn! I'm having baby #3 in December, and I'm looking for books to read on my e-reader during the middle-of-the-night feedings. I somehow missed this reading opportunity with my first baby, but with baby #2 a few years ago I read so much! Including at least one of Ruth Reichl's memoirs, Molly Wizenberg's Delancey and Homemade Life, but also a bit of romance, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and some other novels. I'm open to fiction, non-fiction, genre, etc. The main guidelines are: *fairly easy reads - no complex character lists and maps, and nothing too literary or high-minded. *conducive to reading in short bursts - easy to dip in and out of. Nothing so page-turner-y that I'll stay up even longer. Short chapters or frequent text breaks are a bonus, but not required. *nothing scary, dark, bloody, gory, etc... i.e. nothing where the jacket says (or could say) "chilling" or "haunting" *cozy and charming, but not cheesy *definitely no sick or dying kids/babies/children/moms, or disasters/apocalypses/tragedies *available as ebook (Kindle) So, what books can you suggest for me to read in the middle of the night as I nurse my new baby? --Betsy   3. I am looking for books about the Civil War for my father's 60th birthday. My mother is taking him on a trip to Gettysburg and I want to give him some books that will go along with his trip. He prefers non-fiction and has already read and enjoyed Killer Angels. I was going to get him a copy of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy - but was hoping that you might have some other great recommendations! Thank you! Love the podcast! --Erin   4. Hi, Next year I am starting a feminist book club called SFF Fems that will read Science Fiction and Fantasy books by female authors only, with an emphasis on marginalised and own voice authors. Do you have any recommendations that would fit this criteria and make for great discussion at a book club meeting? Thanks so much --Tori   5. I'm trying to find books for my eleven year old daughter Cathy to read, but I'm a bit stumped. She's a voracious reader, and well above a usual eleven year old's reading level (this, just to be clear, isn't me being some annoying mom who likes to talk about how special my daughter is. She just happens to be ahead in reading.). She's read and loved Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the Percy Jackson novels. She just read my copy of the Mists of Avalon and now has an obsession with arthurian legend. She loves history, and knights, and all that fun stuff, but I'm having a bit of trouble finding books for her. She's been reading some adult books on her own, and I'm very lax about what she's allowed to read and watch (the evidence being that I gave her The Mists of Avalon), and am not concerned about things being "appropriate" for her. We have a very open relationship and she comes to me with questions, we discuss what she's read, and honestly we are a very liberal family. However I would like to find her some age appropriate books as well, because I think it's important for her to read about characters her age to relate to. Everything we've been looking for together either doesn't interest her, or she finds condescending. Any ideas? I think some historical fiction would be good, but I just don't know what to look for. Thanks! --Jenna   6. Hi guys! I love the podcast and I'm so glad you're doing the show weekly now, it's my Friday treat to listen to you on the bus. I am in such a reading slump at the moment and I'm really hoping you can help. I had such a good reading year last year but since January, nothing is clicking with me. Could you suggest some books for getting out of a slump? I'm open to any genre, except horror (because I'm a wimp). If it helps, some books that I loved in 2015 were Spinster by Kate Bolick, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, A Fair Fight by Anna Freeman and The Queen of the Tearling. --Cat   7. Hello there! Not sure if you have already answered a question similar to this, but I figured I'd go ahead and ask anyway. I am a huge fan of The Gilmore Girls, and I was wondering if you guys know of any books that give the same overall feeling as the show. The fast-paced language, the quirky characters and small town feeling, intelligent women, etc. I am open to any and all genres! Thanks in advance! --Raven   Books Discussed Wolf-speaker (Immortals #2) by Tamora Pierce Get in Trouble by Kelly Link Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil Tijuana Book of the Dead by Luis Alberto Urrea Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue (the review on Book Riot) The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond Take the Lead by Alexis Daria The Passing of the Armies by Joshua Chamberlain Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (rec’d by Ta-Nehisi Coates) The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon No Good Deed by Kara Connolly Seeds of America trilogy (Chains #1) by Laurie Halse Anderson My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead 27 Hours by Tristina Wright Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

Epigraph We are thrilled to welcome our new BFF to Drunk Booksellers: Javier Ramirez, manager of The Book Table in Oak Park, IL and co-host of industry get-together Publishing Cocktails. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice. If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links back to the bookstore we’re interviewing PLUS GIFs—sign up for our email newsletter. This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out their newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot. Introduction In which we apologize profusely for the delay in our episode posting, bond over Kelly Link, and get excited about books that are... already out We had the pleasure of chatting with Javier nearly every week for a month while trying to record this episode (#techfail), then ran into a few other delays (#lifefail), but WE HAVE PREVAILED. That said, we talk about books that are already out as if they're forthcoming and we're drinking a nice "summer" drink because it was, you know, still summer when we first started this wild ride of an episode. Just pretend you're a time traveler visiting the halcyon days of late August 2017.    We’re Drinking Vodka & Tonics with NO FRUIT Javier's Reading a bunch of nonfiction for the Kirkus Nonfiction Prize The Sun in Your Eyes by Deborah Shapiro Heartbreaker by Maryse Meijer The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet Ranger Games by Ben Blum Kim's Reading Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit (and check out the Huffington Post article about being mansplained to while reading about Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me) You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie The Store by James Patterson... 'cause Patterson is awesome, gives booksellers (including your grateful hosts) money for fancy things like student loan debt and ridiculous urban rent, trolls Amazon for funsies, and rocks a photoshopped Santa hat like a boss: Kim's reading aloud: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Emma's Reading MIS(H)Adra by Iasmin Omar Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado... Emma's favorite story from the collection is “Inventory” Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! by Mariko Tamaki Spinster by Kate Bolick   Forthcoming Titles We're Excited For Kim's Epic List of Titles that Are Already Out The Golden House by Salman Rushdie Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Afterglow by Eileen Myles Never Stop by Simba Sana The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison Javier's Excited About The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne Release by Patrick Ness (if you haven't read Ness before, Javier recommends you start with The Chaos Walking series, which beginning with The Knife of Never Letting Go) Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander (also mentioned The Ministry of Special Cases and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank) The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (pubs 2/6/18) The Grip of It by Jac Jemc Emma's Excited About The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M Valente In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan We Were Witches by Ariel Gore (How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead) A Loving, Faithful Animal by Josephine Rowe Chapter I [26:50] In which Javier conquers the Chicago bookselling scene Javier started at Tower Records (RIP) He currently manages the Fiercely Independent Chicago-area bookstore, The Book Table. Javier has worked at pretty much every bookstore in Chicago. Other than the OG Powell's. Unless you're talking time travel. Javier's epic Tour de Bookselling (chronologically): Tower Books --> Crown Books --> Barbara's Bookstore --> The Book Cellar --> Seminary Co-op Bookstores --> 57th Street Books --> Newberry Library Bookstore --> Book Stall --> City Lit Books --> The Book Table  Chapter II [33:45] In which we talk Publishing Cocktails and how to network IRL in the internet age Publishing Cocktails, created by Javier and Keir Graff (senior editor at BookList) brings Chicago-area book industry folk from around the country together. They have two primary meetup events: Book Swap & Cash Mob. Follow Publishing Cocktails on Twitter at @PubNight. Sign up for the Publishing Cocktails email list for future updates.   Chapter III [38:20] In which Emma is, once again, deeply disappointed Book Description Guaranteed to Get You Reading Anything not blurbed by Lena Dunham (shout out to Gary Shteyngart’s epicly excessive blurbing). Anything blurbed by Kelly Link or George Saunders. Check the blurbs on Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind. Plus time travel! Kim and Javier bond over All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (shout out to the Booze and Lasers Book Club at Third Place Books Seward Park), with references to Michael Crichton’s Timeline and, you know, Harry Potter. Emma ruins the ending of one of the stories in A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel. Desert Island Pick The entire body of work of Agatha Christie Station Eleven Pick Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which has Javier’s favorite first line: It was a pleasure to burn. In case you were wondering, Emma’s favorite first (and second) line(s) come from Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Javier’s posting staff’s favorite lines from literature in his store and he drunkenly promised Emma that he’d post hers too. Pics or it didn’t happen, Javier. Wild Pick The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben Bookseller Confession HAS ANY BOOKSELLER ACTUALLY READ HARRY POTTER? JESUS, YOU GUYS. Go-To Handsell Geek Love by Katherine Dunn Here's Javier's blurb, blatantly stolen from The Book Table's website: When confronted with the "What is your favorite book of all time?" query, most people will often pause, looking over the inquisitors head while thoughtfully scratching his or her chin. I, on the other hand, will not hesitate when I tell you this. Geek Love is my favorite book. Of all time. Period. This oddball masterpiece (a National Book Award Finalist in 1989) shaped me as a reader and more importantly as a bookseller 20+ years ago. It's one of those reading experiences that make you feel like you're in on some life-changing secret. A novel that will chill you, move you and make you laugh, often at the same time. Help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of Geek Love, quite possibly the best novel you've never read. Master & the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: There's a cat that drinks vodka and talks! Bonus Bookseller Confession from both Emma and Kim: They’ve never read either of Javier’s go-to handsells. #booksellerfail Impossible Handsell The End of Alice by A M Homes (author of This Book Will Save Your Life and Music for Torching) Also mentioned, the origin impossible handsell: Tampa by Alissa Nutting Book for Booksellers The Grip of It by Jac Jemc Still Life with Tornado by AS King (author of Ask the Passengers) Another stolen blurb from The Book Table's website: In Still Life with Tornado A.S. King captures the human condition we refer to as "being a teenager" with so little effort I found myself utterly floored. Exploring the way that memory affects grief and vice versa was second in genius only to how King manifests said memory/grief in the mind of 16 year old Sarah. King weaves family history, art and what our past, present and the future can tell us about ourselves into a perfect storm of a book. Favorite Bookstores Unabridged Bookstore The Last Bookstore in LA Favorite Literary Media This podcast you’ve probs never heard of called Drunk Booksellers. But really: Beth Golay’s Books & Whatnot Shelf Awareness The Millions  Epilogue In which we tell you where to find us, but not Javier, on the Internets Javier is a ghost and cannot be found on the internet. He has… a work email… and a telephone number… neither of which we are going to post here. You’re welcome, Javier. You can find us on: Twitter at @drunkbookseller Litsy at @drunkbooksellers Facebook Instagram Email Newsletter Website   Emma tweets from @thebibliot and writes bookish things for Book Riot. Kim tweets from @finaleofseem less frequently than Drunk Booksellers posts new episodes. #sickburn Subscribe and rate us on iTunes!  

Shelter in Place (Europa Editions)   Set in the Pacific Northwest in the jittery, jacked-up early 1990s, Shelter in Place, by one of America’s most thrillingly defiant contemporary authors, is a stylish literary novel about the hereditary nature of mental illness, the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligations of family, and the dramatic consequences of love. Joseph March, a twenty-one year-old working class kid from Seattle, has just graduated college, has fallen in love with the fiercely independent Tess Wolff, and his future beckons, unencumbered, limitless, magnificent. Joe’s life implodes when he starts to suffer the symptoms of bipolar disorder, and, not long after, his mother kills a man she’s never met with a hammer. Later, spurred on by his mother’s example and her growing fame, Tess enlists Joe in a secret, violent plan that will forever change their lives. Maksik sings of modern America’s battered soul and of the lacerating emotions that make us human. Magnetic and masterfully told, Shelter in Place is about the things in life we are willing to die for, and those we’re willing to kill for. Praise for Shelter in Place “Shelter in Place is a magnificent novel. Alexander Maksik charts the legacy of violence and the limits of justice with grace, power, and clarity.”—Anthony Marra, author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena “Unsettling and honest, a remarkably insightful portrait of mental illness, Shelter in Place is elegiac, savage and mournful, a beautifully written novel about the echoes of our actions, of love and its consequences.”—Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man “Shelter In Place is a love story like none I’ve ever read before…Densely ruminative, and bracingly unromantic, the ballad of Tess, Joe, and his parents tests the brutal outer-limits of patriarchy, the bleak realities of untreated mental illness, and the nature of loyalty in a world where every woman is out for herself.  And every man, as well.”—Kate Bolick, author of Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own  “An unsettling and beautiful exploration of mental illness, love, violence, family and sexual politics. Maksik’s artful story outruns all sorts of received ideas and cliched narratives...You’ll be haunted by it in the best possible way.”—Katie Roiphe, author of The Violet Hour “On every page we’re reminded of the paradox of how mysterious, thorny, and delicate family relationships can be.”—Kirkus Reviews Alexander Maksik is the author of the novels You Deserve Nothing and A Marker to Measure Drift, which was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2013, as well as finalist for both the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and Le Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger. His writing has appeared in The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper's, Tin House, Harvard Review, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Narrative Magazine, among other publications. He is a contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the Truman Capote Literary Trust and The Corporation of Yaddo. Marisa Silver is the author of the novel Mary Coin, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Southern California Independent Bookseller’s Award. She is also the author of The God of War (a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist); No Direction Home; and two story collections, Alone with You and Babe in Paradise (a New York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year). Silver’s fiction has won the O. Henry Award and been included in The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and other anthologies. She lives in Los Angeles.

“Women's history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women's lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women's lives (Kate Bolick's Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown's experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown's approach made many in the women's movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man's world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it's a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman's biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman's Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she's read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren't my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn't have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it's happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people's lives to open possibilities within our own. It's a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King's College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There still exists little organized sense of what a woman’s biography or autobiography should look like,” Carolyn G. Heilbrun wrote in her 1988 classic, Writing A Woman’s Life, noting, “Even less has been told of the life of the unmarried woman.” One can only hope that Kate Bolick‘s Spinster is a sign that, nearly thirty years later, the circumstances Heilbrun described are, at long last, about to change. Bolick burst onto the national scene when her article in The Atlantic, entitled “All the Single Ladies,” went viral in November 2011. But Spinster is a departure from her reportage rather than a continuation or a sequel– a biographical/autobiographical/sociological mash-up that is engaging, observant, and fiercely critical. Examining the socio-historical phenomenon of the feme sole, Bolick mines her own experiences and the lives she’s read about to examine how, as Heilbrun suggested, we use the stories of other lives to navigate our own. “Taken together,” Bolick writes of the people whose lives interested her, “they were a dynasty of adopted uncles and aunts adults who weren’t my parents who opened portals to lives I couldn’t have imagined until they showed me how.” This is a process of which we are often unconscious as it’s happening, but which becomes visible in hindsight. It is also, I believe, one of the great values of reading biography: the ability of these stories of other people’s lives to open possibilities within our own. It’s a dynamic not limited to stories of the lives of women, but it does appear to hold particular resonance for female readers, perhaps due to the relative cultural scarcity of representations of unconventional female lives. In her quest to become a writer, Bolick notes, “Maeve Brennan served a psychological purpose for me. By climbing into her point of view and trying it on for size I was cobbling together a template for my own future.” Spinster provides compelling evidence of both the personal and collective power of stories and our use of them. It also reveals something of the life of the unmarried woman, elegantly illuminating an experience that has, up to now, been culturally undervalued and, often, biographically ignored. Oline Eaton is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London. She is writing a biography of Jackie Onassis and has written extensively on the subjects of biography, celebrity, and gossip, and the flow of stories through culture. Her work can be found at FindingJackie.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Debbie Millman talks with writer Kate Bolick about society’s historically skeptical view of a single woman.

The Sugars consider the way forward for their single letter writers. For many of the women they hear from, finding "the one" has become the all-consuming focus of their lives. The anxiety and the reality of their situations makes it hard for otherwise confident, successful women to esteem anything else. The Sugars are joined by the writer Kate Bolick, who suggests a new way of thinking about life as a spinster.

Epigraph It’s episode number 4! Featuring bookseller-extraordinaire Hannah Oliver Depp from Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.       Introduction   [0:30] In Which We Drink To Detective Fiction By Dead White Guys, Become Jealous of Literary Paper Dolls & Ecstatic Raccoons, And Dive Into Frontlist Season With ALL the September Releases Drink of the Day: The Gimlet a la Raymond Chandler (recipe and quote from Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers by Mark Bailey and Edward Hemingway)     Emma’s reading Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick     Kim’s reading Boss Life: Surviving My Own Small Business by Paul Downs and Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel     Hannah’s reading Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty by Dan Jones (pubs 20 Oct 2015) and Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam     HOLY SHIT THERE ARE SO MANY SEPTEMBER RELEASES! Here are some: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson (22 Sept 2015) Also mentioned: The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia and anything written by Zadie Smith) Trans: A Memoir by Juliet Jacques (22 Sept 2015) Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff (pubs 15 Sept 2015)  Also mentioned: The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins (pubs 29 Sept 2015) Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! a Vagrant Collection by Kate Beaton (pubs 15 Sept 2015) Also mentioned: Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton The Story of my Teeth by Valeria Luiselli, translated by Christina Macsweeney (pubs 15 Sept 2015) The Culinary Cyclist: A Cookbook and Companion for the Good Life by Anna Brones, illustrated by Johanna Kindvall (8 Sept 2015)  Also mentioned: Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break, with Recipes for Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (1 Sept 2015) Also mentioned: The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell (22 Sept 2015) Jonathan Franzen wrote another “Great American Novel” called Purity (1 Sept 2015). But you probably already knew that, so do yourself a solid and check out #FranzenAirQuotes instead.            Chapter I   [16:25] In Which Business Books are Chauvinistic (Shocking!), Hannah Brings Wildlife Into the Store, Galleys Meet their Death, and the Drunk Booksellers Nerd Out About Writing Bookselling Manuals Hannah is the Merchandise Display Manager at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. aka. President Obama’s local independent bookstore.     [image credit Reuters] Due to their recent partnership with Busboys and Poets, Hannah also rides the Metro around D.C. merchandising their displays.     [totally official Washington DC Metro map courtesy of Dave’s Geeky Ideas] Interested in the business of retail? Kim won’t stop monologuing about Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping: Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond by Paco Underhill If you want to shell out a lot of money to travel abroad, you should do it with a book bent, obviously: Politics & Prose Trips Remember what you liked about your major before you had to actually do all that fucking work? Join the rogue students taking Classes at Politics & Prose. It’s like in Center Stage where she goes to the wrong side of the tracks and moves her hips, but for books.   Originally posted by artecommovimento   Y’all remember Harry Potter release parties, right? Of course you do.   Originally posted by walkingdead3000         Chapter II   [33:57] In Which Hannah Schools the Drunk Booksellers on Lady Detective Fiction & a Couple Books Written By Dudes Want to get into Mysteries? Step One: Read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle   Originally posted by internetgirlwithnolife   Step Two: Read these books The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or, on the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R King (also: A Grave Talent, Book 1 of the Kate Martinelli Series, which features a lesbian detective!) The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (Chandler does it better than The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett) Jo Walton’s Small Change trilogy: Farthing, Ha’penny, and Half a Crown Also check out Whose Body? (Book 1 of the Lord Peter Wimsey series) by Dorothy L Sayers (also check out her essay Are Women Human?, a great companion to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own)      Chapter III   [42:00] In Which We Discuss Books About Black Lives in America (and Beyond)   Required reading: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander  Books by James McBride: The Good Lord Bird (fiction) and The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (memoir) Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (also: We Should All Be Feminists) Dear White People: A Guide to Inter-Racial Harmony in "Post-Racial" America by Justin Simien How To Be Black by Baratunde Thurston (also check out the podcast he co-hosts, About Race) This is your bi-racial lady plug for everyone’s favorite Brown Science Fiction writer, Samuel R Delaney. Get started with Dhalgren. For more recs, check out Hannah’s Book Riot post: Black Coolness (Or Not)     Epilogue   [54:37] In Which Hannah Picks Her Station Eleven & Wild Books, Then Tells Us All the Places You Can Find Her On the World Wide Web Hannah’s Wild book: The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, specifically The Silver Chair   Originally posted by shadow-wolfgirl   Hannah’s Station Eleven book: The Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride or The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (also mentioned: The Color Purple by Alice Walker)   Originally posted by putahorseonit   Find Hannah on the Internet: Twitter: @OliverDepp Instagram: instagram.com/oliverdepp Tumblr: oliverdeppink.tumblr.com posts on Book Riot & LitHub Find Emma on Twitter @thebibliot and writing nerdy bookish things for Book Riot. Kim occasionally tweets at @finaleofseem. And you can follow both of us [as a podcast] on Twitter @drunkbookseller! Originally posted by surplaceouaemporter   Don’t forget to subscribe to Drunk Booksellers from your podcatcher of choice. (Kim’s fave app is Stitcher, but you do you.) Do you love our show? Tell the world! Rate/review us on iTunes so that we can become rich and famous from this podcast. Or, you know, so that other nerdy book-folk can find us. We’re cool with either.

'Best of' Show featuring bestsellsers Eric Klinenberg - "Modern Love" and Kate Bolick - "Spinster"

Hanna Rosin, June Thomas, and Noreen Malone discuss singledom with Spinster author Kate Bolick, Hillary Clinton's grandma image, and same-sex award show kissing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Kate Bolick discusses “Spinster”; Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; Jon Ronson talks about “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.

Jacqui and LeMar discuss whether being single deserves all the pity and shaming American culture gives it. Related Links All the Single Ladies – Kate Bolick for The Atlantic

13 - Kate Bolick This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

13 - Kate Bolick