Shoplifting from American Apparel

Has anyone read Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin?



It's a novella (which I tend to like reading because by the time I get bored they're over) and it received great reviews but I found it to be boring, boring, boring. It's very dry.

Just wondering if I missed something.

Graphic Novels

I went to the big chain bookstore in my neighborhood last weekend (Dear BookCourt, I didn't buy anything) and I was amazed to see how big the section was for graphic novels. I was even more amazed to see that it was filled with people—mostly teens—checking out the goods.

I'm telling you this because I just read about Jonathan Ames' new graphic novel, The Alcoholic, in today's NY Times.

Btw, Jonathan Ames lives in my neighborhood and I ate lunch next to him once in a cafe. (But I didn't say anything; I'm a chicken.)

Anywho, can you see yourself reading a graphic novel as an adult? Is this something I should be thinking about?

Hmmm... maybe something called "The Adventures of Elvis the Bush Cat and his little sister Bev."

Or, perhaps this is the perfect venue for "The Adventures of Picky and Choosy, My Unborn Children."

The Virago Book of The Joy of Shopping

Hey Brits... buy this book!

The Virago Book of The Joy of Shopping by Jill Foulston.

I have to say, I LOVE the company I keep in the first paragraph of the description...

Jane Austen found her sister Cassandra a locket. Joan Didion bought nail enamel and a toaster on impulse. Karyn Bosnak charged $20,000 on credit cards, and Elizabeth Wurtzel got caught shoplifting. George Eliot, for some reason, hated shopping.

As people began to shop more, novelists imagined them doing it. Jane Eyre cringes at Mr Rochester's pre-wedding excess, while Undine Spragg's spending drives her husband to despair. The Girl with a Pearl Earring turns up her nose at some stale meat, Tom Ripley lusts after Venetian leather, and Mrs Dalloway chooses flowers on Bond Street.

The darker side of shopping is here in the letters, diaries and memoirs of those who remember blackmarkets and rations. There are even records from the Old Bailey of audacious and desperate five-finger discounts, and a recent account of brawling at IKEA.

The Virago Book of Shopping revels in the lists, the etiquette and the thrills of finding just the right thing.

This is it. Buy it.

The Virago Book of Shopping is now available in the UK. It will be released in the US in April 2008.

PS - I found out that I was in this book by Googling myself. You'd think the author or publicist would've emailed to let me know so I could write about it on my blog and give them a little publicity, but they didn't.

Best. Book Title. Ever.

My friend BJ just sent me this. It's a real book.


The funny thing is that I think I have an older version of this at home, only it's called something like "The Pooh Cook Book." It was my sister's waaaay back in the day, like in 1970s. I'm going to look for it when I get home.

UPDATE: I found the book. Here it is.


It never occurred to me until now that the title could be funny.

One Of These Things Is Just Like The Other...

Someone sent me the link to this book, Secrets of a Former Fat Girl, saying the cover looks just like 20 Times a Lady.


Ha ha—it does! They both have the same notebook background, font, and pink and yellow accent colors. (The blue along the right side of mine is actually part of a map on the next page.) I think that font is popular right now with book covers because I was at the book store this weekend and kept seeing it everywhere.

Anyway, has anyone read this book? It looks good. The author, Lisa Delaney, is an editor at Health magazine. From her website:

Once upon a time I was a fat girl...

I thought like a fat girl, acted like a fat girl—oh yeah, and I looked like one, too. But not any more. Through trial and error (lots of error!), I dropped 70 pounds and said good bye to the fat-girl image I had of myself. For almost 20 years now, I’ve been living like the powerful, confident, worthy woman I always was inside. And I’m ready to share my secrets with you. All the advice, information, inspiration, and motivation you need is just a click or two away!"

Hmmm... I may have to check this out. I just started a diet yesterday.

I Am Mary Clayton

I haven't been sleeping well lately. Tonight I slept for a couple of hours maybe and now I'm up. Even though I'm really, really tired I can't go back to sleep.

I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love. It is soooooooo good. If you haven't read it, you must run out and buy it now.

Anyway, I'd take my Sonata, but I've been trying not to take it because I don't want to become addicted. I got addicted to Xanax once and it wasn't pretty, but that's a story for another book. Back to the Sonata, I find that the more I take it, the more difficult it becomes to fall asleep without it. Actually... I haven't been sleeping well since I stopped taking it. Maybe this means I already am addicted.

Crap.

I'm a junkie. I am Mary Clayton.

Support Your Independent Bookseller

This is a shout-out to BESTSELLERS Bookstore & Coffee Co. in Mason, Michigan. They're an independent bookstore that sells books and coffee, and they happen to carry my book.

Thank you, Bestsellers!

And now, a note...

Please support your local independent bookseller! I support the independent bookseller in my neighborhood... BookCourt on Court Street in Brooklyn. -->

Thank you, BookCourt, for being wonderful. (Even though you don't carry my books.)

I s'pose this might be partly my fault, though, because I've never said, "Hey, I live right around the corner... will you carry my books?" Because then what if they get the books, and what if no one buys the books? I mean, how embarrassing would that be for me? And then they'd feel weird when I visit, too, like... "Do we tell her that no one's buying her books?"

I'd go in there today and ask but I feel like the whole thing is a ship that's passed. They'd look up 20 Times, see that it came out in July, and be like, "You've been in here a thousand times since then, why haven't you asked us to do this before, silly?" And then I'd grumble and be like, "Well, I wasn't sure..." and I'd come across sounding like as a total loser, WHICH I AM because I haven't asked my local bookseller, OF WHICH I'M A REGULAR CUSTOMER, to stock my books.

Sh*t. When did I become so neurotic?

Now, wait, wait, wait—I'm forgetting to mention a couple of things. 1) They did carry Save Karyn when it came out; they just don't anymore. 2) I was under the impression that they were gonna carry 20 Times because I befriended a guy who worked there and he said he was gonna order it. But then he quit or got fired or something, and I looked and looked when the book came out and I couldn't find it. I think it was that small detail that made the whole "me asking" thing a little awkward. Like, was 20 Times on order and did they cancel it because the fired guy ordered it?

F*ck it. I'm gonna go in there this weekend and ask.

Do you work at an indie bookstore that carries my book? If so, let me know! And thank you!

Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel

Who didn't love "Choose Your Own Adventure" books as a kid? Show me the person - show me!

You can't because they don't exist.

Because I loved all the CYOA books - I had every one in the series - I'm way pumped to read the forthcoming book by Heather McElhatton, Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel. Basically, it's a CYOA book for adults. Here's what Heather has to say about it...

So I lay awake at night a lot and wonder if I've made the right choices with my life. I'm just your typical neurotic writer that way. So I wrote this book called Pretty Little Mistakes, which has over a 150 endings.

On the first page it's the last day of high school - and you have to decide if you go to college or travel. Then you flip to that page, read that section and go on from there. You can end up as a millionaire or homeless by the river. Stuck in a sex cult or an happy marriage. You might become a movie star, a bored housewife, an art thief, a witch, an evil chocolate maker, a murderer, a homicide victim, a Jamaican drug dealer, a porn star, a devout Christian, an Italian shoe designer, a volcanologist, a bar wench, a news reporter, or an orchid farmer. You might end up having accidental sex with a monkey. (It happens.) I'm not even kidding. These are just some of the things that might happen to you in my book.

you travel the world. you join a sex cult. You kill your rapist. you have an abortion. you don't have an abortion. you find the love of your life. you don't find the love of your life. you find out you are gay. you find out you are not gay. you have lovely children. you have monster children. you are killed by sharks. you are killed by choking on a peach pit. you die in your sleep. you die in a car crash. you go to heaven and God is a woman who smokes cigars. you go to heaven and God is a squid. you go to heaven, which is a library filled with answers. you go to heaven, which is this world in reverse. you go to hell, and watch your own personal blooper reel. you go to hell, which is the Mall of America.

So I'm just warning you. The book isn't for everybody. Come to think of it - you probably shouldn't read it - it's pretty messed up.

How clever is that? I loved messed up things and I've always wanted to be a Jamaican drug dealer. (As for a bar wench... been there.)

Click here to be Heather's friend on MySpace. And click here to visit her website. And click here to pre-order the book - it comes out in May.

The Secret

So... has anyone bought this book, The Secret? It's all about mind over matter, like if you think something good will happen, then it will happen. If you worry about something bad happening, then it will happen. Your current thoughts are creating your current life. Your thoughts become things, and as you think them, they are sent out into the universe and attract like thoughts. The author was on Oprah a couple weeks ago, and today's Oprah is going to be an update. So watch!

I downloaded the audio version from iTunes and I'm going to put the ideas into practice. I've been in a funk lately, maybe this will help. I'm not really depressed, but I'm in a "place"... it's hard to explain. I've always been a really positive person, and I haven't been lately. But perhaps if I try to consciously change my thoughts, things will perk up. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes!