On Wisconsin! And Chicago!

Cheese curds, frozen custard, and good conversations

I am always happy to be in Wisconsin. My parents both grew up in Milwaukee, and my husband and I lived in Madison while I was in graduate school, three very happy years. I was psyched to go on Milwaukee on this trip, and especially so because I was staying at a very nice hotel.

The Pfister is where we always used to stay when my family would we would come to Milwaukee to visit my grandparents. It is old-fashioned and gilded everywhere possible. The pillows were the best of the whole tour. I love the Pfister. Need a reason other than gold and pillows?

How about this: cheese curds on the room service menu.

My event, co-sponsored by Boswell Book Company and the Elm Grove Library, was held here, at the Elm Grove Women’s Club, which also hosted a pancake breakfast on Monday.

This is Noah, a librarian at Elm Grove Public Library, and truly, one of the very best interlocutors of my entire tour! And it was his very first time! You need a closer look at his tie.

Noah said, quite rightly, that he thought this tie had Pomander Walk vibes. It does.

My cousins came!

And so did Chip, one of my dad’s best friends from high school, and this newsletter’s most loyal reader.

Daniel is one of my very favorite booksellers—enthusiastic, hilarious, and fun.

But not all the booksellers in the house were from Boswell’s! Lizzy is a bookseller at Books & Company in Oconomowoc, and wrote me an Indie Next nomination, and it was so nice to meet her to say thank you in person.

Did I take the long way home just to stop and get my favorite frozen custard sundae? I did. Kopp’s, I love you, I missed you, and I’ll be back.

I have to say, I love the friendly competition for best goodie bag. The Boswell folks did not mess around—all Wisconsin-made, and all chocolate except for a bag of local lavender. Impressive! Delicious! They know my two food groups: chocolate and things covered in chocolate.

But wait! Time for one more event before I go home!

Don’t you want to hang out at the bookstore cool enough to have this vintage cigarette dispenser full of pencil ciggies? Me too! Welcome to Exile in Bookville, which is on the 2nd floor of a gorgeous building across the street from Grant Park.

I had a great conversation with Jessamine Chan, and Javier and Kristen were excellent hosts. They even made cocktails. At noon! Truly, impeccable vibes. Exile is an incredible store, and I wish I’d been there with an empty suitcase, supermarket sweep style.

My dad’s friend Gary Wolfe was my go-to time travel expert. He has read everything, and knows everything, and granted me permission from the sci-fi universe. (He’s its agent.)

As a New Yorker, deep dish is obvs not my truest love, but when in Chicago!

See you this week! Tonight I’m at Boston (Porter Square, with mothereffing Celeste Ng!), tomorrow I’m in Pittsburgh (White Whale, with Sarah Elaine Smith), and on Thursday I’m in Baltimore (Ivy Bookshop, with owner and my MFA classmate Emma Snyder). Come on out!