Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Dead Eyes

Last leg of the big tour!

Hello from me and Dolly at the Warhol Museum. Pittsburgh is so great, everyone. Have you been to Pittsburgh? There are bridges everywhere. There are pierogi everywhere. It’s terrific.

This is my friend Jill, who owns White Whale Bookstore with her husband Adlai. (He’s my friend too, he’s just not pictured above.) Pictured above, alongside Jill: a whale reading a book! A platypus reading a book! An axolotl reading a book! Heavenly.

The best surprise: national treasure Stewart O’Nan brought a case of Straub beer. Stewart’s novels are the fucking best. Here are my top three, which you should buy and read immediately: The Odds, Last Night at the Lobster, Emily Alone. Or if you’re in a Fitzgerald kind of mood, maybe West of Sunset? You can’t go wrong. How about Stewart’s latest, Ocean State? Let’s all have a Stewart O’Nan book club.

After the wonderful event, I went out with Jill and Adlai and Anna from White Whale, and Sarah Elaine Smith (who did a fabulous job chatting me up) and Siobhan Vivian, my friend and yet another brilliant writer! Pittsburgh is full of great writers. Only Siobhan is abandoning these pierogi for Los Angeles, which is fun too. I took no pictures of people after this point, because I had already two drinks and honestly 1.5 is my limit, RIP my tolerance for alcohol. These were delicious.

Also, great news, TTT is hanging in there on the NYT bestseller list! Number 6! Not bad not bad! Please keep buying copies for friends and loved ones, I think 5-10 copies per household is a good goal, reminder that of course I will always personalize copies at Books Are Magic, but also, most indie bookstores should still have signed copies! So you do you. And thank you thank you to everyone who has already bought one.

Last flight of the tour! Flying Southwest without Mac Barnett just isn’t the same but I did force him to become text friends with me so it was almost as good.

My friend Emma Snyder owns The Ivy Bookshop. She and I were in the same MFA class at the University of Wisconsin, and I am so proud of her for having this beautiful store. The entire staff was terrific, and the event was funny and full. Hooray for Emmas with bookstores, I say.

On Wisconsin! In Baltimore! Emma, me, Danielle Evans, and Nate Brown—Nate was also in our MFA class, and Danielle had a fellowship in Wisconsin at the same time, and so this was a lovely reunion. (Obviously you’ve read Danielle’s kickass books, yes? Ok good.)

And now it’s goodbye hotel life for me! I will do a hotel/travel round-up of tour highlights (best pillows! best shampoo!), but I will say this—I am very happy to return to normal life, and to my husband and children and bookstore and bed, but also, it is not bad to have a plate of chocolates brought to your room for no reason. Not bad at all.

What I’m Listening to:

I just finished listening to all three seasons of the podcast Dead Eyes, in which the comedian Connor Ratliff dissects his firing from the Tom Hanks miniseries Band of Brothers. That might sound petty, or even hard to stretch for three seasons, but it is funny and heartwarming and full of celebrities talking about getting fired and I really loved it.