Help The St. Mark's Bookshop!

I'm always a little tardy to the party when it comes to these things, but today during my lunch hour I realized that the Saint Mark's Bookshop is closing, and they need funds to re-open elsewhere in the East Village.

At the risk of sounding like an old crank who's been in this town for 15 years, I really don't want to see this store go. It's always been the place to find obscure foreign magazines and literary fiction, for when I want to get my nerd on. I realize it's in an ultra-prime location, but not everything in this town needs to be a Pinkberry or yet another bank.

They are crowd funding to raise $50,000 so they can get into their new digs deeper in the East Village. This is such a worthy cause. They have 30 days left to go. (And still a decent amount of books on the shelves, so go buy one.)

St. Mark's Bookshop On The Move

Let The Games Begin

It's been awfully quiet around here.

A New Year comes with new projects, and now that the ink is officially dry on a contract for a book that I'm working on about ADHD, I can finally chirp a little bit about what I'll be up to for the new few weeks and months.

As a writer, few things are as exciting -- and truly satisfying -- as a fully executed contract. They take longer than you think, but have a magical way of canceling out every frustration you've had in, say, the last year or so.

Who knows, maybe there's another one coming down the pipe. ;-)

He'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain: Train By Tom Zoellner

I'm the big dorky cheerleader for all my writer friends when they have books come out. I get especially excited when Tom Zoellner has new books, because I met him in 2004 at what has now become a legendary party on the roof of a Bowery apartment building, long before anyone thought it was hip or even civilized to live on the Bowery. (For the record, I spent part of 2002 living on Bayard Street and The Bowery.) He's been generous with his time to come speak to many of my writing classes and is also a great date for a wedding.

Zoellner, who has previously written about Uranium and diamonds, has a new book coming out about trains. The trailer is below.

You can order a copy here.

Two Books To Get On Your Radar

Two outlets that I write for have books out this week. Both LearnVest and Dot Complicated are great places for daily bits on the digital world and personal finance. And both were founded by women.

Don't worry, I've got my own book projects coming down the pipe as well. (!!) I'm a big fan of championing other people's work. It's rough out there, kids. When someone's at the point that their book is actually on a shelf or on Amazon, they can finally exhale. What goes around comes around.

Dot Complicated	Financially Fearless

Chick Lit Done Right: Love Rehab

My appreciation for chick lit is well documented. I get frustrated when people make fun of it. It's a genre, just like sci-fi or detective novels. And like any other kind of book, there are good examples of it and bad ones.

Chick lit, or women's fiction as it prefers to be called, has evolved quite a bit since The Devil Wears Prada came out. It's smarter, less fluffy, and God help you if your protagonist works at a magazine. (Yet they can't seem to update the covers beyond pastels. Pourquoi?)

Love Rehab, by Jo Piazza, is an example of great chick lit. (It was sent over to me by the folks over at Dot Complicated.) It's the story of Sophie, who after being dumped by her boyfriend creates a 12-step program to help woman get rid of bad behaviors that are holding them back in their love lives. It's one of the funniest books I've read in a long time.

So funny, that throughout the book I actually started underlining the best lines. Below is a Top 10 list of the best ones.

10. 

Grandma's entire block was like a line up of discarded ex-girlfriend who had once been adored when they were shiny and new, and then turned in for something sleeker with more reliable plumbing.

9. 

Annie was stomping through the station like a rhinoceros on Red Bull.

8. 

That's what I was. I was addicted to love. (#RobertPalmerWinning.)

7. 

Babies and adventure vacations always fix a bad marriage.

6. 

You know what Duckie Dale is doing right now? Coding for Facebook and shitting gold bricks.

5. 

A sad truth is that at three in the morning many a man will choose greasy food over sex that he likely can't see through to completion.

4. 

The instructor at the Yardville pool had always smelled a little like pedophile.

3. 

When a bat shit Brit asks you to put on your finest outfit at midnight, you should never include a pair of Jimmy Choos.

2. 

Nothing is more chaotic than a Mexican-Jewish wedding.

1. 

All relationships end badly, until, hopefully, the one that never ends at all.

At Last! A Book About Huguette Clark's Life. Must. Read.

I have been obsessed with Huguette Clark ever since I first read about her death in 2011. To think that at 907 Fifth Avenue, a building I've been in quite a few times, had several of her giant apartments inside that hadn't been touched since the first Bush was in office. Even then, they were essentially Jazz Age relics.

I was thrilled to learn today that someone has actually written a comprehensive book about Huguette's life. She was a known recluse, and even a bit of an oddball in her early years. There is only so much to be gleaned about her life online, so I'm excited to dive into the book once it comes out.

Zelda Fitzgerald: Still A Literary Fascination

Just when you thought I was done yammering about The Great Gatsby, a new book related to F. Scott Fitzgerald popped up onto my radar.

Anyone who knows me knows that if left to my own devices I like to nerd out on my roof deck and read all afternoon. At the very least I like to turn off all my devices at 9:00 p.m. and read until I get sleepy. I actually have more vivid dreams when I do this.

Today I learned about a novel that just came out called Call Me Zelda. When Zelda Fitzgerald is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, in her struggle to forge an identity separate from F.Scott, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she learns about Zelda’s confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius.

As a sucker for any kind of smart chick lit, this has been moved to the top of my reading list.

Other Zelda/F.Scott books that came out in the last few months. Study up, kids.

Z. A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerlad	Beautiful Fools

Gatsby Girls	The Romantic Egoists

I should note that just because the name "Zelda" is back on the cultural radar it does not mean that hipster, Brooklyn parents are allowed to use it to name their daughters. The name peaked in the 1910s and should be left there.

So Much For "Leaning In"

Thank goodness someone wrote a book about this. I was at a loss.

Bonus points: how many lady cliches are there on the cover? And this was printed in 2009. Note to publishers: women do not respond to anything with the word "diva" in it.

Jazz Age Nerd

True nerds, such as myself, are re-reading The Great Gatsby before the movie comes out. This is partly to refresh my memory, which has faded since I last read it in high school. Also, I am really looking forward to beginning sentences with the phrase, "It was good, but I feel that Baz Luhrmann didn't quite capture...."

Any overachiever worth their salt, however, knows that one text is never enough. There has to be auxiliary reading to add a conceptual framework. (My degree from Columbia is really rearing it's head here...)

Enter Flapper, a book that came out in 2007 and is a cultural history of the flapper. It's required reading for jazz age aficionados such as myself. It also serves as an ad hoc biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who at one point was considered the leading authority on the flapper movement, simply because he was the only one writing about them. It's a fun book, but hardly light reading. Be prepared to learn quite a bit about everything from speakeasies to the birth of The New Yorker magazine.




In terms of new releases, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, chronicles the Lady Fitzgerald's life with F. Scott. It came out in March.

The Singles!

I get very excited when people that I know write books. The Singles was written by Meredith Goldstein, who worked with me at the Daily Orange back when I was at Syracuse. This book could fall easily into the chick lit category -- the plot surrounds the angst of going to a wedding alone -- but it's way more evolved than that. Also, there are numerous Syracuse references throughout, including a few people's real names. Amazing.

Buy a copy here.

Guerilla Book Marketing

A few days ago I bought this book, which I am excited to read when I have a quiet hour or two. It's pretty nerdy.


On the flip side of the receipt was a list of other books in the same genre. Since a lot of people use their receipt as a book mark, this is some pretty genius marketing. Well played, Posman Books!

A Little Bit of Book Whimsy

Who Sent This Book To Me?

It just showed up at my door and the Amazon gift receipt says it's a gift from Pauline Millard. I didn't send it to myself, so....who's my secret admirer?

If, however, anyone would like to send me more anonymous gifts, I should mention that I collect Baccarat necklaces.

Required Reading

If anyone wonders what a great gift for me would be, might I suggest Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years Of The Last Great Record Label.

This book would make me extremely happy.

New York magazine did a great write up of it as well.

The Future Of Books: Decorative Objects?

A few days ago I was walking by Anthropologie near Union Square when I saw their window displays. More than anything, I was surprised by how many books they managed to find in order to create it. For a Back To School display, it was ironic that they were treating the books as nothing more than decorative objects. Isn't that where the knowledge lies?

In a way, it kind of made me sad. Knowing how long it takes to write anything, it seemed a shame that so many people's work had been reduced to, quite literally, window dressing. Even worse, there was a stamp on the binding of a lot of the books that read "Brooklyn Public Library."

In this digital age I'm surprised that we aren't hearing more about Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451, the science fiction novel (and movie) from the 1960s in which it was illegal to own books. I'm also a little surprised Hollywood hasn't planned a re-make of it, since the first movie was a little campy, but its message it rather topical these days.

Note Brooklyn Public Library stamp on bindings.

Anna David Interview

My interview with Anna David, author of Party Girl just went up on Sirens.

Read it. Love it. Be in awe of my verbal skillz.

Spring Cleaning at the Gramercy Bunker

The broom and the mop, originally uploaded by fluffballs.

There's some spring cleaning going on the Gramercy Bunker. I have some furniture coming in from a friend who has to turn her guest bedroom into...you guessed it...a nursery for her papoose. That said, I have a new bed, bookshelves and an armoire en route.

In order to welcome my new arrivals, I've been gutting the apartment. Like a liquidation sale at a sleazy electronics store, everything must go. The fake potted tree, the clothes that date back to 2001, the cheesey framed art whose origins I don't know. Even my lumpy mattresss...out the door.

My extensive collection of books is also being pruned, mostly because I woke up a few days ago and felt surrounded, outnumbered, if you will, by the written word. I packed up as many as I could and for the past few days I've been bringing sackfulls down to The Strand. I tried giving them to the local library, but they wouldn't take them. Something about not having enough space? So, off to The Strand they went, and in went money in my pocket. So far I've made $40 in pocket money, all for doing nothing. That's my kind of income.

The thing about getting rid of things, such as books, is that you remember where they came from. As I tossed a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses into the bag, I remembered when I bought it in 2000, thinking I would do something smart for my brain and actually read the thing. No such luck. I got rid of all the chick lit that was lingering, dusty, in the bookcases. There must someone who will appreciate them more than me.

Naturally, some books stayed. I kept all my books about diamonds, because I've been totally into them for the past year or so. (Le Doug knows all too well about this.) By diamonds, I don't mean what's new at Harry Winston, I mean the searching for and mining of diamonds. Blame Tom for this new interest. I kept all the media and news books, since I have to teach that subject. Any signed books also stayed, because they might be worth something someday.

One thing that is staying is my original A Chorus Line poster from the 1980s. You'll have to pry that my from cold, dead hands.

In case you'd like a video, and who wouldn't, here is selection of clips from one of my favorite shows, Clean House. It inspired me not to live, as Niecy Nash would say, in foolishness.

An Actual Conversation I Had With a Friend Last Night

Moi: I think I'd like to write a book about malls.
Friend: Malls?
Moi: Yes, malls. I'm fascinated by malls. I worked in them for years during high school and college.
Friend: You'd have to find an angle. I read an article today about the National Mall down in D.C. I'll forward it to you.
Moi: Um, that's not the same kind of mall. I'm pretty sure there's no Aunt Annie's on the National Mall.


This book isn't exactly what I have in mind, but it's refreshing to see that other people have examined malls.