Taurus Season
Thoughts on turning 50
When the astrological calendar flipped over to Taurus a few weeks ago, I asked in our bookstore Slack how many of us are a Taurus. It is so many of us! I was like, Oh, this is why I like working here so much. It’s a bookstore full of earth signs.
I actually turn 50 this year, which is a concept I have not fully wrapped my head around yet. I don’t think 50 is old. It’s not anything like that. It’s that thing that everyone has now, that thing of thinking we’re the age we were before the pandemic. Wasn’t I just 44? Didn’t I just turn 40? I worry I will never understand time again.
As kind of an early celebration, I went to NYC to see Maya Rudolph in Oh, Mary! I wanted to see it while Cole Escola was playing Mary, but I kept putting it off and then Cole stepped down and the guest stars starting filling in. They announced Maya the same week I got a little influx of cash, so I texted my friend Chelsea.
[Drew Barrymore voice] Whenever you can, go see Oh, Mary! Do not miss the opportunity!
Maya was perfect. I screamed and cried when she came on stage. I was so happy to be there and so proud of myself for going. Scarcity mindset is a helluva a drug. I so rarely let myself take the trip or spend the money, and then once a decade when I do, I’m like, See, you didn’t die. You can spend your money sometimes.
At Parnassus, we all joke that whenever we go out of town, all we do is visit other bookstores. Unfortunately, I am not beating those allegations. Chelsea and I visited four bookstores in NYC.
We went to Café con Libros to see Savala Nolan, who I met through Burnt Toast. ICYMI: Savala’s new book, Good Woman, is one of my staff picks.
Chelsea had never been to Books Are Magic, so of course we had to visit the Smith Street location and take our pics in front of the big BAM wall.
Neither of us had been to The Ripped Bodice, so went there while we were already in Brooklyn. Like everyone who read Sam Irby’s last post, I’m on the hunt for minotaur books. I didn’t know if minotaur books were in paranormal or fantasy, so I grabbed a sales associate. They were in erotica! Duh. They only had one minotaur book in stock, which was a “daddy dom” storyline, and like, listen, my dad is the primary source of turmoil in my life, so I don’t think that genre is for me. The determined sales associate tried to gauge my interest in other erotic monsters, asking how I feel about snakes? I don’t even know what snake erotica is, but I know I can’t start thinking about the snakes I see in my yard every day as “sexy.” I consulted my romance group chat and landed on two historical mass market paperbacks. THANK GOD.
We had some time before the play, so we bopped into The Strand because you can kill a lot of time in there and they have bathrooms. I bought a couple of greeting cards and a book about 9/11 for kids. Gotta be me!
Some books I’ve read and enjoyed lately:
💦 My staff pick for Parnassus this month is Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg. Read my staff pick and buy the book here. Also, listen to Emma on Burnt Toast!
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City, and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
Safe to believe the hype on this one. It’s an incredible book. I didn’t expect to learn so much about Uganda, but that’s PRK for you. I will gently suggest that you tread lightly with this one if you have experienced loss within your immediate family. Above all else, this is a heartbreaking story and is quite sad at times. This one is great on audio.
Whistler by Ann Patchett (out on June 2)
When I finished reading this, I couldn’t stop crying. I can’t imagine being able to write like this. Every time Ann writes a book, I think, This is the one. This is the masterpiece. Then she goes away for two years and writes the best thing I’ve ever read. 🐎 Click here to pre-order and for info on how to get a personalized copy.
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
This is Empire of Pain, but for Johnson & Johnson. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s 1,000 times worse. For those of you that are into these kinds of books, this is a really good one. If you’re looking for a reason to never take medicine again, I can’t recommend this book enough.
Tough Guy by Rachel Reid
What a little sweetie of a book! Not as spicy as the first two. Loved the introduction of mental health and a different version of masculinity. Shout-out to my friends who are in relationships like this and saw themselves in this book. 🫶🏼
My Mother’s Daughter by Tracy Clark-Flory
Fantastic book! A few years after Tracy’s mom’s death, she sets off to find her older sister - the daughter her mom had in a home for unwed mothers in the ‘60s (20 years before Tracy was born). It’s an incredibly moving story about family, grief and who our mothers were before us. It’s also a story about race, class and how society treats women who don’t fall in line.
Other books I enjoyed that you should check out:
Sex Change and the City by Tuck Woodstock, Niko Stratis
Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian
Pounded by Produce: A Veggie Love Tale by G.M. Fairy
Black. Single. Mother. by Jamilah Lemieux
ICYMI: I wrote about Lindy West, the discourse and what some readers are getting wrong about memoirs.
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Note: All of the books I reference can be found in my bookshop.org storefront. Many of my posts contain affiliate links to Bookshop.org and Libro.fm. If you make a purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Just know that, when we get together, it will be three hours because the first hour will be needing every detail of Oh, Mary! I have to get there. And I meant to go to the London Falling event but life got in the way. I can’t wait to read it, though! Finally, Happy Birthday to my favorite Taurus!!! I love you and cannot wait to catch up with you.
OMG, Zoë Bisbing invited me to the Savala talk at Café con Libros, but I had a friend's bday that weekend — it was a wonderful party but now I have even more FOMO, haha!