I Met Lindy West!

Lindy West came through Nashville on her Adult Braces book tour and I was lucky enough to interview her for Parnassus Books.

When I found out Lindy would have a new memoir coming out in 2026, I asked the events team at Parnassus if we could get her, not sure if she would tour, or if she would tour in the south. Once they made the event request with her publisher, I made my big ask: Can I be the one to interview her?

Lindy rolled into Nashville on Wednesday in her 18-foot, commercial van and was greeted by a packed bookstore full of folks dying to meet her, myself included. Lindy’s work has meant a lot to me for a long time, and as I scanned the crowd, I could see that she meant a lot to the people there, too. The internet is a hellscape. It is not real. But you know what is real? One hundred and thirty folks packed into a bookstore on a weeknight, cheering for their favorite author.

(More photos on Instagram.)

My staff rec for Parnassus this month is Good Woman: A Reckoning by Savala Nolan. Read my staff rec and buy the book here.

Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novack

• A sex worker gets hired to assassinate a politician, broken up into three acts. Loved the first act. The second act confused me and the third act felt repetitive. I do think it’s worth a read if you’re interested, especially if you’re into literary thrillers. It just didn’t nail the landing for me. Great audiobook though.

Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg (pubs 4/28/26)

• Emma Copley Eisenberg is one of my favorite writers and thinkers working today. Frump Feelings, hive! This is her new collection of short stories that pubs on April 28. I read an advanced copy, and trust me, just go ahead and pre-order this one. Fat characters, juicy stories of family, friendship and love, plus luxurious sentences. No one’s doing it like Emma.

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

• Loved it. After I finished it, I re-watched the HBO series, which was so sweet on the second watch. The first time I watched it, I was like, Wow, look at those butts, but the second time, I was like, Wow, look at those sweet fellas in love.

Adult Braces by Lindy West

• I’m always searching out books about women being brave and getting free, and to me, that’s what Adult Braces is. I saw myself in so much of this book, particularly the parts about eating disorder recovery. If you’re a Lindy fan, if you’re a memoir fan, if you like to read books written by women in their forties on the other side of a bunch of therapy and self growth, this is the book for you.

Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood

• Loved it. Listened to the 25 hour audiobook at the same time as Ann Patchett, so got a kick out of coming into work and asking Ann, “Did you expect this many dead animals in Margaret Atwood’s memoir?”

The Hitch by Sara Levine

• I really liked this! Dark, weird, neurotic main character, great fucking sentences. I read this for The Audacious Book Club and loved the book club discussion between Roxane and Sara.

ICYMI: Virginia Sole-Smith hired me to produce her podcast, Burnt Toast. Her interviews this month with Savala Nolan and Lindy West are really great.

I have read five million newsletters and articles since January. A lot of them, you have undoubtedly also read, so I’m going to highlight some that you may have missed.

Ashley C. Ford on having Roxane Gay as her mentor.

Isaac Mizrahi’s Grub Street diet.

Aftyn Behn’s bi-weekly Cordell Hull Club.

John Paul Brammer, aka ¡Hola Papi!, comes to an end. (Amazing memoir if you haven’t read it.)

The GOAT, Lauren Leavell, reminding us that it’s ok, maybe even necessary, to skip workouts during times of intense stress.

“If some of your basic ‘keep me alive’ tasks have taken a hit, it may be time to consider slowing down and reworking your relationship with fitness. The strongest thing you can do is recognize what your body needs in this season, not just what it can handle.”

Dacy Gillespie on what size the American woman actually is, plus a decade of manufacturers refusing to make clothes for this customer.

Roxane Gay’s love letter to her tree and a note on the Toni Morrison/Threads discourse.

“This kind of discourse grates on my nerves because at some point, readers and fans more broadly decided that a creative person owes them more than their art. They decided that in addition to your acting or your writing or your dancing or whatever, you also have to also commit to a parasocial relationship.”

Happy to report that I’m in season two of The Wire, and wow, I love this season! I lived in NYC in 2000, so you know I’m watching Ryan Murphy’s Love Story. Never forget that at my first bikini wax, they had a framed headshot of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in the room. I just started Vladimir and I’m excited to keep watching, although … are those Rachel Weisz’s real cheeks?

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of watching men dancing badly, but with confidence. My current faves are this guy, this guy, this guy and this guy.

• Animal news? Yes, our snapping turtle is back.

• Did two hawks have sex in my yard? Yes. They live here now and I’m calling them the Sex Hawks.

• What percentage of my day is spent doing stinkbug management? 70%

• Did I buy anything haunted at the antique mall? Yes.

• Did I rejoin Threads and immediately decide to throw my phone into the pond? Yes.

• Are the snakes back? Not yet.

Editor’s note: AS I WAS TYPING THIS, one of the sex hawks CHASED A RAT SNAKE THROUGH MY BACK YARD. The snake is fine. The flying killing machine (complimentary) has gone back to the trees.

No, but Arsenio Hall did. He has a memoir coming out in April and I grabbed the ARC from work. I feel a new hyper-fixation coming on.

If you find yourself waiting for these recs, or reading the books I write about each month, consider chipping in a few bucks. If you have either $5/mo or $50/year, consider subscribing to the paid Substack plan. You can also “buy me a coffee” or subscribe for $2/mo here. A heart or comment goes a long way, too.

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.

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