Aftercare Instructions: Bonnie Pipkin Discusses Her New YA Novel with Estelle Laure
The ParnassusNext YA subscription box selection this month is Aftercare Instructions, the debut YA novel by Bonnie Pipkin. The story centers on a girl named Genesis, who is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Planned Parenthood immediately following an abortion, and her ensuing journey of self-discovery. Fellow YA author Estelle Laure (This Raging Light, But Then I Came Back) interviewed Pipkin about the soul of the book and its subject matter — a topic that’s often hard for people to talk about. Read the rest of this entry »
More Summer Reading (The Fun Kind) for Young Book-Lovers
Summer necessities:
– Popsicles
– Shade
– Something good to read Read the rest of this entry »
Uncomfortable Stories: Matthew Quick Tells Courtney C. Stevens About His New Novel
Matthew Quick’s The Reason You’re Alive sits up front on the staff-picks shelf at Parnassus — as has every adult book he has written since The Silver Linings Playbook. In this new novel, Quick applies his trademark mix of poignancy and humor to unpack the history of an outspoken Vietnam veteran named David Granger, who’s searching for resolution to some burning questions after undergoing brain surgery. BookPage calls the story a “scorching family drama” and its narrator what you’d get “if Holden Caulfield grew up to be a reflective, even soulful, Archie Bunker.” Read the rest of this entry »
Notes from Ann: The Main Events
I’ve started writing a new novel, which I will say, based on common sense and no experience, is nothing at all like being pregnant. However, writing does make my tastes change. Ask anyone at the store, especially Cat who runs the First Editions Club and is the person I’m most likely to be talking to about books (she reads everything. She seems to magically inhale books in her sleep), I’m a lot less likely to like a novel when I’m writing one myself. I have very little patience with books that are slow, or have plots that seem purposefully convoluted or aggressively artful. I feel like I’m trying so hard to be clear in my own writing, shouldn’t others have to be clear as well? I pick things up, I put things down. I don’t exactly trust my own judgment these days. Read the rest of this entry »
What Book Club Feels Like . . . When You’re the Author
Anton DiSclafani’s novels are book-club gold — the stories so rich with secrets and betrayals, the characters so complex and real. Both The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls and The After Party practically beg the question, “What would you have done in her shoes?” We can’t wait to talk with DiSclafani when she joins us in person for Parnassus Book Club on July 17. Read the rest of this entry »
27 Books Perfect for Summer
Every month, our booksellers get into a heated (in a friendly way) discussion about who loves which book the most and who gets to claim it as a staff-pick on the front shelf. These are our latest summer-reading favorites, and they’re as hot (in a fun and interesting way) as July in Tennessee. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Reasons You Must Read Roxane Gay’s New Book, Hunger
“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.” – Roxane Gay, Hunger Read the rest of this entry »
