A big shoutout to my friends at NPR's Weekend Edition, whose interview with Hausfrau author Jill Alexander Essbaum inspired my husband to visit Literati in Ann Arbor, and surprise me with a signed copy AND a new translation of Madame Bovary my none other than Lydia Davis (yes, that Lydia Davis). Not pictured, the most recent issue of 'New York' magazine with Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson on the cover, also included in this very excellent gift.
#ReadWomen2014 Non-Fiction: 'Bad Feminist' by Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay's book of hilarious and incredible essays drops TODAY so get thee to the bookstore! Some of it has been previously published and circulated on the Internet, so if you're unsure about committing to the whole book, you can dip you your toes in the free content. However, I advocate strongly for just purchasing and reading the whole damn book because there is plenty of new stuff and it's just good.
While she touches on feminism and politics, most of the essays are her pop culture writing, which is some of her absolute best stuff, imho. I am not ashamed to admit that I got into Roxane Gay's writing via her live-tweeting of The Bachelor ( a surprising number of very respected literary authors engage in this), and I'm most looking forward to reading her essay on HBO's Girls, which I somehow missed the first time around.
If you happen to be in the Detroit area, Gay is doing a reading from Bad Feminist at Literati in Ann Arbor on Thursday, August 7, so you can get a signed copy and support a local independent bookstore.