To join (and get free food, parties with famous people and the cathartic joy of telling everyone your damning opinions) all you have to do is vote below. You have 9 dicey options. Choose unwisely!
I kind of feel like Andy is a must read for anyone following this site and even though I’m a hermit in another time zone who will probably never join in person, I want to propose that regular contributor manuscripts should have their own category of event/reading club for us to have the chance to read more substantial pieces by contributors and for them to get feedback on their work, but Also because I think if a well loved contributor is in the running, the other books don’t stand a chance which I guess as I write this isn’t maybe a bad thing… we can just add them to our list and be happy to have them as recommended (or not as in some cases) reading. Just my 2¢.
Hey Jane, I just came back to make sure you were clear about my response to this. I was thinking of from now on always including every time we do book club for those who want to participate, manuscript reading for each other here but maybe I should separate the two so it's less confusing. Anyway, I really, really really appreciate the input, as always!
Yes you were clear! The weather in my poor perimenopausal brain is foggy and Austria is medically a little behind international standards of car so I am struggling to find a prescription for the estradiol patch - way TMI to just say, you are clear 🌞! I on the other hand am cloudy ☁️ until I get that damned patch!
I'm guessing I wasn't clear. I made sure to say to vote for all of the ones that you're interested in because Andy's is not competing against the others. It's a bonus for the people that want to read it.
I feel like I'm missing something because in my write up I very clearly say "in addition to picking a published book to read, who wants to read Andy's manuscript". Are you thinking it was set up as a competition? Maybe you all just skimmed the whole piece which would be understandable because it is admittedly long!
You deserve all the allowances for that! Two things about that : did they give you propofol the Michael Jackson drug? And the last time I tried to do the cleanse for the colonoscopy I seriously couldn't make it through the night without eating (so I found hacks online that said you could eat gummy bears and that wouldn't affect it so I did and that was incorrect). I have so much trouble fasting whenever they say I have to. so the fact that you do that and that Cleanse alone is miraculous to me and you are off the hook for everything.
This is my third one. The day before the first one I tried to sneak Bottlecap candy — not the red ones — but got scared, so I sucked on them and spit them out. I don’t know how to say this gently but decades of training myself not to eat during the day in my eating disorder helped the first two times. This time, I was hangry. I couldn’t eat anything all day Wednesday, the day of the the first round of prep. Thursday at 4 am — six hours before the procedure — I had to gulp down another round and not lie back down. Also could not drink after 6. By the time I got to the hospital, CRANKY was my first middle and last name. When the nurses came in to start an IV, they were yammering on about how to make their favorite smoothies and I said, “Really? No food talk!” They laughed, but got my point. Then, yesterday after the procedure, I was worried I might binge. But I sat down at the table and had the best buttered toast of my life with yogurt and berries and a few more graham crackers. I also had to repeat the fact that my father died of colon cancer to three people —READ the CHART — and teared up the first time when they asked if I knew if he had a colonoscopy. I was six. It was 1978. It’s one of countless details I don’t know.
One more thing: I don't consider these books to be competing against each other. This is just a way to find the books you all are most interested in reading and then we can mutually decide which or how many of those we want to read. I probably made that clearer in my initial AJ PT book club description and kind of overlooked it here, and I'm feeling like from the comments people are thinking they have to pick one book over the others and that is definitely not the case!
One other thing I wanted to mention is that when I first pitched my book to Jane, I said that I’d be happy to attend the party in person and answer any questions anyone has about the book. I’m also free to answer questions while you’re reading it, because this is more of a beta reading experience, so feedback will be very helpful as I polish the book for submitting to agents. If anyone has questions or wants to provide specific feedback, DM me for my email address and we can discuss it.
I feel like Columbo right now: "Uh, just one more thing, sir."
I made a slight change to the title after first pitching to Jane. The current title is "Frank Pickney Can Endure Anything for Five Minutes." Here's the blurb:
Frank Pickney suffers with a severe mental illness resulting from a lifetime of abuse—including a brief, but violent marriage. Shortly after flying to New Orleans, he engages in a horrific—and public—self-harm event. He wakes up in a hospital, with restraints on his wrists and ankles. Frank learns that he could be involuntarily committed in a state where he doesn't live, with no support or resources to help him. He needs to get home, but first Frank must navigate the wilderness of his own mind.
"Frank Pickney Can Endure Anything for Five Minutes" is a stark exploration of the internal and external damage wrought by mental illness, an overstressed mental health system, and the assumptions we make about who can be abused and who can be the abuser.
I did too, but I got a lot of feedback from my critique partners that it sounded too hopeful/motivational. So, this change definitely matches the mood of the book.
I love Andy! He’s my guy. And him in his 40s? *chef’s kiss* For some reason there was an Andy at the psych ward I was at that looked like the first guy I wanted to marry, Greg. But my dad took me home before our first date. I still think about him all the time… We are both are in our 30s now so I hope I get my family’s approval now. Otherwise I’ll just will have to elope with him.
I'll see how Andy wants to organize it - if he wants to get all the emails at one time or what. I'm reading it too so this will be fun. I think Amanda already read it.
Everyone who liked this comment, please DM me and send me your email address. Once I have them all, I'll send everyone a PDF of the manuscript, along with some brief notes about what I'm looking for in the beta read. Thank you all for doing this!
Ha!!I never thought of that but no it wouldn't. And that whole opening about how saying the word Lolita uses the tip of your tongue (my bad paraphrasing) certainly wouldn't ring the same with Dolores.
Love that you picked the cover of the version I re-read a few months ago! I got it at Powells for 1$ and love it as an object. The copy I bought had one of those old cellophane cigarette wrappers tucked in like a bookmark. Made me re-hear the early 90’s sound of my much older boyfriend packing his soft-pack camels before pulling that little tab thing-y. Such an appropriate recall for the book’s content!
I LOVE the cigarette cellophane and everything it evoked. What a valuable use of a dollar! And the specificity of that Camel soft pack – I can hear right now exactly what that pounding sounded like. Thank you!
We read this one for our Get Real! Non-fiction book group here in Evanston IL, at Hive Center for the Book Arts. It was only okay. The self-indulgent bits are totally there.
I listened to the audiobook version of this one and it's... something else. I love when people just put it all out there, including the embarrassing details, I don't know if I'd say this is great writing, but it's definitely not boring. Some parts work, some parts are jaw dropping and others are totally cringey. It reminds me of the second book written by the Julia and Julia author about her having an affair with a douchey guy while learning to become a butcher. It's entertaining and terrible all at once. I'd reread it just to remind myself of the details so I could dissect it with others in the club.
That makes me want to read it so bad. Putting it all out there, including embarrassing details is right up my alley – both to read and to do myself.
We don't have to pick just one book so if we end up with additions and one is Lizzie's (I don't know what to call her) dissecting it like this sounds great.
I voted for Lena (because duh) Lindy West (need those details of the "arrangement") and Lizzie. I'm trying to read majority lady writers this season, so this is perfect. I'm currently reading (with DD) Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy and really enjoying it.
Listen, I'm not trying to skew the results here or anything, but I read the opening chapter of the Olivia Nuzzi book and seriously considered stabbing my eyes out so I would never have to read anything again as her perversion of what we consider "writing" and "the english language" is so severe that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to experience a feeling other than revulsion (with a side of suicidal ideation) upon the very experience of reading if I had to experience even one more paragraph. Thankfully, things didn't have to escalate to that level because I just threw the book in the trash, but please dear AJPT readers, do not force me to keep going by voting on this. Thank you.
The If Books Could Kill podcast did an episode on their Patreon about American Canto, and seeing your reaction, you would may enjoy their similar level of revulsion mixed with ridiculously hilarious commentary. They say "this is a podcast about bad non-fiction books. This is the worst book I've read for this podcast, and maybe the worst non-fiction book I've ever read".
I'm not even aware of that podcast series, but it sounds like I might want to listen? I want to say also that my respect for Olivia Nuzzi has just grown exponentially (not that I had a particular take before this) because she DMed me something smart.
Well I would LOVE to know more about that. My snarkiness aside I know she's done really good work in the past, which is what interested me about the scandal and the departure in style this book seems to be. And Chelsea's podcast, Glamorous Trash, I think is great. Aligns pretty well with this book club from what I can see!
I’m glad I read all the way to the end to hear I am still wonderful 🩷 This is a great list and it’s so hard to choose! Congrats to Andy on your manuscript! I’m for sure going to vote and hopefully join!
I really, really hope so. The controversy won’t be the same without you! Either way you were there at its inception and always with me in spirit. (Aren't you glad it wasn't you helping me with this this time?)
I don’t know about glad! Simultaneously jealous and relieved? It’s such a great post though, I love it! I read every word! Voted for Lena Dunham bc I’m such a forever fan of hers.
Aside from his cemented legacy, he's old school, no frills or bullshit and willing to break bread after a feud like he did when he dined with Graydon Carter in the rain. All these books are great choices for this list, but this one gets my vote because he feels most like family, and what could be more controversial than that?
I love that, Sarah! I haven't read it yet because strangely, the advance copy that I got of it had water marks on every page so you couldn't copy it, but it also made it really hard to read. So I have my clean copy ready now and a bunch of my friends have said it's super juicy and well worth reading. I love your take on it. And Amanda vehemently disagrees, which makes it even more enticing and fun.
I voted for Lena and Lindy since I’m planning to read those anyway and Andy because I love that you’re including an unpublished book. Going to maybe be an outlier and say I think The Tell is more than just controversial and since there’s claims that it’s not the actual story and other iffy issues, it belongs more in a “what not to do when writing memoir" category. I’m not saying don’t read it, it just feels like picking it is rewarding allegedly very bad author behavior. That’s my two cents. I will join whatever the consensus is!
Wow, I love this take and really appreciate it. This whole exercise in picking controversial books has made me think a lot about which types of controversy I/we would never promote. You make such a good point and I will consider that in my voting now too. And I will also read up more on it because it sounds like there's more to the controversy than I was aware of.
Last thing I'll say here is only vaguely related, but your comment reminded me that I did have one well-known plagiarist (Jason Blair) write a piece for Jane magazine about being a plagiarist, but I thought that was valid and I still do. A lot of people hated that I did that.
I can see both sides of why you’d run his piece and why people would be offended. For some reason I remembered his first name is spelled Jayson and just did a Wikipedia glance and wow, that case was all over the news and pop culture.
Apparently he’s on Substack now! I think sometimes, perhaps from what it sounds like in his case but I haven’t read more about it beyond Wikipedia, there’s more going on behind the scenes. I think you have to be smart to get that far and I don’t think most people set out in life to do something like that, but maybe get in over their heads. Doesn’t excuse it, but maybe explains it.
IF the author of The Tell stole or “borrowed” someone else’s life story for a memoir that became a huge bestseller I think that’s worse in many ways than just making up a random lie because it’s doing harm to the real person and their story AND discrediting survivors who may not be believed because she lied. If the allegations are true.
One last thing is that I love the concept of the AJPT Book Club but as a culture, I hope we don’t only reward controversy, because that’s not fair to writers who worked just as, if not harder, on their books, but didn’t do something questionable. That being said, I fully admit I checked out Lindy West’s book from the library this week to make up my own mind after all the online discussion.
You are so thoughtful, Rachel! The way i (not as thoughtfully) considered it when coming up with this concept was that we would get a chance to promote books that were banned or unsung or considered too radical or otherwise not necessarily getting a fair shake by at least a good chunk of the population. I never meant to undermine safer or more mainstream or less edgy books. It's like how promoting alternative music was never meant to make people overlook mainstream music. But I see how because controversy sells (and it clearly does to me also!) we want to make sure it's not the only thing that is causing books to sell. Thanks smarty.
Replying to myself to add this context from Memoir Nation cofounder and publisher Brooke Warner which gives more context about The Tell and its scandal's impact on the memoir genre and sexual abuse survivors: https://substack.com/@brookewarner/note/c-228579022
I'm watching it right now and so appreciative that you gave it to us because I'm learning so much from it that I didn't know. Also, as a "survivor" myself at least to some extent, I knew that the idea of reading this book was going to be a lot for me, so it's also helpful to me to know that the writer/speaker here didn't read it either. I guess I want to attempt to read it myself and also read all of the other good accounts about it – like this one. Thanks again!
Ok, just finished watching it and she makes such an amazing array of solid points that now I want to not only read it but speak out about it after.
I hope you will, Jane. No one is talking about it, which is mind-boggling. If she were not who she is, there would be so much more conversation about this story.
Andy, I love that your title conjures the tone of Margo’s Got Money Troubles and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Sounds like a winner to me! I’ve heard The Tell is terrible, even for people drawn to questionable psychopharmacology, controversial concepts like repressed memories as they relate to your teenage years vs very early childhood, and being paid millions (credibly rumored) for a story written by the wife of a billionaire whose company manufactures the drug therapy that inspired her repressed memories. The NYT covered this, but the reason people are pissed is because she stole or passed off a classmate’s story of her own abuse by a teacher (told to her in confidence as a teenager), then misidentified the implied identity of the abusive teacher in the book, reportedly ruining the reputation of the teacher she originally implied was her abuser (different from the one there were rumors about or the classmate articulated at the time). There would be a backlash to this memoir no matter what, but co-opting sexual abuse trauma isn’t okay, and she should have titled that one It Happened to You
Beautiful comment! You may notice that in the link for The Tell, rather than linking to a place to buy it as I did with the others, I linked to that New York Times article you're talking about
Nice job for real! Even my own co-author Amanda didn't understand it! (I'm just giving her a hard time because I love her. And you too, rule-following Jackie!)
I am voting for both of these excellent recommendations. I've never read either and I've wanted to read the end of Alice forever (or since it came out), but I so rarely read fiction that it's good for me to get prompted in that direction. Thank you!!
The end of Alice changed my life. I read it TOO early. I love you Jane thank you for your support, you really are an icon. And I love that modern dance teacher (my college BF was a modern dance minor, so cool 🥰)
I love Holmes' short fiction as well. The story Adults Alone is a favorite. I haven't read The End of Alice in years and would gladly reread. I also have her memoir on my list of books to read.
Thanks - I voted for a few with Andy as my top pick, as its a rare opportunity! And I’m totally lost with my own draft, so I think this will inspire me. Lolita may honestly be more relevant than ever before.
TO VOTE FOR ANDY, LIKE THIS COMMENT
I’ve read Andy’s manuscript. In a word (that doesn’t actually exist) — it’s unputdownable. Literally unputdownable for me, as I read it in a day.
Compelling, evocative, and bleak while also maintaining a thread of humor.
I highly recommend this one.
I kind of feel like Andy is a must read for anyone following this site and even though I’m a hermit in another time zone who will probably never join in person, I want to propose that regular contributor manuscripts should have their own category of event/reading club for us to have the chance to read more substantial pieces by contributors and for them to get feedback on their work, but Also because I think if a well loved contributor is in the running, the other books don’t stand a chance which I guess as I write this isn’t maybe a bad thing… we can just add them to our list and be happy to have them as recommended (or not as in some cases) reading. Just my 2¢.
Hey Jane, I just came back to make sure you were clear about my response to this. I was thinking of from now on always including every time we do book club for those who want to participate, manuscript reading for each other here but maybe I should separate the two so it's less confusing. Anyway, I really, really really appreciate the input, as always!
Yes you were clear! The weather in my poor perimenopausal brain is foggy and Austria is medically a little behind international standards of car so I am struggling to find a prescription for the estradiol patch - way TMI to just say, you are clear 🌞! I on the other hand am cloudy ☁️ until I get that damned patch!
I'm guessing I wasn't clear. I made sure to say to vote for all of the ones that you're interested in because Andy's is not competing against the others. It's a bonus for the people that want to read it.
Totes agree! 4 cents
I feel like I'm missing something because in my write up I very clearly say "in addition to picking a published book to read, who wants to read Andy's manuscript". Are you thinking it was set up as a competition? Maybe you all just skimmed the whole piece which would be understandable because it is admittedly long!
I blame a 4 am wake up and colonoscopy prep.
You deserve all the allowances for that! Two things about that : did they give you propofol the Michael Jackson drug? And the last time I tried to do the cleanse for the colonoscopy I seriously couldn't make it through the night without eating (so I found hacks online that said you could eat gummy bears and that wouldn't affect it so I did and that was incorrect). I have so much trouble fasting whenever they say I have to. so the fact that you do that and that Cleanse alone is miraculous to me and you are off the hook for everything.
I did have propofol.
This is my third one. The day before the first one I tried to sneak Bottlecap candy — not the red ones — but got scared, so I sucked on them and spit them out. I don’t know how to say this gently but decades of training myself not to eat during the day in my eating disorder helped the first two times. This time, I was hangry. I couldn’t eat anything all day Wednesday, the day of the the first round of prep. Thursday at 4 am — six hours before the procedure — I had to gulp down another round and not lie back down. Also could not drink after 6. By the time I got to the hospital, CRANKY was my first middle and last name. When the nurses came in to start an IV, they were yammering on about how to make their favorite smoothies and I said, “Really? No food talk!” They laughed, but got my point. Then, yesterday after the procedure, I was worried I might binge. But I sat down at the table and had the best buttered toast of my life with yogurt and berries and a few more graham crackers. I also had to repeat the fact that my father died of colon cancer to three people —READ the CHART — and teared up the first time when they asked if I knew if he had a colonoscopy. I was six. It was 1978. It’s one of countless details I don’t know.
This probably says more than you need to know about me, but I think the prep liquid tastes very good.
Andy Finley can endure anything for five minutes!
Our collective bad. Andy plus the other pick!
Thank you! I do know that I am losing my mind, but not in this one specific way. I feel much better.
One more thing: I don't consider these books to be competing against each other. This is just a way to find the books you all are most interested in reading and then we can mutually decide which or how many of those we want to read. I probably made that clearer in my initial AJ PT book club description and kind of overlooked it here, and I'm feeling like from the comments people are thinking they have to pick one book over the others and that is definitely not the case!
One other thing I wanted to mention is that when I first pitched my book to Jane, I said that I’d be happy to attend the party in person and answer any questions anyone has about the book. I’m also free to answer questions while you’re reading it, because this is more of a beta reading experience, so feedback will be very helpful as I polish the book for submitting to agents. If anyone has questions or wants to provide specific feedback, DM me for my email address and we can discuss it.
I feel like Columbo right now: "Uh, just one more thing, sir."
I made a slight change to the title after first pitching to Jane. The current title is "Frank Pickney Can Endure Anything for Five Minutes." Here's the blurb:
Frank Pickney suffers with a severe mental illness resulting from a lifetime of abuse—including a brief, but violent marriage. Shortly after flying to New Orleans, he engages in a horrific—and public—self-harm event. He wakes up in a hospital, with restraints on his wrists and ankles. Frank learns that he could be involuntarily committed in a state where he doesn't live, with no support or resources to help him. He needs to get home, but first Frank must navigate the wilderness of his own mind.
"Frank Pickney Can Endure Anything for Five Minutes" is a stark exploration of the internal and external damage wrought by mental illness, an overstressed mental health system, and the assumptions we make about who can be abused and who can be the abuser.
Not that you asked, but I loved the OG title. It allows for so much!
I did too, but I got a lot of feedback from my critique partners that it sounded too hopeful/motivational. So, this change definitely matches the mood of the book.
I love Andy! He’s my guy. And him in his 40s? *chef’s kiss* For some reason there was an Andy at the psych ward I was at that looked like the first guy I wanted to marry, Greg. But my dad took me home before our first date. I still think about him all the time… We are both are in our 30s now so I hope I get my family’s approval now. Otherwise I’ll just will have to elope with him.
This is my kind of comment, thank you! I want to read YOUR book!
Send me the PDF please
I'll see how Andy wants to organize it - if he wants to get all the emails at one time or what. I'm reading it too so this will be fun. I think Amanda already read it.
I only read a little bit. Dana read it.
Everyone who liked this comment, please DM me and send me your email address. Once I have them all, I'll send everyone a PDF of the manuscript, along with some brief notes about what I'm looking for in the beta read. Thank you all for doing this!
Thanks for handling that Andy!
I vote for Andy!!!! And thanks to Dana for her glowing recommendation below! (above?) V. excited!!!
TO VOTE FOR LENA, LIKE THIS COMMENT
TO VOTE FOR LINDY, LIKE THIS COMMENT
Is everyone getting flooded with hot takes on Lindy's polyamory or is that my algorithm?
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TO VOTE FOR OLIVIA, LIKE THIS COMMENT
The title of this one alone makes me think I just can't. American Canto? Oof. lol.
Hahahaha. Excellent point.
Not that I have a strong opinion :)
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in what world is lolita a nickname for Delores? and were this titled Delores, would it be nearly as popular?
Ha!!I never thought of that but no it wouldn't. And that whole opening about how saying the word Lolita uses the tip of your tongue (my bad paraphrasing) certainly wouldn't ring the same with Dolores.
Love that you picked the cover of the version I re-read a few months ago! I got it at Powells for 1$ and love it as an object. The copy I bought had one of those old cellophane cigarette wrappers tucked in like a bookmark. Made me re-hear the early 90’s sound of my much older boyfriend packing his soft-pack camels before pulling that little tab thing-y. Such an appropriate recall for the book’s content!
I LOVE the cigarette cellophane and everything it evoked. What a valuable use of a dollar! And the specificity of that Camel soft pack – I can hear right now exactly what that pounding sounded like. Thank you!
TO VOTE FOR ELIZABETH (IS THAT WHAT SHE GOES BY?), LIKE THIS COMMENT
We read this one for our Get Real! Non-fiction book group here in Evanston IL, at Hive Center for the Book Arts. It was only okay. The self-indulgent bits are totally there.
Oh thanks for the input! My mom read it and if remember correctly, she felt the same exact way.
I think she goes by Lizbeth just a guess 😉
😂 Just a good guess.
I listened to the audiobook version of this one and it's... something else. I love when people just put it all out there, including the embarrassing details, I don't know if I'd say this is great writing, but it's definitely not boring. Some parts work, some parts are jaw dropping and others are totally cringey. It reminds me of the second book written by the Julia and Julia author about her having an affair with a douchey guy while learning to become a butcher. It's entertaining and terrible all at once. I'd reread it just to remind myself of the details so I could dissect it with others in the club.
That makes me want to read it so bad. Putting it all out there, including embarrassing details is right up my alley – both to read and to do myself.
We don't have to pick just one book so if we end up with additions and one is Lizzie's (I don't know what to call her) dissecting it like this sounds great.
I voted for Lena (because duh) Lindy West (need those details of the "arrangement") and Lizzie. I'm trying to read majority lady writers this season, so this is perfect. I'm currently reading (with DD) Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy and really enjoying it.
TO VOTE FOR JAMES, LIKE THIS COMMENT
Listen, I'm not trying to skew the results here or anything, but I read the opening chapter of the Olivia Nuzzi book and seriously considered stabbing my eyes out so I would never have to read anything again as her perversion of what we consider "writing" and "the english language" is so severe that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to experience a feeling other than revulsion (with a side of suicidal ideation) upon the very experience of reading if I had to experience even one more paragraph. Thankfully, things didn't have to escalate to that level because I just threw the book in the trash, but please dear AJPT readers, do not force me to keep going by voting on this. Thank you.
" revulsion (with a side of suicidal ideation) "
And this is one reason YOU are one of my favorite writers - and humans, Charlie.
I have the Olivia Nuzzi book sitting right here and I am now terrified to even open it. But I will abide by the vote!
The If Books Could Kill podcast did an episode on their Patreon about American Canto, and seeing your reaction, you would may enjoy their similar level of revulsion mixed with ridiculously hilarious commentary. They say "this is a podcast about bad non-fiction books. This is the worst book I've read for this podcast, and maybe the worst non-fiction book I've ever read".
lol. I felt like listening to Chelsea Devantez's podcast series about this one was plenty (and god bless her for taking the hit).
I'm not even aware of that podcast series, but it sounds like I might want to listen? I want to say also that my respect for Olivia Nuzzi has just grown exponentially (not that I had a particular take before this) because she DMed me something smart.
Well I would LOVE to know more about that. My snarkiness aside I know she's done really good work in the past, which is what interested me about the scandal and the departure in style this book seems to be. And Chelsea's podcast, Glamorous Trash, I think is great. Aligns pretty well with this book club from what I can see!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I’m glad I read all the way to the end to hear I am still wonderful 🩷 This is a great list and it’s so hard to choose! Congrats to Andy on your manuscript! I’m for sure going to vote and hopefully join!
I really, really hope so. The controversy won’t be the same without you! Either way you were there at its inception and always with me in spirit. (Aren't you glad it wasn't you helping me with this this time?)
I don’t know about glad! Simultaneously jealous and relieved? It’s such a great post though, I love it! I read every word! Voted for Lena Dunham bc I’m such a forever fan of hers.
You’re the standard-bearer. The relief is real.
Believe me, the relief is real on my end too.
When can we read YOUR manuscript, Corynne?? no pressure, but I'm very excited about it.
TO VOTE FOR KEITH, LIKE THIS COMMENT
Aside from his cemented legacy, he's old school, no frills or bullshit and willing to break bread after a feud like he did when he dined with Graydon Carter in the rain. All these books are great choices for this list, but this one gets my vote because he feels most like family, and what could be more controversial than that?
I love that, Sarah! I haven't read it yet because strangely, the advance copy that I got of it had water marks on every page so you couldn't copy it, but it also made it really hard to read. So I have my clean copy ready now and a bunch of my friends have said it's super juicy and well worth reading. I love your take on it. And Amanda vehemently disagrees, which makes it even more enticing and fun.
I voted for Lena and Lindy since I’m planning to read those anyway and Andy because I love that you’re including an unpublished book. Going to maybe be an outlier and say I think The Tell is more than just controversial and since there’s claims that it’s not the actual story and other iffy issues, it belongs more in a “what not to do when writing memoir" category. I’m not saying don’t read it, it just feels like picking it is rewarding allegedly very bad author behavior. That’s my two cents. I will join whatever the consensus is!
Wow, I love this take and really appreciate it. This whole exercise in picking controversial books has made me think a lot about which types of controversy I/we would never promote. You make such a good point and I will consider that in my voting now too. And I will also read up more on it because it sounds like there's more to the controversy than I was aware of.
Last thing I'll say here is only vaguely related, but your comment reminded me that I did have one well-known plagiarist (Jason Blair) write a piece for Jane magazine about being a plagiarist, but I thought that was valid and I still do. A lot of people hated that I did that.
I can see both sides of why you’d run his piece and why people would be offended. For some reason I remembered his first name is spelled Jayson and just did a Wikipedia glance and wow, that case was all over the news and pop culture.
Apparently he’s on Substack now! I think sometimes, perhaps from what it sounds like in his case but I haven’t read more about it beyond Wikipedia, there’s more going on behind the scenes. I think you have to be smart to get that far and I don’t think most people set out in life to do something like that, but maybe get in over their heads. Doesn’t excuse it, but maybe explains it.
IF the author of The Tell stole or “borrowed” someone else’s life story for a memoir that became a huge bestseller I think that’s worse in many ways than just making up a random lie because it’s doing harm to the real person and their story AND discrediting survivors who may not be believed because she lied. If the allegations are true.
One last thing is that I love the concept of the AJPT Book Club but as a culture, I hope we don’t only reward controversy, because that’s not fair to writers who worked just as, if not harder, on their books, but didn’t do something questionable. That being said, I fully admit I checked out Lindy West’s book from the library this week to make up my own mind after all the online discussion.
You are so thoughtful, Rachel! The way i (not as thoughtfully) considered it when coming up with this concept was that we would get a chance to promote books that were banned or unsung or considered too radical or otherwise not necessarily getting a fair shake by at least a good chunk of the population. I never meant to undermine safer or more mainstream or less edgy books. It's like how promoting alternative music was never meant to make people overlook mainstream music. But I see how because controversy sells (and it clearly does to me also!) we want to make sure it's not the only thing that is causing books to sell. Thanks smarty.
I struggled with this too. It’s so hard to write anything approaching memoir in this takedown/everyone has a take culture.
Replying to myself to add this context from Memoir Nation cofounder and publisher Brooke Warner which gives more context about The Tell and its scandal's impact on the memoir genre and sexual abuse survivors: https://substack.com/@brookewarner/note/c-228579022
I'm watching it right now and so appreciative that you gave it to us because I'm learning so much from it that I didn't know. Also, as a "survivor" myself at least to some extent, I knew that the idea of reading this book was going to be a lot for me, so it's also helpful to me to know that the writer/speaker here didn't read it either. I guess I want to attempt to read it myself and also read all of the other good accounts about it – like this one. Thanks again!
Ok, just finished watching it and she makes such an amazing array of solid points that now I want to not only read it but speak out about it after.
I hope you will, Jane. No one is talking about it, which is mind-boggling. If she were not who she is, there would be so much more conversation about this story.
Andy, I love that your title conjures the tone of Margo’s Got Money Troubles and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Sounds like a winner to me! I’ve heard The Tell is terrible, even for people drawn to questionable psychopharmacology, controversial concepts like repressed memories as they relate to your teenage years vs very early childhood, and being paid millions (credibly rumored) for a story written by the wife of a billionaire whose company manufactures the drug therapy that inspired her repressed memories. The NYT covered this, but the reason people are pissed is because she stole or passed off a classmate’s story of her own abuse by a teacher (told to her in confidence as a teenager), then misidentified the implied identity of the abusive teacher in the book, reportedly ruining the reputation of the teacher she originally implied was her abuser (different from the one there were rumors about or the classmate articulated at the time). There would be a backlash to this memoir no matter what, but co-opting sexual abuse trauma isn’t okay, and she should have titled that one It Happened to You
Beautiful comment! You may notice that in the link for The Tell, rather than linking to a place to buy it as I did with the others, I linked to that New York Times article you're talking about
I vote for Andy's book.. also Adult Braces.
Thanks, Jackie, you nailed the assignment!
awww gee thanks!🤣😘
Nice job for real! Even my own co-author Amanda didn't understand it! (I'm just giving her a hard time because I love her. And you too, rule-following Jackie!)
I suggest The End of Alice by A.M. Holmes and Pluto, Animal Lover by Laren Stover. 🌸
I am voting for both of these excellent recommendations. I've never read either and I've wanted to read the end of Alice forever (or since it came out), but I so rarely read fiction that it's good for me to get prompted in that direction. Thank you!!
The end of Alice changed my life. I read it TOO early. I love you Jane thank you for your support, you really are an icon. And I love that modern dance teacher (my college BF was a modern dance minor, so cool 🥰)
I minored in Modern Dance at Oberlin too! How perfect, there are no coincidences, and thanks for always being so cool here. Famesick already rules.
I took one Modern Dance class at IU and almost changed my second major.
I love Holmes' short fiction as well. The story Adults Alone is a favorite. I haven't read The End of Alice in years and would gladly reread. I also have her memoir on my list of books to read.
Just started The End of Alice. It’s the perfect post-op read for my heavy-from-anesthesia head. Thank you.
Three pages in and the narrator is already reminding me of Bunny Munro in Nick Cave’s (yes, that Nick Cave) book.
Thanks - I voted for a few with Andy as my top pick, as its a rare opportunity! And I’m totally lost with my own draft, so I think this will inspire me. Lolita may honestly be more relevant than ever before.
Agree about Lolita! And good luck with your own no-doubt-awesome draft too!