Shaved Meats, Piled High: June 2019
The Sleep Cure
Every now and then, my social media feeds erupt into spontaneous appreciations of Jacqueline Susann, usually The Valley of the Dolls. Recently, I posted something about "the sleep cure," in which actress Jennifer North is sent to a Swiss clinic, knocked out for two weeks and wakes up 10 pounds lighter. It is, as best I can tell, totally fictitious, but it's one of those things that people want to believe in, like unicorns.
And when I'm facing a book tour, I wish there were an ambulatory version of the sleep cure, that I could simply wake up and find the tour behind me.
When I was starting out in this business, the wise Barbara Mertz (best known for the Amelia Peabody books, written under the name Elizabeth Peters) observed in an interview: The only people who want to go on book tours are writers who don't get to go on book tours. My take is a little different: Book tours are part of my job and, as job go, that's pretty great. I'm an extrovert, it's not hard for me to do appearances. I'm quite the road warrior, a travel veteran who knows how to improve the odds for no-stress journeys. (No connections, carry-on luggage, TSA-Pre.)
But: I'm also the mother of a soon-to-be fourth grader and my travel wreaks havoc on our household. And by the time I start touring for a book, I'm usually deep into another book. I also have been writing more essays these days. (File under, "Careful What You Wish For.")
It's a good thing to be sent on book tours. It's a good thing to be publishing books and make a living that way. It is, in fact, the best thing that ever happened to me. Early next month, I'll make all my tour information available. When I hit the road, I'll be happy and animated.
Still, you can't blame a woman for daydreaming about the sleep cure.
READ/READING: Never Look Back, Alison Gaylin; Save Me the Plums, Ruth Reichl; Pretty as a Picture, Elizabeth Little; Howard Stern Comes Again, Howard Stern.
REREADING: Barefoot Boy with Cheek, Max Shulman; The Greengage Summer, Rumer Godden; lots of Nora Ephron essays; The Popular Crowd, Anne Emery.
ME, ME, ME: Lithub put me on a list of touted summer books, at the risk of being outrageously smug, I'll add that I also was a summer pick for Vanity Fair and People magazine, the latter of which chooses only eight books for its list.
And here's one of the essays I referenced above. More to come.
Laura Lippman
June 2019