My One Weird Trick for a Surefire Pick-Me-Up
Saving one book by your favorite author for a rainy day, Louise Erdrich stans are now called LouLous, and announcing my selections for the Southwest Books of the Year.
During the dark depths of February, I have one—and only one—tip for better living: read all the books by your favorite author, except one. Save that one book for a rainy day. Some day when you dearly need it, an emergency comfort book will be waiting for you to discover by your favorite writer.
Which writers should you use for this one weird trick? The writers whose books you buy without even reading what the critics think—so what if someone thinks this particular book is a “lesser” effort? “Lesser” for a badass is still badass. These are the writers that, when you open the first page of their books, you feel like you are settling into a warm bubble bath, or that you’ve been launched on an invigorating road trip and someone you trust is driving. Saving one book aside like this will solve everything, I think. (Maybe you need to read an emergency book right now, in the dark depths of February?)
I started the year by reading The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. I allowed myself to read it because of her 18 books of adult fiction, I’ve read 17. I’m saving Shadow Tag for now. From Toni Morrison’s books, I’ve saved Paradise, from Edwidge Danticat’s fiction I’ve read everything except Krik? Krak!, and from Colson Whitehead’s novels, I’ve read eight and kept Zone One aside. (I predict that I will one day experience a calamity that only a Colson Whitehead zombie novel can salve.) I’ve read five of Zadie Smith’s novels and I’m about to read The Fraud, but it’s okay because I’ve saved her story collection Grand Union in case of emergency.
I started to leave one book by my favorite writers unread after I finished all of Shakespeare and Jane Austen and most of Tolstoy and Willa Cather and felt kind of bummed that there were no more. I can’t do this, of course, with favorite writers who have published fewer books. I don’t past the marshmallow test on these writers. I’ve snarfed up all of Elif Batuman, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Téa Obreht, and Carmen Maria Machado.
In case you are wondering, The Night Watchman rocked. Set in the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota in 1953, it featured a character inspired by Erdrich’s grandfather, who worked the overnight shift as a security guard at a factory and fought bureaucratic battles by day to combat a Native American “termination” bill working its way through Congress. It also features one of my favorite Erdrich heroines ever, Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau, who will stop at nothing to rescue her sister from the evils entrapping her in the Twin Cities, even working in a bar as a “waterjack” for cash and information, performing underwater tricks in a glass tank while wearing a rubber Babe the Blue Ox costume. This novel has everything you could want, and whoever was handing out Pulitzer Prizes two years ago had the good sense to give it one. So now Erdrich’s award shelf contains a Pulitzer, a National Book Award, an NBCC and a whole bunch of other ones.
I have been a Louise Erdrich fanatic ever since I first read her writing about twenty-five years ago. I love the way her stories intertwine, the characters and family lines recurring, and I once made a little index card to try to keep track of all the characters’ interrelations that I used as a bookmark while I read.
But then Erdrich included a much clearer genealogy chart in one of my favorite novels, 2001’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse.
If you’re looking for what to read first in the Erdrich universe, I wrote a “Where to Start Guide: Louise Erdrich” with my recommendations for the Barnes and Noble Blog about seven or eight jobs ago. I published that in 2015, though, and since then Erdrich has written nothing but bangers. Throw The Round House, LaRose, and The Night Watchman on your must-read list, but if you enjoy her books as much as I do, remember to save one back!
Beyoncé has her Beyhive and Taylor Swift has her Swifties and Megan Thee Stallion has her Hotties. I propose that those of us who stan Louise Erdrich should band together as LouLous and convince the Swedish Academy to consider her for a Nobel Prize in Literature, the way that the Beyhive has been harassing country music stations to play Beyoncé’s new single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” I’ve long suspected that one of The Tumbleweed’s three subscribers is a member of the Swedish Academy, so if it’s you, buddy, now’s the time do the right thing.
Are you a LouLou too? Have you saved one book of your favorite author? Let me know in the comments.
The Assorted Whimsy Portion of The Tumbleweed
Years ago my talented Uncle Steve taught me how to make this awesome bird. All it took was some felt, beads, pipe cleaners, feathers, and Uncle Steve’s artistic genius. He made a whole basket of them in different colors for my grandma and called them “Spring Peepers.”
I bring my crazy, red-feathered bird out once a year, for Valentine’s Day. And I think he should be the official mascot of the LouLous.
The Book Recommendation Portion of The Tumbleweed
It was my pleasure to be a part of the committee selecting this year’s Southwest Books of the Year. My picks included Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories, edited by Richard Z. Santos, The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz, Blackouts by Justin Torres, A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani, Go as a River by Shelley Read, Desert Jewels: Cactus Flowers of the Southwest and Mexico by John Paul Schaefer and The Official Cookbook of the Chili Pepper Institute by Paul W. Bosland and Wendy V. Hamilton, from which I cooked some awesome chili pepper-based meals. Proof:
The Happenings & Links Portion of The Tumbleweed
I am teaching a new four-class series this spring for Lighthouse Writers Workshop called “Get a Little Closer: Psychological and Emotional Writing for Fiction and Nonfiction.” It runs on Monday evenings from 6:30-8:30 from April 15 to May 6, at Lighthouse in Denver (3844 York St.). I believe there is a Zoom option too!
A new reading series is coming to Denver, called Reading Den. Adam Vitcavage, host of the podcast Debutiful and former Tattered Cover events manager, and Sarah Ann Noel, a writer and editor, will host Reading Den events at Fort Greene, a Denver watering hole. The first reading, on February 28, will feature three illustrious Colorado-based writers: Vauhini Vara, Andrew Altschul, and Anna Qu. The event starts at 7 p.m., and you can register for a free ticket here. A little bird told me that readers for the March 27 event will include my pals Erika T. Wurth and David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and watch out for the May 29 edition, when Charlee Dryoff will be visiting and I will be reading something too!
I got the chance to interview Laura Pritchett about her new novel Playing with Wildfire for the High Country News. Laura is going to be all over the West this spring (see below), including a stop at the Boulder Bookstore on Thursday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. Plus, don’t forget about Steven Dunn and Katie Jean Shinkle at the Boulder Bookstore on Saturday, March 9 at 4 p.m..
As always, The Tumbleweed welcomes your questions and comments about writing, reading, taco eating, the Denver Nuggets, rabbit wrangling, Deion Sanders, and baby seals.