It has been a long time since I was here to post reviews. Opening the bookstore has really taken over my life! I am not reading nearly as much as I used to, and most of my waking hours are now spent doing store-related things. I am not complaining – I have zero regrets and am enjoying every stage of the process. It has just changed my life a lot.
Here’s a bookstore update. Demo in the space is done, and our construction will start soon. We are in the slow drawings-and-permit phase. Once that’s over, I think things will pick up quickly. We are still targeting an October open date. In the meantime, we are building our opening book orders (10,000 books!!!), buying sidelines like stickers and journals, interviewing people to work at the store, and doing a million other small things that crop up every day. We hung a “Coming Soon” sign in the window last week, which made it all feel very real.
OK, I *have* read a few books and I am going to write some short reviews of them here. (Though I often say I am going to make my reviews shorter and they always end up the exact same length.) My book club read Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. I *loved* her first two books – The Girls From Corona Del Mar and The Knockout Queen and was really excited for this one. It’s about Margo, a 19 year-old college student who has an affair with her professor and gets pregnant. She decides to keep the baby and raise him alone, but has, well, money troubles. Desperate, she launches an OnlyFans account and learns how to make money from the content she posts. Along the way, she reconciles with her somewhat estranged professional wrestler father, develops an IRL relationship with one of her fans, and learns how to be a mother.
I loved Thorpe’s first two novels, which were dark and sad and very realistic. I loved her voice in those novels – offbeat and a little strange, but totally tuned in. I also really enjoyed Thorpe’s exploration of the two friendships at the heart of those books – friendships that started out deep and bottomless but ultimately devolved into something hollowed out and wistful. Sadly, I didn’t find any of that in Margo’s Got Money Troubles. It’s offbeat, yes, but it’s also upbeat and kind of plucky. It’s more mainstream than the other two. The characters were more superficial and less well-developed. Ultimately, I didn’t like it nearly as much. It has gotten a lot of buzz this summer, which doesn’t surprise me, as it is definitely more likely to appeal to a more mainstream audience than the other two.
I wonder if some of my disappointment stems from the fact that I listened to the audiobook. It is narrated by Elle Fanning, who is starring as Margo in an upcoming adaptation on Apple TV+. Elle Fanning was not the right voice for Margo. Too young, too plucky (that word again! it’s the best one I can think of), too casual. When I pick up Rufi Thorpe, I want sad and lonely. Maybe I would have gotten more of that from the print version.
OK that was a *little* shorter than usual! I’ll try to stick to shorter reviews, which may help with the posting. Now the reading… that’s another story.