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September 1, 2016October 6, 2023

September Giveaway: Jillian Lauren’s Some Girls

*** Winner selected! Congratulations to Jane in Los Angeles! ***

Memoirs don’t get much more riveting than Jillian Lauren’s Some Girls: My Life in a Harem. That’s right — Jillian once worked as a call girl and stripper in New York before agreeing to fly out to Borneo — to join the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei.

Some Girls details the surreal life Jillian lived there: strange late nights spent drinking and dancing for the prince’s exclusive pleasure, crazy expensive shopping sprees, petty jealousies, unexpected alliances, and much more.

Although the titillating tidbits about harem life tends to get most of the attention, Some Girls takes us from Jillian’s childhood as an adoptee struggling with a contentious relationship with her father to her marriage to Weezer bassist Scott Shriner and adoption of her own child. The memoir is a fascinating dive into life’s bigger questions: what attracts us and repels us, why we make the choices we do, how we change and shift with time. It’s a coming of age story that forces us to confront the ways we construct our own identities.

Get a copy of Some Girls now, or enter to win one by signing up for my newsletter to the right. Already signed up? Then you’re already entered!

Come back mid-month to read a Five Firsts interview with Jillian Lauren!

August 31, 2016October 6, 2023

Book Show: A Carnivalesque bookstore in Highland Park

shelf at Book Show in Highland Park Los Angeles

If you long for an indie bookstore with that fiercely unique vibe, pop in to Book Show. This place is so fun to visit the LA Times wrote a feature on it a couple years ago, back when Book Show was still in Elysian Valley.

Now, Book Show’s settled into Highland Park, but has retained its personality. Book Show embodies the one-of-a-kind spirit of Jen Hitchcock, owner and “mistress of the arcane,” who’s decorated the place carnival-style with colorful show curtains, funky props, and lots and lots of color.

The collection of new and used books are an eclectic, community-oriented mix. Many are written by local authors. Even my own chapbooks are on the shelves!

Book Show’s also a great spot to shop for gifts: unique candles, tarot cards, handmade journals, funny cat-themed tchotchkes, and lots of other unexpected things. You never know what you’ll find.

The place hosts a regular lineup of events. There are readings, of course, but also open mics and other performances. Workshops range from screenplay writing and ghost hunting! Check out the calendar for the full schedule.

Book Show. 5503 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles.

August 30, 2016October 6, 2023

Read Harder Book Club: For readers who don’t want to be told what to read

*Update, 7/24/17: Alas, the Read Harder Book Club is no longer.*

Love the idea of joining a book club, but hate not being able to pick your own book? Then try the Read Harder Book Club in Los Angeles. Here’s a group for the free-spirited reader. Everyone can read whatever she wants!

Organized by the lit site Book Riot, the Read Harder Book Club is simply a group that meets once a month to discuss books in general — what you’ve read lately, which books you loved or hated, et cetera. It’s a cool way to get introduced to new books you might never otherwise hear about — and to meet other local bibliophiles.

The club meets on the second floor of The Last Bookstore. Sadly, when I arrived for the August meeting a couple weeks ago, the men at the front desk had no idea what I was talking about though the event was on the bookstore calendar. One guy suggested I ask the information desk in the back; the guy there told me he thought it was upstairs. After making a full loop on that floor, I finally found the group seated around a table in the space right between where the bookstore ends and the art galleries begin. For your reference, it’s in the hallway-like room with the vibrant red crochet on the walls.

Six of us (attendees range from just three to a dozen, depending on the month) talked about all sorts of books for an hour, led by Sharifah Williams, a contributing editor to Book Riot who organizes the LA club. Attendees ran the gamut: young and old, horror addicts and literary fiction lovers. Several of the people there were making their way through the Read Harder Challenge, a list of 24 different types of books (e.g. “A book that takes place in Asia”) to read over the course of the year, intended to broaden one’s reading horizons. Among the books discussed that I’d actually read were The Girls, Queen of the Night, and Spent.

This book club often has a sponsor for the month. For August this was Kensington, who sent the club free copies of A Change of Heart — though of course no one is obligated to take or read the book (I didn’t take one).

The next Read Harder Book Club meeting in Los Angeles happens Sat., Sep. 17 at The Last Bookstore. For future meetings, check the events schedule on Book Riot. Read Harder Book Club meetings happen in a handful of other cities too, from Houston to Vancouver.

Read Harder Book Club — Los Angeles. The Last Bookstore. 453 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. Third Saturday of each month at 1 pm.

Top Photo by Sharifah Williams

August 29, 2016October 6, 2023

The Last Bookstore: A Literary labyrinth in downtown LA

Dana Johnson at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles

It’s not quite as bit as Powell’s Books in Portland, but California’s largest used and new book and record store, The Last Bookstore, happens to be in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.

Shop here for new and used books — as well as vinyl records and graphic novels — on two gigantic floors. I recommend planning your visit around a reading or event, since there’s one going on almost every night! A couple weeks ago, I went to Dana Johnson’s launch reading for her new short story collection, In the Not Quite Dark. There she is in the photo above, signing books —

There’s a great collection of art books too. Here’s me in that section, pretending to be Frida.

The second floor of the bookstore has more books, as well as little structures made of books — like this book tunnel. This floor also houses the Spring Arts Collective gallery shops, where you can buy paintings or just see artists at work.

It’s really a place you can get lost in for hours. The Last Bookstore buys back books too, if your apartment’s becoming a fire hazard!

The Last Bookstore. 453 S Spring St, Ground Floor, Los Angeles. 213.488.0599.

August 25, 2016October 6, 2023

5 tips for enjoying the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival

The Tempest at Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival

In case you haven’t heard yet, the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival is an L.A. summer treat not to be missed. Every year, the local Independent Shakespeare Co. puts on two to three plays with performances running Wednesdays to Sundays — all for free!

Griffith Park’s quite the trek across town if you live on the westside like I do, but still well worth the trip. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of the event:

1. Get there early. Seating on the lawn is basically first come first served, with earlybirds getting the prime spots near the stage and latecomers relegated to the back area near the caves where coyotes howl. Performances start at 7, but the crowd starts arriving hours before.

I’ve noticed that my enjoyment of the performances is directly proportional to my proximity to the stage — so I like to get there early. A couple weeks ago, my friend Lauren and I got there two hours early — which was about perfect (see below)! Occasionally, there’s a pre-play dance or music performance.

2. Pack a picnic. Pretty much everyone brings picnic blankets and yummies to enjoy before and during the performance. Should you forget to bring food, however, you can get baked goods — including cookies shaped like Shakespeare’s head — at the concession stand. FYI: While alcohol is not allowed in the park, this rule is not enforced, so plan accordingly.

Picnic / lawn chairs are allowed, but there’s a “chair line” they must remain behind. So if you really want to sit up close, skip the chairs and bring pillows for your back.

3. Participate. Okay — Don’t take this tip too literally and jump on stage unprompted. But you might become part of the performance by chance, since the actors usually do some impromptu interactive stuff during each play. During Romeo and Juliet, I was given an invite to a party at the Capulets! “Dress up a bit,” the actor said, handing me the red envelope —

4. Take sunscreen and a warm jacket. It’ll be hot before the performance begins, then quite chilly by the time it ends. You might also want to take a hat and a blankie —

5. Be generous. The performance is technically free — but the company depends on donations to keep things going — so the actors will be standing around with smiles and donation buckets come play’s end. Should you forget cash, there’ll be credit card swipers too —

Just nine more performances of The Tempest remain this summer, so get thee to the park!

Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. At the Old Zoo in Griffith Park. Los Angeles. (The Tempest plays Wednesday – Sunday until September 4)

Top and bottom photos courtesy of Grettel Cortes Photography

August 23, 2016October 6, 2023

I’m reading at the Southern California Poetry Festival in Long Beach 9/10

The first ever Southern California Poetry Festival happens next month in Long Beach. Organized by Sonia Greenfield and Donna Hilbert in partnership with The Poetry Foundation, the weekend affair going to be two days filled with readings, panels, and keynotes — topped off with cocktail hours at The Brass Lamp Book Bar!

Hear luminaries like Amy Gerstler and Henri Cole, discover a dozen or so local literary journals, and find out about local bookish nonprofits. There’ll even be a panel moderated by former book critic of the Los Angeles Times David Ulin, with the provocative title, “Does SoCal Have a Voice?” I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the panelists — Marilyn Chin, Suzanne Lummis, Luis Rodriguez, Ralph Angel — are probably going to say yes.

I’ll be reading with the Los Angeles Review crew on Saturday, Sep. 10 from 2 pm to 3 pm, along with Charles Harper Webb (Amplified Dog), Jessica Piazza (Interrobang), and Kim Dower (Slice of Moon). Here’s the full schedule lineup for both days.

Reserve a FREE ticket for the festival here — though I must warn you that all 175 tickets for Saturday are already taken! That said, if you’re a reader of this blog and would like to come on Saturday, just leave a comment ASAP and I’ll contact the organizers to get a ticket reserved for you.

Hope to see you there!

Southern California Poetry Festival. Saturday, Sep. 10 – Sunday, Sep. 11, 2016. Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach.