23 Comments

Guys I sent this out with the incorrect spelling of Deesha's name, but have now corrected it.

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I loved this excerpt, Jami. Congrats on the NYer, finally. I admire your devotion and profluence. These letters help me find mine. May your tour be full of ease and and celebration.

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Congrats on your New Yorker piece! A fav re-read here is Tom Spanbauer's "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon." <3

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I want to be a writer and your words inspire me. I really liked the hunger part , thank you!

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Such a pleasure! I love the voice, the details, the spiraling narrative. I can see it all.....perfect for this end of year moment. Thanks, Jamie, and congrats!

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The book I read again and again is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

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So beautiful. I love getting these in my in box and this was truly special.

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Instead of writing this morning, I read this piece. It's gorgeous, and I can't wait to read the whole book. When I return to the city, I avoid the apartment building where I grew up and where my parents lived until they died. The last lines here hit me hard. Congratulations! And stay healthy!

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I know it's weird, because it's not like I ever want to write a book like he writes, but I find that reading Elmore Leonard books always make me feel like writing is approachable. I love the way he writes, is all. He writes nothing like I'd ever write or want to write, but something about reading him inspires me to write, so I keep going back to see if I can figure out what it is. Out of Sight, Rum Punch, and Maximum Bob are the three I always refer back to. I'm not a macho man who looks at women's "cans," or a woman who endorses such a mentality, lol. It's a mystery to me, too.

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What a beautiful, crunchy (ice, roaches, ceiling falls) memoir excerpt! Damn. Congratulations!!! ☕

I am listening to In Cold Blood in my car, 50 years later after reading it at age 11. My much older sister belonged to the Book of the Month Club and what she read so did I. Her bookshelves were built of bricks and boards, plus she made raspberry Jell-O with REAL RASPBERRIES floating in it! Anyway, when I started the CD player in my car and ICB began, my jaw dropped at Capote's details. A steady train of details, one after another, nearly overwhelming. Now, all I want to do is drive and listen, to slowly be sucked toward that book's central doom.

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Congratulations!! I loved it! You are so inspiring!

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Congrats on the article in TNY! I read it online and will read it again in print just because it’s very cool, and I’m thrilled for you that you got that. I have a ticket to the BK launch in a couple of weeks. We’re taking it all in stride here, so far. I’ll be boosted by then (after a 4 week wait to get my appointment), and hopefully everyone will be feeling fine & happy. Safe travels!

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Mazel Tov! This is wonderful. So far, your 50’s are going swimmingly!

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I love how casually you say those magic words "over on The New Yorker this morning." Please tell us that you're doing cartwheels of excitement? Loved the excerpt, especially b/c I was at North 9th, around the corner from Teddy's Bar on Berry Street, from 92-95, when it was impossible to get a cappucino and the old Easter European ladies used to scrub the stoops in the morning . . . and from there I moved to Greenpoint WAAAAAAY before McClaren pool was A Thing. I remember some serious happenings at the Mustard Factory in South Williamsburg. . . a BDSM show in a huge tank on a stage on a rooftop. And etc. When I moved into manhattan, I found myself really missing Brooklyn's sky.

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Congratulations on the excerpt and the book! One of my most awaited of 2022! Long ago I was a chronic re-reader, and I only recently fell back into the habit. Books I've read uncountable times: Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship..., Lorrie Moore's Birds of America, Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge. I first read Kayla Rae Whitaker's The Animators in 2019 and have read it four or five times since. And I re-read The Middlesteins last year, and it was even better the second time around.

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Mazel on The New Yorker. I'm even more impatient to get this book in my hands now. Related to so much of the excerpt. I lived on the Southside of Williamsburg the first year I lived in New York, 1999. I was 30 and broke and loved every minute of it, even the minutes that weren't so lovable.

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