Author Picks: 6 Quirky, Heartfelt Novels I’ll Never Forget

I am a full-on Zevinhead. (I don’t know if that’s a thing—maybe it is, now.) I started YOUNG JANE YOUNG sitting on the floor of a Barnes & Noble while my then wee sons perused the superhero comics section. The novel is divided into three parts that tell the story of a Lewinsky-type situation and ensuing slut-shaming from the POVs of three different female characters. I remember being so drawn to the first narrator—the South Florida–based mother, who reminds me of my mom and her bestie, Mary Ann, who consider themselves authorities on all things and finish each other’s sentences. Zevin is so brilliant and funny, and her writing is full of accessible human moments she makes beautiful.

This book came out before people used the expression “cringe” to describe anything painfully awkward. (Unrelated: yesterday my nine-year-old informed me that I’m “cringe” when I call out that I love him during soccer games.) MRS. FLETCHER is filled with “cringe” moments, done in such a masterful way. I loved following Mrs. Fletcher’s empty-nest sexual awakening. Much of my writing stems from dialogue bubbles of people trying to communicate but often dancing around each other or veering way, way off track in conversations. Perrotta is such a gifted comic writer. I would trade Trudy, my Chevy Traverse, for 0.3 percent of his talent.

This is kind of cheating. Even though I adore this masterpiece, I mostly wanted to give a shout-out to Ms. O’Connor, whose childhood home is two miles down the street from mine in Savannah. And invite y’all to Local Author Day in the spring, which includes a musical parade featuring several of her famous characters, and chicken bingo. But seriously. My favorite Southern writers capture the quirkiness, comedy, deep family ties, and complicated darkness of the region with grace. O’Connor is the OG.

Every writer should read this! No matter what you’re trying to write. First, Lily King’s prose is unparalleled—lush and flowing yet grounded in tangible details. I was cheering for Casey Peabody, who is both grieving for her mother and buoying herself in the act of creating something when it seems the world is conspiring against you. I remember my heart beating rapidly during the scene where Casey is at work and going back and forth with her agent on the phone, wanting so badly for her to sell her book. Also, I love the scene where she first talks to an agent and immediately forgets everything they discuss. During my first phone calls with editors, my brilliant agent, Maggie Cooper, was tap-tap-tapping notes on her end because she knew the same thing would happen to me!

I had a sneak peak of Sittenfeld’s brilliance when I was a reader on the submission committee for the literary magazine at college. Even then—um, ten, um, twenty-ish years ago—her voice jumped off the page, and though the submissions were anonymous, we instantly knew when a piece belonged to her.

I received my MA from a challenging, wonderful, albeit dude-dominated creative writing program. Though I learned so much, I felt a little bit lost afterward. I had gotten the message that literary fiction was the most, and only, important kind of writing. Which didn’t seem to leave room for the bizarre, hilarious Southern voices in my head. Also, at that time, many popular novels involved, um, incest and vampires. (Who doesn’t love both, right?)

But I am a sucker for a coming-of-age novel, especially when the character doing the growing is a teenage girl. I loved PREP in its celebration of the brutal moments of adolescence. Reading it felt like a message from the universe that I can write stories about being a woman, a daughter, a mother, a human.

One time, I picked up my son from kindergarten and noticed he had icing both in his hair and on his T-shirt. Apparently, a girl had brought a sheet cake to celebrate her birthday that day and ended up hurling pieces of it at her classmates. Y’all—I cannot emphasize enough how much this story delights me. Which brings me to Laurie Gelman’s CLASS MOM. This book is a blast. I was so charmed by the way Gelman balances the irreverent attitude and heartfelt motivation of the main character. It reminds me that, within the more mundane moments of parenting, there’s urgency, drama, and brutal and hilarious situations that test one’s spirit. And sometimes icing in weird places.

AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 22, 2022!

Ramona’s got a bratty boss, a toddler teetering through toilet training, a critical mom who doesn’t mind sharing, and oops—a cheating husband. That’s how a Category Four hurricane bearing down on her life in Savannah becomes just another item on her to-do list. In the next forty-eight hours she’ll add a neighborhood child and the class guinea pig named Clarence Thomas to her entourage as she struggles to evacuate town. Ignoring the persistent glow of her minivan’s check engine light, Ramona navigates police check points, bathroom emergencies, demands from her boss, and torrential downpours while fielding calls and apology texts from her cheating husband and longing for the days when her life was like a Prince song, full of sexy creativity and joy.