Generally Horrible Questions: Karen Valby

Karen Valby is a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly and the author of one of our favorite books, Welcome to Utopia, that is new in paperback.  Perhaps because Gianna no doubt is blackmailing her, Karen has graciously answered our horrible questions.  And since she's in the entertainment journalism business, Gianna was in hog heaven asking lots of pop culture questions.  So here you go, some generally horrible questions for one of our favorites,

We love Melissa McCarthy

Karen Valby


1. Don’t be shy…give us your Oscar predictions.
First of all, I should say that I'm going to be watching this year's Oscars at the Oakwood furnished apartment complex in Burbank with close to 100 child actors. True story. That said, I haven't seen movies like The Artist and The Iron Lady, as now that I'm a mother I find myself only having the emotional reserves to see films like Footloose and New Year's Eve, only one of which was a disgrace. That said, I did see The Descendants and quite liked it. Same with Hugo. I want Viola Davis to make me cry in her acceptance speech. What I would give for Melissa McCarthy to take home an Oscar, but I'll be pleased to see it go to her good pal Octavia Spencer instead. [We think this may be the best answer we’ve ever gotten on any question...its loaded with excellent things.]

Viola Davis

2. Best book to movie ever is…
The Black Stallion. To Kill a Mockingbird. Winter's Bone. The Hunger Games. [An obvious ploy to get Gianna and Liz to read The Hunger Games. Not gonna happen.]

Melissa Gilbert

3. One of our favorite articles you wrote for Entertainment Weekly was the interview you did with Melissa McCarthy. It made us wonder which other Melissa you may love. Melissa Joan Hart, Melissa Etheridge, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Leo, or of course…Melissa Rivers? Take your time we know this is tough.
(I'm betting good money that Gianna came up with this question and was halfway through a bottle of pinot when doing so. I also picture her being quite pleased with herself.) I'm going to go with Melissa Gilbert because a) half-pint and b) she used to be married to Bruce Boxleitner, a big childhood crush of mine. Scarecrow! Other childhood crushes: the young, black-haired George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life, Scott Baio circa Joanie Loves Chaachi, the bad guys in Sweet Valley High, Italians. [You don’t know me Valby!!]

4. Favorite Housewife? – this question is dedicated to our friend Colleen.
Colleen, this conversation deserves a tasting menu dinner's worth of a conversation. I'm going to pick three in the meantime: Obviously Lisa Vanderpumpkin. Season 4 Atlanta's Phaedra Parks. And that dipsy doodle Sonja Morgan from New York. What do I wish more for my daughter by the way? That she not become a Real Housewife or that she not grow up to watch and write about them for a living? [We don’t know what any of this means but we hope Colleen enjoys it.]

This is Randy (with Ms. Lupone).
He's no Liz.

5. Liz or Gianna?
Randy Ham. [This is total b.s. Even Gianna knows the answer is always Liz! Ham is going to get an ass kicking…Italian style! In other words I will send someone else to do it.]

6. Book that changed your life?
This question feels cruel. So vulnerable-making, so much pressure! But I'll say Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? because it made growing up sound both terrifying and kind of fun-sexy. [This is an obvious ploy to get Liz to read Are you There God--not gonna happen.]

7. I’ve never read ____ and I am so ashamed.
Any Don DeLillo.

8. Coolest person you’ve ever met?

Slash.  Badass.

Hands down, Slash. I went on tour with his (pretty lousy) band Velvet Revolver for a week a couple of years ago. One night he brought me to the Hustler bus with him after a show. Those ladies were really impressed by my turtleneck and brown corduroy! Afterwards he took my hand to help me down the steps and we went and got ripped at a sports bar in Cincinnati. At closing time he went in the back to get high with the fry cook and then picked out a last song on the jukebox. U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For!" The next day at the airport the tour manager said the plane was short one first-class ticket. Well, of course that whiny pants Scott Weiland looked like he was about to pitch a fit and the creepy drummer wasn't going to fly with the riff raff. Duff's pancreas hurt so Slash volunteered to take the coach seat as long as he didn't have to check his guitar. He sat happily in the back row, his hair flattened against the window, and read a sci fi paperback. I love that guy. [Gianna didn’t read past the part where you went on the Hustler bus.]

9. I have read ____ and I am so ashamed.
Rob Lowe's memoir. [We heard that DeLillo pales in comparision]

Chris Hoyt, BookPeople cutie.

10. What are you reading now?
Ernie Cline's Ready Player One. Fun! [We approve.]

11. Liz and Gianna are going to start filming a reality show. Should we pull each other’s hair in the first episode or wait until sweeps week?
You need a love triangle, so I'd bring that BookPeople cutie Christopher Hoyt on board. [Gianna: We will have to buy a ladder so Chris and I can kiss Liz.  Liz: I resent this comment. For one thing, Chris is tall. Don't bring your short woman issues to this party.]

Karen Valby.  Good sport.

12. A Book and a movie we should read/see right away?
We should all stay in tonight and rent Moonstruck. And then we should fall asleep rereading Brady Udall's enormous-hearted The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. [This book happens to contain one of Gianna’s favorite opening lines: "If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head.”]

Thanks Karen!  We'll understand if you try to distance yourself from us.

Utopia in Texas

The effervescent Karen Valby

Gianna:

When I left Random House a year ago, they made me give back my American Express and my Jeep Liberty. What I took with me, however, was better: Karen Valby’s Welcome to Utopia.

Karen Valby is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, where she was originally given the assignment to find a town in America that had not been influenced by popular culture.

She found Utopia.

We’ve written about this book several times on the blog, but now that it is available from University of Texas Press in paperback I thought we should give it another mention.

 

Valby’s Welcome to Utopia  has been compared to Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show, Thorton Wilder’s Our Town, and the mother load… Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Augusten Burroughs also called it a “masterpiece of narrative nonfiction,” so you  know…if you like that sort of thing you may want to pick this up.

The paperback includes (in addition to the fabulous new cover) a new afterword that I asked Karen to write, and a reading guide that will keep your book group talking long into the evening. And you know the longer your book group talks, the more you get to drink. 

Book Group Picks to Kick Off 2012

Now that we've shaken off the holiday season, it's time to grudgingly associate with acquaintances while pretending to care about their children and drinking lots and lots of wine, all under the pretense of reading the same books together.  I think if Gianna and I had a book group and I got to name it, I'd call it "Dear God I Resent You People."  In other news, yes, I'm still single.  Still, we love the idea of book groups because we love the idea of people buying and reading books.  We want to stay employed.  Here are some of our top book group picks, new or coming out soon in paperback, for the first three months of 2012.


Gianna's Picks:

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

Random House

Paperback out now

For those keeping track, this is the 147^th time that either Liz or I have blogged about this book. That is only one fewer than Let’s Take the Long Way Home (which is also an excellent book group choice). The Tiger’s Wife is textured, compelling, mystical, and multi-dimensional. It is a heartfelt work of serious literary fiction that only comes around once every few years. I’ve said this before, but Tiger’s Wife will be read for generations. I would say that if you are in a book group that truly cherishes literature, this is a must.

Open City by Teju Cole

Random House

1/17/12

This absolutely stunning work by Teju Cole has several built-in discussions/themes for book groups: the Holocaust, slavery, 9/11, genocide, and the invasion of Iraq are a few that will keep the discussion going late into the evening…so, you know, bring extra wine.

Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

Random House

1/24/12

Blood, Bones, and Butter is quite simply one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read, while officially it may actually be a food memoir. Memoirs can be very hit or miss for book clubs, but I would put this in the hit column. The writing is as fine as anything you will read. I would compare it to All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg, or Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (a huge book club favorite).

 

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Random House

2/1/12

I wanted to include a really good yet more commercial book on my list and Lisa See immediately came to mind. She brings timeless themes to every book: belonging, love, family (particularly sisters and mothers and daughters), and what it means to belong. Dreams of Joy is an outstanding sequel to Shanghai Girl; I highly recommend both books for clubs.

Welcome to Utopia by Karen Valby

University of Texas Press

3/1/12

Oh, how I love this book. I’ve read it three times and each time I find something new, something meaningful, something to hold on to. While the story of a small town in Texas, this small marvel of a book could have been nearly anywhere in this country. Themes are numerous and include: race, war, gender, family, change, the impact of pop culture, and what it means to live in a small American town. Utopia is a mix of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Last Picture Show. That’s a big statement, I am standing by it, and you know where I live.  Okay, if you actually know where I live that’s sort of creepy, but you know what I mean. [I'll send you Gianna's address for cash.]

Liz's Picks

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Random House

Paperback available now

Who doesn't love a good, creepy ghost story that echoes classics like Rebecca?  Who doesn't want to see the Harry Potter kid's new movie?  The Woman in Black is a chilling read that has the added bonus of being Daniel Radcliffe's first starring film role since he went wizard.  Here's a great opportunity to read the book and then see the movie as a group.

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller

Random House

2/7/12

The surprise Booker Prize finalist offers lots of discussion material for groups.  Modern Russia, dishonest women, the mob, the black market, bodies in the snow--this isn't your mama's book group pick.  It's a contemporary con novel and rumination on truth in a country where everything is relative.

House of Prayer No. 2 by Mark Richard

Random House

2/14/12

I'm actually a fan of the idea of memoirs for book group picks.  The added reality of a true story adds another level to the conversation, and House of Prayer No. 2 offers lots.  Mark Richard grew up with physical problems that had him relegated to hospitals and special needs schools even though he was plenty smart.  He also was a wayward youth searching for purpose who spent time working as a fisherman, painting houses, and loafing.  How he became a writer's writer is a story worth reading.

Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell

Random House

3/13/12

I think I've mentioned this book almost as much as Gianna has written about The Tiger's Wife.  It's my favorite non-fiction book of 2011, a spellbinding, beautifully written memoir of growing up in a low income family in Houston in the 50's.  Crowell has the ability to bring humor and love to a story that's also full of hardship and violence and kooky religious fundamentalism.  He writes like a poet.  I love this book.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

Random House

3/20/12

I've written previously about this slender novel as well.  The Buddha in the Attic was deservedly nominated for the National Book Award last year.  It's the story of the women who came to the US as mail order brides to Japanese immigrants.  It details culture shock, struggle, and perseverance in the years between the turn of the century and the start of World War II.  The writing is impeccable and because there is no one protagonist, the structure itself adds to a discussion.  And it's really, really good.  Trust me.

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You: 2012

As we're wrapping up 2011, it's not too early to take a look at the books we're excited about that are scheduled to go on sale in 2012.  After all, if the Mayans figured out the end times deadline slightly better than that nutty Christian radio guy last year, we're going to need some good reading to entertain us during the hellfire (and we're not talking about the Left Behind series).  Here's a sneak peak at the books calling to us in the upcoming year.

(A note on format--in this case, we're using "Random House" to denote books published by Random House the company, and not necessarily Random House the publisher, so a book from Doubleday, for example, would be listed as Random House.)

Gianna:

Stay Awake: Stories by Dan Chaon
Random House
Feb 2012

I have actually just started these and think they are tremendous. Chaon quickly became one of my favorite writers after the publication of his collection entitled Among the Missing. [Liz: Agree--I love this guy and can't wait to dig into these stories.]

The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
Random House
Feb 2012

From the critically acclaimed author of The Dante Club, The Last Dickens, and The Poe Shadow comes what may be his best historical novel yet. Take a look at the trailer.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Random House
Feb 2012

Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and MacArthur Genius recipient. Beautiful Forevers chronicles the lives of families striving for a better life in Mumbai.

Welcome to Utopia by Karen Valby
University of Texas Press
March 2012

The paperback will include a reader’s guide and a new afterword by the author. This was one of my favorite books of 2010 when I was with Random House and I am incredibly proud to have it in paper with University of Texas Press.

Enchantments by Katherine Harrison 

Random House
March 2012

Harrison is an incredibly talented writer; can not tell you how excited I am to read this.

The Expats by Chris Pavone
Random House
March 2012

This thriller is already generating tons of buzz – great quotes from John Grisham and Christopher Reich. I am
hearing this is impossible to put down.

Deep Zone by James Tabor
Random House
April 2012

A suspense novel from the author of one of my favorite nonfiction books, called Blind Descent, about cave diving, which was absolutely incredible. This book looks great.

Killer on the Road Violence and the American Interstate by Ginger Strand
UT Press
April 2012

Did we become more violent as we became more mobile? [I certainly did.] This is technically historical/cultural history but it reads like excellent true crime. It’s the story of American highways and highway killers. Sold!

Last Launch by Dan Winters
UT Press
May 2012

Dan Winters was one of only a handful of photographers to be invited to photograph the last launches of Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis. This book is gorgeous, filled with intimate images the general public has never really had an opportunity to see.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Random House
June 2012

Oh man oh man how I am looking forward to this book. From the author of the insanely good Sharp Objects and Dark Places, Flynn totally gets me.

Liz:

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Random House

Jan 2012

I can't shut up about how much I love this book.  It's not only one of the best novels of the year, it's one of the best novels I'VE EVER READ.  Luckily for us, it goes on sale in just a couple of weeks, on 1/10/12.  Here's the trailer.

Mr. G by Alan Lightman

Random House

Jan 2012

Mr. G is God, and this is a creation story unlike any you'll ever read, from the author of Einstein's Dreams. 

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander

Random House

Feb 2012

Nathan Englander is at his absolute best when he's writing short stories, such as his debut collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.  This new collection has garnered advance praise from Michael Chabon, Geraldine Brooks, Tea Obreht, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, and well, a whole bunch of others.  Read their blurbs here.

Watergate by Thomas Mallon

Random House

Feb 2012

This historical fiction account of the Watergate scandal is outstanding!  Told from the perspectives of seven people involved, from both Pat and Richard Nixon to lesser known participants like Fred LaRue and Nixon's secretary, the book brings to life the circus and tragedy of the scandal.  It's a 20th Century Paradise Lost.

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

Random House 

Mar 2012

An autistic child goes missing in Joshua Tree National Park.  Also, a religious cult awaits the end times/aliens.  Coyote legends.  UFOs. The American West.  They're all blended together in a terrific novel by the great Hari Kunzru.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Random House

Mar 2012

This novel from the author of The Gone-Away World is bad ass.  Monk ninjas, a doomsday machine, a World War II spy, the mob, a serial killer--Angelmaker is a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of a novel (in the best of ways).

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Random House

Mar 2012

Easily the most talked about book among booksellers that's coming in the next few months.  Strayed decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, alone, when she was in her 20's.  She was...under-prepared. What follows is the anti-Eat, Pray, Love, a memoir of discovery for the rest of us.

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

Random House

May 2012

Nell Freudenberger is a great writer, the kind who starts writing and you're immediately sucked into the story. Her newest novel involves a Bangladeshi woman who marries an American she meets online.

Top of the Rock by Warren Littlefield

Random House

May 2012

TV fans rejoice!  Littlefield was the head of NBC programming during the golden era of Must See TV, and here are the behind the scenes stories of shows like Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, and ER.

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

Other Press

May 2012

I was a huge fan of Mawer's Man Booker Prize finalist novel, The Glass Room.  When I heard he had a new novel, I was giddy, and for good reason.  This new novel is wonderful--the story of a British woman spy dropped into occupied France during World War II.

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 29! Penultimania!

Whatever will the dozens of you think about after this challenge ends tomorrow?  It's so sad.  And what about all of the categories not covered by this formal 30 day challenge list?  How about favorite prison book?  Or the weirdest place you've read a book and what that book was?  Best book given to you as a gift?  We may need to create a whole new month's worth of categories.....Gianna will kill me.

Anyway, here it is, Day 29: The Book You're Currently Reading

Gianna:

This is the hardback cover.
UT Press cover to come.

I am currently re-reading a really wonderful book called Welcome to Utopia by Karen Valby. I always say this book surprised me because I had no expectation that I would like it. What I should say now is that this book keeps surprising me because I had no idea how much this book would end up meaning to me and so many of the people who have read it. I sold this book in hardcover when I was with Random House and when I left I took this book with me. The University of Texas Press will publish this in paper this May. I also took two boxes of paperclips, one manila folder, a stapler, and four Girl With a Dragon Tattoo shirts (actually I just found these in my garage). The paperclips are extremely handy but Welcome to Utopia is the best thing I took by a long shot.

Karen Valby was given an assignment by Entertainment Weekly to find a town that had not been impacted by pop culture. Utopia, Texas – population…a few hundred (they have no one to record the official population) – by the time Valby arrived in 2006 some pop culture had found its way but much of this town had remained untouched, and what was changing wasn’t going easily.

What I love most about this book is that there are so many moments, real moments, in these Utopians' lives that great novels are made of. Fathers, sons, ranchers, money, race, small towns vs. cities, war, humor, death and women...it’s all here. This book has heroes. Utopia sends its share of soldiers to the military, and yes heroes all, but the woman I think about so often is Kathy Wiekamp.  She saw three of her four boys go off to war along with her brother. Yet day in and day out, one foot in front of the other Kathy walks on; even after the tragic news of her oldest's death in Afghanistan she must keep going. Here is a beautiful scene from Welcome to Utopia as Jeff Weicamp is brought home:

When the limo rolled down Ranch to Market Road 187 into Utopia, every child in school, from pre – K to twelfth grad, stood silently on the sides of the road holding up American flags. The notice board in the town square was wrapped in ribbons, its simple block letters promising WIEKAMP FAMILY YOU HAVE OUR PRAYERS AND SYMPATHY. Toddlers wearing nothing but bathing suits and Velcro-tabbed sneakers held their parents’ hands and on whispered commands gave pudgy-fingered salutes. Tearful mothers of all the local young men and women who were stationed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan held their breath as they watched the limo pass. And the dozens of old veterans who call Utopia home held their caps and cowboy hats to their hearts, their naked foreheads exposed to the merciless sun.

Can you imagine if your town did that?

Liz:

Richard Mason,
hot author

I'm finishing a novel coming in the spring season for 2012 called The History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason.  The book tells the story of Piet Barol, a Dutch tutor who takes a job in a wealthy family's home in order to teach--and help to cure--the musically gifted son tortured by obsessive compulsive disorder.  The real meat of the book, however, deals with Piet's conquest of the Amsterdam in turn of the century (20th, not 21st) social circles, wooing the staff members and daughters of his employer, and ultimately seducing his wife.  There's a strong flair of the bawdy underground Victorian novel here.  Piet's conquests and adventures are, um, titillating.  In a different time, The History of a Pleasure Seeker would be the book you hide between your mattress and box springs.  Mason has written a vibrant, joyful novel with echoes of books like Brideshead Revisited, Tom Jones, and even Patricia Highsmith's Ripley.  Oh, and Richard Mason is easy to look at, too.

"The Best Book I Ever Received": Book Industry Folks Pick Their Holiday Favorites, Part 2

Gianna has gathered another group of holiday/gift-inspired book recommendations from some of our favorite people in the book business.

Karen Valby is the author of Welcome to Utopia, one of our favorite books of the year, and a generally awesome person.  Here's a trailer for her excellent book.


And here is Karen's pick:
On my 12th birthday, my mother gave me a hard-bound copy of Jay Leech’s How to Care for Your Horse. I loved horses--I lived for horses!--so at the time the present felt like a validation of not just my passion but my ability to be a good, capable friend and guardian to them. That year my mother’s bipolar disorder started chewing away at some crucial fibers a person needs to be a parent. As she unraveled, I dug deep into chapters like “Do You Really Want a Horse?” and “Diseases of the Horse” and “Common Unsoundnesses of the Horse.” I would read and study and practice and learn so that I could understand horses and their weaknesses and how to make them happy and healthy and whole. I like to imagine that my mother, who died six years later of a sucide, was already preparing me to take care of myself.

 

Sarah Bird – Author of The Yokota Officer’s Club, the upcoming novel The Gap Year, and a whole bunch of other great books. 

Oddly, Gianna, you are virtually the only person who has ever given me books (other than to blurb or send to my agent.) I guess I’m sort of the book giver in my circle. And I have loved every book you’ve given me, but The Frozen Thames still occupies a special spot in my heart. Maybe because it’s small, maybe because it’s beautiful, maybe because it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read, it has stayed with me in a way few others have. Gorgeous illustrations coupled with a gorgeously-written vignettes about the few dozen times in recorded history that the Thames River has frozen has kept this wonder of a book forever frozen in my memory. Thank you again for sharing it with me.

Scott Montgomery is the mystery expert at BookPeople in Austin, and the driving force behind the creation of the store's mystery specialty store-within-a-store, MysteryPeople.  Here's his pick: 

A first printing of The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley. I already had one first that was signed by the man; I purchased it a week before he came to the store I worked at in LA, for four dollars. Even unsigned, it was worth around four hundred.  He told me he had forty copies of that printing when it came out. "I gave them away so I could nail stewardesses."

I started a friendship with this author I admired so much, watching him hold court at whatever bar we were at, talking about the soldiers, criminals, and actors he met, occasionally dispensing writing advice when nobody was looking. We had a mutual friend in Wyoming, writer Craig Johnson. Both would pick on one another and use me as messenger to send their jibes back and forth to one another. It was Craig's wife who called me over two years ago to tell me Jim had died. The news hit me like it was a family member.


That Christmas I got a package Craig. He said they were Wyoming/ Montana themed gifts- a fine cheroot cigarello, a hat band made by an inmate in the Wyoming penitentiary, and another first edition of The Last Good Kiss. I now have two very expensive bookends that remind me of a great hero, mentor, and friend that is the epitome of those larger-than-life characters you meet in this business. With its Hunter Thompson-esque look at the modern West and America in this tough, heartbreaking book, any edition is priceless.

The lovely one on the right is Gianna's mom.
And Gianna is the other one.

Margaret LaMorte - Proud (ish) parent of Gianna.  She may be the most fascinating woman on earth...I mean, she's to blame for Gianna. 

 

The best book I have ever been given is Janet Evanovich’s One For the Money. It was the first book that truly made me laugh out loud. I would read it in the break room at work and my coworkers would come in and ask what the heck I was reading, they thought I was crazy. [No comment upon Gianna's mom's sanity.] We had a little group of people and we would all share the Stephanie Plum books – it was a great little group and a lot of fun. I have many ideas for the movie series but I have yet to have a call from a single Hollywood producer asking my opinion.


Gianna

My choice is pretty low brow – but the thing is, I don’t really get very many books as gifts; keep that in your judgmental mind! Okay, the best book I have ever been given was Hollywood Babylon (thanks Mom!) – I guess I was like… 11 or 12, certainly not age appropriate, what with the Fatty Arbuckle rape trial and the graphic photos of Jayne Mansfield’s car accident, not to mention the Lana Turner drama and Sharon Tate murder. Now that I am thinking of it – it’s the earliest form of TMZ. However you have to understand my obsession with Hollywood – I read every biography of every Hollywood celeb I could get my hands on. I know that this book is … oh boy… sleazy…but I just loved it and would read and re-read it all the time. I don’t know what happened to it – I can’t imagine that I got rid of it, it must have been stolen or tossed out by my girlfriend who had the sense to be embarrassed for me. Don’t fear…it’s still in print as all classics remain (although as a mass market, not a big hardcover).