It's almost time for Big Biography Summer

And coming up: Empire Falls Fall, and a poll!

I’ve had such a good time doing two big readalongs on No One Asked. Last Fall, we did Franzen Fall and read Crossroads. Earlier this year, we did John Irving January and read The Cider House Rules. Both of those were top-tier reading experiences for me, and I know I got a lot more out of both books by virtue of writing thousands of words about them. Also, it was just a lot of fun and I have such good memories of both books. I remain hopeful that Franzen will announce the next book in the trilogy any day now, and I miss The Cider House Rules something fierce (at least we can look forward to November).

Perhaps calling these projects “readalongs” is inaccurate, because it’s not like a ton of people are reading along with me (I mean, I think you should read along because it’s a good time). These posts are like my usual movie recap posts, and it’s a lot of fun to write about the books not as hallowed objects but as experiences that are ultimately super enjoyable and weird. There were nonstop bonkers things happening in both Crossroads and The Cider House Rules, and frankly I didn’t want to process those books on my own. I loved writing down all my thoughts.

But these posts aren’t academic. They’re obsession-based, not research based, because there are already so many podcasts and Substacks who do that sort of thing better than I ever could. I’m a person who had “very funny!” written in the margins of my college paper on Eudora Welty, even though it was supposed to be a research paper and it wasn’t supposed to be funny.

I always say I wrote Very Sincerely Yours because I realized Jim Henson was hot, and this picture only supports my point.

This is all just to give you an idea of what to expect if you want to read along with me here on No One Asked. For summer, we’re keeping it easy breezy and I’m reading one of the huge biographies I’ve picked up over the years. I read bits and pieces of the Jim Henson and Fred Rogers books when I was writing Very Sincerely Yours, but I never actually sat down and read through the entirety of either book. I picked up the Jimmy Carter book after his death, when I read lots of articles about his life and found him interesting and inspiring (rare combo for a politician). The Sylvia Plath book has been on my radar for awhile, and then my friend Alicia started reading it and I found it at the B&N 50% off sale, and what was I supposed to do, NOT buy it?

This cover is so weird and so good.

I’ll admit that I’m leaning toward the Fred Rogers book or the Jimmy Carter book because they seem like they’d be especially helpful to read at this moment. It’s hard to see so many people in charge acting with outright greed, selfishness, cruelty, or indifference. It’s hard to watch our elected officials ignore the terrible things that are going on, or excuse them, or say things like,"Trump would make a great Pope.” Those are the sorts of things that kind of make me want to give up! Truly what is the point. But when I’m feeling like this, it’s always helpful for me to read about people who did the right thing, or at least who struggled to try to do what is right.

This doesn’t show you just HOW heavy this book is.

I’ll be honest: I’m not sure I want to write about the Sylvia Plath book because I just don’t know if I want to be locked into reading it all summer. Who knows what sort of headspace I’ll be in? Who knows what sort of collective headspace we’ll all be in? However, it is by far the longest book and I think it would be great to read on a schedule.

The Fred Rogers book is relatively short, so if that’s what I choose then it will be a shorter timeframe. So we’ll see! I’d love to hear your thoughts! Is there any one of these options you’d be most interested in reading along with this summer? I plan on really spreading it out to keep my obligations light, because I’m with my kid all summer and won’t have a ton of time to write.

One thing’s for sure: the only thing I love reading more than a big book by a living white guy is a big biography about a dead white guy.

Let’s look ahead to fall. Also at the B&N sale, I picked up a copy of Empire Falls, which I’ve been wanting to read ever since Annie and Hunter talked about it way back in 2023 on From the Front Porch. Also I love the cover, and I’ve never read anything by Richard Russo (who I always, unfairly, confuse with Richard Ford, known as the guy who spit on Colson Whitehead).

You show me a diner and I am IN.

More details to come on this when we get closer to fall, but you can safely assume Empire Falls Fall will start sometimes in September. I really want to call this Empire Fall(s) but I hate a punctuation mark in a title as much as I love a parenthetical everywhere else.

That’s it for now! I hope you’ll consider joining in and reading along for either or both of these projects. The No One Asked readalongs feel particularly self-indulgent, perhaps even more so than the rest of this newsletter, but they’re just so fun to do that I can’t help it. Vote in the poll and please let me know all your thoughts. See you soon. xo