Tomatoes, Janes, and Appalachian Reads: From the Editor’s Desk July 2024
In today’s metaphorical peek over my shoulder as Managing Editor, I have another batch of bookish media I’m loving, excited about, or just want people to know more about. Today, I have some reading recs and essays about Appalachia, a fun historical adaptation with an accompanying playlist, and not one, but two pieces that had me glossy-eyed over tomatoes.
Enjoy! And go eat a tomato.
The Elegy O’Hillbilly and What to Read Instead
It’s been both a week and a whole lifetime since Trump announced his pick for VP. What I have to say about J.D. Vance and his 2016 book, Hillbilly Elegy, is mostly Spanish curse words, so instead, I’ll direct you to a few excellent resources from folks familiar with and from the region of Appalachia.
First, we have a few pieces by Book Riot folks that date back as far as 2016. In Lies, Damn Lies, and Hillbilly Elegy, Josh Corman reflects on the results of the 2016 election and the success of Hillbilly Elegy, which purports to be an analysis of the decline of the white working class. Corman describes the book as really being two books, where the first is a compelling memoir on family and addiction, and the second is “a clumsy social commentary that cherry-picks its sources and presents anecdotal evidence as a revelatory peek behind the curtain” of the economic decline of the rust belt and Appalachia.
Building on this critique of Vance’s lazy misrepresentation of Appalachia, Kendra Winchester has written not one but two pieces with recommendations of books to read instead of Hillbilly Elegy, There is so much excellent literature from and about Appalachia, and Kendra has rounded up 30 examples here for our reading pleasure and education: 15 Books About Appalachia to Read Instead of Hillbilly Elegy and 15 More Books About Appalachia to Read Instead of Hillbilly Elegy.
I also have a podcast for you on the subject, because of course I do. For a quick and dirty dive into the problems with Hillbilly Elegy, I highly recommend the episode of If Books Could Kill on the subject. Hosts Michael Hobbs and Peter Shamshiri originally tackled the book in 2023 and re-released the episode last week in light of the VP announcement, and if you’re a person who likes some levity and an accessible discussion on big topics, this episode (and the entire podcast) does this really well. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you do your podcast listening.
All Access Members: read on for the rest of this bonus send!
The Origins of a Literary Great
I think I knew but also forgot that Mark Twain’s real name wasn’t actually Mark Twain. On a recent episode of Very Special Episodes, hosts Dana Schwartz (author of the Anatomy duology), Zaron Burnett, and Jason English discuss how a bar fight and a stint on the lam led to the transformation of Samuel Langhorne Clemens into the literary legend we know as Mark Twain. I do love this kind of nerdery! (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)
This Feels Like It’s Based on Those Books Because It Is
I finally got around to watching a few episodes of My Lady Jane on Prime over the weekend, and it’s every bit as delightful as friends told me it would be. It’s a fantastical reimagining of the life of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen, who famously ruled England and Ireland for (you guessed it) nine days in July 1553. It has all the historical stuff to hook me with all kinds of wackiness, like folks turning into animals, and a fun anachronistic soundtrack. I said to myself while watching, “This feels like it could be based on that My Lady Jane book!” Turns out, that’s because it is.
You can stream My Lady Jane now on Prime and read both the book it’s based on plus five others in the Lady Janies series, each a remix of a real or fictional woman’s story. First we get the Janes (Jane Eyre, Calamity Jane) and then move on to the Marys (Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Shelley, and the pirate Mary Read).
Oh! And you simply must check out the My Lady Jane playlist on Spotify. One minute it’s Goldfrapp, the next it’s Portishead. Brilliant.
Tomatoes Times Two
I was doing some research for a future Deep Dive piece on Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe when I came across two pieces on Electric Lit that gave me all the feels, both with tomatoes as a theme. The first is an excerpt from Aimee Nezhukumatathil’slatest book, Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees. I have been reading this book for months in, perhaps appropriately, tiny little bites, and this essay on tomatoes is one of my favorites. The smells and textures it evokes, the feeling it’s imbued with, and the sweetness of the prose are just pique Aimee Nezhukumatathil. This essay will make you long for a juicy, sun-ripened tomato fresh off the vine and for connection with loved ones near and far.
The second essay is actually about Fried Green Tomatoes! I clicked on this so fast, y’all. Poet, writer, and editor Liz DeGregorio muses on the experience of reading this story as a young child and again as a middle-aged adult. She describes witnessing the longing and tenderness of Ruth and Idgie’s relationship (made more explicit in the book than the movie adaptation) and the importance of that context for her as a young queer kid, and feeling newly connected to Evelyn’s storyline when she’d glossed over it in her youth. I just have all the heart-eyed emojis for this piece, this book, and this film, and I hope you will treat yourself to all three.
That’s it for me! I’ll catch you all in a few weeks for another roundup of random bookish media. What other pods, playlists, etc, are y’all loving right now? Let’s chat in the comments! And if you found this post online and want it straight in your inbox, sign up for The Deep Dive newsletter here.
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