Nashville writer Mary Laura Philpott is smart and funny and sharply observant about her life, which includes her husband and kids and dogs, and this turtle called Frank who adopted her family and knocks on her front door most mornings with his turtle face. But her biggest superpower is worry. Mostly, she worries the people she loves will come to harm and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. In her new collection of essays, Bomb Shelter: Love, Time and Other Explosives, Mary Laura reflects on a myriad of transformative life experiences pulled through that heart’s needle of concern. It’s a book the New York Times calls her masterwork.
We asked her what she’s been reading while she’s been on tour.
Book Recommendations from Mary Laura Philpot
Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close
Just days before her new novel came out—a time period that any author will tell you is both extremely busy and also psychologically chaotic—Jennifer sat in the audience at my Washington, DC, tour stop. Her new book is full of relatable family strife, but ultimately these brothers, sisters, parents, and cousins prove to be as loving and loyal as she is.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
Emma and I are in overlapping phases of life as our kids are growing up and our parents are getting older, and her new novel tackles some of the same themes of familial love as my book, Bomb Shelter. But where my memoir is woven 100% out of real life, Emma’s novel veers deliciously into fiction—including time travel!
Graceland at Last by Margaret Renkl
Remember when our grandmothers taught us that politics and religion weren’t appropriate dinner table conversation? Renkl, my writing group partner and Nashville neighbor, throws that rule out the window. This compilation of her New York Times pieces about the South’s complicated past and present inspires discussion.
Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light by Helen Ellis
She’s whip-smart, darkly funny, and downright surgical with her meticulous essay construction. I feel proud to be living and working in the same era as Ellis, whom I consider not only a fellow essayist, but a hilarious friend. Read her latest collection about the unexpected glories and indignities of middle age, and weep (laughing).
I’ll Be You by Janelle Brown
A book tour looks glamorous from the outside, but in reality, it’s kind of lonely. I’m always lost and wandering around, so I was grateful when Los Angeles resident Janelle Brown swooped me up and fed me dinner when I was in LA. I’m reading her twisty thriller about a pair of adult twin sisters right now, and it’s fantastic.
Mary Laura Philpott will visit Greenville on June 30 for Lunch & Lit with M. Judson Booksellers at Soby’s New South Cuisine. Get your tickets online at mjudsonbooks.com.
