"So good I stayed up til 2am to finish it."
Emma Straub's new novel is a thing of wonder, plus the author shares her recommendations.
Emma Straub is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Vacationers and All Adults Here and owner of the cult Brooklyn bookstore, Books Are Magic. Her new book, This Time Tomorrow, is out in June and is so good that I stayed up until 2am to finish it.
Let’s just say that this novel has a direct line to my soul. Time travel, nostalgia, humour, regret, beautifully drawn friendship. It has it all.
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice Stern discovers she can time travel back to 1996 to her 16th birthday. She wakes up in her childhood bedroom and over the course of the day, realises she can keep on travelling back, whenever she chooses, to that day. In the present, Alice’s father Leonard, a novelist who’s had success with his own time travel novel, lies dying in a hospital bed but when Alice travels back, Leonard is the young, vital man who Alice has been missing so desperately in her present life.
I’m a total sucker for time travel and was raised on Back to the Future, the best film ever made. High concept novels can sometimes be gimmicky but this one is very naturalistic. It’s clever and somehow plausible.
This particular story touches such a nerve because it fulfils that painful longing to be able to go back to your childhood, particularly your childhood bedroom, when life was so simple. And the beauty of the set up is that Alice can appreciate all of this as she encounters it with her 40-year-old consciousness and perspective. It’s ultimate wish-fulfilment as well as being a funny, wise meditation on growing up.
I met Emma when she was in London in May and after patiently allowing me to fangirl in her face for some time, she was kind enough to recommend some of her favourite things to read, watch and listen to. Over to Emma:
One of the best parts of being a bookseller is forcing books you love into other people's hands, so I feel well equipped for this. Here are the books that I am likely to recommend if you walk into Books Are Magic. Just sidle up to the counter, and say that you need something great.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson This is a hilarious book about a woman who takes care of two teenagers who burst into flames when they're upset. A totally original, vibrant novel.
Permanent Record by Mary HK Choi Mary is one of my faves - she captures my beloved New York City perfectly. This novel, her second, is about a pop star and a boy who works at a bodega. Modern, smart, and romantic.
Writers and Lovers by Lily King I am very wary of novels about writing, but this one just slayed me. Grief, humour, and the limitless angst of being a young person who doesn't know quite which direction to go. Just lovely.
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox This one was a major inspiration for This Time Tomorrow. It's about a married couple in Brooklyn in the 1970s, in my neighborhood, and what I love the most about it are the many scenes in which the characters (yes, indeed, desperate) walk around the city at night.
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead Since it's nearly summer, I'll include this, which I sell heaps of every summer. It's an earlier novel of Colson's, who has of course gone on to win every major prize a handful of times. This is his sweetest book, literally - about a teenage boy working in an ice cream shop in the 1980s. Funny and smart and sad, like the best teenage boys.
One of my favourites podcasts is You Must Remember This by Karina Longworth. She tells a story over a number of episodes, always about old Hollywood. One is about Heda Hopper [the American gossip columnist and actress from the 1940s] and there’s another about The Rat Pack but my favourite series is called Polly Platt: The Invisible Woman. Polly Platt was a movie producer in the 1970s. She was married to the director Peter Bogdanovich and you learn that she had everything to do with his movies, she co-created them with him, but got none of the credit. Then he left her for a starlet and then his movies weren’t as good anymore! This podcast is incredible.
I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures as a rule but this is slightly shameful. I really enjoy Who? Weekly. It’s about celebrities you’ve never heard of, like Real Housewives or WAGS. People who are on reality shows or popstars with one hit and it tracks those very desperate characters. The hosts are so hysterically funny, I love them.
The Great British Pottery Throwdown makes me so happy. It makes me feel like I understand things like Raku [a type of low fire pottery]. Like I could do a Raku although I’m sure I could not Raku anything. I find it so satisfying to watch talented, passionate people to make things with their hands. You make pottery knowing that it might break. You entrust it to this fiery pit and then it might just explode. It’s risky and hopeful.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I just finished watching the first season of Severance which I found so upsetting and scary that I would often follow it up with The Great British Pottery Throwdown. Sort of like a one-two chaser. But I loved it. It’s especially good right now when everyone’s having to reconfigure their relationship to work, even those of us who love our jobs. I have two jobs that I love but even I have felt like there must be a smarter way so that I don’t absolutely die of burnout and over-exertion. Severance is very timely and very funny and very creepy so it really has everything one could want.
I’ve been writing a list of every single book I read in my diary for about 5 years. I wish I’d been keeping it forever. I certainly read more since opening my bookstore. During the first part of the pandemic, like many people, I had quite a slump where I was reading slowly and only able to read things that I knew would bring me comfort. So I read a lot of romance, mystery and YA novels and because I have two children, I read a lot of picture books which are always my favourite. Because of the bookstore, I get so many books that I will often dip into but not complete but I have absolved myself of any guilt for not finishing books.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub (Penguin Michael Joseph) is released on 9th June 2022
This sounds great. I thought All Adults Here was ALMOST great, maybe with this one she's hit the jackpot
Love the sound of lots of these and can’t WAIT to read This Time Tomorrow. I’ve spent most of my adult life dreaming of getting back to my childhood bedroom!