Read this: Fathermucker by Greg Olear

I love that this trailer for a book full of snark and sex and suburbia has children's drawings in it. So fitting for a fun read for parents, suburbia dwellers past, future and present, and those who like humor, and dads, and wackiness. I reviewed Fathermucker in Penthouse and definitely encourage you to check it out. Oh, and especially if you're not like me and don't drool over small children and parenting blogs, you'll still like it.






From the official site:

You will like this book if you a) have young children, b) enjoy laughter, and c) can’t get the theme songs to various Nick Jr. television programs out of your head. If you are a subscriber to US Weekly, a resident of New Paltz, N.Y, or a stay-at-home dad, that’s icing on the cake.

Greg, who's also an editor at The Nervous Breakdown, has a great site, fathermucker.com, where you can read all sorts of posts by him and others on parenting. Here's Some Girls and Pretty author Jillian Lauren on "The Art of Bad Parenting":

But the thing about my relationship with my son is that I’m not fake with him. I let him know when I’m frustrated or when I’m ecstatic or when I’m having a hard time paying attention. I tell him when I had a lousy writing day and how that makes me feel sad or angry. I let him know me — his mom. Bad parent. Selfish artist. Who loves him like mad.

Do I think that honesty is better than being patient and empathetic and present at every moment? No, I don’t. But it’s the best I can do while I work on the other stuff.

My day in suburbia

I grew up in the suburbs, Teaneck, New Jersey, to be precise. It felt normal, was normal, to me then. I was there from I think age 2 through high school graduation, right until I left for Berkeley. It was a nice place to grow up, but now, I don't know if I could re-live in suburbia. At the same time, the pace of New York has definitely been getting to me lately; some of it is self-chosen, like this coming week - Monday I'm going to trivia, Tuesday to chess, Wednesday to hear my friend Emily Farris gives tips on Cooking for Broke Dummies, and Thursday is In The Flesh. I don't have to attend any of those, nor do I have to host a reading series. But in NYC, I do them; that's pretty much a typical week, in addition to all the work, much of which is busy work in terms of book/event promotion. I wonder a lot lately whether a chance of venue, a change of pace, a change of life would help me with, well, everything.

I am in the suburbs of Philly this weekend, and it's cozy. I spent the day with my friend Elise Miller and her husband and kids, who I hadn't seen in a while.

This is some of the day, in photos:

Bolt Bus has a built in charger and wifi! And left on time. I think I will be taking them again soon.



We made chocolate-covered toffee matzo - delicious and addictive, and also yields some great food porn:











Their super-cool stairs:



The Indonesian version of Elise's novel Star Craving Mad:



Elise insisted on taking this photo even though my hair is like a week overdue for conditioning because she liked the contrast with the fireplace: