Bound Together 2023: Nonfiction: Essays
Collections from authors like Myriam Gurba, Peter Orner, and Jenny Odell are included in this grab-able roundup of new books.
BOOM TIMES FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, By Scott Timberg
HEYDAY • MARCH 2023 • 304 PAGES • $20 PAPERBACK
Scott Timberg’s singular voice finds us again through these 26 reflections on the art and culture of the United States, with particular attention given to his home city, Los Angeles. A friend to artists of all disciplines and temperaments, the late Timberg foresaw the threats faced by the musicians, directors, authors, illustrators, and other creators of our time.
SAVING TIME: DISCOVERING A LIFE BEYOND THE CLOCK, By Jenny Odell
RANDOM HOUSE • MARCH 2023 • 400 PAGES • $29 HARDCOVER
Why does it always feel like we are chasing the clock and time is an increasingly rare commodity? Jenny Odell taught readers to break free from an obsession with productivity in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, and this follow-up offers a related life-changing strategy. Odell invites readers to reconsider their concepts of time—in terms of the cycles of our bodies, the changing of seasons, and other natural timelines—so as to lead more intentional, restorative lives.
STILL NO WORD FROM YOU: NOTES IN THE MARGIN, By Peter Orner
CATAPULT • OCTOBER 2022 • 320 PAGES • $26 HARDCOVER
“Another day and still no word from you,” Peter Orner’s grandfather wrote to his wife in 1945, a raw and heartfelt appeal that the author discovered, which led him to create this book-length response nearly 80 years later. For Orner, the lines between life and literature are blurred, and he fills this collection with intimate and intellectual essays about both.
CREEP: ACCUSATIONS AND CONFESSIONS, By Myriam Gurba
AVID READER PRESS/SIMON & SCHUSTER • SEPTEMBER 2023 • 352 PAGES • $27 HARDCOVER
A personal, incisive, and comprehensive look at what exactly a “creep” is and what social groups and systemic practices are, well, creepy, this book eviscerates those who prey on others and the ways in which they do it. Myriam Gurba, author of the 2021 Alta Journal California Book Club pick Mean, delivers a brilliant critique that looks at history, racism, misogyny, the carceral state, modern heroes, and her own identity while exploring how to defy the oppressive actions of creeps.
AMERICAN STUTTER: 2019–2021, By Steve Erickson
ZEROGRAM PRESS • APRIL 2022 • 170 PAGES • $12 PAPERBACK
For Steve Erickson, the Trump presidency was traitorous, racist, and devastating. He doggedly records what took place, refusing to turn away from one of the most gruesome political timelines in U.S. history. Occasionally personal and even funny, Erickson points the finger not just at Trump but at the American people, too.
THE SEARCH FOR THE GENUINE, By Jim Harrison
GROVE ATLANTIC • SEPTEMBER 2022 • 336 PAGES • $28 HARDCOVER
This collection of essays and pieces of journalism by the late Jim Harrison, the honorary chair of Alta Journal’s board of inspiration, is his first nonfiction book, excluding the author’s memoirs, in three decades. It includes some previously unpublished work and showcases Harrison’s love of the American West.
FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS, By Elizabeth Gonzalez James
TEXAS REVIEW PRESS • MARCH 2023 • 68 PAGES • $17 PAPERBACK
Elizabeth Gonzalez James could not stop thinking about Peter Sellers causing chaos on the set of the 1967 satire film Casino Royale. The English comedy star reportedly started numerous feuds with fellow actor Orson Welles and made incredible demands of the cast and crew. To satisfy her obsession, James started writing about it. Split between five narrators offering different motivations and moral quandaries, it is a reported piece, a critique of the hubris of powerful men, a personal reflection, and a game of form—all in one.
