Gayle Forman — the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Just One Day, Just One Year, Where She Went, and If I Stay (among others) — is coming to Penguin Bookshop on October 13th!*
Forman is touring in support of her masterful adult debut, Leave Me, which you can start reading right here on Littsburgh! Leave Me is set, in part, in Pittsburgh — and in the excerpt Algonquin Books very kindly allowed us to run, the protagonist finds herself starting an exciting new life in Bloomfield!
“How do we reinvent ourselves when we can’t even recognize the body we are in? Can you know where you’re headed if you don’t know where you came from? These are the questions faced by the prickly Maribeth, the complex and fascinating character at the center of Leave Me. In her first novel for adults, Forman reminds the reader that the answer to both questions involves getting to the heart of the matter.”
—Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time* Note: This will be a ticketed event, and your copy of Leave Me (purchased from the Penguin Bookshop) will serve as your ticket for entry.
What comes to mind when you think of Pittsburgh?
The place I want to run away to. Just kidding. No, not really. Every time I visit Pittsburgh I wonder why I don’t live there. And I have even visited Pittsburgh in December. So, why don’t I live there? Someone tell me.
What books are on your nightstand?
You’ll Grow Out Of It by Jessi Klein, which I’m reading now after a spate of really good, but really intense, novels. I needed some levity.
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. I think this will probably be the last one I get to on vacation.
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood, though it’s really on my husband’s nightstand but I plan to steal it from him because I adore her.
Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn. I’ve been reading this one slowly, savoring the story, the world.
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, An Introduction To The New Testament by Raymond E. Brown, The Complete Gospels, 4th Edition by Robert J. Miller — these are all research for my next project.
Is there a book you’d like to see made into a film?
There are lots of books I’d like to see made into GOOD films. But me and my 12-year-old are getting into watching rom-coms together. We recently saw The Proposal, which we both adored. So I’m going to go with Stephanie Perkins’s YA novel Anna and the French Kiss, which would make the best rom-com ever.
Who would you most want to share a plate of pierogis with?
Beyoncé and Michelle Obama. The three of us together. We’d each get our own plate and then share. With extra onions, of course.
Author photo © Stomping Ground Photography
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