You Want to Know What Your Favorite TV Characters are Reading

A project with the Ministry of Pop Culture

Hi friends,

Hope you had a nice weekend.

 I’m doing something a little different this week and teaming up with my pals over

MinistryofPopCulture

, a new magazine dedicated to in-depth cultural reporting. Its founders include Kirthana Ramisetti, author of Dava Shastri’s Last Day and Advika and the Hollywood Wives, and Erin Carlson, author of last week’s pick I’ll Have What She’s Having.

Their editors sent me a list of some of their favorite TV characters, and I’ve picked books for three of them, all from shows I adore. It was a fun exercise, and I think you’ll enjoy it, even if you’re not a TV person. I’ll be back next week with a more classic issue.

And, now, what to read if …

You’re Channeling Ron Swanson

Gator Country by Rebecca Renner

Ron Swanson, the proud libertarian Parks Department Director of Pawnee, Indiana, quickly became a favorite among “Parks and Recreation” fans. His brusque manner hid a soft side — and his secret alter ego, jazz musician Duke Silver. Few books have given me Ron Swanson vibes as much as Rebecca Renner’s Gator Country, a brilliant blend of nature writing and true crime.

Gator Country follows two threads. In one, Renner embeds with a group of unapologetic alligator poachers who view subsistence hunting in their backyard —even if it’s now protected land — as their birthright. In the second, she carefully documents Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agent Jeff Babauta’s work to infiltrate and dismantle an alligator poaching ring. The more time Babauta spends in poaching circles the more he begins to see the nuances of the issue. Not all poachers, he learns, are evil or greedy. Instead, they’re out to survive.

The empathy Renner and Babauta apply to the alligator hunters makes Gator Country a standout read. Both avoid taking the easy way out — with black-and-white thinking — and it’s that complexity that makes the book memorable. And Ron Swanson would appreciate the poachers’ belief that it’s the government that’s in the wrong, not them.

Ava is Your Favorite “Abbott Elementary” Character

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Ava, the principal on “Abbott Elementary,” is one of my favorite current TV characters. She’s a mess who defies easy description. She appears bizarrely inept and unqualified for her job but keeps spare clothes for at-need kids in her office. Ava got the position after blackmailing the superintendent but also stands up for her teachers and students. I can very easily see Ava hiding in her office reading Seven Days in June, Tia Williams’ fabulous second-chance romance, while TikToking her reactions to it chapter-by-chapter.

When sparks fly between Eva Mercy, a single mom and best-selling erotica author, and Shane Hall, an aloof, award-winning novelist, New York’s literati take note. Hidden behind their eye contact and heated arguments is an intense seven-day love affair the pair had when they were both troubled teens. In the years since, they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their popular books, even as they kept their distance in real life and online. When they’re given a second opportunity, Eva and Shane have to see if they’re ready for the relationship their teen selves weren’t prepared for.

Seven Days in June is a searing love story, featuring real, flawed characters trying to become better people. Eva’s relationship with her daughter is a pitch-perfect addition to the story arc. I’m sure Ava would root for Eva and Sean — and post videos of herself sobbing at their story.

Moira Rose is Your Idol

Girly Drinks by Mallory O’Meara

Moira Rose of “Schitt’s Creek” — and her huge collection of wigs — bring an element of glamour to the town her family is stuck in after losing all their money, or at least she thinks so. One of my favorite Moira moments is her failed attempt to film a wine commercial, despite her love of cocktails, so I’m spotlighting Girly Drinks, Mallory O’Meara’s entertaining history of women drinking through the ages.

O’Meara charts the saga through fifteen stories, which star everyone from Cleopatra and the Widow Clicquot to Ada Coleman, the head bartender at London’s Savoy Hotel, and Gertrude Lythgoe, the “queen of the bootleggers.” She also explains how drinking became a gendered activity, with different rituals and cocktails for men and women.

Girly Drinks won the James Beard Award and it’s easy to see why. It fills a gap in the history of alcohol, which has often ignored the contributions of women, while delivering the bubbly feeling of drinking champagne. For the full Moira Rose experience, put on your most dramatic outfit, pour yourself a drink and pop open the book.

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