You’re Wondering if Elon Musk Will Really Buy Twitter
Are debating Halloween costume options or are fascinated by the rash of parrot thefts
Hi friends,
Welcome to a special Tuesday edition of What To Read If. I hope those of you lucky enough to have had a three-day weekend enjoyed it. I spent Saturday at a fall festival in Virginia, where I devoured apple cider donuts and cooed over my friends’ adorable overall-clad baby.
Over on Twitter, I asked what fictional character’s death will you never be over. The responses have been so interesting, that I thought I’d ask here to.
And, now what to read if …
You’re Following the Elon/Twitter Saga
The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
It looks like Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will indeed be purchasing the social media platform. Given all the twists this journey has taken, I’ll believe it when the deal goes through. (Sidebar: One of my favorite things to come out during the Twitter vs. Musk court battle is that the tech billionaire texted friends suggesting Twitter become a blockchain system where users would pay a fraction of a Dogecoin to tweet something. A few days later, he texted, “blockchain Twitter isn’t possible.”)
If you want a fake Silicon Valley story, check out Tahmima Anam’s The Startup Wife, a biting, funny satire of the tech industry and the so-called geniuses who run it. The book’s heroine, Asha Ray, is a brilliant coder on the cusp of a major scientific breakthrough, who reunites with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones, in the book’s early pages. Cyrus is a religion savant who advises friends on how to build spiritual rituals that mesh with their unique interests and beliefs. After a whirlwind courtship that ends in a marriage, the pair, led by Asha, creates an app called WAI — or We Are Infinite — that brings Cyrus’s rituals to the masses. Cyrus is proclaimed a genius and a cult leader, while Asha is shunted aside.
Anam perfectly captures the bizarre world of Silicon Valley and the tech industry. How pitch-perfect is her voice? She created a fake website for Utopia, a fictional startup incubator featured in the book, and quickly began receiving emails from venture capitalists looking to invest. (I love this so much.) The Startup Wife falls in one of my favorite genres — books that trick you into thinking. It’s frothy and fun, with a lot going on.
Reminder rec: In The Founders, Jimmy Soni chronicles how PayPal’s first leaders, including Musk, launched their transformative company.
You’re Trying to Choose a Halloween Costumes*
A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonnette
There are twenty days to settle on your Halloween costume. I, as always, have multiple ideas (one of the queens from “SIX”! me as Dorothy with my dog as Toto!) that I have taken no steps to actually execute one. If you’re looking for inspiration, consider grabbing Zac Bissonnette’s A Killing in Costumes.
When I first read the description of this cozy mystery with LGBT-soap-opera-stars-turned-Hollywood-memorabilia-store-owner sleuths (yes, I laughed writing that), I was intrigued. It’s a lot of backstory, but Bissonnette makes it work. The book’s two investigators, Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper, are struggling to get their new collectibles business off the ground. When the chance to manage the sale of a beloved starlet’s collection arises, they think their fortunes have turned until the diva is found dead, and they’re the prime suspects.
A Killing in Costumes is a lot of fun, and cozy mystery fans will find a lot to love. It was a tightly plotted mystery (I did not guess who the murderer was — and I normally do!) with lovable, unique characters and a healthy dose of Hollywood trivia. Moreover, I'm happy to see the cozy mystery genre becoming more diverse and hope to see many more books starring these sleuths.
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You Learned About Parrot Theft Last Week
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
The Atlantic published a fascinating story last week about parrot-nappings, “a weirdly common crime—and also, commonly, a weird one.” Journalist Daniel Enger has had a Google alert for “stolen parrot” for a decade now and can say authoritatively that these abductions are on the rise. I became obsessed with this article and spent more time than I should admit reading it aloud to anyone who would listen to me. This is all to say, you should read it.
It also reminded me of one of my favorite books, Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, which focuses on John Laroche, an obsessive orchid collector. Orlean connected with LaRoche after he and members of the Seminole Nation were arrested for stealing rare ghost orchids from Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve in Florida. LaRoche claims the tribe members could legally take the orchids, but the courts weren’t so sure. In between chapters on the thief, Orlean takes us to flower shows and chronicles the history of the orchid trade, attempting to understand what drives the obsession with this plant.
The Orchid Thief is a beautiful, lyrical book with a fascinating character — Laroche — at its center. If you missed this book when it first came out in 1998, give it a shot. Its examination of the roots of obsession are timeless.
Reminder recs: For Best Evidence, I rounded up five wildlife true crime books, including The Orchid Thief.
Thanks for reading friends. I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday with a Q&A featuring Lupita Aquino, a book influencer.
For the shameless self-promotion section of this newsletter, I did an interview with the brilliant Leigh Stein for Attention Economy about building this newsletter and launching Notes From Three Pines. I was also a guest on a recent episode of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast (hosted by the fabulous Bianca Marais).
*I received a free copy of A Killing in Costumes from Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.
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The Orchid Thief is now on my list 📚 Great interview with Leigh! Also: have you read the Helen DeWitt novella ‘The English Understand Wool’? So good, Elizabeth!
Oh yeah, it's totally mystery season. The Orchid Thief sounds like a great real-life one! Brain Lair books here in South Bend has some really good seasonal curated collections from the staff, and they feature a lot of Black and Indigenous literature and non-fiction. You'll have to see it :)