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Allison Larkin

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You are here: Home / 100 Things / 100 Things – 65-70

100 Things – 65-70

March 30, 2009 Filed Under: 100 Things


65. Spiderman is my favorite superhero. I loved the Spiderman shorts on The Electric Company as a kid (and yes, that’s Morgan Freeman as the vampire). Something about his silence is appealing and comforting.

66. I don’t like chunky peanut butter. J does. I vaguely remember losing a tooth while eating chunky PB as a kid, and I always associate the chunks with teeth. For awhile, I compromised by buying chunky ever other time. Finally, I realized that life is too short to suffer through the chunky stuff, so I buy us separate jars.

67. I hated the ending of the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. I think it should have ended about 25 minutes sooner. Sometimes less is more.

68. In my first apartment, the landlord shut off the gas line to do some maintenance and forgot to tell me or relight the pilot when he turned it back on. I grew up with an electric stove and didn’t recognize the smell as gas. Thankfully, when I got a headache, I started craving fresh air, so I went outside. The landlord’s wife saw me sitting on the step and all of a sudden it dawned on her that they didn’t relight the pilot on my stove. I think she looked worse than I felt. The color just drained from her face when she saw me. That was almost 12 years ago, but I still can’t go to bed or leave the house without checking the stove.

69. I always double knot my shoelaces.

70. In second grade, I thought it would be cool to memorize the poem Jabberwocky (you can see why I was never one of the cool kids) by Lewis Carroll. I can still recite the whole thing.

6 Comments

Comments

  1. Dingo says

    March 30, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Love Chunky PB but Mr. Dingo, not so much. Sigh. Where’s the chunky love?

    Reply
  2. Vanessa says

    March 30, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Your story about the gas stove is one of my worst fears. While I prefer cooking with a gas range, electric makes me feel safer.

    Reply
  3. rach says

    March 30, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    i love chunky pb so much i haven’t bought smooth in over 10 years. maybe i’m missing out of something. fav so far: Saratoga Peanut Butter–made locally in Saratoga Springs, NY–with banana and raisin bits. SO good.

    I also double-knot. It’s so automatic I never think about it.

    Reply
  4. K says

    March 31, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    I dont double knot. It actually drives me nuts when people do but I do share your hate for chunky peanut butter.

    Reply
  5. Reluctant Blogger says

    April 1, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    I always double-knot too. I just can’t not do it.

    I don’t eat peanut butter but if I did I wouldn’t like bits in it either. It’s not right.

    The gas story is very scary.

    Reply
  6. The Modern Gal says

    April 14, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    Twas brillig and the slithey toves …

    I really only know the first verse and part of the second, but thanks for inspiring me to go re-read it!

    Also, I hate, hate, hate chunky. Anything called butter should be creamy smooth.

    Reply

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Allison Larkin

allielarkinwrites

Internationally bestselling author of three novels as Allie Larkin and THE PEOPLE WE KEEP. Look for HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS @gallerybooks May 2025

“Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor “Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor of a more naturally flowing up-and-down journey that basks in beautiful moments like a slice-of-life story. Whether it’s banter at the bar Freya’s working or a leaking roof that is simply one more thing than she can possibly handle right now, the characters and their experiences are so real and pure that their joys and sorrows are amplified tenfold.” 

So honored by this AP review of Home of the American Circus! 

https://apnews.com/article/home-american-circus-allison-larkin-book-review-79ea3d1fdb69ef16232a8dfb7d148ad6

#homeoftheamericancircus #booksbooksbooks
I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the A I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the American Circus as my second novel. It’s actually my 5th! Before The People We Keep, under the name Allie Larkin, I wrote three books: Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Here they are in their various editions with some of their translations! (And @justjuliawhelan also narrated Stay and Why Can’t I Be You, if you’d like to listen!)

Fun fact: That gorgeous dog on the hardcover of Stay was actually our dog Argo, and I took that photo of him when @duttonbooks couldn’t find the perfect photo of a black German Shepherd. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard to be a creative person in the world, and the blessing, the salvation, the joy of it is the community around art: the writers who will call an emergency novel Zoom meeting when you’re stuck on a draft, the ones who roll up their sleeves and make sure your words are saying what you intend to say, the one who writes an interview to promote your book in the local paper, the reader who captures pictures of the event and makes a reel, the bookstore saints who plan a meal based on the story and serve blue and yellow cupcakes and sing happy birthday to your book on launch day, the readers who show up and get books signed and ask great questions and tell stories about their lives. That’s book magic. And thanks to @townecenterbks (especially Judy and Stacey although I know there are bookstore saints behind the scenes too) and @reneewritesnovels and @woolfmania and @cassandra.a.dunn and @lindalattelessons @aneedleinmybookstack and everyone who showed up to Read it and Eat, I will never ever forget the pub day for Home of the American Circus. You all made it so special. Thank you! I love you. I’m so grateful to be part of the community of writers and readers. ❤️🐘
@deborahblakeauthor RIGHT BACK AT YOU! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on the grid tomorrow! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for your support! 😘😘😘 #homeoftheamericancircus
Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home o Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home of the American Circus! 

You know that classic bit of writing advice about how you’re supposed to write the book that scares you? Well, for a long time the thought of actually writing and sharing Home of the American Circus scared the heck out of me. I spent many many years collecting ideas for this book, terrified by the thought of how deep I’d have to dig to tell this story the right way. The book is firmly fiction, and the characters are all my imaginary friends, but the setting and themes are literally and figuratively close to home for me. Freya’s story isn’t mine, we have different life events and demographics, but I understand her sense of grief and loss and floundering and hope on a cellular level. And of all the characters I’ve ever written, the way her mind works is the closest to how I think and feel. It takes place in the town where I grew up. And I think when you read this book, you won’t know my life story, but you will know the tenor of my heart. I grew up as a kid with undiagnosed ADHD in a place where I didn’t fit, frantically trying to look normal, believing it was the only way anyone would love me. Always falling short, terrified of failure. And then in my early twenties, I dropped out of college and worked at a biker bar and made such a huge mess of my life that I was forced to build myself up again brick by brick—this time knowing that failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. That as long as you can find the strength to try again in one way or another, falling flat on your face is not the end of the world. And I learned that the only way to truly feel loved is to be yourself and see who’s up for loving you in your natural form. The people I keep taught me that. And even though it scared me, this was a book I needed to write, it’s the work I’m most proud of, with characters I love the most. So sharing it doesn’t feel like the end of the world at all. Just the end of the world where I have not shared this novel set in ny hometown with a character who has a heart like mine. #misheardlyrics #rem #homeoftheamericancircus #awkwardguitar #itstheendoftheworldasweknowitandifeelfine
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