New Book
“Hear the dark liquor of her laughter rippling behind her sentences” in this magnetic memoir as it explores a journalist’s obsession with pop culture and the difficulty of navigating relationships as a Black woman through fanfiction, feminism, and Southern mores (Saeed Jones). A Roxane Gay Audacious Bookclub November Pick. Named “Most Anticipated Books of 2021” by Buzzfeed and Lithub. Pop culture is the Pandora’s Box of our lives. Racism, wealth, poverty, beauty, inclusion, exclusion, and hope — all of these intractable and unavoidable features course through the media we consume. Examining pop culture’s impact on her life, Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet from the perspective of one southern Black woman. She explores her experience with mental illness and how the TV series Frasier served as a crutch, how her role as mistress led her to certain internet message boards that prepared her for current day social media, and what it means to figure out desire and sexuality and Prince in a world where marriage is the only acceptable goal for women. Combining her sharp wit, stellar pop culture sensibility, and trademark spirited storytelling, Nichole boldly tackles the damage done to women, especially Black women, by society’s failure to confront the myths and misogyny at its heart, and her efforts to stop the various cycles that limit confidence within herself. By using her own life and loves as a unique vantage point, Nichole humorously and powerfully illuminates how to take the best pop culture has to offer and discard the harmful bits, offering a mirror into our own lives.
About the Author:
Nichole Perkins is a writer from Nashville, Tennessee. She examines the intersections of pop culture, race, sex, gender, and relationships. Nichole is a 2017 Audre Lorde Fellow at the inaugural Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat and a 2017 BuzzFeed Emerging Writers Fellow. She is also a 2016 Callaloo Creative Writing Fellow for poetry. She formerly co-hosted “Thirst Aid Kit,” a podcast about pop culture and desire, with Bim Adewunmi, a producer at “This American Life,” and was also a co-host of “The Waves” podcast at Slate, which looked at news and culture through a feminist lens. Her first collection of poetry, Lilith, but Dark, was published by Publishing Genius in July 2018.
Listen to the playlist!
Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins Reviews:
“It is not easy to be open with reflections on sexuality, intimacy, pleasure, religion, race, and class, but Nichole does so with such intellect, thoughtfulness, and levity. Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be is not only another welcomed contribution because of the sharp, funny, and focused voice Nichole Perkins brings to those issues and others, but that she brings a working class southern Black perspective that more of America needs to hear from.” —Michael Arceneaux, New York Times bestselling author of I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé and I Don’t Want To Die
“Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be is easily one of the best books I’ve read in the last two years. Nichole Perkins is a force, and a must watch. The opening essay is as striking as the last. I laughed, I cried, and I felt seen. Like the best books are, this is a wonderful journey. I already can’t wait to read it again.”—Keah Brown, author of The Pretty One
Own this book? See if Mybookcart is buying Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins. Sell your book for cash.
