The Slice: Aliza Sir and Aja Frost
Two writers on their most-loved bookstores, and why they're ditching official "reading goals"
Thank you so much to everyone who shared my favorite 2024 books so far. It seems like y’all are most keen on All Fours and The God of the Woods. Please report back! 📚
For The Slice1 this week, I was lucky enough to interview two of my favorite writers on this platform — Aliza Sir and Aja Frost. In their newsletter
, Aliza and Aja discuss motherhood, friendship, and pull together the best links for the group chat. Every time their newsletter pops up, I feel like I’m hanging with my big sisters. I love how they prioritize friendship and show up for one another!Some of my favorite recent editions:
Be sure and follow
for more from this duo ✨
What is the best book you’ve read this year?
Aliza: I loved Everything I Know About Love, the funny, smart, and beautifully candid memoir by London-based author and journalist Dolly Alderton.2 It made me want to call my best friends and tell them how much I love them.
Aja: I wasn’t sure what to think when I first picked up The Shipping News, Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a single father who moves to Newfoundland and takes a job reporting the shipping news for the local paper. The plot felt a little surreal; the pace was different than I was used to. But after a few chapters, I was sold. Proulx’s prose is stunning, and she develops characters so well.
What is your most favorite bookstore in the world?
Aliza: I can think of favorite bookstores in cities all over the world — but the most special stores will always be in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. When I was a kid, I’d spend hours browsing the aisles of Bookstar, a converted movie theater. The children’s and young adult sections were upstairs in the old projection booth, with an enormous window looking down on the main sections downstairs. It was magical. Sadly, Bookstar closed their doors in the early 2000s — followed quickly by several other favorite indie bookstores (Davis Kidd, Bookman Bookwoman). Those were dark times! But in 2011, Ann Patchett opened Parnassus Books, a vibrant community bookstore that has become a Nashville fixture and gathering spot.3
Aja: Like Aliza, my favorite bookstore is in a converted space in my hometown! The Mill Valley Depot is a bookstore and cafe inside an old train station. It’s not a quiet bookstore, by any means — but all the sounds (children yelling, people eating, talking, and laughing; etc.) are happy ones. And of course, it’s beautiful, with huge arched windows, moulding, and lots of wood. (If you visit, you have to visit the Mill Valley library as well. It’s an eight-minute walk away and is probably my favorite library in the world… There’s an unreal reading nook looking out over the redwoods.)
Do you set a "reading goal" for yourself?
Aliza: Not lately! I’ve always been a voracious reader — especially during COVID. But after having my son in 2022, making time to read (slash keep my eyes open when I get into bed at night) has been much harder. The biggest shift I’ve made this past year is allowing myself to “quit” books that I’m not into. Radical, right?! I’m not sure why that’s always been a mental hurdle.
Aja: This is the first year in a long time that I haven’t. I used to do the GoodReads reading challenge, but I realized it was disincentivizing me from DNFing books I wasn’t into — and, similar to Aliza, that’s something I’m trying to get better at doing. Lately, I’ve been relying on my friends and book Substacks. Clara of
, , Michelle Martin of , and Elisabeth Leoni all have great recommendations.Do y’all like the same books?
Aliza: We do — but we don’t talk about them as much as we used to! We initially bonded over books. “What are you reading right now?” quickly unlocked the next level of our friendship — and now felt comfortable discussing almost anything.
Aja: Aliza and I have pretty similar tastes, so if she doesn't vibe with a book, I’ll usually avoid it… and vice versa!
I love how you write about maintaining friendship in adulthood. What’s the biggest piece of friendship advice you want to give to Bookpeach readers?
Aliza: Be yourself. Love fiercely. And read the book Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman. It reshaped the way that I appreciate and show up in my friendships — like carving out time for each other and not being afraid to have tough conversations!
Aja: As we get older and life gets busier, I think it’s so, so key to keep showing up. To me, that means keeping my plans, even when my week gets hectic, or the weather is super gross, or I just feel bleh and don’t want to leave the house. I used to be pretty flakey, and it’s wild how much deeper my relationships became when I stopped letting myself cancel.
Huge thanks to
for being so generous with their answers. You can follow Aliza on Instagram here and Aja here!Do you have a book lover you think I should interview? Do you want to be featured? Send me an email and I’ll be in touch!
📚 On my shelf
I’ve added Dinner for Vampires, a memoir by “One Tree Hill” actress Bethany Joy Lenz to my TBR. I watched a little bit of OTH (mostly over my older sisters’ shoulders), and while this book does touch on the show, it’s really about Lenz’s time in a religious cult in the Pacific Northwest. I’m a sucker for a good cult story, and this one is getting rave reviews.
I started Dark Places by Gillian Flynn last night, and while I really like it, it’s honestly so scary I’m not sure I can keep going! At least not alone at night…
📚 Links and Things
Who else went to Pizza Hut after winning their fourth-grade reading contest?! 🍕
A very fun night out with the real-life strippers from Anora.
A really good listen about the extremely dangerous world of competitive cheerleading.
Gift guide season! 🎁
This guide for book lovers who are also feeling a call to action from
.- with the perfect foodie guide.
This week’s Just Trust Me.
Happy reading! 💛
XOX
Alli
For new subscribers, every week, I speak with a different book lover for a slice of their process, what they’re reading, and why. Here’s the most recent edition with my friend Kate, a librarian in Hawaii.
I read Alderton’s Good Material this year and loved it! I thought it would be silly (and it was — in a good way), but had a lot of heart. I want to read more from her now.
I love Ann Patchett (my favorites of hers are Commonwealth and The Dutch House) and I am dying to visit this store. Paul and I have a wedding in Nashville this May, so it’s definitely on the to-do list.
I loved this! Thanks for the shoutout, Aja ◡̈
Thanks for sharing the gift guide!