‘The Nice Life’ cover design + pre-order links!
Hello! It’s a glorious day in New York City and I’ve got something fun to share: The cover design of The Nice Life!
I wrote this book as a guide to resisting the enshittification of everything, which is making life so expensive and just…uninspiring, bleak, colorless, and boring. It’s about returning to the things that make us fundamentally human—imagination, art, beauty, joy, creativity, relationships—and intentionally making meaning together, both with and in service of others. It’s also about finding free/cheap ways to approach all of this; “just say no to buying crap” is a big theme, and going to the library, thrifting, borrowing, taking advantage of free things, and upcycling comes up in every chapter. It’s really meant to be for people of all ages, but I specifically kept teens/young people in mind as I was working on it, and thought a lot about how parents, aunties and uncles, and other adults can make creating a nice life a group project, and how kids can make us more open and curious help us see the world differently.
I really love where we landed for the cover; to me, a sumptuous (hand-painted!) still life of a bowl of cherries perfectly represents both the simple, everyday pleasures this book celebrates, and also the importance of art and creativity in feeling connected to other people.
The Nice Life comes out on October 20, but you can officially pre-order it now! Pre-orders are very helpful for authors, as they signal to retailers that there’s real reader interest in the book; if you’re so inclined, you can do so using any of the links below, or request it at your local indie bookstore.
One of the things I write about in The Nice Life is the idea of participation: not waiting to be invited or hoping someone else will make your nice life happen for you, but seeing yourself as an actor (as in, a person who takes action) and choosing to be present, here, with all of us, having embodied, real experiences.
I am not, and have never been, a person who cares about sports (and this week reminded me why—being emotionally invested in a team’s success is so stressful), but the collective euphoria across New York City as the Knicks dominated the NBA finals has been thrilling, and was such a clear example of what participation looks and feels like on a grand scale. Millions of people made the decision to simply be a part of it, even if they never cared all that much before. At a time when a lot of bad shit is happening that’s out of our control, it’s important to be reminded of the ways in which we do have agency. You can just wake up one day and decide to be a person who talks to strangers about the Knicks, and that conversation and human connection can make your day better. You can wake up and decide to do a lot of things.
Like many New Yorkers, Kiyana and I watched the game outside last night with our neighbors because it’s the easiest and also the best way to do it. Right before tip-off, a neighbor friend wordlessly handed me a blue and orange basketball Rice Krispie treat that had suddenly materialized with the naughty generosity of someone offering a joint at a party. I have no idea who brought them or how I was lucky enough to one, but it was one of many nice little moments during this playoff run.
The whole night (and, really, this whole week) has felt like the clearest example of what participation looks like on a large scale, and how uniquely energizing it is. As Barry Petchesky wrote for Defector this morning, “It's often surprisingly easy, in a huge city, to feel alone. That wasn't possible this month. NYC had a vibe I can only really compare to the 2020 election results coming in, and the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and the 2003 blackout, and the days after 9/11. A sense that we were in this thing together. This was about the Knicks, but the lesson was that sharing it had been the entire point all along. All you had to do was go outside.”
Finding ways to go outside and connect with other people is absolutely the entire point, and it’s really nice to have (or create!) a reason to sit shoulder to shoulder with other humans and just let yourself feel things together. 🍒