Brace yourself: Lindy West’s no-holds-barred cross-country memoir packs a punch.

On this episode of Fully Booked, New York Times bestselling author Lindy West joins us to discuss Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane (Grand Central Publishing, March 10). West chronicles an eventful solo road trip—from Washington state to Key West and back—with plenty of insight along the way. In a starred review, Kirkus calls Adult Braces, “a well-realized, candid memoir that reveals an unconventional approach to life.”

West is the author of the New York Times bestseller Shrill and the essay collections The Witches Are Coming and Shit, Actually. She was a writer and executive producer on Shrill, the Hulu adaptation of her memoir starring Aidy Bryant, and she co-wrote and produced the independent feature film Thin Skin. She co-hosts the comedy podcast Text Me Back, writes the newsletter Butt News, and lives on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington.

Here’s a bit more from our starred review of Adult Braces: “The author of a memoir and two essay collections, West tackles big subjects here. The first to arrive are the consequences of polyamory, an unusual arrangement proposed by her husband and now coming home to roost in the form of a second partner—and more besides. Beset by spiraling self-esteem, to say nothing of having to wear the corrective dental apparatus of the title, West has a gift for making metaphors of her situation: ‘Our teeth are floating, each loose and alone in tissue,’ she writes, and alas, so are we, too, capable of being pushed together ‘if we’re willing to move through the pain of it.’…West manages to extract humor in the many odd moments she finds herself in while taking a restorative drive from Seattle to Key West, Florida, and back again.…Amid the humor, though, are moments of great insight…born of heartache, as when she sighs, ‘Lust is too much like hunger, and I am not allowed to be hungry.’”

West tells me what inspired her epic journey, including her desire to learn more about unfamiliar parts of the U.S. We discuss self-reflection, hammocks, the joys of essay-writing, her obsession with fictional maps, the pride she takes in her craft, and much more.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

The Prophecy by Kim Sakwa

Murder on the Interstellar Express by Gregory D. Little

Season of Night by Vicki Draeger

The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa by Alan Ehrgott

The Mystery in the Room by Dr. Chuck Radis

Fully Booked is produced by Jessica Lockhart and Megan Labrise.