Myriam Gurba is the author of the books “Creep” and “Mean.” Her latest nonfiction book, “Poppy State,” is out now from Timber Press, and she spoke to correspondent Diya Chacko about it. Here, she takes the Book Pages Q&A.
Q. What was a book that made an impression on you?
The first book to really make an impression on me was Ann Petry’s “Tituba of Salem Village,” which I read in fifth grade. It’s about the Salem witch trials, but primarily through the perspective of Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados. I was just fascinated by this narrative. It was the first work of historical fiction that just rocked my world and made me realize how powerful a book could be.
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Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life?
When I was in high school, I had a crush on a Goth girl who worked at the mall bookstore. I really wanted to impress her, because I just thought she was the coolest girl in the world.
When I eventually got up the courage to speak with her, I asked her what she was reading. One of the answers was “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe,” by Carson McCullers. To impress this girl, I read that book, and I fell absolutely in love with it. So I’m very grateful to the mall bookstore girl.
Q. What are you reading right now?
I’m reading a Spanish book – it hasn’t been translated into English, but loosely translated, the title is “Land, History and Nation: Memory and Political Action in the Indigenous community of Mezcala, Jalisco,” by Rocío Moreno.
Rocío gave me that book the other day; she and I are friends and talk to each other about politics a lot. She belongs to an Indigenous nation whose territorial homelands are in the state of Jalisco, and my family is descended from those same Indigenous people.
Q. Is there a book you always recommend to others?
Going back to an earlier answer, I have a tendency to recommend “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe” to people a lot, because I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, but also a very underrated and underappreciated novel. So when people say that they enjoy books in the Southern Gothic genre, I tend to steer them in the direction of this book.
Q. Do you have a favorite bookstore experience?
I enjoy telling this story about a feminist bookstore that used to operate on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, called Mama Bears. I lived with my first girlfriend in an apartment building right across the street.
This one time, I went to the counter and asked the clerk for help with a title; I said something like “Do you guys have this title?” and the clerk pretended not to understand what I was saying. Eventually, she sneered at me and said, “Do you see any guys around here?”
Once I rephrased my request, she happily assisted me. But she seriously trained me not to use the word ‘guys’ around her! Mall bookstore crush is my favorite bookstore experience, but this one was definitely up there.