In-Store: Priyanka Mattoo: How to Be Less Useful w/ Radhika Jones

“A hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby

Event guidelines:

• Each ticket will include either a copy of the featured book or a $10 Books Are Magic gift card.
• Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
• A signing will follow the talk.
• Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
• The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/CKETwLU8vJY
• As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact eventhelp@booksaremagic.net.

A delightful book about reclaiming pleasure in mid-life—a potent mix of self-help and memoir, from one of today’s wittiest, wisest voices.

"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything."

Think about what we choose to cut out or overlook as we approach the deep end of adulthood: Dessert. Naps. Pretty underwear. Sweaty dancing. “Pointless” hangs with the people we love most. And then, activities that used to be fun somehow lose their luster, usually in the decade between thirty and forty: summer vacation (exhaustion), stay-in-touch texting (bandwidth), finding the perfect restaurant (the algorithm).

When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization?

Priyanka Mattoo shares her journey toward being less useful, delivering life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins and what it serves. Did you know karaoke can cure a stomachache? Or that Paddington Bear is a stealth lifestyle guru? Or that nobody actually asked you to do that labor-intensive thing you begrudgingly did? With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka shows us how to step out of the grind as a friend, as a partner, even as a parent, and welcome joy back into our lives without burning it all down.

Priyanka Mattoo is the author of the memoir Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, as well as a filmmaker and former Hollywood talent agent. She is a contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker, and a columnist at Vulture. Her latest book is, How to be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency.

Radhika Jones, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, is at work on a memoir titled "Bookish." She was previously editorial director of Books at The New York Times and a deputy editor of TIME magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia, and serves on the boards of CARE and The Paris Review.