Jennifer Romolini & Glynnis MacNicol in conversation with Leslie Price

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Jennifer Romolini and Glynnis MacNicol join us in Remington to present their new memoirs Ambition Monster and I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris, in conversation with Leslie Price, editor of Hello Goria.

ABOUT AMBITION MONSTER

A deeply personal memoir about workaholism, the addictive nature of ambition, and the humbling process of picking yourself up when the world lets you down—an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of Drinking: A Love Story and Uncanny Valley.

After years of relentlessly racing up the professional ladder, Jennifer Romolini reached the kind of success many crave: a high-profile, C-suite dream job, a book well-received enough that reporters wanted to know the secrets to her success, and a gig traveling around the country giving speeches on “making it.” She had a handsome and clever husband, a precocious child. But beneath this polished surface was a powder keg of unresolved trauma and chronic overwork. It was all about to blow.

Written with self-deprecation and wit, Ambition Monster is a gutsy and powerful look at workaholism and the addictive nature of achievement, the lingering effect of childhood trauma, and the failures of our modern rat race. This is a Cinderella story of success and a brutal appraisal of the cost of capitalism—perfect for people pleasers, overachievers, and those whose traumas have driven them to strike for “goodness,” no matter the cost. With its timely and resonant deconstructing of the American Dream, Ambition Monster is a singular excavation of selfhood, an essential interrogation about the way we work, and an inspiring and affirming call to always bet on yourself.

Ambition Monster releases on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, and is available for pre-order at greedyreads.com!

Jennifer Romolini is an author and podcast host. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, ELLE, Fast Company, Vogue, and many others.

ABOUT I'M MOSTLY HERE TO ENJOY MYSELF: ONE WOMAN'S PURSUIT OF PLEASURE IN PARIS

When you’re a woman of a certain age, you are only promised that everything will get worse. But what if everything you’ve been told is a lie?

Come to Paris, August 2021, when the City of Lights was still empty of tourists and a thirst for long-overdue pleasure gripped those who wandered its streets.

After New York City emptied out in March 2020, Glynnis MacNicol, aged forty-six, unmarried with no children, spent sixteen months alone in her tiny Manhattan apartment. The isolation was punishing. A year without touch. Women are warned of invisibility as they age, but this was an extreme loneliness no one can prepare you for. When the opportunity to sublet a friend’s apartment in Paris arose, MacNicol jumped on it. Leaving felt less like a risk than a necessity.

What follows is a decadent, joyful, unexpected journey into one woman’s pursuit of radical enjoyment.

The weeks in Paris are filled with friendship and food and sex. There is dancing on the Seine; a plethora of gooey cheese; midnight bike rides through empty Paris; handsome men; afternoons wandering through the empty Louvre; nighttime swimming in the ocean off a French island. And yes, plenty of nudity.

In the spirit of Nora Ephron and Deborah Levy (think Colette . . . if she’d had access to dating apps), I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself is an intimate, insightful, powerful, and endlessly pleasurable memoir of an intensely lived experience whose meaning and insight expand far beyond the personal narrative. MacNicol is determined to document the beauty, excess, and triumph of a life that does not require permission.

The pursuit of enjoyment is a political act, both a right and a responsibility. Enjoying yourself—as you are—is not something the world tells you is possible, but it is.

Here’s the proof.

I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself releases on Tuesday, June 11 2024, and is available for pre-order at greedyreads.com!

Glynnis MacNicol is a writer and cofounder of The List. Her work has appeared in print and online for publications including Elle.com (where she was a contributing writer), The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, The Cut, Daily News (New York), W, Town & Country, The Daily Beast, mental_floss, and Capital New York. Her series of articles on the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn for Chase’s award-winning “From the Ground Up” package won a 2015 Contently Award. She is the author of the memoir No One Tells You This and the coauthor of There Will Be Blood, a guide to puberty, with HelloFlo founder Naama Bloom. She lives in New York City.

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Leslie Price is the co-founder of Gloria and a writer, editor, and digital content strategist with more than 18 years of experience in the women’s lifestyle space. She started the shopping website Racked, which was later acquired by Vox Media, with the goal of democratizing access to the fashion industry and was one of the first bloggers at many NYFW shows — landing her on the list of the NY Daily News’ "Most Powerful Names in Fashion" (#39, somehow ahead of Sarah Jessica Parker and The Project Runway Team). She has also served as the web editor of Lucky Magazine and, most recently, was the digital director of InStyle Magazine.