Too Much and Not the Mood

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"Nothing has influenced my writing more than how I watch movies—how I’ve always watched movies. Sometimes the same ones, over and over. I’ll forget the plot of a film, but remember, for instance, how an actor slumps in her chair or folds her arms to convey disinterest. For whatever reason I’ll watch a film, new-to-me yet heralded as a masterwork, and mostly be charmed by how the lead tosses fries in his mouth or how the booths in a pivotal diner scene are an unlikely shade of green. Too Much and Not the Mood is a collection of essays-meets-prose poetry, inspired by the women in my life, my family, and of course film—the movies that taught me how to see the stuff that’s off to the side or the patterns that build if watching movies becomes, in large part, a practice of paying attention, kind of."-Metrograph