Abbi Jacobson Is Publishing a New Book and You Should Carry It
I am a woman and I carry a bag. Usually, I carry a pretty big one. Once in a while I think: Yeah, I definitely need everything in here. I’ve got my magazine, my extra scarf, my whole damn computer, a purse–yes, an entire separate bag inside the big one. That one is filled with single dollar bills, stamp cards from coffee shops I never return to, and Carmex up the wazoo, plus around nine business cards I will never look at again (sorry about that, nine people). Now that I’ve gone through this list, however, I realize I need about none of it. As long as I have a credit card and my phone, which I could carry in my hand, I’d be fine. So what does this giant bag filled with this crap say about me?
Scary question. But it’s the same one that is the topic of a newly-announced book–Carry This Book–due out from Viking in October, by the inimitable Broad City co-Creator, Abbi Jacobson.
The book was announced by Entertainment weekly yesterday, and not many details about its content are yet known. But, per a release from Viking today, Jacobson is set to explore, in illustrated format, what, for example, Martha Stewart might keep in her hand-knitted fanny pack, or the mysterious objects Bernie Madoff stuffed, beside one billion dollars, inside of his suitcase (if the Madoff series on ABC has any truth to it, my guess is that it was a ton of Icy Hot, to assuage his horrible, stress-induced back spasms). Carry This Book gives us “a humorous and insightful look into how the things we carry around every day make up who we are,” says the release from Viking/Penguin Books.
This is not Jacobson’s first foray into the world of print publishing. Last year, Jacobson (who studied art and, like her character on her own show, also attempted to create a greeting card company) published two coloring books for adults, Color This Book: New York City, and Color This Book: San Francisco.
(Hmm, a pattern emerges: Jacobson only publishes books whose titles include “Book” and then imperatives. Straightforward yet quirky, much like Jacobson.)
As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t much matter what the book is actually about (even though, in this case, the question alone–what does all this material minutia say about me?!?!–could consume your thoughts and trigger your deepest insecurities for hours, what fun). Both she and Glazer have more than demonstrated their gift for making the mundane hysterical. And a book, after all, is a pretty exciting thing: you don’t even need WiFi to enjoy it, only your hands and eyes.
So might we suggest–along with Jacobson–that, come October, you carry Carry This Book. About your character, it will say: “I make fantastic decisions.”