Literary tattoos and diving beyond the bestsellers: What’s in Carolyn Kellogg’s book bag?

Carolyn, and her literary tattoo

For her job at the LA Times, Carolyn Kellogg writes about all things having to do with books and publishing. (Full disclosure: We were long-ago cubemates at Marketplace, before we each reincarnated ourselves various times.)

We asked her to wade through all the inevitable hype and such about the fall blockbuster books…to find some gems we’d likely never hear about it. So she showed up with her Paris Review book-bag filled with, well, books, but also some… delicate underthings.

Here’s what made her short-stack–with a sidetrack conversation about her tattoo, which happens to have a connection to a mysterious yet famous writer (who happens to have a new book out today.)

Carolyn’s picks for the fall:

Thomas Pynchon – Bleeding Edge

Paul Kwiatkowski – And Every Day Was Overcast

Kate Manning – My Notorious Life

Michael Farris Smith – Rivers: A Novel

Stephen King – Doctor Sleep

Elizabeth Gilbert – The Signature of All Things

Jonathan Lethem – Dissident Gardens

Eric Schlosser – Command and Control

Margaret Atwood – MaddAddam