Books on PAPERMAG: Martha Frankel, Author of Hats & Eyeglasses

I have a writer crush on Martha Frankel. She's smart and funny and refreshingly, for a memoir writer, non-self serious. She likes to write, had a story to tell, wrote this (very excellent) book and now she wants you to read it. Do it.
Hats & Eyeglasses is Frankel's very candid memoir about her addiction to online gambling, the drugs she liked and did not, and her youth growing up in a Bronx housing project, in "a warm and loving family of die-hard gamblers." It's out from Penguin this month. Frankel will also be reading and speaking tonight at the Woodstock Memoir Festival in Woodstock, NY.

What do you think is "funny" and "disturbing" (The Washington Post) about Hats & Eyeglasses?
Funny -- my family. Disturbing -- my family.

Do you think your book is about "compulsion" (The Arizona Republic)?
My book is definitely about compulsion -- I started learning poker as research for a screenplay, and the next thing i knew, i had fallen down the rabbit hole with the Queen of Hearts.

What do you love and not love about memoir writing?
Love -- digging deep and deeper still. Not love -- those times i dig so deep that there's no denying what a jerk I am.

Were there things you struggled with including or not including?
Are you kidding? Everything! I had this secret that no one, and I mean NO ONE, knew about. I knew I had to get it out to go on to a good and better life, but the idea that my husband, family and friends would actually read it... Well, that literally made me sick

What is it about gambling that's so alluring?
Gambling is sexy in the way shooting pool with a lover at a dive bar is sexy -- you can feel the heat.

What do you want people to get from your book?
A few things -- first, the deliciousness of a good read. The moment when something resonates, and even if they haven't experienced what I have, they understand the joy of discovering something universal and at the same time so very personal.

Did you ever reach a point during the writing of the book where you felt like, "Eh, forget this -- too hard, not that interesting ..." or, "Eh, too hard, to sad, and too painful"?
Every day I read it and said, "Will people really be interested?" The curse of memoir is that it's so self-involved, and you worry that who the hell cares? But I know that I almost only read memoir -- I love finding out the achilles heel of everyone's life.

What kept you going with it?
The deadline and the fear of having to give back the advance.

What is your best hope for the book?
That it makes people laugh until they shoot seltzer out their noses, and cry until they get stomach spasms.

Are you on to another book idea yet?
Two actually -- one is a lifestyle book that will be announced in the next few weeks. The other is another memoir, which i never thought I'd do, but something came up that wasn't included in Hats & Eyeglasses that I want to persue. Check out my website in the next few weeks for more info.