The Incomplete Dorothy Parker Reading Guide

Click here to readthe Kirkus Review

If your loved ones were thoughtful enough to give you bookstore gift cards this Christmas/Hanukkah/secular holiday, you may be thinking of expanding your Dorothy Parker library. Naturally, I hope that includes pre-ordering my new novel,  Dorothy Parker Drank Here (available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and IndieBound) or catching up on my last one, Farewell, Dorothy Parker (signed copies still available). But I'd like to present a non-comprehensive to guide to other books you should consider.


DOROTHY HERSELF
If you don't yet have a copy of The Portable Dorothy Parker, don't waste another second. This is a must-have collection of her poetry, stories, essays and reviews.
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Books-A-Million • IndieBound

BIOGRAPHY
Marion Meade's fascinating Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell is This is simply the best and most complete account of the great wit's life.
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Books-A-Million • IndieBound

This year Meade also published two short ebooks that are must-reads for the true Dorothy Parker fan. They are The Last Days of Dorothy Parker: The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendship and Alpine Giggle Week: How Dorothy Parker Set Out to Write the Great American Novel and Ended Up in a TB Colony Atop an Alpine Peak.

DRINKING
If no one thought to give you a copy of Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide as  gift,

buy it for yourself. It's a smart and charming edition by Dorothy Parker Society president Kevin Fitzpatrick.
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Books-A-Million • IndieBound

MORE FROM THE DOROTHY PARKER SOCIETY
Parker expert Kevin Fitzpatrick also wrote the entertaining and info-packed A Journey Into Dorothy Parker's New York and compiled her theater reviews into Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918-1923. His forthcoming The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide also looks like a winner.

MYSTERY
Author J.J. Murphy wrote a beloved Algonquin Round Table Mystery series in which Dorothy Parker is a prominent figure.
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Books-A-Million • IndieBound

Of course, there are dozens more, including many Algonquin Round Table themed books. Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments.