After successfully launching into the word orbit in print and e-book form, Josef Woodard’s “snarky summer read” novel, Ladies Who Lunch now goes audible. The official audiobook edition of Woodard’s debut novel, releasing on Audible, wherever fine audiobooks are found, and at the in-house site (www.LadiesWhoLunch.me) is set to release on June 25, 2021.
Fittingly–and symbiotically—audiobook narration honors are handled by expert narrator Katrina Leffler, who has worked on over 40 audiobooks to date. Leffler has the distinction of being 1) sister of the author, and 2) a key figure and character/catalyst for the book’s existence, whose life in Los Angeles circa the ‘90s was the saga’s seedbed. Author Woodard, a veteran arts journalist-critic whose work for the LA Times, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, DownBeat and other music magazines and outlets, spent a lot of the 90’s hanging in Leffler’s various stylish houses—”crash pads”–around Los Angeles.
What began as a more truthful account of her lifestyle in and around gal pals and show biz types (she was married to Ed Leffler, Van Halen’s manager), quickly evolved into a wild ride of a satirical romance novel, with soul-searching and lunch-craving narcissists navigating outlandish scenes, carnal knowledge, and calamities, personal and natural. By the time of the novel’s completion, it was clear that Katrina’s original role as a central subject shifted into the realm of a fictional romp, very loosely based on real lives and situations.
The fiction muse ran wild, running roughshod over fact. For fun and literature’s sake.
Reviews/reactions are coming in, from press and from fair readers:
“Across 267 quick-turning, punchy pages, we walk in the high heels of recent divorcee Danielle Wiffard as she explores the celebrity and high-net-worth dating scene in Los Angeles during the glitzy and gilded 1990s, reflecting on progress and problems regularly with a snarky, boozy coterie of couture-wearing cacklers. The book’s sardonic, tongue-in-cheek tone makes for plenty of darkly comedic turns, but Woodard frequently drops deeper nuggets of cultural analysis about L.A. and California at large.”
–Matt Kettmann, Santa Barbara Independent, link
“Mr. Woodard calls the book a ‘satirical romance,’ and he said readers will notice the plot advances through Danielle’s various affairs and encounters with L.A. socialites.
‘That’s her process of going through this sort of self-discovery after getting divorced and feeling this new freedom where she can go out with a famous country-western star or someone is suspiciously similar to David Cassidy,’ Mr. Woodard said. ‘I think it’s a feminist book because she’s very much restless and in control of what she allows to happen and who she wants to pursue and who she wants to keep away.’
He added, ‘It’s basically like a long self-discovery trek with a lot of strange adventures along the way and romantic little episodes that come and go.’
–Madison Herneisen, Santa Barbara News-Press link
“The perfect book for summer reading.”
–Richard Mineards, Montecito Journal, link
Readers note:
“I really enjoyed your novel—quite a cast of lost souls. You have crafted these human clumps of clay in the cultural cat box with rare skill.”
–Sean Hutchinson, musician/writer
“I just finished reading your novel last night and it’s terrific. It’s such a great way to frame a city and a group of women in a satirical, funny, yet sad way. There’s a yearning that’s never quite satisfied, the dilemma we all face and make jokes about.”
–Larry Delinger, via Facebook Messenger
Ladies, the readable kind, can also be procured in fine brick & mortar book outlets, including:
Book Soup, West Hollywood link; Vroman’s Book store, Pasadena link; Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara link; Book Den, Santa Barbara link; Mesa Bookstore, Santa Barbara link; Tecolote Books, Montecito link; Coalesce Book Store, Morro Bay link; Book Loft, Solvang link
Author Josef Woodard is a veteran cultural critic, who wrote for the Los Angeles Times for 25 years, has contributed to Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, DownBeat and many music magazines, and a long association with the Santa Barbara Independent and News-Press. To date, he has published two books for Silman-James Press, on jazz legends Charles Lloyd and Charlie Haden, respectively. He is also a musician, a guitarist, songwriter, and head of the Household Ink Records label. This is his first novel.
Links:
Ladies Who Lunch. The book. | Facebook | Twitter | Reddit
Media friends: to receive an audiobook, pdf or hard copy, please email info@householdink.com.
###
Household Ink
p.o. 2093
Santa Barbara, CA 93120
Household Ink formed in 1987, as a record label aimed at releasing albums by the flagship group Headless Household. It subsequently branched out to host music by a wide range of musical figures, now with upwards of 40 titles in its catalogue.
Household Ink, the publishing arm, launched in 2021 with the publication of Josef Woodard’s debut novel, “Ladies Who Lunch.” more to come, musical- and literature-wise
