“Food is one of the most primal ways to give and receive the experience of love, and Schlichte’s Dinner Party Stories takes it a little further—this is a table-for-one read, the sort of book you’d take to dinner by yourself, a book that’s like sitting down with a dishy friend. It’s also a loving portrait of the life lived around these meals—funny, tender, smart and wise.”
—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“Dinner Party Stories is so charming, poignant, and honest you could pair it with any wine. What a find. Schlichte manages heartbreak and triumph with humor and, above all, kindness. A whole meal in a book. What more could you want?”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Less
“Generous, vibrant, as fun as it is deeply touching, Dinner Party Stories is sure to be the talk of the town, perfect for book clubs or a long solo lunch. Nora Ephron meets Queer as Folk but with a special San Francisco flavor!”
—Brittany Newell, author of Soft Core
“Bold and refreshing, the essays in Dinner Party Stories shimmy off the page with charisma. With human connection as the centerpiece to this bountiful collection, Garrett Schlichte beckons us to the table with the urgency of good gossip—with love and humor, with heartfelt shit-talk—to reaffirm that all the risk and uncertainty it takes to find yourself, to surprise yourself with a life you actually want, might, just might, be (spoiler alert) worth it.”
—Hieu Minh Nguyen, author of Staying Still
“Garrett writes the way he cooks, from the heart and with real guts. Dinner Party Stories radiates with warmth, humor, and a brand of confidence born from living life wide open.”
—Dan Souza of America’s Test Kitchen
“Like a heart-warming recipe unto itself, Garrett Schlichte’s Dinner Party Stories offers a delicious and soul-warming mix of memoir, food, and human connection. In this expansive and even-keeled collection, Schlichte explores those beautiful, nourishing, and kaleidoscopic moments where a good dinner party host both serves delectable slices of life through a generous offering of literature and, above all, knows how to throw a good goddamn party.”
—Brontez Purnell, author of 100 Boyfriends