Roots and Grubs | The home of Matthew Amster-Burton

I got an email the other day from a guy who said, “You never tell anyone what you’re up to anymore.” Good point, guy.
So here I am, blowing up your RSS. Mostly to ask for money, but that’s not all. Here’s where to find me these days:
First up, I have a novel coming out (my first), and I’m funding it on Kickstarter. It’s called Our Secret Better Lives, and it’s about Katy, a first-year at a small college in L.A. in 1994 who might actually have a shot at becoming a rock star. If you...

An update on the hot bean paste situation.
Last year I mentioned that Iris developed a taste for spicy foods and that, not coincidentally, I became addicted to Sichuanese hot bean paste (doubanjiang).
Since then, I’ve gone through a kilo of hot bean paste. This is the one I bought, and I recommend you do the same:...

I spent the weekend in New York City on book tour. On Saturday afternoon I was joined in Brooklyn by Tim Anderson, author of the hilarious memoir Tune In Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, which was an inspiration for Pretty Good Number One. If you enjoyed my...

Hey, folks. At some point, the book stuff will slow down and I’ll cook something or Iris will say something funny and I’ll tell you about it. (Iris is working on an adaptation of Les Misérables set in Tokyo, where Jean Valjean steals a doughnut from...