Songs of My Father and Other Essays

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Pub Date Jan 14 2025 | Archive Date Jan 23 2025

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Description

What do mayonnaise, Tab, iced tea, Vicodin, and French banana (or is it French vanilla?) ice cream have in common? If you guessed addictive tendencies and over-the-top histrionic narcissism, you win! Welcome to the world of Fred, who is certain an ever-adoring public awaits his next spellbinding performance. Imagine a combination of Willard Scott, Ron Burgundy, and Tolkien’s Gollum, but from Louisiana. Just don’t look too carefully for the person behind the performer – you might not find the laff-a- minute laff riot the often comic, sometimes melodramatic, and frequently 1950s-radio-announcer-intense masks conceal. Songs of My Father and Other Essays by Gardner Landry assembles relics of his writing from an earlier era that hearken to even earlier times, stretching from childhood into his adult years. The Fred essays recount some of his father’s choice exploits, while the second group includes anecdotes and observations from beyond the confines of his family. Additionally, Landry creates a triple-decker club sandwich of a book (with mayonnaise, of course) by including contemporarily written forewords to the first and second sections, along with a present-day afterword to wrap up the collection. It’s not a big book, but it packs a punch and entertains from cover to cover.

"Landry shows us that wit is a more potent therapeutic agent than self- pity...He has such a talent for comic elaboration-- long, glittering, serpentine passages that recall S. J. Perelman." - Emily Fox Gordon, author of Mockingbird Years: A Life In and Out of Therapy, winner of two Pushcart Prizes and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in the humanities

What do mayonnaise, Tab, iced tea, Vicodin, and French banana (or is it French vanilla?) ice cream have in common? If you guessed addictive tendencies and over-the-top histrionic narcissism, you win!...


A Note From the Publisher

Gardner Landry graduated from the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude. He spent many years in branding and marketing communications before his novel Merlin of the Magnolias was published in 2021. Songs of My Father and Other Essays is his first nonfiction collection. Gardner is a native Houstonian.

Gardner Landry graduated from the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude. He spent many years in branding and marketing...


Advance Praise

"Songs of My Father and Other Essays by Gardner Landry is one novel that will make you laugh, cry, and even shake your head a time or two over Fred’s eccentric behaviors. Readers will walk away from this book being grateful that Fred wasn’t their relative." - Feathered Quill

"Songs of My Father and Other Essays by Gardner Landry is one novel that will make you laugh, cry, and even shake your head a time or two over Fred’s eccentric behaviors. Readers will walk away from...


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Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9798891325074
PRICE $13.99 (USD)
PAGES 156

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 8 members


Featured Reviews

"It's just as good to laugh as it is to cry."

That's something my grandmother used to tell me, and I felt very much like this collection from Gardner Landry was the embodiment of that statement. Gardner has found a way to weave humor (maybe black) and wit into the tapestry of being raised by a narcissistic parent. Sometimes odd, always blindingly honest, I found myself unable to put it down.

I'm incredibly glad stories like this exist, and that there are authors like Gardner who are brave enough to tell them.

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This is the first essay collection that I have ever read, so I went into it not knowing at all what to expect. What I found was a witty, clever and all together fascinating glimpse into the world of Fred, Gardner Landry's father.

Through essays centred around Fred's obsession with being contactable, love of Tab, fascination with mayonnaise and consistent burning desire to be the centre of attention, you start to get an understanding of the family dynamic, and how challenging it must have been to be raised by a narcissist. The essay with the death of Landry's mother was particularly strong.

The final four essays, not reflections on the life of Fred, but rather other snapshots of Landry;s life were strong, and clearly written, with some fantastic wordplay. The final essay, a warning on the dangers of Ambien in an Emirates first class cabin was a joy. I am inspired to search out more essay collections.

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I’ve recently developed a newfound love for short stories and essays, and Songs of My Father and Other Essays by Gardner Landry was such an unexpected delight. The cover was what first drew me in, but thankfully the content was as captivating as the outside. This collection is equal parts witty, heartfelt, and deeply engaging… one moment, I was laughing out loud, and the next, I found myself surprisingly moved.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, I truly had a blast with this one!

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This was a very interesting read by Gardner Landry that was thought provoking and raw. I enjoyed the layout.

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Gardner Landry wrote these essays and was hooked from the first concept. It was everything that was promised and enjoyed the overall feel of this essay collection.

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as someone with a narcissistic grandfather this really hit home, the stories felt familiar and new at the same time, it reminded me of my own experiences and those of my mothers childhood

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this in exchange for my honest feedback!

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