Author Richard Grant discusses 'A Race to the Bottom of Crazy' at Reed's GumTree Bookstore
TUPELO — When author Richard Grant left Mississippi for Arizona, he didn't plan to write a book about it.
But after spending nine years in the Magnolia State, moving back to Tucson, Arizona, shook a lot of thoughts and feelings loose.
"When you move back to a place where you spent a lot of time, it produces a lot of reminiscences and self-examinations," Grant said.
He joined Steve Holland at Reed's GumTree Bookstore in Tupelo on Wednesday in conversation about his new book, "A Race to the Bottom of Crazy: Dispatches from Arizona," releasing Sept. 17, and two acclaimed books about Mississippi — "Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta" and "The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi."
Holland described "Dispatches from Pluto" as the most honest perspective of the Mississippi Delta he's read.
"Richard Grant just tells it the way it is, and you have to like it or be dishonest," Holland said.
Grant grew up in Malaysia, Kuwait and London, and spent the longest period of time — around two decades — in Arizona prior to a move to Mississippi by way of New York City with his wife, Mariah, an Arizona native.
"Everything was kind of going wrong for us in New York," Grant said. "I couldn't find any work, she couldn't find any work. The city was just hoovering money out of our bank account, we were in this tiny little half-underground apartment and our dog was depressed."
During that time, he traveled to Oxford for the Oxford Conference for the Book and witnessed Mississippi springtime in all of its glory. A friend took Grant to Pluto, Mississippi — an unincorporated community in the Delta — where he and his wife would come to own an old farmhouse.
Grant spent nine years living in Mississippi, first in Pluto and later in Jackson. A few years after Grant's daughter, Isobel, was born, he and his wife were drawn to return to Arizona.
"A Race to the Bottom of Crazy" begins with a chapter titled "Going Home," with memories the Arizona he'd left behind years earlier and reflections on his time in Mississippi. The intro aptly captures the emotions his then-4-year-old daughter experienced in the move.
"An underlying theme in the book is my transition, or evolution, from being a thrill-seeking nomad to trying to be a good dad," Grant said. "My daughter is an important character."
Interspersed with uniquely Arizonan tales, Grant combines personal accounts and research to paint a full picture of a beautiful yet complex state.
"A Race to the Bottom of Crazy" first developed as a book about American politics, and though it ultimately took the shape of a memoir, it includes Grant's firsthand observations on politics in Arizona, a longtime conservative stronghold turned swing state.
His hope for the book is simply that it makes for an enjoyable read.
"You will learn a lot about Arizona, but hopefully through storytelling and entertainment rather than serious nonfiction," Grant said. "I just hope it's a fun and interesting read. That's my intention with it."