Podcast Office: Twin Peaks, WA Primary Agent: John Bernardy Reports: 25YL • Elle Holgate • spoiler-laced • coffee-fueled • theory-rich • Ruminations Radio Network member
my piece for the wonderfulxstrange twin peaks exchange for @redwoodrroad ! you mentioned laura and margaret and self actualization through the other, and it made me think of this scene from fire walk with me
I understand the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer is the most important and highest quality of the original Twin Peaks books, but the Access Guide is my favorite. I suspect a lot of you tumblr folks may enjoy it a lot too; it’s all about worldbuilding, and does a great job with total immersion. It’s structured just like a travel guide, after all.
Have you wanted to know more about the mountains? How about local legends involving the owls? Maybe why the town is donut-obsessed? You get this, along with places to stay and restaurants to dine at, and a giant list of things to do while you’re in town.
This book has quirky townsfolk you’ve never met, and entirely new locations that there isn’t room to see in the Twin Peaks tv show, and they’re all plotted on the town map so you can visualize how to get from the Great Northern to Laura and Donna’s street.
David Lynch has contributions in this book—something no other Twin Peaks book can boast— but probably the best thing is that it includes Norma’s cherry pie recipe. Listen to my episode and you’ll know we baked it!
Sure, the book was written in 1991 and the humor hasn’t completely aged well, but the elements that expand the lore make up for it nicely. If you love Twin Peaks, I highly recommend this quirky gem.
And if you’ve read this before, what do you think?
The Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes
has been out of print for decades, so many Twin Peaks Fans have been out of luck trying to read it, if they even know it exists in the first place.
But if you’re a listener of audio podcasts, you’re in luck 🎧 i put all my complicated feelings into a monster-sized episode and I think by the end of it, you’ll have a pretty good idea (especially if you glance through the timestamped topics in the show notes for all six hours) if you’re going to want to track down this little-discussed gem or leave its ideas about the early days of Dale Cooper in the dust.
Full disclosure: I’m historically not the biggest fan of this book. It shows us a Cooper that doesn’t always match with Kyle MacLachlan’s super-charming performance.
But also full disclosure: after the 2017 edition of Twin Peaks, I’ve softened a lot on this book. For a tie-in book that was published DURING the show’s run, this book was brave for not treating its paragon hero always like a paragon or hero, but more like a flawed human. If you handle that thought okay, this book may just be of value to you.
Decades before their lead singer played the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, they releases Vs. And somehow, my favorite Pearl Jam album turns 30(??!?) today. Play the whole thing now—it holds up, and I still think it’s one of the best all-time first and second tracks combinations.