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Alden Jones

Goodreads Author

Born

New York

Website

https://www.alden-jones.com

Twitter

aldenejones

Genre

Travel, Fiction, Memoir

Influences

Paul Bowles, Amy Hempel, Lidia Yuknavitch ...more

Member Since

February 2012

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Alden Jones is the editor of the anthology of LGBTQ+ travel essays Edge of the World, featuring work by Edmund White, Putsata Reang, Nicole Shawan Junior, Alexander Chee, and others. She is the author, most recently, of The Wanting Was a Wilderness, a hybrid work of memoir and literary criticism and a Lambda Literary Award nominee. Her first book, The Blind Masseuse, was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award. Her story collection, Unaccompanied Minors, won the New American Fiction Prize and the Lascaux Book Prize. She teaches creative writing at Emerson College and the Newport MFA.

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Alden Jones’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 1,211 ratings · 140 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Best American Travel Writing 2000 by Bill Bryson (Editor), Alden Jones (Goodreads Author) 3.74 avg rating — 745 ratings — published 2000 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler's Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia 3.73 avg rating — 197 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wanting Was a Wilderness: Cheryl Strayed's Wild and the Art of Memoir 4.52 avg rating — 89 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unaccompanied Minors 4.39 avg rating — 74 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Edge of the World: An Anthology of Queer Travel Writing 4.02 avg rating — 66 ratings — published 2025 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet by Clifford Garstang (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Brandy Abraham (Contributor), Jay Kauffmann (Contributor) 4.37 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The First Time I Heard Kate Bush by Scott Heim (editor), Kellie Wells (Goodreads Author), Anka Wolbert 3.81 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trusting the Body's Two Sides Equally: Less Judgement, More Collaboration 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Newport MFA Residency

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Alden Jones and 268 other people liked Iyanna McDonald's review of All the Way to the River: "Absolutely baffling that I’m even writing this, but Gilbert admits to attempting to murder her girlfriend and is now using that as a plot point to profit off. She knowingly contributed to getting a recovered addict back on drugs, then attempts to kil" Read more of this review »
Sep 21, 2025 11:48AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones and 189 other people liked Sara☽༊‧₊˚ (hiatus)'s review of All the Way to the River: "― no because wdym the author, elizabeth gilbert, was literally planning on murdering her terminally ill partner "because she had taken her affection away from me, and because I was extremely tired"..........?! *“I want to make something extremely c*" Read more of this review »
Sep 21, 2025 11:48AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones and 579 other people liked Jennifer's review of All the Way to the River: "I cannot abide this woman. She needs psychiatric counsel and medication management. She is a menace to society. "
Sep 21, 2025 11:47AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones rated a book did not like it All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 21, 2025 11:45AM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones rated a book it was amazing The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 24, 2025 08:35AM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones liked Susan's review of Edge of the World: An Anthology of Queer Travel Writing: "edge of the world is a collection of short stories written by queer people detailing how they went about finding their place in the world. Their journeys take the reader to Russia, Mexico, Cambodia and the U.S. as well as other countries. Fifteen autho" Read more of this review »
Jul 24, 2025 08:33AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Edge of the World by Alden Jones. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Edge of the World by Alden Jones <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alden Jones rated a book it was amazing The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 14, 2025 07:27AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Loves of My Life by Edmund White. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Loves of My Life by Edmund White <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">