Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences (Endangered Pleasures)
by Barbara Holland
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 95)
I probably shouldn't read this.
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Read in July, 2008
Endangered Pleasures, I will admit, has been the bathroom book for the past few months. As such it is a little warped by humidity, but Harpers hardly printed it on fine paper to begin with. The book's title and small chapters (1-4 pages, perfect for the bathroom) appealed, as did the author's choice of subjects from working to bed to books, but at first her sophistication overwhelmed the tone for me. She began as the seeming urban hipster, but by the end she had settled into rural and family ...more
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Read in January, 2003
Light and fun and a bit off the beaten path type reading but very much enjoyed these little treatises on fading pleasures, recently banished for the PC or the good health or the whatever reason. How could I resist when those items heading the title list were NAPS, BACON and MARTINIS (of which I have yet to sample my first -- it may NEVER happen to be honest -- what can I say? that's the way the cookies crumble). And then of course the tag along in the title -- profanity -- -- that one had had ...more
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Read in December, 1997
Vintage Holland. Each compact piece, no more than a few pages in length, is a humorous defense of (mostly) things that are no longer considered good for us or non-PC, but there are essays on overlooked simple pleasures of everyday life as well, such as getting mail or walking barefoot. Barbara Holland has long been one of my favorite essayists, and here she's at the top of her form.
One of the most charming aspects of the book is that it plays devil's advocate, arguing both sides of seemi...more
One of the most charming aspects of the book is that it plays devil's advocate, arguing both sides of seemi...more
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A series of essays detailing, one by one, all the things that grownups used to enjoy but have convinced themselves to let go of during the last decade or three. Until I read this book, the differences between how we live now and how we lived then never seemed so immense. I suppose it's because it's all happened so gradually. It's hard to imagine anyone reading this book and not feeling shame at what we've let ourselves be led into, and the price we've all paid.
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I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but it didn't really deliver. The writing was conversational and at times charming, but I found it to be less an ode to joy than a rather sexist and at times colonialist lament on the passing of the good old days. Maybe it's just too dated for me.
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Ben by:
reading Holland's The Joy of Drinkingrecommends it for: You
Slightly uneven, and trails off at the end, which disappoints. A book about pleasure should climax. But this is an extraordinary, witty, wise, essential, generous book. Fine, lucid writing and a topic you must embrace. Let go of your secular puritanism. Let go of your guilt, your smug self-righteousness, your haughty self-flagellation. Eat, drink, be merry, be well.
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Yes! Thank you! Delightful writing on delightful topics that I intend to explore in more depth with each pasing week. This is my favorite post-divorce gift...but don't feel like you need to go to all that trouble if you just want to read it for fun.
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Read in December, 2007
A fantastic apologia of the Epicurean lifestyle. I would have enjoyed it even more if I weren't reading it over the holidays, when I too was enjoying too much sleeping, too much eating, too much drinking.
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Read in June, 2007
Collection of amusing nostalgic essays by a woman who can find happiness in sleeping in, bare feet, unemployment, saving money, spending money and so on. Put a smile on my face.
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Just a perfect book for my little library!
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Kay Weaver, Leann Follett, Tricia Taylor
Good book for OCD types or type A people. Good info on how to enjoy frivolous things such as bacon, mail,weekends, etc.
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recommended to Monica by:
Ko
me either.
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