false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1215282486m/2578107.jpg 2578107 2 <b>A gloriously written memoir of growing up in a family of hard-core gamblers-Martha Frankel thought the gambling gene had passed her by, until she found herself addicted to online poker and knee-deep in debt.</b> <br/><br/> Most weekends when Martha Frankel was a kid, her mother had a mah-jongg game going in the kitchen with her girlfriends while their husbands were in the living room playing poker. Once Frankel reached adulthood, however, while her cousins were making their way in the world as bookies and drug dealers, gambling didn't much factor into her life. <br/><br/> In the tradition of <i>Five-Finger Discount</i> by Helene Stapinski and <i>Dry</i> by Augusten Burroughs, <i>Hats & Eyeglasses</i> traces Frankel's love affair with poker. It was a passion that bit her in her mid-forties and remained harmless enough when she stuck to real cards. But everything changed one evening in 1998 in Atlantic City, when Frankel overheard one dealer bemoan the fact that his tips that evening were going to be small what with the meager crowd assembled. Another dealer mentioned that everyone must be playing online-"Why leave the house when you can play in your pajamas?" the dealer said. <i>Why indeed?</i> thought Frankel, who couldn't wait to get back to her computer. The next morning she took a deep breath, typed in her credit card number, and entered the world of online gambling. It was the beginning of what one of her uncles called "hats and eyeglasses," a term used to describe those times when you're losing so bad you're drowning (so all one can see is the poker player's hat and eyeglasses floating on the surface of the water). By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Hats & Eyeglasses is a tale of passion, addiction-and those times in life when we almost lose our shirt. 2591891 14 2 2008 Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling total:76|5:24|4:19|3:25|2:5|1:3| 76 284 192 27 5 2 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 09:52:38 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 18 03:38:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Dec 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 06:22:52 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 10:20:01 -0800 2008
Frankel writes with sincerity. As she falls deeper and deeper into her other life she maintains an...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Dec 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 17:26:18 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 06 07:22:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 18:57:28 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 29 00:25:41 -0700 2008
Beautifully written, by a sincere woman that excells in our craft of...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 23 16:09:29 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 12 15:49:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 07 14:29:57 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 14:33:23 -0800 2009 STOP SMILING interview with Hats & Eyeglasses author Martha Frankel:

(This interview originally appeared in the STOP SMILING Gambling Issue)

Martha Frankel knew, when interviewing a very young Leonardo DiCaprio, that the way to get him to open up would be to challenge ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 30 13:19:44 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 08:04:35 -0700 2008
Of all the different types of literature I now read and review on a regular basis, easily...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 07:27:45 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 07:34:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 09:26:03 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 07:43:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 01 20:36:24 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 17:16:17 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 14 17:23:22 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 17:37:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 10:32:10 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 10:34:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 21:50:11 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 21:50:29 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 11:30:33 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 12:18:04 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 16 09:39:12 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 13:15:44 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 09:39:12 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 15:42:03 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 15:35:43 -0700 2009
This was a quick and fun read ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 22 17:19:42 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 03 08:20:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 29 08:33:27 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 19 08:46:00 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 14:07:59 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 07 05:49:11 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 27 16:36:55 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 18:17:51 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2578107