Whoa, Gunilla, you are all that. The former Miss Sweden fronts this no-nonsense guide to Swedish massage. With anatomically correct language for muscl...moreWhoa, Gunilla, you are all that. The former Miss Sweden fronts this no-nonsense guide to Swedish massage. With anatomically correct language for muscles and muscle groups, and without pseudoscience about toxins and energies, I learned the basic moves and their application to each body part. Massage books nowadays focus on photos; this has diagrams and a lot of step-by-step written directions, fine with me. And on a lowbrow note, once you see the cover, and read Knutson's endorsement of vibrating beds (in an appendix on "Mechanical Massage"), you won't accept any other source!(less)
The autobiography of a body. Tim Parks, novelist and essayist, here brings us into his daily life: espresso and donuts in his Italian home, kayaking, ...moreThe autobiography of a body. Tim Parks, novelist and essayist, here brings us into his daily life: espresso and donuts in his Italian home, kayaking, hunched over his laptop reading Beckett and online message boards, soaring off to the Booker award ceremony. His focus through all this: the pelvic pain that eventually leads him to add shiatsu and meditation to his quotidian routine.
The oversharing first-person memoir isn't new, but this one feels quite contemporary for its blog-like structure and timely topic. Parks' very short chapters are spotted with small images (paintings he likes to analyze, bookcovers, a vista seen on a walk in the country), adding to the anecdotal charm. And his subject is how digression and disconnect, particularly driven by professional ambition, narcissism and internet time-sucking, can exacerbate pain and hypochondria. His skepticism about meditation never dies; he merely opens up to trying something, anything, to renovate his life.(less)
I was reluctant to read this in a time when so few jobs are available; wouldn't it be worse to know my "calling" when there's little or no o...moreI was reluctant to read this in a time when so few jobs are available; wouldn't it be worse to know my "calling" when there's little or no opportunity to practice it? In fact, there is no better book to help me confront and enlighten such pessimism. No matter if I never find a dream job, I still have a vocation. Palmer writes about big ideas in a small, quiet, reflective tone; I can't wait to read more of his work.
Though his book was given to me at an Episcopal group for underemployed recession-era 20-somethings, I recommend this highly to people of all ages, career statuses - and beliefs. Don't let the publisher-imposed genre, "SPIRITUALITY," sway you, as there is nothing faith-focused in subject or preachy in tone. Palmer, an education advisor and Quaker, shares contemplative, humble ideas about how to change our attitudes towards jobs and work and make sure that our lives, working and at play, suit our personalities and values. (less)
Ms. Kaling's wit and candor are well-established in her scripts for the subtlest television comedy (season 2 of "The Office"), her two-woman...moreMs. Kaling's wit and candor are well-established in her scripts for the subtlest television comedy (season 2 of "The Office"), her two-woman fringe play "Matt & Ben," and her bizarre yet addictive blog "Things I Bought That I Love." If MK is your thing, you know it already and deserve the gentle yet rapier wit of this collection of memoir-essays. It's a dark world when Chelsea Handler prevails on the bestseller charts, so I'm grateful for intellect, mildness and honesty. Mindy Kaling's comedy is post-raunch, grâce à dieu.(less)
A woman on the bus saw the cover and stopped me to ask for my take on this. After I gushed, she summarized: "So it's fun but not stupid. That's a...moreA woman on the bus saw the cover and stopped me to ask for my take on this. After I gushed, she summarized: "So it's fun but not stupid. That's a hard combination to find." Indeed, Eugenides experiments here with a seemingly effortless romantic drama/comedy about a strong-willed, well-read, beautiful young woman; this genre has been out of fashion for a century and a half, but he succeeds in reviving it.
For its heartbreaking accuracy on a college student's love of literature threatened and nearly defeated by academia's replacement of literature with literary theory (familiar to any English major); for its honest portrayal of a young woman suckered into a serious relationship with a mentally ill dreamboat (familiar to women who've been 20 years old); and for its light hand with humor and melancholy, I'm fulfilled. 2011 was the first Christmas in memory when I didn't demand to watch the movie "Metropolitan" by Whit Stillman; this year, "The Marriage Plot" fulfilled my craving for upper-crust intellectual literary debate and unrequited love.(less)
Try to resist a book that opens with a breathy evocation of Monday morning, 9 o'clock, when thousands of girls emerge from Grand Central Station and s...moreTry to resist a book that opens with a breathy evocation of Monday morning, 9 o'clock, when thousands of girls emerge from Grand Central Station and subway exits, some in kidskin gloves and pomaded locks, some in torn dirty white gloves and a kerchief hiding their pincurls, all walking towards the skyscrapers where they fill steno pools.
The tension in this scene, ostensibly, lies between professional ambition and marital aspiration: "The Best of Everything" was published in 1958, and Jaffe's unmarried college-grad girls feel haunted by failing to marry their college sweethearts. Yet the five or six main characters diverge in their reactions to work: some have the self-assertion to demand promotion to editor, others aspire to queen-bee status in the typing pool. Off-duty there is heavy petting for all and rollicking bedroom scenes for many.
On "Mad Men," Don Draper chose this as a bedtime read. If only Betty did, too; this is one cautionary tale that's actually a song of praise for sexual and romantic experimentation, and generally taking a bite out of life without guilt. And to think that this was written by the decree of a publishing house in 1958, while "Sex and the City" and chick-lit novels obligatorily end in extravagant proposals and the miraculous wedding gowns that make it all worth it.(less)
Chatty and sweet-natured, it's part memoir of a music-industry veteran, part love-life retrospective, and part rock anecdote collection. Put together,...moreChatty and sweet-natured, it's part memoir of a music-industry veteran, part love-life retrospective, and part rock anecdote collection. Put together, the ultimate goal seems to be to incite women to reclaim and develop their musical tastes instead of relying on the bullying influence of rock-nerd boyfriends.
I'm happily encasada with a jazz buff, but my own musical tastes are necessarily dormant in this arrangement. (When I asked my man if I could add a few tracks to a party playlist, I was met with a pregnant pause: "... ... ...Sure.") "Record Collecting for Girls" inspired me to experiment with hitherto ignored genres, voraciously consume canonical music of the past decade (Shins, Grizzly Bear) and my old forgotten favorites (Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, and the author's guilty pleasure Fiona Apple).
Gentle warning: don't read this book without enough pocket change for an MP3-downloading bonanza, or without easy access to a public (or personal) library well-stocked with CDs.(less)
For a suspense novella about a haunted house, "The Haunting of Hill House" surprises with the character development on a par with that of a ...moreFor a suspense novella about a haunted house, "The Haunting of Hill House" surprises with the character development on a par with that of a big 19th-century psychological novel. It's even more of a feat because Jackson uses such quick strokes to convey depth. The house is as odd as the characters are familiar: it's built without attention to levels or sightlines, with doors off-kilter and looping hallways: all the better for us to get to know shockingly vulnerable Eleanor or the effervescent girl-crush Theodora. The voyage, of course, is to the inside of Eleanor's self-consciousness and feeling of incompletion. Whether Hill House satisfies or destroys Eleanor and the other visitors is what keeps the reader on the edge of her seat.(less)
Oui, Nicholson Baker's latest is as raunchy as you've heard. This contrasts superbly with the wide-eyed, sweet-natured language in which he presents t...moreOui, Nicholson Baker's latest is as raunchy as you've heard. This contrasts superbly with the wide-eyed, sweet-natured language in which he presents the quirky participants in the fanciful sexual wonderland. The downside of pornographic explicitness is that it's very tedious. Reading a few pages at a time is hilarious; a few chapters at a time is a dull tangle of poses and body parts. Still, exceptional not for the hijinks so much as for Baker's simple, delightful voice. And I'll never look at a golf ball hole, a disembodied arm or a cocktail straw in the same way again.(less)
Spare in execution, awesomely moving in its effect. Only upon closing this small volume did I realize the scope and purpose of the day laborer's weari...moreSpare in execution, awesomely moving in its effect. Only upon closing this small volume did I realize the scope and purpose of the day laborer's wearied body, observations and isolation. This would be a nice vademecum, or companion volume, for a reader who is mourning a loved one's death; it's also appropriate for some lucky traveller through the Pacific Northwest.(less)
What an embarrassment of riches for any nostalgic woman: a zine by accomplished writer-editors who've collected essays and paintings by 20- and 30-som...moreWhat an embarrassment of riches for any nostalgic woman: a zine by accomplished writer-editors who've collected essays and paintings by 20- and 30-something women in tribute to specific girl crushes, or teen fixations. The girls we wanted to be and the women we hoped to become: they haunt us still, be they classmates or celebrities. They're all here: Joan Didion. The impossibly cool redhead who strode across campus and who, it turns out, idolized you. Lili Taylor, ubiquitous in the late 90s and unmatched in self-assurance ("Lessons Learned from Lili Taylor," Andi Teran). The significance of these role models to the writers' lives, and the troubling inevitability of living idols' changes and transformations (c.f. "Me, Myself & Gwyneth," Kayla Cagan).
This is an excellent gift for introspective ladies on the cusp of 30, and for fans of contemporary writers like Jennifer Egan who want to see them reveal the idiosyncrasies of their adolescent idolatry.(less)
"To be elegant is first of all to know oneself, and to know oneself well requires a certain amount of reflection and intelligence. Consequently, ...more"To be elegant is first of all to know oneself, and to know oneself well requires a certain amount of reflection and intelligence. Consequently, a woman who is utterly stupid will always find it extremely difficult to become truly elegant." - Dariaux, p. 129, in the section "Personality"
This 60s gem was recently reprinted (and slightly revised by the author) to cash in on the craze for ladymag fashion how-to guides crowding the displays at Barnes & Noble. Yet it's far less frivolous than such company implies. Dariaux, whose ideas about propriety were quite old-guard in the 60s, now seems nearly radical in her insistence on a pared-down wardrobe of only a few items, none of them spendy. She writes from a time when occasions -- a job interview, or a road trip in the country -- brought certain expectations for dress and grooming. These expectations are extinct, but Dariaux is prescient in her interest in selfhood and her interpretation on elegance as the effect of intelligence and sensitivity. With such a message, this book is therapeutic. Know thyself and soyez élégant.(less)
Haters, you must chill. This is a cookbook for every day; whether you're working with a custom-built backyard brick oven and organic vegan mayonnaise,...moreHaters, you must chill. This is a cookbook for every day; whether you're working with a custom-built backyard brick oven and organic vegan mayonnaise, or a '50s electric stove and Hellman's, Ms. Paltrow cooks for you. Her polenta with sweet corn -- a double dose of mais! -- is on my stovetop right now. All these recipes are appetizing and inspire me for lunches and dinners today and in the future. This winter will definitely see the duck cassoulet, for one. While this cookbook is too simple for an experienced cook, it's lovely for a beginner, and it deserves props for a clear, spare layout with judicious use of photographs.(less)
Once you've met joyfully hopeless Topsy, a very young slave who has never known a family until she's saved by Little Eva's evangelism, you're as hooke...moreOnce you've met joyfully hopeless Topsy, a very young slave who has never known a family until she's saved by Little Eva's evangelism, you're as hooked as was American pop culture ever since this book's release. This is very entertaining and surprising -- surprising that Stowe leaves no page untouched by critique of the values and views espoused by each character. She holds up as risible almost every view held by whites about the slave trade; to her, the practice went against every principle of the country, yet arguments about how to end it missed the follow-through on how to integrate former slaves. Only Tom and his family, the disguise-riddled genius George, the Quakers and the articulate, relentless Eva come away looking good.
As a novel, this isn't too hot. As the biggest touchstone of pop culture from March 1852 onwards, it's immensely entertaining and unparalleled in its scope and influence.(less)
A novel about sex in the Arab world? No, it's more of a mini-memoir of the author, who is Syrian but lives in Paris since the 1970s. She writes of her...moreA novel about sex in the Arab world? No, it's more of a mini-memoir of the author, who is Syrian but lives in Paris since the 1970s. She writes of her lifelong project of reading all Arabic erotic literature, which abounds and to which the Prophet contributed in no small measure. She remembers racy female friends unexpectedly delighting in arranged marriages, lazy afternoons at the hammam, and romps in Paris and Damascus with male consorts. Throughout, she quotes (but does not cite) passages from age-old texts about sex and Muslim life. The author's lust for men, and for Arabic thoughts about men and women, are the subject of each of the twelve "gates," as she calls the small chapters.
Ah, French comedy. Whether literary or cinematic, it's often so banal and lazy that you'll pine for a brash American remake. Anna Sam doesn't disappoi...moreAh, French comedy. Whether literary or cinematic, it's often so banal and lazy that you'll pine for a brash American remake. Anna Sam doesn't disappoint in this book of advice to French grocery store shoppers, delivering such exhilarating second-person narration as "You drive into the grocery store parking lot and, after a lot of hunting, you find a spot. Don't forget your shopping list!" The style is like that of her first book, "Tribulations d'une caissière", a mega-bestseller in France ("Checkout: A Life in the Tills" in its English edition).
Intimately familiar with the bewilderment, fear and trembling of a typical visit to a Paris grocery store, I smiled at Anna Sam's typical oddities in Monoprix: the cashier who makes you return all your items because you don't have exact change and she refuses to make 2€ change, the economy-sized glass jar of apricot preserves shattered in the center of an aisle for a whole day, and the produce guy who refuses to sell you plums because "it isn't done." Ah, la douce France!
However, any reader is better off reading David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris: A Recipe for Living in the World's Most Delicious City. He's a writer with wit and style to spare, and more importantly, his short takes on Paris everyday life spins insight from petty frustration. Even a non-francophile would find illumination and delight therein. (less)
This is an oddity. Ms. Block abides the subtitle to the letter: this isn't a guide to myths, it's a guide to the individuals and couples in your life,...moreThis is an oddity. Ms. Block abides the subtitle to the letter: this isn't a guide to myths, it's a guide to the individuals and couples in your life, drawing commonalities to mythical creatures in hopes of illuminating attractions, difficulties and longings in various pairings. I found it slightly psychologically helpful, but mainly just delightful, to be diagnosed as a Giantess, and then to learn about the implications of my match to a Giant man; so too is it a pleasure to identify the mythical types and pairings in my circle of friends: a Dryad and a Vampire, a Mermaid and an Merman.
"Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur" would make a sweet gift to a friend on the dating market; its learned yet effervescent tone inspires reflection and action. For fans of the writer, it's also a touchingly frank glimpse into the personal fears and dreams of a writer who is uniquely attuned to those of her characters and to the mythical origins of many of her novels. Oui, this is a dating guide and personality quiz for grownups.(less)
Ms. Block tells Greek myth in prose poetry, setting it in her proprietary world of deeply emotional L.A. punk-deity teenagers; the difference is that ...moreMs. Block tells Greek myth in prose poetry, setting it in her proprietary world of deeply emotional L.A. punk-deity teenagers; the difference is that here the characters reenact the lives of kindred Greek gods, and they age and grow in Hollywood, L.A. and San Francisco. With its lonesome meditation on aging, love and family bitterness, "Psyche" is an appropriate read for older readers, too - the last chapters exalt being 40+ and happy in one's skin.(less)
Upon hearing Marc Maron (of the WTF podcast) and a handful of Slate writers rave about this comic novel set in Great Recession-era Queens, I took up w...moreUpon hearing Marc Maron (of the WTF podcast) and a handful of Slate writers rave about this comic novel set in Great Recession-era Queens, I took up with "The Ask." Lipsyte's first-person lead is a distinctively contemporary type: the self-pitying, anxious man-child, fraternally similar to the hero of "Super Sad True Love Story" and the onstage persona of every male standup comic at your local comedy club's amateur night.
In the passenger seat on a Saturday road trip, I flipped through the book to find salient witty passages to read aloud to my captive audience. No luck: Lipsyte prefers the minor observation to the Sedaris-esque insane setpiece. This is a plus, to me; yet in this case, the effect of toned-down humor is monotony, not insight.
Still, I'd recommend it to friends who are, like the protagonist of "The Ask," rearing a small child: little Bernie and his day-care experiences, and frank conversations with his father, were the funniest and most finely-observed moments in this novel.(less)
Couldn't resist grabbing this after Jane Kramer's fabulously skeptical profile of Badinter in the New Yorker. Best anecdote: Badinter bemoaning her "...moreCouldn't resist grabbing this after Jane Kramer's fabulously skeptical profile of Badinter in the New Yorker. Best anecdote: Badinter bemoaning her "execution" by her audience at Princeton, where she gave a talk on how French women enjoy sex more than American women because French women are chill about hygiene and are heirs to 18th-century aristocratic salon conversation. Oui, this is representative of one branch of le monde intellectuel en France.(less)
In the damp fog of summer, Dante guides me take a bite out of life. Che magnifico docente! This translation is especially fine, according to Ralph Wil...moreIn the damp fog of summer, Dante guides me take a bite out of life. Che magnifico docente! This translation is especially fine, according to Ralph Williams, professor emeritus at University of Michigan and my idol for his boundless love of life. I endorse this translation for a few reasons:
- modernized Italian on the facing page. Play with the Italian: try reading it aloud, or just seek out specific passages and words.
- endnotes following each canto. Much better than footnotes at the bottom of each page. Instead of flipping back and forth, I read each canto in full, slowly, then read all the endnotes, then sometimes went back to the text. The effect: steady absorption and appreciation.
- the translation is unrhymed poetry and preserves Dante's word order and sentence structure. You get all his ideas in the same delicate syntax, all the better to communicate the complexities of this moral, historical, personal and idiosyncratic epic.
Fear not Dante! He's such fun, and this edition makes it very easy to plunge into his gossiping, gore and heart. It is impossible to overestimate this work.(less)
The simplest measure of a successful cookbook is surely your inclination to take it into the kitchen and make a few recipes on the spot. This is clear...moreThe simplest measure of a successful cookbook is surely your inclination to take it into the kitchen and make a few recipes on the spot. This is clearly a winner on that front: since bringing this book home from the library, I've whipped up sauces, desserts and hors d'oeuvres using items already in the pantry and refrigerator. Each recipe is appealing and easy to make, originating in the apartment kitchens of young women who've stumbled into passions for food. It's all cooking from scratch, using healthy standard ingredients, no neuroses, no anxiety. A good gift for a 20- or 30-something.(less)
It's the 100-year anniversary of a major touchstone in union activism, worker's rights: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, just off of Washington S...moreIt's the 100-year anniversary of a major touchstone in union activism, worker's rights: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, just off of Washington Square, where 146 girls and women died in a factory where fire exits were locked from the outside (to prevent employees from stealing cotton scraps) and fire escapes were flimsy enough to fall right off of the building when anyone tried to use them. The fire lasted 15 or 20 minutes and had immense consequences for labor law, women's rights and immigrant's rights, and even pop culture: the morgues containing the dead girls became a sideshow attracting 200,000 gawkers, while William Randolph Hearst relentlessly tore into sweatshops despite political pressure to downplay the story.
This is a book geared towards Young Adult readers, but it's still terrific for older readers who want a judicious history of the event, its context and its repercussions: New York City's immigrant population and industry barons; the megatrend of the shirtwaist, or a blouse that is puffy on top but narrows into a tiny waist (hence the factory's name, "Triangle"); the history of strikes and strikebreakers, and the explosive consequences of the disaster that reshaped labor and union rights in America.(less)
For a self-defined "pragmatic economist," Cohen is awfully dreamy while pondering how "new" powers in Asia can learn from European...moreFor a self-defined "pragmatic economist," Cohen is awfully dreamy while pondering how "new" powers in Asia can learn from European success and failure.
One of his central proposals is that China, in its rise, must avoid starting a World War, because Europe was decimated by its 20th-century World Wars, and Cohen sees huge wars as inevitable Malthusian comeuppances. But China and much of Asia suffered hugely during WWII, not to mention the Korean and Vietnam wars. How these specific battles and famines illustrate Malthusian principles of population control and wealth management, I don't grok. I also don't agree that African famines are due to overpopulation; I thought it was well-established that central Africa's resources could not support even a small population in a capitalist economy.
If you still long for French philosophe-ism from Daniel Cohen, go for his book on globalization which is not quite this goofy, or cruise the archives of newspapers online for his op-eds. (less)
During the heat wave this summer, I can't bear to funnel my few existential woes into my favorite kind of consumerism. The creation and consumption of...moreDuring the heat wave this summer, I can't bear to funnel my few existential woes into my favorite kind of consumerism. The creation and consumption of, say, caramelized crusty roast pork shoulder, rosemary fingerling potatoes and the custard base of a malted-milk ice cream: all this demands appetite-killing effort.
The more maligned kind of consumerism is a better fit for listless evenings: I borrowed this book from the library and caught a glimpse of the aspirational self-realization that ladymags equate with clothes. The famous dames of "The Ellements of Style" fill their voids with fashion. The more thoughtful women featured here are quite inspiring: Charlotte Rampling's minimalism and her resistance to any shoe but a brogue. Dita Von Teese's scholarly composure of her image and her life. Tops: Yvonne Force Villareal, an artist's benefactor, wears long black spandex leotards (ordered in bulk from a dancer supply store) and drapes them with tunics and scarves. (less)
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