One of my favorite books on writing, Anne Lamott’s classic Bird by Bird.
Off the Books
Merry Christmas!
Book Report
Ages ago a friend of mine gave me a copy of The Artist’s Way. I perused it, felt too much like homework so I set it aside.
Well, while cleaning up my lady lair I found my copy of The Artist’s Way, a 12 week course on various exercises on how to tap into our creative souls, the most well-known being “morning pages.”
Sure, this book is still overwhelming but I think a lot of it will help me greatly as I get more into my multitude of creative projects.
Grade B
Book Report
I don’t have to remind my readers on the importance of being beautiful (or hot) is increasingly important in our modern age and and a huge pursuit of women everywhere. And I don’t have to remind anyone our looks can determine our success personally, professionally and romantically. That’s why I was so interested in reading Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal by British professor Heather Widdows. Too bad it fell short of my expectations.
In Perfect Me Widdows explores how our concept of female beauty has become very narrow even in a society that claims to be more diverse, multicultural and inclusive. Not only that, this beauty ideal is more demanding, costly, and time consuming.
Widdows covers this in several chapters using both academic research and personal interviews.
Though Widdows means well and is an intelligent writer I found Perfect Me to be a bit dull and repetitive. It just didn’t grab me or tell me anything I didn’t already know. Instead of a book, Perfect Me would be better off as an academic research paper.
Grade C
Book Report
Here is a quick book report on Daniel Torday’s novel Boomer1.
This novel explores the battle between boomers and millennials from the perspective of three people, Mark Brumfeld, his mother Julia, and Mark’s ex Cassie. In the beginning Mark has it all-a great career in media, a stellar education (he’s getting his PhD), a place in a bluegrass band, and Cassie. And then Mark loses it all and moves back in with his parents. Bitter, Mark dons a disguise, calls himself Boomer1 and uploads videos to YouTube solely blaming baby boomers for his lot in life. His videos go viral setting off a revolution and Cassie’s attention. Meanwhile Julia is dealing with her own issues.
Boomer1 seemed so promising, but Torday’s writing is pretentious and moves at a snail’s pace. Mark and Cassie are unlikable. And Julia is just meh.
Grade D
Book Report
I found this book at a Little Free Library near and I knew I just had to add it to my collection of craft-related books.
Creative Gift Wrapping by Public International, LTD has 40 fun and inspiring, not to mention beautiful gift wrapping projects for all occasions. Every project has easy to follow step by step instructions with accompanying photos.
This book also offers the basics on gift wrapping, gift wrapping resources and templates. A lot of the materials can be found at art and craft stores, thrift shops, dollar stores and maybe your own home.
The only negative is there is mention of online resources buts that’s probably because this book was published in 1991. A quick Google Search can remedy that situation.
Grade B
Book Report
In the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay is very timely.
Being a fan of Gay’s I knew Not That Bad would be a compelling and upsetting read about society’s deplorable rape culture. Gay is a survivor of a gang rape. Rape culture includes sexual violence of all kinds, incest, molestation, sexual harassment in the streets, the schools and workplace, and one’s worthiness based solely on one’s perceived sexuality and sexiness. And this rape culture affects women, men and children from all backgrounds.
Written by well-known (and should be well-known) writers these essays are painful not only for the sexual violence these writers suffered but also for the vile ways they were treated once they spoke out.
Grade A
Book Report
Like I mentioned I’m spending the waning days of 2018 reading for fun only. But that doesn’t mean I can’t share what I’ve been reading, right?
America the Anxious: How Our Pursuit of Happiness is Creating a Nation of Nervous Wrecks by Ruth Whippman
British journalist Ruth Whippman, now living in the United States, has noticed something. The more we pursue “happiness” the more miserable we become. This happens even with all the various methods of achieving true bliss. Whippman explores the “happiness industrial complex,” which includes self-help books, life coaching, workplace directives, religion, social media, pop psychology and so much more and finds all of it lacking. Whippman’s skills as a journalist and dry British wit made me love this book. It reminded me of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Brightsided.
Grade A
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