books
I've read a lot of excellent books lately, and I'd like to post a review of each of them like Becky does, but I'm far too lazy. So I came up with the idea of quoting a representative passage from each.
In the Drink, Kate Christensen, 1999. "I brought my coffee cup over to my desk and topped it off with a dollop of vodka. I downed half of this weird but bracing mixture before I went through my mail, which had been accumulating, ignored, on my table for the last week or two. Month or two, really. My own mail was easier to sort than Jackie's, consisting as it did entirely of computer-generated warnings from Visa, another Visa, Sallie Mae, a third Visa, NYNEX, Con Edison, and so on. I couldn't pay them. And I owed the IRS countless thousands of dollars more, since Jackie didn't withhold anything from my paychecks. I'd had no contact with them since I'd started working for her. By informing them of the amount I owed, I'd only cause them to expend a lot of trouble and postage to no avail."
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, 1997. "Breasts, not weight, were the primary point of comparison among high school girls in the 1950s. Although Sandra Rubin called herself a 'fat hog' after eating too much candy, her diary reportage was principally about the bosoms, rather than the waistlines, she saw at school. Those who had ample bosoms seemed to travel through the hallways in a veritable state of grace, at least from the perspective of girls who considered themselves flat-chested. 'Busty' girls made desirable friends because they seemed sophisticated, and they attracted boys."
Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends & Other Realities of Adolescence, Rosalind Wiseman, 2002. "Keep a copy of the school directory in a secret place. Girls hide their school directories and school lists so it'll be harder for you to contact other parents or school personnel. Make a copy of your daughter's school directory as soon as it comes in the mail (if it gets sent home with your daughter, either hound your daughter to see it, or call the school and ask for one to be sent to you in your name, perhaps at your work address) and put it somewhere she doesn't know about. For example, label a folder 'Taxes 1998' and keep it there."
In the Drink, Kate Christensen, 1999. "I brought my coffee cup over to my desk and topped it off with a dollop of vodka. I downed half of this weird but bracing mixture before I went through my mail, which had been accumulating, ignored, on my table for the last week or two. Month or two, really. My own mail was easier to sort than Jackie's, consisting as it did entirely of computer-generated warnings from Visa, another Visa, Sallie Mae, a third Visa, NYNEX, Con Edison, and so on. I couldn't pay them. And I owed the IRS countless thousands of dollars more, since Jackie didn't withhold anything from my paychecks. I'd had no contact with them since I'd started working for her. By informing them of the amount I owed, I'd only cause them to expend a lot of trouble and postage to no avail."
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, 1997. "Breasts, not weight, were the primary point of comparison among high school girls in the 1950s. Although Sandra Rubin called herself a 'fat hog' after eating too much candy, her diary reportage was principally about the bosoms, rather than the waistlines, she saw at school. Those who had ample bosoms seemed to travel through the hallways in a veritable state of grace, at least from the perspective of girls who considered themselves flat-chested. 'Busty' girls made desirable friends because they seemed sophisticated, and they attracted boys."
Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends & Other Realities of Adolescence, Rosalind Wiseman, 2002. "Keep a copy of the school directory in a secret place. Girls hide their school directories and school lists so it'll be harder for you to contact other parents or school personnel. Make a copy of your daughter's school directory as soon as it comes in the mail (if it gets sent home with your daughter, either hound your daughter to see it, or call the school and ask for one to be sent to you in your name, perhaps at your work address) and put it somewhere she doesn't know about. For example, label a folder 'Taxes 1998' and keep it there."