Searing yet sometimes extremely funny essays about growing up in a cult, getting court-martialed out of the Air Force because people believed she had Searing yet sometimes extremely funny essays about growing up in a cult, getting court-martialed out of the Air Force because people believed she had blown up her own car, being a bouncer and a cable guy, surviving solitary confinement, and just trying to be a person in the world....more
"Everybody secretly wanted to be like a plain-looking middle-aged swindler named Cassie Chadwick. She wasn’t even an American herself, and yet the cou"Everybody secretly wanted to be like a plain-looking middle-aged swindler named Cassie Chadwick. She wasn’t even an American herself, and yet the country loved her. People put her face on fake $20 bills and replaced the motto E pluribus unum with 'Cassie’s motto': I need the money."
Cassie Chadwick was a swindler who so wanted to be loved that she once bought eight grand pianos and sent them to eight friends as gifts. She used to buy a car, drive to a random city, sell the car, party for a while, buy a new car, and then drive somewhere else. Yeah, she was a terrible person, but I have a strange sort of admiration for someone who buys jewelry by the tray.
To me, the biggest mystery in this book is why the FBI had so much trouble finding on-the-run embezzler Margaret Burton even though she was driving a pink car and traveling with 38 cocker spaniels.
Anyway, this is a very enjoyable, thought-provoking account of different types of swindlers and why we tend to fall for their stories. There's a little bit of pontificating at the end that you can skip. I think I would have enjoyed this even more except many of the cases were already familiar to me. But the Chinese swindler who cheated former Olympic athletes out of eight and a half million dollars—that was a new one. ...more
Fun expansion/reimagining of the beloved podcast. TL;DR "Always read the plaque."Fun expansion/reimagining of the beloved podcast. TL;DR "Always read the plaque."...more
Intelligent, angry, ruminative essays about money, capitalism, power, art, freedom, feminism, and what it means to be a gentrifier. (She does not callIntelligent, angry, ruminative essays about money, capitalism, power, art, freedom, feminism, and what it means to be a gentrifier. (She does not call herself a gentrifier, but it's pretty clear that's what she is.) Biss cannot hide her resentment and jealousy of those who have more money than she does, even though she and her husband have white-collar jobs and a suburban home in a college town. If a nonprofit funded by rich people paid me forty-five thousand dollars so I could take time off from my day job and write a book, would I still try to bite the hand that feeds? Maybe.
My heart did go out to her when she wrote about forced hugging in the workplace. I had a similar situation happen to me several years ago, and while I did not handle it the same way she did, I can understand why it filled her with rage to even have to deal with it.
Anyway, if you haven't read her earlier book, On Immunity, I recommend that one instead....more
This started a little slow but ultimately was a fun introduction (for me) to a longtime podcast. Audio version has a Q&A right at the end, after the cThis started a little slow but ultimately was a fun introduction (for me) to a longtime podcast. Audio version has a Q&A right at the end, after the credits....more
Lindy West re-watches some of the best, worst, and most notorious movies of the past decades and writes snarky essays about them. Her all-time favoritLindy West re-watches some of the best, worst, and most notorious movies of the past decades and writes snarky essays about them. Her all-time favorite movie: The Fugitive. I was impressed at her verdict on Love, Actually: the less a woman in this movie talks, the more attractive she is. I also love her characterization of young male executives in movies as "business boys."...more
Earnest. Lots of works about the immigrant experience and feeling like an other, which makes sense given Kakutani's family's background. Interesting tEarnest. Lots of works about the immigrant experience and feeling like an other, which makes sense given Kakutani's family's background. Interesting to see which trendy books from earlier decades made the cut—A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and Infinite Jest, among others. Almost everything she recommends is still in print. Very little poetry, few small-press books, and not much in translation, but she's paid to have opinions, not to have my opinions....more
“Florence Harding?” said one Marion lady. “Runs her house, runs the paper, runs Warren; runs everything but the car, and could run that if she wanted “Florence Harding?” said one Marion lady. “Runs her house, runs the paper, runs Warren; runs everything but the car, and could run that if she wanted to.”
Okay, Florence Harding is now one of my favorite historical figures. Pregnant, abandoned, cut off by her father, she set her sights on Warren Harding, a newspaper owner and unstoppable sex machine. She was five years older and not the most beautiful woman in town. But she pursued him and described all the things she would do to make his business run better. Also her estranged dad was the richest man in town, so she miiiiiight inherit that money.
So Warren married Florence! At their wedding she told everyone that she would make him president. AND SHE DID. But it took many years. First she took over the business, doing everything from pioneering new marketing techniques to hiring female reporters to learning to fix the printing press. Warren played poker and drank a lot and fucked everything that moved. Teenage girls, widows, married ladies, didn't matter. He rose through the ranks of local and statewide and national politics.
"[S]he asked a senator, 'Who was the most successful First Lady of the Land?' 'Mrs. Cleveland or Dolley Madison, I suppose,' he replied. 'Watch me,' Florence rejoined."
Did Florence love being first lady? Oh yes. In one day she shook the hands of more than 6,000 people. Many Americans considered her a beloved suffragette auntie, friendly and unpretentious and practical.
Did Warren love being president? He hated it. So many ladies blackmailed him that he had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes that rich friends provided him. (It didn't help that he continued to write 50-page love letters to some of the women who blackmailed him. They were excellent love letters, BTW.) He rewarded those rich friends with important government positions, which they promptly used for kickbacks and extortion, thus destroying Harding's presidency. One of the White House servants found the president sobbing on the lawn, wailing that he hated his life because people followed him every minute of the day, which meant he couldn't have any affairs.
Did Florence kill Warren when it became apparent his presidency was in shambles and he was going to be booted out of office? MAYBE.
Anyway this whole book is lively and intriguing and makes me grateful that I have far more protections and options than most of these women did. My only quibble is that the author uses the phrase "wheelchair-bound," which is outdated and inaccurate. The wheelchair is the thing that helps you get around, not the thing that confines you. ...more
Did you know that flowers are nature's advertisements? I'd never thought of it that way. Also, did you know that the stargazer lily was first inventedDid you know that flowers are nature's advertisements? I'd never thought of it that way. Also, did you know that the stargazer lily was first invented/bred/whatever in 1978? I thought they had been around forever. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is older than the stargazer lily.
This is informative and entertaining, but be aware that it is long. If you have the audiobook version, you may not want to listen to *fourteen hours* of flower trivia. I enjoyed it all, but in hindsight it might have been a good idea for me to skip the chapters about flowers in poetry and flowers in visual art. The author is a scientist, and I felt he did a much better job in the chapters based on science, though I admire the guy for trying....more
Educational. Before this I didn't know anything about the Cleveland Street scandal. Also, I learned that the tampon wasn't invented until 1929, which Educational. Before this I didn't know anything about the Cleveland Street scandal. Also, I learned that the tampon wasn't invented until 1929, which helps explain why clothes were so much more voluminous before then....more
“I know that guy!” he shouted. “He’s not supposed to be alive!”
Excellent anthology of offbeat sports stories. I love true crime, so my favorite piece “I know that guy!” he shouted. “He’s not supposed to be alive!”
Excellent anthology of offbeat sports stories. I love true crime, so my favorite piece was the one about the cage fighter who faked his own death. That one is called "Tomato Can Blues," and you can find it here: https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013......more
This book about book covers started out as a speech in Italian, then became a chapbook featuring the Italian text and its English translation, then beThis book about book covers started out as a speech in Italian, then became a chapbook featuring the Italian text and its English translation, then became an English-only extended essay, and is now an audiobook read by the author in English. At the time of writing, Lahiri had published five books, and those had been translated into several languages. So she had about 100 book covers of her own works to examine and consider, plus of course all the book covers she has interacted with over the years.
I wish the author had spent more than a couple of sentences on the topic of book covers for electronic versions. She doesn't read ebooks, but they are the future of publishing in many ways. And it's a whole new challenge to create a cover that can intrigue and appeal even though it may not be any larger than a person's thumbnail.
My favorite part was reading about a new book that basically stole the cover design of one of Lahiri's first books. The design, colors, and fonts are the same, but the title and the author's name are different, and the newer book has more pages. Lahiri rather peevishly refers to the new book as "the fat twin." ...more
Art about the physical and cultural effects of menopause and aging. Lynda Barry and Mimi Pond are the real standouts here, but everything's good.Art about the physical and cultural effects of menopause and aging. Lynda Barry and Mimi Pond are the real standouts here, but everything's good....more
Clear-eyed essays written during the time of COVID, with proceeds going to charity. Smith reads the essays herself, and she has a superb ear for accenClear-eyed essays written during the time of COVID, with proceeds going to charity. Smith reads the essays herself, and she has a superb ear for accents and a delightful singing voice. The essays are about COVID, childhood, communities, racism, memory, and many other topics. She bought herself a shirt that says BLACK NERD, and I stan....more
Biographical sketches of nine political wives from different countries and eras. The husband of each woman took part in a scandal (these include noncrBiographical sketches of nine political wives from different countries and eras. The husband of each woman took part in a scandal (these include noncrimes such as extramarital affairs and sexting and crimes such as sexual harassment, rape, and sexting a minor). Some of these women stuck by their men until death. Others stuck by him at first but eventually ran for the hills.
The author applies the same template to each example, exploring how these factors affected each case: • the woman's upbringing • her husband's upbringing • the degree of sexism and dependence in the culture the woman grew up in • the economic and political opportunities available to women at that time and place • the presence of mass media and/or social media • how old the children were and how vulnerable they were to scandal • how the woman and her husband sought to portray themselves in the media during and after the scandal • how participants in each case used visual symbolism or sympathetic interviews for image management purposes
Laura Lippman is a grudge holder. This may not be a good quality—I'm trying to be less of a grudge holder myself—but it's entertaining in an essayist.Laura Lippman is a grudge holder. This may not be a good quality—I'm trying to be less of a grudge holder myself—but it's entertaining in an essayist. (She's still mad about the secondhand Fiestaware her first husband got in the divorce.) These essays are about being a reporter, a novelist, a first-time mother at age 50, and the wife of a rich, famous "genius grant" winner, David Simon. Lippman likes her face the way it is, even though the photographers for her book covers despair over her upturned nose. She likes her body the way it is, after trying most of the fad diets out there. And she likes writing a book a year even though she (at least for now) no longer needs the money. No wonder, since she had few connections starting out and had to push and push and push and push for her commercial and creative success. Now that she has finally gotten recognition, she gets to do stuff like publishing a children's book (writing it took 20 minutes) and this collection of essays, and I for one love to see it....more
4.5 stars, rounded up. I think a couple of these haven't aged well, but that's to be expected in a collection that spans many years. And a couple of t4.5 stars, rounded up. I think a couple of these haven't aged well, but that's to be expected in a collection that spans many years. And a couple of the authors were so rich and privileged that I had trouble sympathizing with them, but that's my shortcoming, not the authors' or the editors'. Some of these made me laugh out loud, and others were fascinating. The most searing is the essay by the woman whose mother took her own life on her (the daughter's) sixteenth birthday. The funniest is the essay by the woman whose new boyfriend tried to take her out sailing with his parents as a date. We've all been there. I mean, not in the sailboat with the date's parents, but metaphorically....more
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