This Week In My Library: 8.8.23

revenge bods, menopause and 5-foot tall 3rd graders

Bookman:

1. a person who has a love of books and especially of reading. 2. a person who is involved in the writing, publishing, or selling of books. Oh, hi thats me!!

What I read (and dream of writing): Who needs a revenge bod when you can write a bestselling book? Nora Ephron's Heartburn was published in 1983 and is every bit as incredible as I'm sure it was then. It centers on 7-month pregnant cookbook writer Rachel whose second husband cheats on her when she's seven months pregnant (dick). And yes, Nora's husband Carl Bernstein (of Watergate reporting fame) did the same to her in real life. When it came out people were not cool with her tell, probably because hey women, the world doesn't like when you tell the truth about a powerful man! They talked about this book like it was “thinly guised” as fiction. But screw that. Men have been mining one sorta rough romantic event in their life for volumes since the dawn of time. But when Nora wrote Heartburn (or TSwift, or any other woman) we're just “doing that immature girl, breakup art thing”. READ IT as a revolt to all that. The book was familiar. The way betrayal or hurt can make you cling on, becoming a not-so-realized version of yourself, before expanding back into power to say f*ck. all. that. Ephron's honesty in that expansion and contraction, especially when it comes to love, was a beauty to read. Also, lovers watch out because I will write a novel like this one day and the madness in that romance will be nothing short of riveting. And yes you'll know it's you that I'm revenge writing about.

What I still recommend: Many of you might know Kristin Hannah's work from the international hit novel Nightingale (which is phenomenal btw) and Netflix's Firefly lane. But please please please please, go back and actually read the latter. Firefly Lane, the novel, is a book I still tell people to read, 13 years after I first read it. The pages journey you through this lovely coming of age story between two best friends who take very different paths in life. And it'll leave you absolutely sobbing at the end. So ya, for any final summer vacations on the books, it's a lovely, emotional beach read that (in my humble opinion) the series just didn't do justice.

What I'm writing: I don't read books on Kindle. I long for the tactile, sensory experience of paper. So I don't know why it took me so long to start printing my weekly submissions of That Novel on paperrrrrrr as the final step (ok I do know, it's because printing is a pain but pain is literature people!!) It's made such a difference! Now on sunday nights you can find me with a stack of pages in hand, a blue sharpie in the other. Turns out, our brains actually process information differently when it's printed on paper versus read on a screen. Your brain does different kinds of reading and not all are made equal (give this podcast with Maryann Wolf a listen). That's probably why I'm a hundred years old and get The New York Times in print, too. All that to say, if you're working on something of any kind of something to you, print it out!!!!

Women’s studies

What gets passed down becomes our history. A few for the canon: How are we feeling about menopause? Great, because this piece in the NYT – Women Have Been Misled About Menopause – and the follow-up podcast episode – is worth your time at any age. I'm about exactly halfway through my menstruating life (if my highly accurate math is indeed accurate. Which if you remember my math tutor comment from last week you'll know this is not where I shine) and I'm so thankful menopause is really having it's moment. Because why the hell should we be walking toward a phase in our life (and ladies, we're all walking there), that we have no context for?? That's hidden and shrouded in patriarchal shame. I've been a bigggg menopause theme gal the last few weeks for these reasons, trying to understand what I'm misunderstanding. And also trying to imagine what to expect one day, and to appreciate my monthly cycles until then.

Pass it on

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine: I SAW BARBIE AND IT WAS PERFECT. It was truly, utterly, madly the perfect Barbie movie for me. A few things to know: I loved Barbies. I had a “Maxie” Barbie and I still have a Iowa Hawkeye's Barbie in her box about a stones throw away from writing this (I was born in Iowa, someone must have given it to me as a kid). I had many years where I wanted a life size Barbie but didn't get one because I was 5-foot in the third grade and Terri (mom) thought a life-size Barbie that was no where near my size might be more problematic than joyful lolol. What Great Gerwig accomplished with the Barbie film is nothing short of a masterpiece. It was so absurd to see the expectations of women play out across this movie. Not only did it make me laugh (a lot. OMG Ken. KEN! I cannot). It really provoked my thinking on the world we accept as it is, the world that could be, and the power of sisterhood in elevating all of us (Kens included). Run don't walk!

xx