Bathtub Books: January 19

So it's that time of year again when I spend every evening in the bathtub, reading a stack of books and recovering my sanity. So here's what I polished off this past week:



What's Age Got To Do With It? Don't ask me why I bother with this crap. I can't stand Dr Phil and his perky wife Robin drives me up the wall (so much for sane tubby time). Robin McGraw's book is all about how to be fit, healthy, and happy at any "advanced" age, but she really uses this book as a way to boast about how wonderful she is (hasn't had refined sugar since she was 26? Bet she never sleeps in her makeup, either). Life's too short to worry about how best to apply mascara to thinning lashes.



Winging It : This book is the sequel to Catherine Goldhammer's Still Life with Chickens. It talks about her daughter leaving the nest (gotta keep with the bird theme). Goldhammer, a single mother, had a rough time dealing with the separation and with the freedom that comes once the responsibilities of motherhood are over (or less--we're never completely free, are we?). The one thing that hit me was that we both attended the same Edward Hopper exhibit and had the same favorite painting: Sun in an Empty Room. I could look at it for hours. (You can look at it too at this site: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/interior/hopper.sun-empty-room.jpg) It's part of a private collection so we were very lucky to see it at all. The book was a decent read.

Finished The Magician's Book (see fucking elf below). Also read the Chronicles again. And after hearing all those Tolkien stories I have a feeling Lord of the Rings is in my near future. Maybe I'll cheat and see the movies instead.

Amarcord: Marcella Remembers is the autobiography of Marcella Hazan. It was fascinating to read how a scientist became the leading Italian cooking teacher and author. I had never known that her right arm is useless due to a childhood accident and that she rarely showed it, even during televised cooking demonstrations. Interesting, but to be honest I prefer to read the cookbooks themselves.

And finally, Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. I loved this book, and not only because I totally wanted to look like her when I was fourteen years old (the hours spent in front of the mirror with a cake of Max Factor eyeliner! Can you even buy that stuff anymore?). This is an expanded version of Fisher's stage show. She talks very openly of her fishbowl childhood, the crazy fame that came with Star Wars, and her mental health issues (addiction, bipolar disorder, and electroshock therapy). It shouldn't be funny, but the way Fisher tells her stories is hilarious. There's great warmth in the book as well. I give it an A.