Category: book
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Mother, daughter and biographer
Rebecca Skloot writes about the amazing story of a poor black woman and her cancer cells in her book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. But she also tells the story of Lack’s daughter Deborah and her own story, too. Before Henrietta Lacks died in 1951, researchers at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore began growing…
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Why do we buy what we buy?
Marketing plays a big role in what we buy and what we think about ourselves , concludes Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter—Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Orenstein says that each of us “is a cog in the round-the-clock, all-pervasive media machine aimed at our daughters—and at us—from…
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What kind of room have you created?
Emma Donoghue writes a chilling story in her book Room. It’s about a young woman and her son who are kept prisoners in an 11-by-11 room. Old Nick comes frequently at night to rape Jack’s Ma, but, while he visits, Jack sleeps in the wardrobe, almost unaware of what’s happening. Jack, who is five, has…
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What’s your procrastination drama?
He’s talking about us! When we read Daniel Akst’s description of procrastination in his book We Have Met the Enemy—Self-Control in an Age of Excess, we were momentarily taken aback. This author had figured out exactly what’s happening when we procrastinate. First, we know we’re procrastinating. “Procrastination is a ruse,” Akst says. “We know what’s…
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How do you become pretty neat?
Authors Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch advise all of us to give up org porn in their book Pretty Neat. As we discussed in our last blog post, they stress that it’s impossible for real people to live in what they call org porn—a fantasy world of “color-coordinated closets and pristine kitchens.” They conclude that…
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Should you feel guilty about your closet?
No, stress authors Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch in their book Pretty Neat. If you’re closet is messy or you have a pile of papers on your desk, you might want to read this book. It includes the usual helpful hints and real-life examples, but, best of all, the authors reassure you that you’re an…
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Joyce Carol Oates says grief is chaotic
Joyce Carol Oates says that no one writes about the crazy and chaotic part of grief. That’s what Oates decided to do in her new book The Widow’s Story. The author of more than 50 novels and many volumes of poetry, short stories and nonfiction, she talked about her book and her grief when her…
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Why are you feeling more stressed?
Are you worried about your bank account? About your job and whether or not you’ll still be working next month? About how you’re going to finish the pile of work on your desk before you pick up your child at daycare? About your teenager? You’re not alone. Taylor Clark, writing in the February 20, 2011,…
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Self-control in an age of excess?
We have to admit that we expected to find some new answers that would help us pass up dessert after dinner and avoid checking our e-mail messages when we should be working in this new book. We didn’t. We did find some suggestions, but we didn’t find any brand-new or easy answers. In his book…
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How do you react when bad things happen?
When something bad happens to you, do you react with anger? With denial? With acceptance? With forgiveness? With hope for the future? Joy attended a panel with three men who were wrongfully imprisoned for many years and then were released because of DNA evidence or trial errors. Rev. Gregg Smith, a pastor at Oak Lawn…