Kiss My Tiara and Eat, Pray, Love

[snugglekitty]

These books were both terrific in different ways. Kiss My Tiara was referenced in The Body Sacred, which I recently reviewed. I like to read books on a thematic arc, and this definitely continued the arc started by The Body Sacred - funny nonfiction for and about women. My favorite part of this book was a chapter explaining that women should apply their shopping prowess to all areas of their lives in order to rule the world. A brief excerpt:

"In a store, we know how to study our options, assess our budget, and make authoritative decisions.
In a store, we can discern what's of lasting quality and what's not, what's worth our money and what's not, and what's worth waiting in line for - and what's not.
In a store, we don't hesitate to ask for help when we get what we want.
We know a good deal when we see one.
And we know how to drive a hard bargain, need be.
So why not apply those skills to our lives beyond the cash register?" (p 132)

I found the book a refreshingly irreverent look at the life of the modern woman, and I totally recommend it. If nothing else, it will make you laugh out loud on the bus. Three stars.

Now, most of you probably already saw my initial post about Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I would have resisted the temptation to write that post if I had known that I would simply DEVOUR the book. I started it Friday and finished it Saturday, and it was so good that I was actually a bit sad that I couldn't read it more slowly. (I'm also sad that I'll never get to read it again for the first time.)

The first thing that I noticed about this book is that it's hilarious. The second thing I noticed is that it's extremely real. I loved the sensuality of the book. For the most part, it's not sexually focused, but the author conveys very well how things smell and taste and look and how she feels about her experiences.

It's really hard to choose a favorite part of the book. I wrote already about the one page that I felt gave me the most new insights. My favorite sensual passage is a description about pizza, in the Italy section.

"Sofie and I have come to Pizzeria da Michele, and these pies that we have just ordered - one for each of us - are making us lose our minds. I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return... Meanwhile, Sofie is practically in tears over hers, she's having a metaphysical crisis about it, she's begging me, 'Why do they even bother trying to make pizza in Stockholm? Why do we even bother eating food at all in Stockholm?'" (p 79)

I also very much enjoy the author's descriptions of her spiritual seeking and experiences. They resonated for me, and made me want to do more with my own spirituality, which is a wonderful result. This book gets FIVE STARS AND TWO THUMBS UP, and if I had more stars or thumbs, I'd use 'em. If you have even a small interest in food, spirituality, or travel, you should read it.

Anyway, summer is often the time of year when I feel inspired to read nonfiction, and right now, I feel I'm not so much reading it as gobbling it up. Do YOU have some nonfiction to recommend? Tell me, please!



My favorite nonfiction is written in a non-academic, engaging style. It is not overly depressing. For the most part, biographies don't excite me, although I am making an exception for the recent recommendation of chienn_efolle. My very favorite nonfiction is about things I know little about.

Comments

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Blue Latitudes - I can lend you this: An account of Captain Cook's voyages told from the present. The author follows the route of Captain Cook and compares the state of the stops today to what they were like back then. The author is a history buff and uses first and second sources to tell you a lot about sailing in these times. Very engaging - travel cum history cum biography

Devil in the White City - I can lend: May be a bit depressing? This is about both the creation and running of the Chicago World's Fair (fascinating story) and also the dramatization of a serial killer who preyed upon people there. This is well written, feels like a novel in the way that pacing is done. It is non-fiction however, and if you don't mind a little macabre, I think its great.

Brothel - I can lend: I think maybe you have read this? Book about legal brothels in Nevada, very balanced work, very engaging, I chomped through it in no time.

Secrets and Lies - I can lend: Book about digital security, very well written, written for the lay person. Schneier, the author, is an authority on this, very good stuff to know.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a great list! Thank you! I would love to borrow your books, although I think I may skip Devil in the White City.

I haven't read Brothel although I'd definitely like to.

I haven't seen you in a while - let's catch up over email?

[bluepapercup]

Okay, I just finished a book that I'm not sure is to your tastes, but I found it intensely intersting. It's called Uncommon Carriers and it's by John McPhee. It's divided into several ecclectic sections, each dealing with a different kind of transportation - trucks, riverbarges, UPS, trains, ocean-going ships, and wonderfully, Thoreau's trip up the Merrimack River. The author meets up with a the people who work on these carriers and travels with them for a while. I learned a lot, and found myself on wikipedia afterwards sucking down new info. Good stuff.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Hey, that looks neat! Thanks for sharing. :)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

In the same vein as Kiss My Tiara, there's Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, by Susan Jane Gilman--hilarious reflections on growing up and femininity. On gender roles and family, I liked Dress Codes by Noelle Howey, about her father transition from closeted cross-dresser to transgendered woman.

Looking over my list from the past few years, a lot of the nonfiction I've read has been on archaeology and anthropology. Don't know if you're interested in that, but just in case, probably my favorite one was The Mummy Congress by Heather Pringle. She's a journalist who visited the international conference for mummy scholars. There's a lot on different kinds of mummies, mummies all over the world, and also some interesting stuff on what kind of people study mummies. Other creepy dead-people books include After the Funeral, about crazy stuff that happened to famous corpses, and Stiff, which I haven't read yet but I'm dying to, on similar themes but which got a lot more press. Both treat the topic with a lot of humor.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Neat, neat, neat! Thank you!

I was aware of Hypocrite. I will definitely look up the dead stuff books, 'cause how cool is that?

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

I loved that same bit of Kiss My Tiara! The part that I would have found more useful if I worked for someone else is the bit about workplace stuff.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

The part that I would have found more useful if I worked for someone else is the bit about workplace stuff.

Yes, I agree entirely. I wish I had had that information while I WAS working for someone else.