ASK Musings

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Essays Archive

Thursday

17

April 2014

0

COMMENTS

I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Two Stars

This is my second Nora Ephron essay collection (again an audio version read by the author). Unfortunately I didn’t not enjoy it as much as her previous effort (I Feel Bad About My Neck), mostly because the essays tended to be shorter, a bit more random, and honestly not as well-written. I recall it starting out fairly strongly, and I was definitely into it for a bit. But in the end, I think my favorite part was how short it was.

i-remember-nothing-norah-ephron

My biggest problem really was in the storytelling, which, now that I see that written out, might kind of the biggest problem one can have with book. My feeling about Nora Ephron in the past has been that she has a great skill in telling ordinary stories in an entertaining and interesting way. Honestly, the only story that has stuck with me since finishing this book a few hours ago is an amusing retelling of how she got pushed out of making Christmas desserts after many years of doing it for the giant family and friend gathering.

In fact, I had to check out other reviews to be reminded that another essay, about her entrance into the world of journalism, was and interesting read (or listen). I don’t know – sometimes books stick with you. Sometimes they don’t. If you ask me two weeks if I’ve read this book, I might not be able to answer that with any sense of certainty. Which, given the book’s title, is mildly amusing

Wednesday

19

March 2014

0

COMMENTS

I Feel Bad About My Neck

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Three Stars

 

When I lived in New York, I used to watch Sleepless in Seattle all the time. That and When Harry Met Sally. Now that I’m back in Seattle, when I’m missing New York, I watch When Harry Met Sally, or You’ve Got Mail. No, I don’t have an obsession with Meg Ryan; I have a love of fun, sweet movies that feature two of my favorite cities and have interesting female leads. But there is a common thread across these movies, and that is that they were written by Nora Ephron.

I recently realized that I was spending too much on a monthly Audible.com membership and went to cancel. I was about to lose nine credits (NINE), so I did a quick scan of books and downloaded nine audio books, including two by Ms. Ephron. I figured her work would be interesting, fun, a little on the sweet side, but ultimately satisfying. I was mostly right.

The audio version is a pretty quick one – I got through it on a couple of runs and a few walks to and from work. It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but it was insightful and amusing. The book is a collection of essays on being a woman. Specifically, the essays are her reflection on being an older woman. She tells stories from when she was younger, but most of those stories come back to how it relates to her thoughts now. She wrote it when she was 64, which is near my own mother’s age, so I also think I was hoping for a little insight into what my mother may be experiencing as she’s gotten older, which I feel like I got.

The stories aren’t mind-blowing, and Ms. Ephron’s reading of it is very slow (she pronounces every word very deliberately), but I’ve always enjoyed hearing these books read by the person who experienced the stories. I feel like it adds something to the experience. In the essay on death, it added a somewhat disturbing note, as Ms. Ephron died in 2012. She seems like she was an interesting person, a lovely friend, and clearly a talented writer. If you’re looking for an interesting read that sometimes goes a little deeper (though not always – there is an entire chapter devoted to her hatred of purses), I’d recommend this.

Saturday

8

March 2014

0

COMMENTS

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Two Stars

Hmmm. So, there are definitely parts of this book that I really, really enjoyed. Parts that either made me laugh out loud or that were funny without being chuck funny. But other parts … I’m unclear if my humor is just not the same, or if I wasn’t getting it, or if I’m not the target.

I picked the audio version, which was read not just by Mr. Novak (of The Office fame), but Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling, Katy Perry, Lena Dunham and others. That definitely made the experience more enjoyable. The first story had me laughing pretty hard right off the bat, but I can say that I think that first story is actually one of the stronger ones, so perhaps if you get a chance, check the book out at a book store and read that first story. If you don’t see the humor in it, the book probably isn’t for you, as it doesn’t really get better from there, in my opinion.

There is definitely some brilliance in this book – including chapters that are just a few words long (the one on carrot cake may be my favorite two sentences in literature, if only because they so perfectly describe my feelings on the subject). At times I got the sense that he was going for a David Sedaris feel, but ended up sounding more like David Sedaris now (which I don’t enjoy), as opposed to early David Sedaris (which I enjoyed and felt was both funny and insightful). I don’t want to bash the book as, again, I may not have been the target who would really enjoy it, but I want to set expectations for people who are thinking that it’s someone who wrote for The Office, so clearly it will be well done. It’s fine.