BOOKS!

[spedbug]

I had a bunch of things I kept thinking, throughout today, "I'll post that to LJ". All of them have been wiped from my memory, now, because I got sidetracked by answering posts. My memory and attention span are like will o' the wisps. Don't show me anything glittery or I'll forget to finish my

I'm very excited because in the middle of what might have been a Very Boring Day, I was urged to go to Borders, by MrBug, and buy a book! Apparently, he was listening to the radio this morning and heard an interview with journalist Norah Vincent. He told me about it, I expressed interest in finding out more about Ms. Vincent and the subject on the 'net and he told me that she'd written a book. Next thing I know, I'm holding a copy of Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood and Back Again in my hot, little hands. Woo hoo!

From the dust cover: Norah Vincent wanted to know what life was really like for men. Many women have long been convinced that men have always had it better, in ever way. To find out for herself if this was actually true, and to see where the common perception fell short, Norah did it: for eighteen months she became a guy.

Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me) and Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dime), Norah Vincent absorbed a cultural experience and reported back on what she observed incognito. With the help of a makeup artist, a trainer, and a Juilliard voice coach, she infiltrated spaces and situations women never see. For more than a year and a half she ventured into the world as her alter ego, Ned, iwith an ever-present five o'clock shadow, a crew cut, wire-rimmed glasses, and her own size 11 1/2 shoes - a perfect disguise that allowed her to observe and participate in the world of men as an insider. A sympathetic, shrewd and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism, Self-Made Man is Norah's perspective on just how hard it is to be a man, even in a man's world

There's more but my fingers are getting tired! ;) Anyway, doesn't it sound intriguing? I'm only seven pages in (from reading at stop lights) and it's already fascinating!

Two other books followed me home from Borders - The Cell by Stephen King (oooo, mind candy! Can't wait!) and Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin (the author of Thinking in Pictures) and Catherine Johnson.

I'm giddy with books! Off to register them, now. Yay! :) :) If I think of what it was I wanted to share, I'll post again.

Comments

[zz-neena.livejournal.com]

That Norah Vincent book sounds great. Off to add it to my *look-for* list!

[texaswren.livejournal.com]

I do that too--catch myself doing something or seeing something, and my first thought is how I'll write about it. But, then I forget, or even worse, I'll scribble a cryptic note on something and either lose it or have no idea what it means. ;-)

The book does sound good. We keep saying that MrBug is a keeper!

[madame-urushiol.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! I've been eyeing the "Self Made Man" one myself. If you give it a rave review, I'll go out and buy it.

I'm halfway through "The Cell", and it's pretty cool (especially the concept behind it for a confirmed phone-hater like me), but "Animals in Translation" is one of the best books I've read in many years. I loved it. Temple Grandin is one of my idols.

[rarsberry.livejournal.com]

I have read Cell, its great, a real page turner.
Well thats what I thought anyway!!