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Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 03:49 pm
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.
Thursday, March 9th, 2006 12:08 am (UTC)
Stephen King is one of my all-time favorite authors. I know a lot of people think he's a hack but I think he's a genius. The only book he wrote that I thought was a stinking pile was The Tommyknockers and I firmly believe it's because he was drunk during most of it's conception.

a real page turner

You said a mouthful! I stood in Borders a week ago and read ten pages of The Cell in about that many minutes!