January 2012
21 posts
On romantic advice
It’s been a while since I’ve had romantic advice from a cab driver, I think. But then, it’s a while since I’ve been taking cabs on my own late at night. Sure sign, I suppose, of a lady who needs romantic advice. From a cab driver.
How long have you been here? says the cab driver.
Eight years! I say, because I am incapable of lying to cab drivers, of pretending that I am a...
“A man who assisted in autopsies in a big urban hospital, starting in the...”
– Sunday was the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (via motherjones)
Anonymous asked: How many books do you read a week?
“I doubt that I was in the majority among my classmates in choosing to abstain...”
–
Jean Hannah Edelstein on why good sex education is not about preaching abstinence
(via guardiancomment)
Watch80strand:
Some books do (extra) special things. In this case, Tom Bullough’s new novel, KONSTANTIN, out March 1st.
This is a rather beautiful idea.
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Anonymous asked: I've applied for Editorial Assistant jobs at magazine and book companies. For this type of job, is it usually a one-to-one interview or a group interview? Thank you!
Anonymous asked: I really hate that Paul Auster book. What are your thoughts on it?
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On banality
I. It struck me, like never before, somewhere in the sixth or sixtieth hour of my flu-induced confinement (but probably the sixtieth, because I believe in the first throes I was delerious) that the only thing more unforgivably banal than composing, in my head, a 140-character remark about my suffering (vile suffering; in the grand scheme of possibility, gentle suffering) would be sharing the...
"Daaaaad, I can't believe you let them send me to... →
stryker:
nerdshares:
From this article: “Even though the region boasts some of the finest farmland in the world, there is a startling lack of fresh produce here.”
My mother-in-law is a vegan who lives in the woods (yes) in southern Ohio. And even though it’s an hour and a half to the nearest grocery, she and my step-FIL are still alive. People who actually cook for themselves instead of going...
“SETTLING in a chair in the interview suite of the press office at the National...”
– Simon Russell Beale kindly talked to me for The Australian, even though he was in a lot of pain!
broadist: you look great! have you lost weight? →
broadist:
ATTN: “You look great! Have you lost weight?” is not a compliment. I know it has been the go-to praise-route towards many women since the inception of puberty, but I’d like to put an end to it. Why do I hear this like a broken record every holiday?
Some alternatives:
You look great! How are…
The only thing I think when someone tells me that I look like I’ve lost weight...
Guardian Comment: Top five tips on women for... →
guardiancomment:
Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Women, professor Hawking said in an interview with New Scientist, were a “complete mystery” – one that he now devotes much of his time to contemplating. Here are a few of our pointers to help him on his quest…
1. Much like individual fundamental particles,…
Anna is a decisive stylist
Jean: Anna, should I wear my glasses for my new Guardian profile photo?
Anna: No.
Jean: Even if they make me look smarter?
Anna: No, they don't.
“ANTONY Gormley’s taste in materials has always been catholic. Which is why...”
– I interviewed Antony Gormley for The Australian about dance as well as white bread.
December 2011
24 posts
Anonymous asked: From your blog, some things are evident. Two such things are that you're from Baltimore and you like books. What, then, do you think of the Wire? (I ask this also because David Simon has a piece in your "currently reading" book)
“What Mr. Eugenides is clearly striving for here is a reinvention of the marriage...”
– Jeffrey Eugenides Tries to Reinvent the Marriage Plot | The New York Observer
Yes, this is similar to what I thought at the conclusion: good, but written by a woman it would likely have been classified as ‘women’s fiction’, the thought of which always makes me feel a little...
“Watching The Skin I Live In hours before meeting Almodovar prompts a mild...”
– I interviewed Pedro Almodovar in Madrid, for The Australian. I was very, very excited to meet him.
On the Jumper of Sadness
I knitted the Jumper of Sadness in the winter of 1995, running in to 1996, when I fell ill with severe clinical depression. For six months I spent a lot of time going to see psychiatrists and counsellors and crying. And in my spare time, I knitted this enormous jumper. The repetitive movement and need to count carefully to ensure I stayed on the pattern offered some mild relief from the hell I was...
On my new bike
I have a new bike! Regular Blogelstein readers will recall my intense love for my old bike, Sebastina, and the tragic turn of events in the late summer of 2010 when she was snatched away. Since then, I purchased a new-old bike, Juliana, who was (sadly) terrible. Riding Juliana felt very dangerous. After I left my job at Conde Nast, I left her parked outside the building for six weeks in the hopes...
“Monday morning I like; it’s rather like the second of January. I like the banks...”
– My perfect weekend: Simon Russell Beale - Telegraph
(I spend much of December looking forward to the second of January, so I liked this)
On London to Brighton, on Brighton to London
I. The train is packed. Properly packed. I am resigned to the possibility that I will have to stand in the aisle for an hour. I clutch the handle on the back of the seat next to me for balance. There is a handle for clutching for balance, because people standing for an hour happens all the time: discomfort is built in to the design.
I am hungry. Properly hungry. I’m going to Brighton for...
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On why we're all that investment banker
A man and a woman went on a date. The woman found it ‘horrific’. The man wanted to see her again. She didn’t respond to his invitations. He wrote her an email. It went viral.
‘It’s bad to play with your hair so much and make so much eye contact if you’re not interested in going out with me again.’
Most of the resultant internet banter has held up that the man in...
Musings of an Inappropriate Woman: The Sex Myth:... →
rachelhills:
I’m currently working on the “normality” chapter of my book, The Sex Myth: where our ideas about what’s normal come from, how they’ve changed over time, and how they impact us as individuals and as a society.
And if you’ve ever felt like, when it comes to sex and relationships, you’re…
Talk to Rachel for her interesting book!
November 2011
21 posts
Anonymous asked: Wow 3 books in one day! Good for you! What's the Julian Barnes book like?
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Yesterday I read three books!
and
There’s much to be said for a three-book day.
See what else I’ve read recently.
Anonymous asked: Why did you hate The Slap so much? Any specific reasons? Just wondering as I am thoroughly enjoying it at the moment although I am only halfway through the book.
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