New Book Talk with AnnArbor.com selection for September, with poll for October
On September 28 at 7 p.m., we'll host a discussion about this book in our community space at 301 E. Liberty St.
Ehrenreich, while being treated for breast cancer, wondered at the myriad pressures placed upon her to “think/be positive,” and in "Bright-sided," she traces the history of America’s quintessentially sunny outlook — from its origins to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude.
The Washington Post offered this review; The New York Times featured this profile about Ehrenreich; and this video features Ehrenreich discussing the “myth” of positive thinking’s influence on your health.
Pollyannas and anti-Pollyannas alike are invited to discuss Ehrenreich's book with us when we meet on September 28. (Mark your calendars!)
In the meantime, consider weighing in on October's Book Talk title.
"The Wave" explores the threat and beauty of the world's oceans by focusing on surfers, who risk bodily harm regularly in order to take on waves, and scientists, who are concerned that global warming will create only bigger and more dangerous waves.
GoodReads.com and BookBrowse.com have several advance reader reviews for "The Wave" (the book won't be available in stores until September 14), and BookPage offers this assessment.
Finally, you can check out the book trailer below.
Inspired by a real practice in the 20th century - wherein orphanages would loan out "practice babies" to college home economics students as they prepared for motherhood -Â "Henry" tells the story of a baby who grows up mothered by many women rather than one, and thus explores the experience's impact on both the child and his primary caregiver.
The New York Times offered a positive review of the novel, and Grunwald herself offers this take on how the seed for the book took root.
Lastly, here's an interview with Grunwald on the topic of "Henry House."
Douglas' book - to quote from a Publishers Weekly review found on Amazon.com - "parses music, movies, magazines, television dramas, reality TV, and news coverage to demonstrate how the girl power of the early '90s developed into enlightened sexism: a response, deliberate or not, to the perceived threat of a new gender regime. Given women's progress, enlightened sexism assumes, now it's okay, even amusing, to resurrect sexist stereotypes of girls and women."
NPR offered this review; Time Magazine offered this interview with Douglas (while one of our own intrepid books writers, Leah DuMouchel, offered this Q&A); and though I couldn't embed the video, you can see Douglas discussing "Enlightened" at Nicola's Books on YouTube.
Please take a moment and vote for the title you're most interested in reading and discussing for October (and we'll hope to see you to talk about "Bright-Sided" on Tuesday, September 28 at 7 p.m.).
Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.
Comments
Speechless
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 1:15 p.m.
Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book makes for an excellent choice. Especially over the last decade or so, she's very easily been one of the best authors dealing with contemporary social issues. She has also been effective at placing modern social behavior in long-term historical contexts. A sharp critique of so-called positive thinking does fill a void, as it counters the self-help pablum that has gradually run rampant on bookshelves over the last half-century. Nowadays there are far too many out there who adopt a superficial, new-age mindset and seemingly relish blaming other people for the misfortunes in their lives — for not having approached these difficult situations with the "right" attitude. The contributing ecological, genetic, societal, and economic causes for personal problems are largely played down, as everything can supposedly be made better if only we firmly place our problems inside a warm, glowing light inside our mind's eye. Wishful thinking substitutes for tactical and social responses to personal crises. Susan Douglas' book should be a good choice for next month. I'd be curious to see how it compares to Susan Faludi's Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, published almost twenty years ago. That earlier book discussed the emergence of, or the greater social emphasis on, regressive gender values and attitudes which followed in the wake of 1970s feminism. It seems like Douglas may have written, in part, a kind of follow-up to Faludi's book, taking a look at how backlash has 'evolved' since 1990.
Jenn McKee
Wed, Sep 1, 2010 : 10:35 p.m.
As it happens, "Zeitoun" has been on my list, so you will very likely see that one as a future option. As for how we determine the choices, the two of us involved with the program try to keep tabs on new books that are getting buzz, either from readers or critics, and select three very different kinds of books to choose from - with an eye toward occasionally highlighting books with local ties. We're certainly open to suggestions, though; thanks for yours!
Jon Saalberg
Wed, Sep 1, 2010 : 9:27 p.m.
Was there an article that described how the choices are determined? I haven't seen any selections that seem compelling. Couldn't there be an open poll of annarbor.com users to determine the book selected? At any rate, I would highly recommend Zeitoun by Dave Eggers as a future candidate - particularly in light of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Jenn McKee
Wed, Sep 1, 2010 : 2:49 p.m.
Nicola's Books regularly offers a 15 percent discount on the current Book Talk with AnnArbor.com selection, and a 10 percent discount on the three books being considered for the following month (though readers should note that "The Wave" won't hit stores until September 14).