Article: Dating Books for Guys

Finally here, folks: my article about dating books for guys, which includes short reviews of The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Getting Girls, Rules of the Game and This Book Will Get You Laid, books 23, 24 and 25 from this 'book a week' series.

If you're wondering about the "Love - the getting" title, you might want to take a peek at the article that ran alongside it called "Love - the giving". My article is on the left hand side of an image of a tree, and Lisa Scottoline's was on the right. And even though my mom's miffed they didn't run my picture, I don't mind. Maybe the guy I wrote about won't realize it was him (because, really, how often do you look at bylines? I read this article all the way through without knowing Kristin Graham wrote it -- and I'm a writer. You would expect I'd pay attention!)

Today also marks Frank Wilson's last review as book editor. I expected a farewell column, but, in true Frank style, he dedicated that space to a book review -- a review of a poetry book, at that.

Fortunately, Frank will continue to share his thoughts through the blogsphere -- he'll continue his wildly popular blog Books, Inq here.

Comments

Kel said…

Jen, congrats on the article. I just happened across this new release, that reminded me of your piece: http://www.amazon.com/Things-Learned-Women-Whove-Dumped/dp/0446580694

Not sure if you have seen it -- It's not self-help, but rather a funny collection of stories by men who have been dumped. If the cover photo is any indication, I suspect it includes some very smart and funny tales of heartbreak.

February 11, 2008 at 12:07 AM

Kel said…

oops, not sure if the link worked, the book is called "Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me"

February 11, 2008 at 12:09 AM

Jen A. Miller said…

Hey Kel! Thanks for stopping by -- I have seen that book. In fact, I'm staring at it right now, and I hope to get to it, but I couldn't quite figure out how to get it into the article.

And I love that cover. What a great idea...

February 11, 2008 at 6:00 AM

Book 11 of 52: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

In my travels, I've accumulated photos in what I call the "Plants Where They Shouldn't Be" series. They're of weeds, flowers and trees growing in places that look uncomfortable: poking out of lava that's OK to walk on but warm enough to generate steam, growing around a mile marker on the road, sprouting on the back of a parking sign - that kind of thing. On the cheesy side, they're reminders that we can flourish in the most unlikely circumstances. On a more realistic end, they show that humans are constantly battling back nature, and that someday we'll probably lose the fight. I thought about those photos when I read book 8 of 52 Station Eleven (and watched the HBO Max adaptation ), which show a world without 99.99 percent of our current human population. The story focuses on people, of course, but set them in a world where the things humans have created - electricity, internet, buildings, bridges, roads - are being taken back by nature. A Jersey Sh

Book 12 of 52: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is an author and graphic novelist who grew up in Iran and, as a tween and teen, lived in the country through the Iranian Revolution before her parents sent her to Europe for school, and for her safety. As an adult, she wrote Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood , a nonfiction graphic novel, originally in French. I read the English translation, which was published in 2003, three years after the original. It was a critical success, won a slew of awards, and became a movie . I haven't read the sequel, Persepolis 2 , but I hope to (you can also buy them in a set . I found Persepolis in a Little Free Library, or I'd have bought them combined). In the tradition of Art Spiegelman's Maus , which is about the author's father talking to him about the Holocaust, Persepolis is a memoir of trauma told through a mix of images and words that when combined, combust into powerful, beautiful and soul cracking art. For example, Satrapi portrays the 1978 Cinema R

Book 5 of 52: Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen

I don't always try to match my reading to what I'm doing, but when I go to Florida, I try to pack at least one Florida weird book. There was no better novel to bring with me to read on a ferry from Key West to Dry Tortugas National Park , than Carl Hiaasen's Stormy Weather . Hiaasen was writing about #floridaman before #floridaman was a thing (and when this - # - was the pound sign). Stormy Weather is set in 1992 in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, which is still the most destructive hurricane to have ever hit Florida, and only one of four hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. still at Category 5 strength. According to the Miami Herald , Hurricane Andrew destroyed 63,000 homes and damaged another 101,241. Such disasters bring out the best in humanity but also the worst. F raud flowed into South Florida in Andrew's wake . That's where Stormy Weather comes in. From an advertising executive who yanks his new wife away from their Walt Disney World honeymoon to r

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