Last week, after arriving at a friend’s home, I treated myself to a bath.  It was inspired by a super clean bathtub which is a rare encounter for me.  It was heavenly!

When Napoleon wrote to his wife, Josephine, “Coming home, don’t bathe”, what was he thinking?   In today’s clean-a-holic culture we would say; “scrub that little body up honey, human smells are not embraced OR appreciated”.  A quick shower however has taken the place of the languishing bath for most of us—but not Jean.  She has made a pact with Latis, the Greek goddess of water (and also beer I might add), to return to the serenity and renewal of a bath at least daily, sometimes more, (I’m visualizing prune here).

The Best 9 of ‘09 – Books By, For or About Women
By Robyn Hall
 
And you thought 2008 was the Year of the Woman.   Remember when “going rogue” was in vogue for a certain hockey mom from Alaska?  Oh, and when Michelle Obama fist-bumped her way into fashion history as well as the White House?  And then there was Hillary, a trailblazer who wasn’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling, but as she said, it now has “about 18 million cracks in it.”  Women made history in 2008 by rocking the political, entertainment, and media worlds.
 
Well, 2009 happened to be another Year of the Woman – the woman writer that is.  Of the New York Times’ list of the Top 10 books of 2009, six of them were written by women.  Bravo, ladies.  Check out my list of the best reads of last year: “The Best 9 of ‘09 – Books by, for, or About Women.” 

1.  Lit by Mary Karr – I loved Karr’s first book, “The Liar’s Club” which was published to critical acclaim back before tell-alls became the fashionable way to get on Oprah.  I was intrigued by this third memoir’s clever double entendre of a title: “Lit” ala literature, as she is a poet and lit professor.  And “Lit” as in drunk as a skunk alcoholic, which she also is (or was).  But what I really like about Karr is her very real, very tired, very midlife voice.  I feel like she’s been inside my head, and I recognize in her pages the stark clarity, dark humor, and utter doubt with which I live my 46th year of life.   

2.  Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman – I have four sisters (and a saint of a brother), and I really adored this story because Hoffman got the passion, power, anger, guilt, strength, and above all eternal bond of sisters just right.  The Story sisters, Elv, Meg, and Claire, are dark-haired beauties whose stories entwine each other through the devastations of rape, drug addiction, disease, and fatal accidents.

Do we REALLY need a Prince Charming?  After reading Barb Greenberg’s book,  After the Ball , I was reminded in a truly delightful way that, of course, what makes us happy is found deep within ourselves.  We all want that Prince Charming, but whether single or attached, it is still up to us to find our own happiness.  It is dangerous teritory to depend on another human for our joy.

Barb Greenberg, the author, wrote this beautiful book after her divorce.  But after reading it (I’ve been married 47 years) I find that it is not just about divorce.  It is about evolving and growing as a woman, with or without a man.  I love the dedication: “This book is dedicated to every princess finding her way and every wise woman guiding her”.  Meaning, we all, as women, help each other get through difficulties in life, young or old.  But the work is still up to us as individuals.