Review by Ann M. Shayne
Anxieties plague me. I turn to my bookshelf. There really are answers to be found, but they often lurk in surprising places.
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Why didn't I think of these before? Carolyn Bushong has come up with "The Seven Dumbest Relationship Mistakes Smart People Make." Here are the mistakes, in easy-to-remember alphabetical order:
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"Passengers in first-class sections are generally treated more harshly in a hijacking situation than those farther back. Passengers in aisle seats are more likely to be singled out by hijackers than those in other seats."
Noted. I shall either a) fly only Southwest -- forget first class -- or b) hang out with the flight attendants in the way back.
By Eugene Ehrlich
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Six years of French classes and all I have to show for it is, "Tiens. Ecoutez á l'asperge." The problem is that once someone figures out that I've had lessons, they start talking to me in French as if I had a clue what they mean.
The need to fake it arises regularly, which explains the utility of "Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout le Monde with Everyday French" by Eugene Ehrlich. Here's one I'll keep on hand: "Vous me mettez le couteau sous la gorge." While this phrase is usually used in an idiomatic way against someone who holds the upper hand in a negotiation, the more literal translation "you're holding a knife to my throat" will work well when cajoling that hijacker I failed to avoid. I will amaze and charm my captor.
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My babysitter stays overnight with my boy while I go out of town. It's not: Will my only child be safe with this woman? It's: Do I have three matching towels in the bathroom? I suddenly realize I am paying this woman to be a guest in my house. My sister doesn't get this kind of attention when she visits.
My favorite adviser about home cleaning, Jeff Campbell, explores many dirty subjects in "Talking Dirt: America's Speed Cleaning Expert Answers the 157 Most-Asked Cleaning Questions." On the neverendingly yucky subject of grubby shower curtains, he suggests:
"Have a fancy shower curtain on the outside, a cheap white (not clear) liner inside. Spend six bucks every six months to get a new one. Don't worry about it."
In other words, I don't have to clean the thing at all. This is excellent news.
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"So what's worth reading these days?"
It is the Question of Doom for me. I smile politely -- vacantly, actually, for I suddenly blank out on any worthwhile book I've read in the past six years. Why does the name Willa Cather keep popping up?
If "The Reader's Catalog" didn't weigh five pounds I'd tote it along as the finest of crib sheets. Now in its second edition, it is a wondrous thing: more than 40,000 books are catalogued here by people who have really good memories, and the range is from the esoteric to the popular.
Willa Cather is there, thank heavens, right after Erskine Caldwell. I no longer need to read anything; I shall become the ultimate lightweight.
Ann Shayne is Editor of BookPage.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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