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LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Fantasy Island

Review by bookpagedev

For a wedding book that is all fantasy and little reality for most brides, there’s Colin Cowie’s Extraordinary Weddings: From a Glimmer of an Idea to a Legendary Event. This lavish book highlights 14 weddings planned and executed by the superstar wedding planner. These are certainly not your typical ceremonies. Highlights are destination weddings in Italy and the Bahamas and the only private party ever given on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

Still, the book and the weddings are beautiful and offer some advice for celebrations that don’t involve a DJ flown in from Paris. Cowie reminds readers that weddings aren’t about impressing guests, they are intended to bring a new family together in love. That’s true whether you’re inviting five guests or 500.

For a wedding book that is all fantasy and little reality for most brides, there's Colin Cowie's Extraordinary Weddings: From a Glimmer of an Idea to a Legendary Event. This lavish book highlights 14 weddings planned and executed by the superstar wedding planner. These…
NonfictionMemoirFamily & Relationships

A family defined by the 20th century

Review by John T. Slania

David Laskin’s family experienced the most important events of the 20th century: the Russian Revolution; World War I; the Great Depression; the Holocaust; World War II. But this Zelig-like existence was unknown to Laskin for years, as he grew up in a bucolic suburb of New York City, graduated from Harvard and went on to become an accomplished author. It wasn’t until he began to probe the history of his family that he discovered its remarkable background. These discoveries became the basis for his fascinating new book, The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century.

Early on in The Family, Laskin establishes the premise with this simple, elegant sentence: “History made and broke my family in the twentieth century.” Consider what three separate branches of his mother’s family experienced: One branch emigrated from Russia to the U.S. and went on to build a fortune by creating the Maidenform brassiere. Another branch found its way to the Middle East, where it was part of the establishment of Israel. The third branch remained in Europe and suffered through two world wars and the Holocaust.

Laskin is honest about his place of privilege and how he once ignored his Judaism and his family history: “I forgot the Hebrew that had been drummed into me. I belonged to Greenwich Village, London, Paris, Rome, maybe James Joyce’s Dublin—certainly not to Jerusalem, Vilna, Minsk.” But on a whim he started corresponding with distant relatives and began to learn about the astounding evolution of his family. The success that the American branch experienced in creating the Maidenform bra is poignantly contrasted with the struggles of the Israeli branch in helping to establish a new country. But even more gripping is the pain felt by family members who remained in Russia, enduring the horrors of both Hitler’s Final Solution and Stalin’s purges.

The Family is a thoroughly researched, deftly written book that will help readers appreciate the struggles and successes of Jews as they sought safe harbors and places to call home during the 20th-century diaspora. It is a journey worth taking to see an educated and talented author come to appreciate how his ancestors helped him to find his home in the 21st century.

David Laskin’s family experienced the most important events of the 20th century: the Russian Revolution; World War I; the Great Depression; the Holocaust; World War II. But this Zelig-like existence was unknown to Laskin for years, as he grew up in a bucolic suburb of…

Family & RelationshipsAging

Family ceasefire: finding a way to make peace with your mother

Review by bookpagedev

Love, as they say, is a battlefield, and no one knows this better than Iris Krasnow. After decades of clashing with her strong-willed mother, the best-selling author of Surrendering to Motherhood decided to write a book about how she finally came to terms with this formidable figure in her life. Women caught in similar family conflicts who don’t quite know how to end the hostilities will appreciate Krasnow’s new book, I Am My Mother’s Daughter: Making Peace with Mom Before It’s Too Late. In writing about the special kind of diplomacy required for many mothers and daughters to achieve peace, Krasnow tapped into her own complicated past and interviewed countless women in their 30s and beyond who still had major issues with their mothers. While the women’s backgrounds may vary, she writes, their experiences have brought them to this common conclusion: Ditching old baggage and learning to love our mothers must come before we learn to love, and know, ourselves. Poignant, wise, and thought provoking, I Am My Mother’s Daughter is sure to resonate with female readers of all ages. A woman’s relationship with her mom may never be friction-free, Krasnow says, but both parties can lay aside old grievances and try to move forward. Offering invaluable advice on how to negotiate this delicate territory, Krasnow’s latest is a sensitively written book about compromise and reconciliation. Her message to readers is plain and simple: Forgive and forget while you’ve still got time.

Love, as they say, is a battlefield, and no one knows this better than Iris Krasnow. After decades of clashing with her strong-willed mother, the best-selling author of Surrendering to Motherhood decided to write a book about how she finally came to terms with this…
Family & Relationships

A book to guide you past the pitfalls of dating

Review by bookpagedev

Misery loves company If you, or someone you know, has the dating game blues50 Boyfriends Worse Than Yours by Justin Racz can lighten things up with its oh-so-apropos photos of 50 boyfriend types and their hilarious accompanying bios. For example, there’s the Tortured Artist, who’s very sweet and thoughtful when the inner demons and voices in his head subside. His place is cluttered with mannequins, dolls, paint, love letters, mason jars filled with his own tears, and unpaid bills, and though one of his benefits is being a generous gift giver during courtship, one of his drawbacks is that those gifts include Popsicle sticks glued together. Other boyfriends not on the A-list include Mister Sensitive Tattoo Man, Better Looking Than You, Roommate Turned Boyfriend, and Man with Cats. Hey, wait! That’s who I’m dating! Linda Stankard writes from Nanuet, New York.

Misery loves company If you, or someone you know, has the dating game blues50 Boyfriends Worse Than Yours by Justin Racz can lighten things up with its oh-so-apropos photos of 50 boyfriend types and their hilarious accompanying bios. For example, there's the Tortured Artist, who's…
Family & Relationships

A book to guide you past the pitfalls of dating

Review by bookpagedev

If you’ve had enough of reveling in your single state and marriage is on your mind, you’ll need The List: 7 Ways to Tell If He’s Going to Marry You In 30 Days or Less! by Mary Corbett and Sheila Corbett Kihne. These two sisters (both married, with children) lay out a tough-love, seven-point guide to help women decide if the man in question is a keeper or a cull. The sisters contend that when a man’s alarm has sounded, he will take seven specific actions in fairly swift succession in order to secure the woman he wants. These are: 1) He’ll make the first move. 2) He’ll call her within 24-48 hours to set up a first date. 3) He’ll make the first date easy and fun. 4) He’ll call her within 24 hours to set up subsequent dates. 5) He’ll want to talk to her every day and want to spend all his free time with her. 6) He’ll demonstrate unconditional loyalty. 7) He’ll talk about marrying her in concrete terms and he’ll propose or will let her know his intentions. (Pretty specific, huh? Almost scary!) Each item on the list gets an explanatory chapter with case studies, exceptions and clarifications, along with a Wrap-Up at the end with insights like this one pertaining to #5: If a man doesn’t want to spend all of his free time with you, it means there has been a False Alarm. It is hard to believe after getting this far on The List that things aren’t going to work out. But if he won’t give you his time, he won’t give you a ring. Ouch. Sad, but almost certainly true.

Linda Stankard writes from Nanuet, New York.

If you've had enough of reveling in your single state and marriage is on your mind, you'll need The List: 7 Ways to Tell If He's Going to Marry You In 30 Days or Less! by Mary Corbett and Sheila Corbett Kihne. These two sisters…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Advice for the groom

Review by bookpagedev

The Engaged Groom (subtitled You’re Getting Married Read This Book ) is more intent on quelling that rising gorge in your throat with savvy advice on subjects ranging from picking a date to surviving a bachelor party, and even has a handy diagram showing the proper bow-tying technique.

The best thing I can say is that I’m glad I don’t have to go through it again (though I wouldn’t trade the experience, or my wife, for anything). I can now enjoy these books, then pass them on to my recently engaged son. That might be a good idea for you, too, if you’ve got a male relative or friend preparing for the big step.

The Engaged Groom (subtitled You're Getting Married Read This Book ) is more intent on quelling that rising gorge in your throat with savvy advice on subjects ranging from picking a date to surviving a bachelor party, and even has a handy diagram showing…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Real-world planning

Review by bookpagedev

For a no-nonsense guide to wedding planning, Countdown to Your Perfect Wedding: From Engagement to Honeymoon, A Week-by-Week Guide to Planning the Happiest Day of Your Life can’t be beat. This thoroughly inclusive guide sets out the steps to plan your dream wedding in a year or less. Written by Joyce Scardina Becker, certified wedding consultant and contributing editor to theKnot.com, Countdown provides a logical framework for someone who likes a structured timeline for everything, and will certainly set Type-A couples down the path to wedding-planning bliss. Sarah E. White is a freelance writer in Arkansas.

For a no-nonsense guide to wedding planning, Countdown to Your Perfect Wedding: From Engagement to Honeymoon, A Week-by-Week Guide to Planning the Happiest Day of Your Life can't be beat. This thoroughly inclusive guide sets out the steps to plan your dream wedding in a…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Wedding fantasies

Review by bookpagedev

One of the first things many women do when they get engaged is pick up wedding magazines. InStyle Weddings takes articles and wedding stories from the magazine of the same name. This richly illustrated tome will help those visual people who want to see the difference between an A-line and an Empire dress before they go shopping or to consider the virtues of a chignon instead of a ponytail in the comfort of their home. This book offers basic checklists such as the duties of the wedding party and a six-month health regimen. However, InStyle Weddings is more about showing the options than giving advice, including stories from celebrity weddings such as Rob Thomas and Marisol Maldonado’s California ranch wedding and Toni Braxton and Keri Lewis’ Tiffany-inspired soiree. It’s not the most sensible wedding book on the planet, but, hey, a girl can dream.

Sarah E. White is a freelance writer in Arkansas.

One of the first things many women do when they get engaged is pick up wedding magazines. InStyle Weddings takes articles and wedding stories from the magazine of the same name. This richly illustrated tome will help those visual people who want to see the…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

High-dollar plans

Review by bookpagedev

For brides who want to dream big (with a budget to match), this book from Vogue’s favorite wedding coordinator offers many beautiful, modern and stylish ideas. Jo Gartin’s Weddings: An Inspiring Guide for the Stylish Bride is basically a portfolio of the author’s favorite work for her clients, famous and not. It offers lavish ideas for invitations, dresses, flowers, ceremony dŽcor, welcome gifts, party favors, seating arrangement displays, tiny desserts and towering cakes and rarely does Gartin suggest that any of the above isn’t necessary. There are a few tips for the budget-conscious (and sewing-savvy) bride as Gartin illustrates dress and shoe makeovers to convert an off-the-rack find to a one-of-a-kind creation, though one wonders how many brides-to-be would be willing to take a pair of scissors to their precious dresses. Sarah E. White is a freelance writer in Arkansas.

For brides who want to dream big (with a budget to match), this book from Vogue's favorite wedding coordinator offers many beautiful, modern and stylish ideas. Jo Gartin's Weddings: An Inspiring Guide for the Stylish Bride is basically a portfolio of the author's favorite work…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Floral wonders

Review by bookpagedev

For brides who want something unique for their floral design, To Have and to Hold: Magical Wedding Bouquets is an indispensable guide to flowers. This lush book illustrates a wide variety of floral options, arranged by when the flowers are in season for greater economy.

The book is incredibly New York City-centric because that’s where authors David Stark and Avi Adler are sought-after event planners. A price guide is offered based on the going rate for blooms in the city, but no suggestions are given for how brides who don’t live in big cities might have beautiful flowers without spending a fortune. Still, To Have and to Hold offers valuable tips on selecting flowers (and thinking beyond just flowers) and arranging them for different looks. Some how-tos are included, so a crafty bride could recreate some of these looks herself, and the novel ideas for wrapping flowers will spark readers’ imaginations.

Sarah E. White is a freelance writer in Arkansas.

For brides who want something unique for their floral design, To Have and to Hold: Magical Wedding Bouquets is an indispensable guide to flowers. This lush book illustrates a wide variety of floral options, arranged by when the flowers are in season for greater economy.
Family & Relationships

A book to guide you past the pitfalls of dating

Review by bookpagedev

Being happily single is wonderful. Many of my long-married women friends talk wistfully of their single days evenings spent with a stack of movies, a glass of wine and a huge bowl of popcorn no real cooking, no one to answer to, and no one to nix their choice of French with English subtitles in favor of something with more action. Even while searching for a soul mate, the ability to savor that solitary state is important. In her uplifting, boldly pro-woman guide to dating, It’s Not You, It’s Him: The Zero-Tolerance Approach to Dating Dr. Georgia Witkin tells readers, If you love who you are and are happy with yourself, then don’t change a thing. . . . There’s nothing wrong with you and nothing about you that you should change just to meet a guy. An assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center, Witkin tells her readers, Once you start assuming that you are perfectly loveable just the way you are, everything will change. . . . You’ll start to look at each new man through your eyes instead of looking at yourself through his. She adds emphatically: Most of all, don’t apologize for who you are. Men don’t apologize for anything. They don’t apologize for being overweight or balding, dressing like a slob or being single. Take a note and take a lesson. But Witkin isn’t anti-relationship in fact, she promotes a realistic, tolerant approach, in which women trade the myth of perfection for the math of probabilities. As she so aptly puts it, A perfect match doesn’t exist; the man who loves you does. We think single women will adore Witkin’s no-nonsense approach.

Linda Stankard writes from Nanuet, New York.

Being happily single is wonderful. Many of my long-married women friends talk wistfully of their single days evenings spent with a stack of movies, a glass of wine and a huge bowl of popcorn no real cooking, no one to answer to, and no one…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Advice for the groom

Review by bookpagedev

How-to books read by folks who already know how-to can’t help but elicit rueful chuckles; imagine how a mechanic feels reading Car Repair for Dummies. Speaking as someone who’s been married twice, once three decades ago, once last year (and who was ignorant both times), I found Peter Scott’s Well Groomed to be full of laughs, some intentional, some not. Well Groomed subtitled A Wedding Planner for What’s-His-Name (And His Bride) is deliberately tongue-in-cheek humorous. When Scott draws comparisons between Bride Magazin and Penthouse, the married groom (known as the husband), laughs and shakes his head, because he knows the truth behind the laughs. Scott also brings his wry insight to bear on such exotic subjects (to the male, anyway) as The Guest List, The Reception Menu and That Pesky Wedding Day Nausea.

How-to books read by folks who already know how-to can't help but elicit rueful chuckles; imagine how a mechanic feels reading Car Repair for Dummies. Speaking as someone who's been married twice, once three decades ago, once last year (and who was ignorant both times),…
LifestylesFamily & Relationships

Marriage by design

Review by bookpagedev

Many new books on wedding planning take this go-your-own-way approach, not only telling couples it’s fine to do what they want, but also attempting to show them how to achieve it. Diane Meier Delaney’s The New American Wedding is a 256-page pep talk on just this subject. It convinces would-be brides and grooms that it’s perfectly acceptable to have what some would term a nontraditional wedding and shows that more couples are choosing to do their own thing. From alternative engagements (and jewelry) to different-from-normal vows, ceremony locations, attendants, showers and more, couples are finding that putting their own marks on their special day makes the ceremony and experience of their wedding much more personal and real. Delaney offers inspiration, stories and examples from her own experience and from other couples who have crafted their own ceremonies and had beautiful, heartfelt weddings as a result. Though the book sometimes reads like an ad for the author’s favorite vendors (many of whom she works with in her day job as a marketer), it is helpful to couples who want to do something different but have no idea what their options are.

Sarah E. White is a freelance writer in Arkansas.

Many new books on wedding planning take this go-your-own-way approach, not only telling couples it's fine to do what they want, but also attempting to show them how to achieve it. Diane Meier Delaney's The New American Wedding is a 256-page pep talk on just…

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