Sarah Bagby's book reviews can be heard on alternate Mondays on KMUW 89.1.
Here's a transcript of her most recent review. To listen:
go here
"The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: and Other Small Acts of Liberation" by
Elizabeth Berg
Elizabeth Berg has a knack for reaching a certain emotional landscape that
all women share. "The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: and Other Small Acts of
Liberation" is a new collection of short stories in which Berg's beloved
fictional characters challenge conventional mores in unconventional ways.
The title story follows a member of Weight Watchers as she eats her way to
happiness, defying the points system and self talk that accompany successful
weight loss. In "Over the Hill and Into the Woods," an aging Helen, slips
into a fugue of adolescent "whatever" during the holidays after she
discovered the gifts she has given are instantly in the trash with the
wrapping. Pulling through her funk, Helen embraces the self-satisfying habit
of giving cheap tokens of sentimentality, knowing the pleasure may be hers
alone. "How to Make an Apple Pie" is a recipe in the form of a twelve page
letter... or is it a letter in the form of a twelve page recipe? Either way,
it's mixed with love.
Author of 17 novels, Elizabeth Berg proves her agility in these stories, 11
of which have never before been published. Read them, and you will feel that
you have spent the day in the presence of a friend.
Review by Sarah
Bagby, May 15, 2008
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