Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage--and a life, in good times and bad--that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births,... (more)

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

by Chelsea Handler, Chelsea Handler

In this raucous collection of true-life stories, actress and comedian Chelsea Handler recounts her time spent in the social trenches with that wild, strange, irresistible, and often gratifying beast: the one-night stand. You've either done it or know someone who has: the one-night stand, the familiar outcome of a night spent at a bar, sometimes the sole payoff for your friend's irritating wedding, or the only... (more)

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

by Chuck Klosterman

Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples... (more)

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

by A. J. Jacobs

33,000 PAGES 44 MILLION WORDS 10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY 1 OBSESSED MAN Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all... (more)

The Center of Everything : A Novel

by Laura Moriarty

Now in paperback, Laura Moriarty's breakthrough novel of growing up and growing wise. Critics and readers everywhere stood up and took notice when Laura Moriarty's captivating debut novel hit the stores in June '03. Janet Maslin of the New York Times praised The Center of Everything as "warm" and "beguiling." USA Today compared the scrappy yet tenderhearted Evelyn Bucknow to Scout Finch in To Kill a... (more)

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters

by Joan Ryan

An expose+a7 of women's gymnastics and figure skating describes the severely unhealthy situations that young athletes are exposed to, from starvation diets and debilitating injuries to the brutal tactics of their families and coaches.

Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) About TV

Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) About TV

by Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting

Calling all Dawson's Creek fans! Television Without Pity features irreverent entries about the shows, characters, actors, clichés, plot devices, memorable moments, and catch phrases that make watching TV such a guilty pleasure. From weekend-long Real World marathons to the People's Choice Awards, from favorite characters (Brenda Walsh, Seth Cohen) to the most unfunny recurring skits on Saturday Night Live, this is... (more)

Why You're Still Single

by Evan Marc Katz

This book isn’t about catching men or reeling anybody in. Catching is for nine-year-olds playing freeze tag, and reeling is for trout. This is about you, considering the possibility that you’re tripping over your own feet—no matter how much of an amazing, smart, hot, totally worthwhile ass-kicker you may be as a general rule. Some food for thought: • Don’t be the "men are pigs" woman. She’s boring. She’s... (more)

Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics

Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics

by Jennifer Ouellette

Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats , science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical... (more)

Wonder When You'll Miss Me: A Novel

by Amanda Davis

At fifteen, Faith Duckle was lured under the bleachers by a bunch of boys and brutally attacked. Now, almost a year later, a newly thin Faith is haunted by her past and by the flippant, cruel ghost of her formerly fat self who is bent on revenge. Faith eventually turns to violence for retribution, forcing her to flee home in search of the only friend she has -- a troubled but caring busboy who is the lover of a... (more)

It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties

It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties

by Emily Franklin

These provocative original essays aim to empathize with, encourage and inspire 20-something women. It's a Wonderful Lie will pick up where Quarter-life Crisis left off and will offer perspective and wisdom. Writers will shed a light on what one should and should not expect from what you've been led to believe are the best years of your life. The essays range from comedic to reflective and pensive, all looking at... (more)

The Girls' Almanac

by Emily Franklin

The Girls' Almanac chronicles the lives of Jenna and Lucy—two thirty-something women who desperately long for a true friend—as well as the lives of the women and men who have touched them: friends, lovers, parents, and neighbors. Set across the Northeast—through suburban neighborhoods, preppy camps, island resorts, and Ivy League colleges—as well as far flung locales like Ecuador and Iceland, The Girls' Almanac ... (more)

Against Love: A Polemic

by Laura Kipnis

Who would dream of being against love? No one. Love is, as everyone knows, a mysterious and all-controlling force, with vast power over our thoughts and life decisions. But is there something a bit worrisome about all this uniformity of opinion? Is this the one subject about which no disagreement will be entertained, about which one truth alone is permissible? Consider that the most powerful organized religions... (more)

The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal

The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal

by Victoria Zackheim

She's been called the harpy, the Jezebel, the Lorelei, the bitch...and other choice names. In truth, she is someone's daughter, mother, friend, confidante. She seduces husbands, breaks up marriages, and occasionally becomes a stepmother. Sometimes, she is even a victim. So who is this creature who arrives like a wrecking ball to destroy lives and families? She is the Other Woman--but she's only half the story. For... (more)

Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure

Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure

by Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser

Deceptively simple and surprisingly addictive, Not Quite What I Was Planning is a thousand glimpses of humanity—six words at a time. One Life. Six Words. What's Yours? When Hemingway famously wrote, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn," he proved that an entire story can be told using a half dozen words. When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, they proved a... (more)

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society

by Farhad Manjoo

Why has punditry lately overtaken news? Why do lies seem to linger so long in the cultural subconscious even after they’ve been thoroughly discredited? And why, when more people than ever before are documenting the truth with laptops and digital cameras, does fact-free spin and propaganda seem to work so well? True Enough explores leading controversies of national politics, foreign affairs, science, and... (more)

It's Not Me, It's You: Subjective Recollections from a Terminally Optimistic, Chronically Sarcastic and Occasionally Inebriated Woman

It's Not Me, It's You: Subjective Recollections from a Terminally Optimistic, Chronically Sarcastic and Occasionally Inebriated Woman

by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

A rapier-sharp, hilariously irreverent collection of true-life essays from the beloved author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay . Stefanie Wilder-Taylor has never been one to take the conventional route. Whether financing a move to LA with only a best friend's bat mitzvah savings or accidentally freebasing cocaine, Stefanie is living proof that the unlikely can happen -- usually to her. And when it does, the... (more)

Columbine

by David Cullen

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we... (more)

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita

by Heather B. Armstrong

An irreverent and captivating memoir about the unexpected joys and glaring indignities of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood - from the beloved creator of the most popular personal blog on the web, dooce.com Heather Armstrong gave up a lot of things when she and her husband, Jon, decided to have a baby: beer, small boobs, free time -- and antidepressants. The eighteen months that followed were filled with... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: books i heard about online

by Joan Didion

by Margaret Atwood

by Chelsea Handler, Chelsea Handler

by Chuck Klosterman

by A. J. Jacobs

by Laura Moriarty

by Joan Ryan

by Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting

by Evan Marc Katz

by Jennifer Ouellette

by Amanda Davis

by Emily Franklin

by Emily Franklin

by Laura Kipnis

by Victoria Zackheim

by Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser

by Farhad Manjoo

by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

by David Cullen

by Heather B. Armstrong