I Feel Bad About My Neck: with a new introduction from Dolly Alderton
£6.60£9.50 (-31%)
‘So bold and so vulnerable at the same time. I don’t know how she did it’ – Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Now with an introduction from Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know About Love, revealing how a new generation of women can take inspiration from Nora’s sharp wit and wisdom about life.
*Never marry a man you wouldn’t want to be divorced from.
* If the shoe doesn’t fit in the shoe store, it’s never going to fit.
* When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.
* If only one third of your clothes are mistakes, you’re ahead of the game.
* Anything you think is wrong with your body at the age of thirty-five you will be nostalgic for by the age of forty-five.
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‘I give this as a present more than other book. I buy it for people so often that I’ve been known to give girlfriends two copies, one birthday after another’ – Dolly Alderton
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‘I am only one of millions of women who will miss Nora’s voice’ Lena Dunham
‘Oh how I loved Nora Ephron’ Nigella Lawson
‘Funny, knowing and smart’ India Knight
‘The book that most influenced me’ Lily Allen
‘Nora’s exacting, precise, didactic, tried-and-tested, sophisticated-woman-wearing-all-black wisdom is a comfort and a relief’ Dolly Alderton
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Additional information
| Publisher | Doubleday (9 Jan. 2020) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 224 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0857526936 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0857526939 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 1.4 x 19.8 cm |
by Anon
Ah, Nora! How we miss her witty insights and her way with words!
by mazzeratee
A delightful, amusing and witty collection of essays which highlight some of the joys and problems of a being a woman in the 21st century. At the end I felt I knew Ephron, and would love to have met her. I found the articles echoed some of my own experiences and thoughts, but the ones I enjoyed most were those which revealed her feelings about two presidents, JFK and Bill Clinton. Although clearly an American writer, describing essentially New York life, her writing resonates with many women facing up to the inevitability of aging. At times hilarious, sometimes quite thought provoking. How sad that she is no longer with us – who knows what other gems she might have produced?
Definitely a great idea for a Christmas present for your women friends.
by Emi Bevacqua
The Independent calls Nora Ephron “America’s favourite naughty aunt” and Boris Johnson’s sister sums her up thusly, “No one wrote more amusingly about the important things in women’s lives – love, betrayal, heartbreak, children, parents, sex, ageing, dating, dieting,… the death of romance, death itself”. I would only add to that list: happiness, and cooking.
I read this and laughed along throughout, nodding in agreement, and feeling amazed that Nora Ephron got me, so completely. She must have lived her life surrounded by women telling her their problems, stories and annoyances, if I could have I certainly would have! So humorous and relatable, so wise and yet self-deprecating. If I were lucky enough to be her friend I would have told her when I disagreed with her, that wearing black with gray hair doesn’t really make you look older or sadder, and that bread in America is actually not so unbelievably delicious compared to in Europe. And I would thank her for her great advice: to write everything down, keep a journal, go see a lawyer and file the papers the minute you decide to get divorced, overtip, to never let them know, and that there are no secrets.
Nora included that advice in 2006 in a piece titled, What I Wish I’d Known article for Harper’s, the same year she published I Feel Bad About My Neck, this lovely collection of her work. The last two entries on the list above make me so sad, figuring that she had contracted leukemia by the time she wrote that, and that she lived with that secret that she didn’t consider a secret for six years.
by Crystal
This was originally intended as a gift but arrived with the first four pages slightly torn and damaged
by A. Mcclintock
I have just discovered this remarkable woman…I read the whole book in two days…then I discovered her son had made a documentary about her which I watched straight after.
The last chapter of the book was unsettling and made me try to live each day to the fullest while we can
I’m so sorry she had gone on ahead…..she was something else!
by E.S.
This is an entertaining book for women of all ages, not just mid-aged or older women. I’m 29-years-old and enjoyed all essays. In fact, I would especially recommend this book for young women. We often forget or try to forget we will not stay young forever, maybe we don’t want to think about it, maybe we shouldn’t even really think about it and enjoy our youth when we can. But hearing about the experiences of older women open our eyes to the ‘luck’ we currently have and not realize. Nora was right in the book. If you are young and healthy, you never think about your neck. It’s when you get older and your neck decides to take a trip to the south you get aware, “I had a neck all these time I did not appreciate as much as I should have.”
It’s not all wisdom or learning, the book is meant to be entertaining and it does that very well. Let me also warn you the book is shorter than it seems. It says 224 pages, but the chapter titles have their own page just for the title, I take my time when I read and even I finished the book in less than a day. So if you are looking for something to read on the plane, or for the weekend, you better get a second book.
by Kindle Customer
I plan to buy this book for my friends, my mum, my sister. It’s witty and warm. It’s full of “this is me, how can she be writing about me?” Moments. I read it in one sitting. I lie, two because I had to go to bed but I finished the final two bits in the morning. I laughed out loud at the airport, on the plane, the bus and in bed. The energy, optimism, cynicism and honesty leapt out of her words and swooshed me along. Big fan.
by Rob Cheshire
So full disclosure right up front – My favourite films of all time include When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle and other films of this variety, plus, I’ve always known about Nora Ephron as a name in connection with those movies, but never looked any deeper or at anything else….until now. Suffice to say, I have now just ordered The Most of Nora Ephron because I have to have more of her writing. I’m so sad I’m so late to the party, this woman was clearly a super talented genius with a certain way of writing and connecting you to the things she was saying. I absolutely loved ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck’ I haven’t stopped smiling since I finished it – what an utter joy it is. I also feel perhaps a little strange, I mean, is a guy who is in his 50’s supposed to love writing like this? Hey, I don’t know and I also don’t care, this is a glorious book to read. It’s sort of a collection of essays about elements of her life, some very random, like Cabbage Strudel…..is that a thing(?), apparently so. The way she describes things, not necessarily using a million and one words, just the phraseology and you totally get what she’s talking about and you’re in. I would totally recommend this book and can’t wait to read my new purchase.