Doing it all, undomestically

Kasey Cox

As colleges around the country hold their pomp & circumstance celebrations, and high school graduations wait just on the other side of this calendar page…. and with the intense competition for jobs, and the dark views of the economy … perhaps now is not the time for me to tell you how much I loved a book that recommended stepping back from working your ass off.

I know that right now every graduation speech, every career counselor, every recruiter is going to tell you that in order to succeed, you’re going to have to work even harder, longer, and smarter than you’ve ever worked before. Certainly, many people are finding themselves working longer hours, whether they are recent graduates looking to impress a new boss, or an experienced worker with a new second job because a spouse was recently downsized. Some people who had been planning on retiring soon are finding that they’ll need to work a few more years than originally planned. I’m sympathetic: small business owners are putting even more hours themselves, and farming out fewer hours to other, part-time help.

So maybe it’s not a great time for me to recommend a fluffy story about a high-powered career girl who has to give it all up, but then realizes her life is better for working less.

Or maybe it’s the perfect time.

Hollywood recently discovered British “chic-lit” author Sophie Kinsella, producing a movie based on the first of Kinsella’s “Shopaholic” books. Perhaps Touchstone Pictures was hoping to make a movie as successful as the 2001 adaptation of Helen Fielding’s book, Bridget Jones’ Diary. Although the “Shopaholic” movie was amusing, and the books even more so, I think the producers missed the mark. Their timing, as well as their choice of Kinsella novels, seems rather poor in taste to me, if you’ll excuse the pun. I think the best Kinsella novel for this summer is The Undomestic Goddess.

If you’ve ever been a workaholic, a perfectionist, or a driven Type-A dude, you’ll really appreciate Samantha Sweeting, who is on the cusp of being named the youngest-ever partner at Carter Spink, high-powered London law firm. While her small apartment languishes under piles of empty take-out boxes and boxes of unopened junk mail, Samantha toils away more than fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, permanently attached to her Blackberry and cell phone. She’s brilliant, she’s determined, and she’s so stressed-out that she makes an enormous error that costs her clients 50 million pounds. Fleeing in mortification, Samantha runs, ending up on a train to the countryside. Exhausted and lost, she knocks on the door of a large country estate, gets mistaken for the interviewee from the Housekeeping Agency, and….

Okay, so the premise is a little far-fetched and the plot rather heavily engineered. What redeems this novel from the bin of just-another-beach-read is that there is nothing unrealistic about the character of Samantha Sweeting. Sure, Samantha is a comic character who begins to understand what is really important in life, and what brings deeper satisfaction and balance for the long-term. We could read that lesson in many a self-help book or hear it in a myriad of greeting cards: experiencing it yourself, however, sinks it home. If you love to read, sometimes experiencing feelings vicariously through a character is the next best thing. The Undomestic Goddess reminded me to slow down, enjoy the taste of food thoughtfully prepared and enjoyed with loved ones, the importance of taking time off.

I think that’s where we are right now. Yes, we may need to work hard, perhaps harder than ever to “get back on track.” Or maybe we’ll realize, as Samantha does, that the old track wasn’t so great after all. Perhaps less money but more satisfying work will fill our days. Food and friends instead of adrenaline and fancy toys. Coming out of crisis mode and into the good life that’s been here all along. That’s why I came home to the endless rolling hills of our home. Here’s to the good life, and to you, wherever you may find it!

Read all about how Hobo found his home in his children’s book, cleverly titled, “Hobo Finds A Home.” Read excerpts from his forthcoming book, containing his household tips and favorite recipes, at his blog: http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com. No Blackberries or chipmunks included. Martha Stewart and Opal Mehta, eat your heart out! Hobo knows the good life, and it doesn’t include plagiarism or jail time. He takes stock in the love of his fans.

Neither Picasso nor Hemingway gets the final word

Kasey Cox

How lucky am I? I’ve written enough book reviews (or achieved a loud enough reputation as a sucker and a soft-heart) that now people send me a copy of their newest book, asking that I might publish at least one review in order to publicize their work. Wow – free books, and an appeal to my writer’s ego. I feel blessed, honored … but also more pressured. A recovering perfectionist, I confess that writing has also been an area in which I have struggled mightily. In my worst hours, I will write a sentence or two, stare at it, erase it, stare at the blank page, write almost the exact same sentence, chastise myself for always using the same adjectives, cross it out, gnash my teeth, consider throwing the book or the computer or both against the wall.

Teeth gnashing aside, for several weeks after I read Dave Boling’s book Guernica, I hesitated to write a review. I've been avoiding going through this process for Guernica not because I didn't like it, but because I liked it so very much. I want to write a review that is worthy of the book, that somehow beautifully conveys everything that was beautiful in this first novel by Dave Boling. I figure, maybe, eventually, I will be able to, but it will take much more thought and writing. In the meantime, I want to start telling others to start reading this book!

I have already raved, ad infinitum, about my fondness for historical fiction. As a teenager, when I was bound to the place I lived, before I had a chance to travel, I traveled and learned about other times, other places, other people through novels like this one. This is true, now, too: as a young, working adult, owner of a small business in a small town, I am too busy, and too poor, to travel much. I let books take me places. Yes, I read nonfiction, too. I especially enjoy history, and I do understand the difference between history and historical fiction. And though the best writers of nonfiction history for the general public -- people like Barbara Tuchman, Stephen Ambrose, Joseph Ellis, Edmund Morris -- write beautifully, I find the lyrical language of the fiction warmer and more accessible.

This is certainly true of Dave Boling's writing. In prose that is has both lovely descriptions and compelling action, the book moves well and draws the reader in.

I know quite a bit about World War II, the Blitz, and also about the history of France (French major), but very little about the history of Spain. The little I know of the Spanish Civil War comes mostly from Hemingway novels. I know next to nothing about the Basque people. So I was interested in reading Guernica as a possible springboard to learn more. This novel is by no means a definitive work; Boling clearly explains as much in the author’s notes at the end, and provides an excellent reading list. I consider Guernica an invitation to delve into these events. I read a few critical reviews which offered advice to the effect of "don't bother with this novel; go back and read Hemingway (again) instead." I completely disagree. Though Papa Hemingway is a strong presence in our understanding, I believe it very important that he is not given the only word on this time period. As a matter of fact, Hemingway's terse style and ex-pat views give us only one small window. I want more. I received it here.

Even though I often hesitate to recommend a book only available in hardcover -- since hardcover prices are going up so much! -- I wholeheartedly say, this book is worth the hardcover price. Treat yourself.


Hobo hugs perfectionists. He says, “Silly humans; only cats are perfect!” Although he’s a Hemingway cat, Hobo recommends other authors, too. For instance, himself! Watch for the new edition of “Hobo Finds A Home”, coming to bookstores this next week! Or read Hobo’s Histories at his blog archives, here.