Timeless Beauty: Over 100 Tips, Secrets, and Shortcuts to Looking Great by Christie Brinkley

Title: Timeless Beauty: Over 100 Tips, Secrets, and Shortcuts to Looking Great

Classification: Adult Non-fiction

Genre: Beauty/Health/Self Help

Format: Hardcover; 208 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Life & Style (November 10, 2015)
ISBN-10: 145558794X
ISBN-13: 978-1455587940

Author's Website: http://christiebrinkley.com/

Notes: Library Loan

When I was growing up in the eighties, Christie Brinkley graced the covers of many a magazine. She was beautiful then, and she still is today. As she enters her sixties. she's proving you can grow old gracefully while defying your age every step of the way. "Timeless Beauty" gives you guides, not so much a full out plan, as to how to fight the clock.

So as I sat down to read this book, my son came along and made a comment. He thought it was funny that I was reading a beauty book. I explained who Christie Brinkley was and then told him how old she was and his expression went from a teasing one to a look of surprise. While she makes looking great at 61 (now 62) easy, she has to work at it. Some of the weapons in her daily arsenal include Sunscreen, exercise, a vegetarian diet, exfoliating and moisturizing at night. Some of the less common tools that are picking up in popularity that she and/or her experts deem can enhance what you have include false eyelashes, hair extensions, facial fillers, laser treatments, and cool sculpting. Now while Ms. Brinkley's book talks about all these things, she doesn't specify whether or  not she's done any of the more costly or extreme procedures that are listed. I guess you need to read between they lines and while she writes in the book, "Does she or doesn't she? Only her dermatologist knows for sure!" I'd say a lot of the things her panel of expert dermatologists talk about are probably things she's tried and I must say they are working! While there may be no groundbreaking secrets revealed in this book, I like the fact that someone who seems to have defied the effects of aging without getting an unnatural stretched look about her is divulging some of her secrets as to how she went about doing it.

The book includes hair and makeup tips for aging woman given by experts. It also includes dermatologist recommended skin care treatments and product recommendations. Christie also incorporated some of the recipes she personally uses along with exercise routines and tips. While she plugs her Christie Brinkley make up line, the book doesn't read like an infomercial. She seems to always list a secondary product that isn't from her personal product line for those who might be a bit skeptical of them.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and learned a thing or two along the way. I gave this one 3 1/2 out of 5 roses. When new expensive procedures come out you always have to wonder if they really work or are just a ploy to get your money. Sometimes they really seem to good to be true and its nice to have someone actually say, "Yes, it works" before I spend my money. I like that Christie asked her dermatologists what people should look for when they seek out a dermatologist. So while we can't all afford the high priced and highly sought after dermatologists Ms. Brinkley uses, we'll be able to use the information provided to find a good one. The main thing I wish had been incorporated with the book. and it seems to be lacking from most beauty related ones, is a more intense tutorial on how to achieve the looks described. I would love to see authors and/or publishers create online videos to show precisely how to get the look being described. For instance, I tried putting on false eyelashes for Halloween last year, and let me just say it was not a pretty sight. Less than an hour after putting them on, the things were falling into my eyes. Plus, I almost managed to glue my eyelids shut using the glue that comes with them. I'd recommend that when creating instructions, use a cosmetically challenged individual for a trial run and see if they can manage it from what is written on the pages.

Christie talking about her book on the Meredith Vieira show:

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

• Title: Sh*t My Dad Says 
• Classification: Adult Nonfiction
• Genre: Nonfiction/Comedy
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: It Books; First Printing edition (May 4, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0061992704
• ISBN-13: 978-0061992704

When Justin Halpren moved back home to live with his parents, he decided to set up a twitter account and tweet the things his dad, Sam, said. Soon he discovered he had quite a following and not long after, he received offers from publishers wanting him to create a book of these comedic tidbits of wisdom from his father. The rest, as they say, is history and he came out with a book, and, a TV series in 2010 which lasted one season entitled,'$#*! My Dad Says'. The actor who played Justin's dad was William Shatner.

After reading the first few chapters of this book I understood just how appropriate the title 'Sh*t My Dad Says' truly was. The term swears like a sailor came to mind. Almost every tidbit of information Sam instills to his son contains the word sh*t in it. A friend of mine racked this up to him being male and all males having a strange fascination with the bodily function which creates the excrement. In other words, "It's a guy thing."

Behind the humor and the colorful language, is some sound advice. As you read through the book, it becomes obvious the man loves his kids. It's equally obvious he doesn't care what other people think of him. He tells it to you straight and makes no excuses. He says what he means and means what he says. Perhaps that is what makes the book so funny, he says things you can't believe he'd openly admit to. Some of which you may agree with, but would never openly voice. Even three-year-old children are not safe/excluded from his bluntness, as was witnessed when Sam told a 3-year-old relative who was running around screaming it was his birthday, that it was not his birthday.  As Sam says, "A three-year-old doesn't have a license to act like an @sshole."  

Included among the many quotes, are short stories that Justin included about growing up with his dad. By far my favorite is the one where Sam believes there is an intruder and decides to defend his house buck naked. Turns out to be just a sister-in-law making a sandwich in the middle of the night. I'm sure the sister-in-law never got up in the middle of the night to make a sandwich ever again while visiting. I guess putting some clothes on before grabbing your gun to confront the robbers would have given them too much time to steal some of his sh*t. As Sam states, "This is m house, g*dd@mn it! I gotta defend MY house!"

I found this a hilariously funny book that made me laugh a lot. I wasn't going to read it, but the Goodreads group, of whom I'm a moderator of, picked this to be one of our November books of the month. I have to admit I grew up in an environment where your mouth was washed out with soap if you used a word deemed "bad". I gave this one 3 1/2 out of 4 roses.

NOTE: You can also get a dose of what Sam has to say by following Justin's twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/shitmydadsays

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood

• Title: In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
• Classification: Adult Nonfiction about Science Fiction
• Genre: Science Fiction/Author Discussion
• Format: Hardcover: 272 pages 
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese (October 11, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0385533969
• ISBN-13: 978-0385533966

"In Other worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definite, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer." (Margaret Atwood)

Margaret Atwood is the author of many books spanning from fiction to nonfiction to poetry. In 'In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination', she explores the world of science fiction. She's split the book up into three parts. The first part, discusses her personal relationship with science fiction from her first dabblings into the genre to her unfinished thesis to some of her later works which are considered to be science fiction. The second part, explores some of the major contributers to science fiction and discusses their works and how they relate to the genre. The third part, is a group of mini Sci-Fi shorts/excerpts by Ms. Atwood which give a nice sample of the variety of the genre.

In her book, Atwood discusses the fact that the term 'science fiction' wasn't coined until the 1930's. She goes on to talk about how what's considered science fiction has been disputed over the years. She even includes a blurb by Le Guin who criticized her. Here is a bit of Le Guin's statement:
"But Margaret Atwood doesn't want any of her books to be called science fiction. In her recent, brilliant essay collection, Moving Targets, she says that everything that happens in her novels is possible and may even have already happened, so they can't be science fiction, which is "fiction in which things happen that are not possible today." This arbitrarily restrictive definition seems designed to protect her novels from being relegated to a genre still shunned by hidebound readers, reviewers and prize-awarders. She doesn't want the literary bigots to shove her into the literary ghetto."
I can't help but wonder if this is what inspired Ms. Atwood to write this book. It also makes me, a reviewer/blogger, feel good that I'm not the only one who gets confused about what genre to classify a book under.

The book goes on to explain Atwood's thought on science fiction, and, at one point, she divides it into three subdivisions. "It's subdivisions include science fiction proper (gizmo-riddled and theory based space travel, time travel, or cybertravel to other worlds, with aliens frequent); Science-fiction fantasy (dragons are common; gizmos are less plausible, and may include wands); and speculative fiction (human society and it's possible future forms, which are either much better than what we have now or much worse). However, the membranes separating these subdivisions are permeable, and osmotic flow from one to another is the norm."

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It's definitely not the type of book I usually read, but if you're like me, I love getting into the head of my favorite authors. This definitely lets you see what has influenced Atwood over the years and gives you an idea of where some of the ideas for some of her books came from. I'd equate it to an in-depth interview that let's you get a thorough look into Ms. Atwood's brain, at least where science fiction is concerned, and a little into her background. I found the discussions of books such as 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' by H.G. Wells, 'She' by H. Rider Haggard (a book I hadn't heard of), 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishguro, Ursula K. Le Guin's books, etc very interesting and informative. I loved that the book was laced with interesting tidbits of information and facts. I recommend not reading this book in one sitting, but allowing yourself several days. There is a lot of information to take in.

Overall, I gave this one a 3 1/2 out of 5 roses. The discussions were informative, interesting, and kept my attention. There is a slight bit of repetition of information due to the fact it is made up of several different essays and lectures. If you're a Fan of Ms. Atwood and have always wondered where her ideas for science fiction stories came from, this is a must have book. I would not be surprised if it ends up finding it's way into classrooms in the future.