In The New York Times Book Review, Heather Havrilesky reviews Kate Bolick’s “Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own.” Ms. Havrilesky writes:
Shampoo-ad cover shot aside, what “Spinster” actually offers is an idiosyncratic journey through Bolick’s decades-long exploration of how to live independently, with cues from an assortment of nontraditional women. While Bolick’s Atlantic article offered a lively tour of her misspent youth punctuated by historical data and first-person anecdotes of single ladies doing it for themselves, “Spinster” primarily concerns itself with the lives of five female writers, interlacing their experiences and struggles with Bolick’s own. Such aims may at first appear relatively modest — witness the author walking a few miles in some rather fetching turn-of-the-century shoes! — but the results can be unnerving and downright inspired. Like many engrossing books, “Spinster” is first and foremost a product of the author’s long-term obsession: to reject the conventional female trajectory for something that feels a little more expansive and full of promise.
On this week’s podcast, Ms. Bolick discusses “Spinster”; Alexandra Alter has news from the publishing world; Jon Ronson talks about “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.