Book of Days

Collects the comic personal essays of the author of It Will Come to Me, including pieces on such topics as growing up as an faculty brat on the Williams College campus of the late 1950s, the role of truth in memoir, her husband's colonoscopy appointment and more. The sexual politics of a faculty wives dinner. The psychological gamesmanship of an inappropriate therapist. The emotional minefield of an extended family wedding ... Whatever the subject, Emily Fox Gordons disarmingly personal essays are an art form unto themselvesreflecting and revealing, like mirrors in a maze, the seemingly endless ways a woman can lose herself in the modern world. With piercing humor and merciless precision, Gordon zigzags her way through the unevolved paradise of academia, with its dying breeds of bohemians, adulterers, and flirts, then stumbles through the perils and pleasures of psychotherapy, hoping to find a narrative for her life. Along the way, she encounters textbook feminists, partying philosophers, perfectionist moms, and an unlikely kinship with Kafkain a brilliant collection of essays that challenge our sacred institutions, defy our expectations, and define our lives.