The Most of Nora Ephron

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 9 SEP. 2013

This posthumous collection celebrates Ephron's talent for turning her experiences into material, no matter the medium. Organized by occupation ("The Journalist," "The Advocate," "The Foodie," "The Blogger," and others), the volume contains numerous classics: her novel Heartburn; the screenplay to When Harry Met Sally; and wry essays on aging that made her collections, I Feel Bad About My Neck and I Remember Nothing, bestsellers. Ephron's last work, Lucky Guy, a play about the career of New York tabloid journalist Mike McAlary, is published here for the first time. The book's most delicious offering is Ephron's magazine journalism from the 1970s, with razor-sharp profiles of figures such as Helen Gurley Brown, Dorothy Schiff, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and keenly intelligent reportage on subjects that include the 1971 National Women's Political Caucus and the 1973 Pillsbury Bake-off competition. From Ephron's days as a reporter at Newsweek in the 1960s to blogging for the Huffington Post in the 2000s, the book documents the changing culture of the New York media world. "Everything is copy," Ephron's mother always said. This collection fulfills that motto with aplomb, and will likely serve as a perfect holiday gift for Ephron fans.