Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
A Memoir of a Woman's Life
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4.0 • 360 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “[Quindlen] serves up generous portions of her wise, commonsensical, irresistibly quotable take on life.”—NPR
This edition includes an exclusive conversation between Meryl Streep and Anna Quindlen.
In this irresistible memoir, Anna Quindlen writes about a woman’s life, from childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age. Considering—and celebrating—everything from marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, parenting, faith, loss, to all the stuff in our closets, and more, Quindlen says for us here what we may wish we could have said ourselves. As she did in her beloved New York Times columns, and in A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen uses her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages. Quindlen talks about:
Marriage: “A safety net of small white lies can be the bedrock of a successful marriage. You wouldn’t believe how cheaply I can do a kitchen renovation.”
Girlfriends: “Ask any woman how she makes it through the day, and she may mention her calendar, her to-do lists, her babysitter. But if you push her on how she really makes it through her day, she will mention her girlfriends. ”
Our bodies: “I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and in the years to come.”
Parenting: “Being a parent is not transactional. We do not get what we give. It is the ultimate pay-it-forward endeavor: We are good parents not so they will be loving enough to stay with us but so they will be strong enough to leave us.”
Candid, funny, and moving, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is filled with the sharp insights and revealing observations that have long confirmed Quindlen’s status as America’s laureate of real life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weary, battle-hardened reflections on growing older infuse this latest collection of essays by novelist and former New York Times columnist Quindlen (Every Last One). Having chimed in copiously in previous memoirs on now familiar talking points such as raising children, finding life's balance as a working mother, achieving marital harmony and doling out feminist lessons to three grown children, Quindlen has found one nut to polish in a gratifying sense of survival on her own terms. Now in her late 50s, having lived much longer than her mother, who died when Quindlen was 19, the author finds herself shocked to hear herself referred to as elderly, and no longer troubled by the realization that her sense of control over events is illusory. In essays such as "Generations" and "Expectations," she is careful to pay homage to the women like her mother who grew up before the women's movement and thus had fewer choices. Yet Quindlen sees much work still to be done, especially in breaking glass ceilings and in assumptions about women's looks including her own. Cocooned in her comfortable lifestyle between a New York City apartment and her country house, surrounded by accumulated "stuff" that is beginning to feel stifling, certain of her marriage-until-death and support of her BFFs, Quindlen holds for the most part a blithe, benign view of growing older. Yet in moments when she dares to peer deeper, such as at her Catholic faith or within the chasm of solitude left by children having left home, she bats away her platitudinous reassurances and approaches a near-searing honesty.
Customer Reviews
Lots of candles plenty of cake
Love the title, loved her thoughts on aging and baby booming, inspires me to do, not to fear!
Candles and Cake, Too
I cannot believe no one else has written a review yet, I will say from the start, I am a great fan of Anna Quindlen, and I bought the book without even looking for a review. This book matches exactly where I am in life, and reinforces most of the things I have learned, which is reassuring, at least to my ego.
It has freed me up to think about living another thirty years, and what the purpose of that stage might look like. She has inspired me with her thoughts and observations, and I am grateful. It is a book I will read again.
Figgy
Great memoir, spot on. A very enjoyable read.