"I Feel Bad About My Neck", a Book Review

"I Feel Bad About My Neck And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman" by Nora Ephron is a collection of 15 essays on being a woman. Not just any woman, but a woman who just discovered her neck. The first essay is about necks and how suddenly, it seems, all her friends are wearing turtle neck sweaters or "wearing scarves, like Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond ". Ms. Ephron might have titled this book: You Know You Are Getting Old When You Notice Your Neck. But, "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is less a book about refusing to grow old gracefully and more about "Thoughts On Being A Woman".

Even a man could write about the contents of a female's purse and make both males and females nod their heads in agreement. Ms.Ephron's tale, "I Hate My Purse", echoes my own. We hate them, do not carry them and shake our heads in amazement at the amount of money women will spend to get a Gucci bag. The bag in her essay is actually called a "Kelly bag" and tells the adventure in Europe on finding an original used Kelly bag. In the chapter titled "On Maintenance" Nora deals with hair, nails and bikini waxes. She points out that her friends who spend an hour a day on just washing and blow-drying hair have used up "nine workweeks" in the course of a year. She explains why that might have made sense when we were young and does not when we have necks. The types of necks described in the frist chapter "I Feel Bad About My Neck".

The essays take the reader on a fun journey through marriages, divorce, falling out of love, children, her writing career and relationship with JFK when she was an Intern at the White House. Ms. Ephron talks about when she became a writer (a magazine article about small breasts), how she was hired to work for the New York Post and shares antidotes about New York City real estate, writing her first fiction novel, writing screen plays and directing movies. Nora Ephron's screenplay credits include "When Harry Met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Silkwood".

In the chapter titled:"Rapture", Nora mentions the long, letters to authors that she writes in her head after reading a great book, but never actually puts on paper. Me too. She was one of those authors that inspired me to write to her~in my head~after I read "Scribble, Scribble". Like me, she also has imaginary conversations with people, while preparing dinner. I can relate to Ms. Ephron's tales in the way I relate to an older sister and her friends. Ms. Ephron mentions having all her fillings changed to "white material" whereas, I have had to float loans with my credit card to get fillings. As we age the gap between older sister and younger narrows. I feel bad about my neck, too.

Published in 2007 "by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc." might have something to do with accidentally picking up a "Large Print" copy of "I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts On Being A Woman". The publishing page notes "Other aspects of the book may vary from the original edition." "Blind As A Bat" deals with the over 40 disorder, presbyopia, and reading glasses. I do not know if young ladies would enjoy this book, but for Seniors who like to laugh, I give it a 5 star rating. Although Ms. Ephron is a long time New York City dweller, she only mentions September 11, 2001 in passing. The 170 book is full of humor, wisdom with just a touch of wistfullness about aging and feeling closer to death.