Kate Bolick

"A single woman considers her life, the life of the bold single ladies who have gone before her, and the long arc of slowly changing attitudes towards women"--

Making a Life of One's Own

Spinster

Jane Smiley

Jenny Zhang

Carmen Maria Machado

On its 150th anniversary, four acclaimed authors offer personal reflections on their lifelong engagement with Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of girlhood and growing up. For the 150th anniversary of Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic, Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley explore their strong lifelong personal engagement with Little Women--what it has meant to them and why it still matters. Each takes as her subject one of the four March sisters, reflecting on each particular sister's story and what it has to teach us. Bolick writes about how the depiction of Meg as the "ideal woman" reveals Alcott's dim views of marriage and planted seeds in Bolick's own young mind. Zhang, unlike many readers, considered Jo her least favorite sister as a girl, and writes about how Jo eventually won her heart. Machado brings her SF and horror sensibilities to a unique perspective on Beth, "dead & pure girl extraordinaire"; and Smiley, who considers Amy the most captivating sister, writes about Amy's evolution into the responsibilities of adulthood from the perspective of Smiley's own experience of motherhood. These four voices come together to form a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape our lives.

A Library of America Special Publication

March Sisters: on Life, Death, and Little Women

Kate Bolick grew up thinking that she would one day get married. She even planned to do it before she turned thirty. She would give herself until then to study, experiment, and decide what she wanted to do with her professional life. However, when she reached thirty her desire to get married had evaporated. A new decade full of ambition lay before her, and marriage became a nuisance. Bolick has not written a self-help book or an inspirational guide. Through her experiences, she manages to explain how the literature of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Maeve Brennan, Edith Wharthon, Neith Boyce and Charlotte Perkins Gillman helped fuel her passion. She learned not to seek through others but herself, to live as a woman who does not need anyone else to help her build her identity.

La Construcción de una Vida Propia

Solterona

For fans of Greta Gerwig's acclaimed film, four acclaimed authors offer personal reflections on their lifelong engagement with Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of girlhood and growing up. For the 150th anniversary of the publication of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley explore their strong lifelong personal engagement with Alcott's novel--what it has meant to them and why it still matters. Each takes as her subject one of the four March sisters, reflecting on their stories and what they have to teach us about life. Kate Bolick finds parallels in oldest sister Meg's brush with glamour at the Moffats' ball and her own complicated relationship with clothes. Jenny Zhang confesses to liking Jo least among the sisters when she first read the novel as a girl, uncomfortable in finding so much of herself in a character she feared was too unfeminine. Carmen Maria Machado writes about the real-life tragedy of Lizzie Alcott, the inspiration for third sister Beth, and the horror story that can result from not being the author of your own life's narrative. And Jane Smiley rehabilitates the reputation of youngest sister Amy, whom she sees as a modern feminist role model for those of us who are, well, not like the fiery Jo. These four voices come together to form a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape our lives.

March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women

Kate Bolick creció pensando que acabaría casándose. Incluso tenía una fecha límite para hacerlo: los treinta años. Se concedió hasta entonces para estudiar, experimentar y decidir qué hacer con su vida profesional. Sin embargo, cuando llegó a la treintena ese deseo de casarse se había evaporado. Una nueva década cargada de ambiciones se abría ante ella. Y el matrimonio se convertía en una molestia. K. Bolick no ha escrito un libro de autoayuda ni una guía inspiracional. A través de su mirada y de su experiencia consigue explicar cómo la literatura de Edna St.Vincent Millay, Maeve Brennan, Edith Wharthon, Neith Boyce y Charlotte Perkins Gillman la ayudaron a apasionarse, a no buscar en los demás sino en ella misma, a vivir como una mujer que no necesita de nadie para construir su identidad.

La construcción de una vida propia

Based on the real-life experiences of an expert in the field, an immersive, accessible guide to a career in hairstyling brought to life by acclaimed writer Kate Bolick—essential reading for anyone interested in this creative and dynamic profession. Gwenn LeMoine sees the world through the lens of hair. The daughter of two hairstylists, she has taken her natural talent to an entrepreneurial level and is now the owner of Parlor, a wildly popular, two-location hair salon in the East Village and Brooklyn. A pioneer with four decades of expertise in styling eccentric celebrity personalities, LeMoine works with clients such as such as Piper Kerman, Rue McClanahan, Molly Ringwald, Twyla Tharp, and William Wegman, to name only a few. Her work has also been featured on television (SNL, VH1, ETV), in magazines (Real Simple, Nylon, The New York Times, and Paste), and at awards shows, such as the Tonys and Emmys. In Becoming a Hairstylist, Atlantic columnist and New York Times notable author Kate Bolick provides a compelling profile of a career in hair styling through the life of LeMoine, and offers us a glance at a day in the life at Parlor. The perfect resource for anyone interested in a career in cosmetology, Becoming a Hairstylist portrays how to excel as a stylist—at any age and for all types of customers.

Becoming a Hairstylist

«“Chi sposerò? E quando?” Sono queste le due domande fondamentali della vita di ogni donna.» Inizia così Zitelle, indagine originale e provocatoria sui piaceri e le opportunità del rimanere single. Kate Bolick, giornalista e scrittrice, ripercorre la propria educazione sentimentale e ci introduce alle appassionate ragioni che hanno guidato la sua scelta di non sposarsi – scelta condivisa ormai, come ci informano le statistiche, dalla maggioranza delle donne americane. Questo cambiamento demografi co senza precedenti, ci spiega l’autrice, è la logica conseguenza di un’evoluzione secolare. Zitelle, infatti, mette in scena un cast di “pioniere”, da Edith Wharton a Maeve Brennan (la leggendaria ispiratrice del personaggio di Holly Golightly in Colazione da Tiffany), che con il loro ingegno, la loro tenacia e la loro inclinazione verso l’avventura hanno incoraggiato la Bolick a costruirsi una vita per conto proprio. Le idee e le azioni non convenzionali di queste donne mostrano che le attuali discussioni sulla condizione femminile hanno alle spalle una lunga storia. Ma Zitelle è anche un invito a guardarci dentro, per scoprire gli ingredienti di una vita autentica, per riassaporare quegli splendidi anni in cui eravamo giovani e spensierate oppure per goderci la mezza età e il diritto di farci finalmente gli affari nostri. E inoltre contiene un chiaro messaggio non solo per le single ma per tutte le donne: si può essere “zitelle” dentro. Perché vivere da sole non è una condizione imbarazzante a cui sfuggire, ma può essere una forma, esigente e appagante, di libertà. Un libro audace e toccante che può stimolare una fanatica devozione e accese discussioni.

Kate Bolick

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