Book Log – Shiksa Goddess

Shiksa Goddess (or, How I Spent My Forties) by Wendy Wasserstein.

This book was recommended by one of the Motley Fool folks on their Eclectic Library discussion board. Non-fictional Essays are more or less my favorite type of book, so I was sold.

I’ve never seen a Wasserstein work on stage, nor do I think I’ve read any. In fact, before I read this book I knew two things about her: 1) She was a somewhat famous playwright and b) She died in January 2006.

While the essays were well written, nothing in there jumped out at me as amazing. Some stories are sad, some amusing. There was somewhat of a black cloud over the reading, as her sister died young and she is writing about how her mother was terribly concerned about Wendy’s health. Here I am, knowing she would be dead 5 years later (at the way too young age of 55), so even her optimistic essays get a tinge of unintentional melancholy.

She seems a nice lady and in fact writes an entire essay about her own niceness, and how she often uses it to her advantage. The one essay that made me think a bit was about gov’t funding of the arts (Wendy was for it, and I remain on the fence). So, since she got me to think a bit, I’ll call the book a win.

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