Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault: Essays from the Grown-up Years on + 1440 more book reviews
*Diets that don't work
*The temptation of chocolate
*Recognizing that yes, you really do need nine pairs of almost but not quite identical black pumps
*The agony of swimsuit-trying-on season
*The endless search for the perfect jeans
*The elusive promise of cosmetics
*The fruitless search for organization and perfection
These are all themes that frequently appeared in the 'Cathy' comic strip over its 34-year run, and strip creator Cathy Guisewite has, not surprisingly, revisited them all in her book of essays, 'Fifty Things That Are Not My Fault (including, apparently, coming up with only 48 entries).
Added to that are further sources of angst from Guisewite's personal life â being an empty-nester worrying about the innocence and vulnerability of her only child leaving home for college at precisely the same time she worries about the frailty and vulnerability of her aging parents. Those topics turn more heartfelt than humorous as one progresses into the collection, and the reader who is looking for laughs at their own foibles may find, instead, a great deal of soul-searching about trying to hold on to the people we love even as they are slipping away from us
*The temptation of chocolate
*Recognizing that yes, you really do need nine pairs of almost but not quite identical black pumps
*The agony of swimsuit-trying-on season
*The endless search for the perfect jeans
*The elusive promise of cosmetics
*The fruitless search for organization and perfection
These are all themes that frequently appeared in the 'Cathy' comic strip over its 34-year run, and strip creator Cathy Guisewite has, not surprisingly, revisited them all in her book of essays, 'Fifty Things That Are Not My Fault (including, apparently, coming up with only 48 entries).
Added to that are further sources of angst from Guisewite's personal life â being an empty-nester worrying about the innocence and vulnerability of her only child leaving home for college at precisely the same time she worries about the frailty and vulnerability of her aging parents. Those topics turn more heartfelt than humorous as one progresses into the collection, and the reader who is looking for laughs at their own foibles may find, instead, a great deal of soul-searching about trying to hold on to the people we love even as they are slipping away from us
