Columns Editor Alyssa here! And it’s APW Book Club time!
For the newbies, APW Book Club works like this.
- A book is picked.
- We read it. (If you’re interested. No pressure.)
- On the designated day, a magical gathering of readers happens; wherein the book is discussed, cocktails and snacks are consumed and much merriment is had all around.
- Then, we keep the party going online with a virtual discussion of the book.
{One time, the Baltimore Book Club went to a lingerie shop. I’m just saying.}
Our previous book club picks were Dan Savage’s The Commitment and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed, and The Bitch In The House, edited by Cathi Hanauer. This time, we took a vote and the winner was Insira’s suggestion, For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage, by Tara Parker-Pope, with 78 votes!
I would like to just point out that the other choices that came in second and third were Marriage: A History (on the history of marriage) and Spousonomics (a book that applies economic theory to marriage). Out of all the books in the world that APW readers could nominate and pick, books on marriage and science, history and economics were the winners by a pretty good margin. Once again, APW readers take gender stereotypes and kick them in their damn teeth.
{The Denver book club is sassy, as is Kristy at Moodeous Photography who took this}
With this month’s selection, we’re taking more of a (slightly) scientific approach to love and marriage. Tara Parker-Pope, a reporter and columnist for the New York Times, interviewed biologists, sociologists, neuroscientists and psychologists to try and discover the reasons that marriage can work. By examining the science behind topics like sex, love, money, monogamy and housework, Parker-Pope takes what she learns on how human relationships works and tries to distill it into practical (yay!) advice for the rest of us. Does she succeed? That’s what we get to discuss…
(Fun side note from Parker-Pope’s bio: “In 2010, Tara won the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s media award for outstanding newspaper article for her report, “Kept From a Dying Partner’s Bedside.” A few months later, the story was cited by President Obama as influencing his decision to issue new rules for hospitals in their treatment of same-sex couples.” We’ll have to read the book to be sure, but I think she’s our people, y’all.)
The next order of business is to choose a date.
Now get to reading!
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