Rightsizing Your Life

September 30, 1991
Far from being ``liberated,'' American women in the 1980s were victims of a powerful backlash against the handful of small, hard-won victories the feminist movement had achieved, says Wall Street Journal reporter Faludi, who won a Pulitzer this year. Buttressing her argument with facts and statistics, she states that the alleged ``man shortage'' endangering women's chances of marrying (posited by a Harvard-Yale study) and the ``infertility epidemic'' said to strike professional women who postpone childbearing are largely media inventions. She finds evidence of antifeminist backlash in Hollywood movies, in TV's thirtysomething , in 1980s fashion ads featuring battered models and in the New Right's attack on women's rights. She directs withering commentary at Robert Bly's all-male workshops, Allan Bloom's ``prolonged rant'' against women and Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer's revisionism. This eloquent, brilliantly argued book should be read by everyone concerned about gender equality. First serial to Glamour and Mother Jones.

January 1, 2007
While books on clutter control abound, these two offerings delve into the emotional factors that prevent people from parting with their possessions. Library patrons might recognize Walsh ("How To Organize (Just About) Everything") as the organizational guru of The Learning Channel's "Clean Sweep". In a book geared to busy families, he draws on his experiences tackling family clutter issues to help readers assess the emotional cost of their clutter and their excuses for hanging on to things. He then provides a household assessment for determining each room's function and the items necessary for optimal use. There are also handy guidelines for holding a garage sale and selling items online.

Print and broadcast journalist Ware's book is aimed at those baby boomers making the transition to smaller quarters because of age, lifestyle, or illness. Through a seven-step program, she helps readers take account of their future finances and family situations to make a successful downsizing plan. She concentrates on the emotional factors that can interfere with the process, such as nostalgic partners, overattachment to possessions, and reluctant children. A particularly helpful section addresses an elderly parent's move to assisted-living quarters, a rarely covered topic. Both books offer valuable suggestions and are recommended for public libraries. If one must choose, however, Ware's is preferred because of the gap it fills in books about aging, though Walsh's high media profile may spark demand.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.