Submitted by watchungbooksellers on Tue, 06/15/2010 - 12:46pm
09/22/2010 7:00 pm
09/22/2010 8:00 pm
When men stop making lecherous catcalls and Spanx get comfortable in
your lingerie drawer, when marketers target you for Activia instead of
$200 premium denim, when you have to start wearing makeup to get that
“I’m not wearing any makeup” glow and are “ma’amed” outside the Deep
South, it may dawn on you that somehow you have crossed an invisible
line: You are not the young, relevant, in-the-mix woman you used to be.
But neither are you old, or even what you think of as middle-aged. You
are no longer what you were, but not quite sure what you are.
Stephanie
Dolgoff calls this stage of a woman’s life “Formerly,” the state of
mind and body she herself is in now: Her roaring twenties are behind
her, but she’s not in hot flash territory, either. My Formerly Hot
Life,showcasing Dolgoff’s wacky and wise observations about
this little-discussed flux time, demonstrates that becoming a Formerly
is intensely poignant if you’re paying attention, and hilarious even if
you’re not. From fashion to friendship, beauty to body image, married
sex to single searching, mothering to careering (or both), Dolgoff
reveals the upside to not being forever 21—even as you watch the things
you once thought were so essential to a happy life go the way of the
cassette tape. You may be formerly thin, formerly cool, formerly
(seemingly) carefree, formerly cutting-edge, but in reading My Formerly
Hot Life you are reminded that you are finally more comfortable in your
skin (formerly obsessed with your weight), finally following your
instincts (formerly ruled by the opinions of others), and finally happy
with where you are (formerly focused on the guy or job you thought would
take you where you thought you should be). While you may no longer be
as close to the media-machine-generated idea of fabulous, you can do
many, many more things fabulously.
Wildly entertaining and
inspiring, My Formerly Hot Lifeproves that once you let
yourself laugh about that which is passing, life is richer, more fun,
and more satisfying. Despite what you’re led to believe, growing older
most certainly means growing better.
