The Forgotten Waltz
by Anne Enright
Why we picked it up: We'll never forget Enright's painful but exquisite Booker prize-winning, The Gathering, which explored how a family secret (involving a young child) can ripple through the generations.
The beginning that will make you gasp: Nine-year-old Evie claps with delight as her father kisses a woman (Gina, our narrator) in her bedroom, while, downstairs, completely unaware, her mother calls for her—ouch.
Where you'll travel: From the snow globe of Dublin to windy Irish seaside.
The moment that explains adultery: "'When can I see you?' he said. The pain I felt was so sudden and unexpected, it was like being shot. I looked down the length of myself, as if to share the news with my body."
What O reviewers learned (as we all do at one time or another in our lives): Love can be miraculous—and still destroy everything in its path.
Read More:
The full review of The Forgotten Waltz.
This fall's must-read books.
The new iPhone was revealed this morning at 10 am. Need an excuse to buy it? How to sell your old iPhone online—for more than you'd expect.
Celebrate World Smile Day this Friday. How to whiten your teeth with strawberries and orange peels (or at the very least, give yourself fruity breath).
Add some lightness to your snacking in honor of National Popcorn month by saying begone to salt and butter. How to make pizza popcorn and three other twists on the traditional recipe.
Fact: On average, there are 13 books per one child in middle-class homes, but only one book per 300 children in low-income homes.
| Photo: Thinkstock |
The sun eking through the curtains, the perfectly night-smushed pillow, the promise of a shower and breakfast: Morning can be a very good time. Nothing’s gone wrong yet. Unless, that is, you’re my husband and I’ve just tried to convince you that it’s the middle of the night and to put our child back to bed even though she’s trying to prove to us that it’s 6:30 am and time to get up and ready, which it is. Oh well. For the most part, as long as they're far away from me, people wake up happy.
That’s right, scientists have performed yet another study in order to prove something we kind of already knew: people all over the world wake up in a good mood, which fades throughout the day, and returns in the evening. According to The Atlantic, researchers used Twitter to gauge the moods of 2.4 million people in 84 countries over two years. Positive tweets peak early in the morning and around midnight; in other words, before people get to work and after they’ve gotten home. There are also more happy tweets on the weekend. What’s really interesting about this study is that the patterns were consistent across cultures and countries. Apparently, work bums people out.
Is it futile to try to hold on to that happy feeling throughout the workday? Or can we perhaps convince the midday mood-dip that it’s not the right time, and to just go away? Since we're told happiness is contagious, maybe a grassroots happy-tweet program is order...
Get happy with these mood-lifters:
5 easy ways to feel happy right now
End your day on an high note
5 mood-mending movies
| Photo: Thinkstock |
Butternut Squash
This squash's deep-orange flesh has a sweet, nutty flavor (some even compare it to butterscotch). The more orange the inside is, the more candy-like the taste. Potassium- and beta-carotene-rich, it's a classic and versatile fall vegetable. Ina Garten has a maple-roasted take on it, Jessica Seinfeld puts it in quesadillas and Susan Spungen turns it into a smooth bisque.
Apples, Beer and Cabbage
Oktoberfest actually starts in mid-September, but it runs through the first week of October. You could make this traditional German stew, which includes two different kinds of apples, varying colors of cabbage, caraway seeds and pork shoulder; these crowd-friendly deep-fried sauerkraut balls; or just embrace Oktoberfest for what it really is: an opportunity to drink beer. O asked beer sommeliers for their regional favorites, then sampled their suggestions. Here are some of the most delicious bottles. Also check out The Oxford Companion to Beer, out this month.
| Photo: JR-art.net |
Who needs a gallerist? Artist JR takes his art to the streets. His large-scale, crowdsourced Inside Out project takes photographs sent from people around the world, prints them as posters, and sends them back so that locals can create site-specific exhibits in their own communities. The resulting works are striking to look at while also giving voices to unrepresented communities. In a world where creative people spend a lot of time waiting for corporate approval, you have to love a project like this one, where you (yes you) can participate by visiting InsideOut.net JR and his army of local artists inspire us to, in the wise words of Guy I Once Overhead at a Brooklyn Cyclones Game, "Stop talkin' about it and start bein' about it."
| Photo: JR-art.net |
Check out Good's gallery of JR's work and many more gorgeous photos at JR-art.net.
More ways to be creative today:
Summon your defiant inner artist.
An outsider artist on how to be creative.
15 inspirational dreamers, thinkers, and doers.
| Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D |
File this one under: Why didn't we think of that? The Sephora Collection Brush Wand ($10; sephora.com) uses magnets to nest four eye makeup brushes (for lining, smudging, shading, and blending), one on top of the other, into a slim, six-inch stick. A clutter-curbing, money-saving ($2.50 a brush!) stroke of genius.
 | This is the aging process worth celebrating. Chronological age marks how long you’ve lived, but emotional age reflects what you’ve done with the time. — Judith Sills |  |
What makes this moment so moving and true—even for the nurse, apparently—is the woman's spontaneous burst into tears instead of the standard leap of joy. But note also, what she says—and she only says two things. "I'm listening to myself cry," and "My laughter sounds so loud." Of all the things in the world that she could have heard for the first time—a door bell, a keyboard tapping—her own emotions aren't a bad start.
My idea: Let's all try to listen to our laughter today. Maybe it be as overwhelmingly, infectiously, and unexpectedly noisy as you can make it.
Read More:
There will be tears: even in Korean
Dr.Oz on the power of laughter
One woman's story about raising her deaf child
Every Monday, we're rounding up the things, small and big, that make us stop and think. Today, we're inspired by...
“I think I’m one of those people that makes a much better adult than I did a teenager or child.”
–Actress, former child star, and neurology PhD Mayim Bialik
“Early in our careers, we all have people who are kind and considerate to us, and I learned to treasure them for two reasons: They’re rare, and their actions inspire you to pay that grace forward.”
–Kent Matlock, chairman and chief executive of Matlock Advertising and Public Relations
"You know you're getting older when you throw out your back while buttering scones."
“People like to say that women are civilizing force on men. I think equality is a civilizing force on us all.”
–Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on how his beliefs changed when he went to college
"The fear is this: That this is the one question, so large and so deep, which so overshadows everything else that I think and that I do and that I want and fear and love that unless I can put something around it – some kind of resolution – that I will never be free of it."
-Mary-Kim Arnold on her choice to search for her biological mother
