Me lo he empezado a leer durante un paseo y no he podido parar. No sé muy bien por qué he disfrutado tanto este libro ya que había leído antes a Nora (“No me acuerdo de nada”) y no me terminó de convencer. Me puedo reafirmar en una característica de ambos libros: se sienten como ver un capítulo de Fleabag. (Love

I listen to the audiobook, narrated by Nora.
15 essays.
Mostly about women’s issues with aging.
She writes about her love of New York, also.. her marriages, and career.
Quite humorous!
I enjoyed it!

I was so sad for this book to come to an end.  I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Nora Ephron herself, which I so enjoyed because it was in such an amusing tone that no other narrator could have captured.  There were numerous wise and funny lines throughout that had me constantly rewinding...just so I could hear them again.   I hadn’t heard of her books until she passed away, and although I was drawn to this catchy title, I don’t think I could have fully appreciated it at that time since I wasn’t quite “feeling bad about my neck”...yet.  But I could still relate to a lot just being a woman and a mother.  Not all of her essays were on aging, nor could I relate to them all, but I loved every single one of them, because her candid telling and dry sense of humor made them enjoyable.   Learning about her career, marriages, mothering, life in New York City, favorite foods, and the wit with which she dealt with such things was fascinating to me.  I laughed hysterically when she described the state of her disheveled purse--how she managed to describe my own purse had me in tears.  I loved her essay on “Rapture”, describing how the books she loved transported her to another world.  I could so relate, even to some of the books and authors she loved.  I felt a sense of melancholy many times, especialy the way she talked about her life and her age, and it made me sad that she died.  It was deeply affecting to me when she “danced around the ‘D’ word”, talking about the loss of her friends later in life and how there was nothing to be done about it.  Definitely makes one think about life.  5 stars and I’ll be listening to this again, possibly with a scarf around my neck.

Que basura más grande. Esta señora me ha decepcionado muchísimo. Desde el capítulo cinco es insoportable. No puedo entender cómo se puede ser tan frívola, pija y sobre todo cansina.
Claramente está sobrevalorado. No lo leas si valoras tu tiempo.
Aunque quizá si eres una snob que vive en Nueva York este es tu libro. Quién sabe?

Irònica, divertida, sincera, natural. M'ha agradat molt. M'ha sorprès que l'original es publiqués el 2006 i, en canvi, la realitat que ens descriu Nora Ephron em sembli totalment actual. Vull dir, ja sé que no ens parla de fa segles, però del 2006 ja fa gairebé 20 anys... i la situació de l'habitatge a Nova York aleshores, per exemple, es pot traslladar perfectament a la situació actual a Barcelona. Una lectura molt fresca i, diguéssim, distesa, però plena de veritat, crítica i reflexió.

It's unavoidable, we are all growing old. And in this book, Nora Ephron has decided to tackle some of the more obvious annoyances of aging. I have to say that when I first started this book, I thought, "Wow, she REALLY doesn't like herself!" But as the narrative continued, I realized that Ephron simply addressed the issues that all women grapple with as they are aging. And she does it in a highly humorous way.

The audiobook was great! I'm sure the print version was entertaining as well, but I highly doubt that it captured Ephron's wry humour and sarcasm so well. Only the audiobook could aptly epitomize those qualities. I loved hearing her narrate her own thoughts and experiences. She had a rare ability to emote her life events in a way that allowed for a fundamental connection to develop with the listener/reader. 3.5/5 ⭐️

7/10. Los libros de Nora Ephron significan para mí lo mismo que echarse un cigarro. Sé que va a ser rápido, que lo voy a disfrutar a veces y otras igual toso o me duele la garganta. Mentira, porque yo ni fumo ni sé fumar, pero imagino que es así como va la cosa.

Ya sabemos que Nora es burguesa, frívola y, sobre todo, muy gringa. Aquí es cuando toso, cuando habla de vivir en la ciudad, del alquiler, del médico, etc. No me gusta Sexo en Nueva York y tampoco me van a gustar estos capítulos, igual que nunca me gustará Estados Unidos.
Pero aún así no puedo dejar de valorar el tono ácido y divertido con el que habla de otras cosas, de la mirada excéntrica que tiene de todo. Hace reflexiones hilarantes sobre eventos cotidianos que a los demás les pasan inadvertidos. Además, tengo una debilidad especial con ella porque me reconozco en su pasión con la comida (ella también tiene claro qué se debe servir en su funeral. De hecho, espero que lo sirvieran porque ya está muerta). Y también en su relación parasocial con los cocineros a los que les coge las recetas (soy yo con MJ). Es una loca en la cocina y al final, es lo que somos. Le haré caso, me voy a poner un bikini ahora mismo y no me lo voy a quitar hasta los 34!! (vivo en salamanca está complicao).

It won't change your life, but it is quite a treat for a sunny afternoon. I read most of it lying in the sunshine on my bed shortly after lunch on a Saturday.

Ephron, like Sedaris & Degeneres, has a gift for expressing mundane thoughts in the most delightful phrases. The one that's in my head right now is when she describes loving cabbage strudel in the 1960s: "I don't want to get too sentimental, but it's practically the only thing I remember about my first marriage." You'll be chuckling the whole way through, with the occasional howl or two.

When I started the book I didn’t know who the writer was nor her accomplishments, I was thinking omm I could say this, I know that, or that happened to me too and the mind conversations went on until I finished the book and saw that the writer had written all my favorite movies too? Then I thought, ok I know why she is a very confident writer with no fear whatsoever, because she wrote you got mail and sleepless in Seattle and when Harry met sally.

Age and death are somethings that we all become or would feel one day. I guess anyone would relate to the book, I mean a young person or an old person. And if you are an old person (like me) I guess you should run for your life and start scribbling whatever on your mind. The world deserves to know how you feel and how you dealt with certain situations! The question about loving a certain house one had lived in is also a recurring mirage to all of us. I had lived in two houses that gave me similar feelings. One in New Zealand and the other in Dubai. I owned both of them as opposed to being a Tenant I mean ( I am so against renting and if I can count how many years of my life I had lived in a rented accommodation it won’t be much more than 9-10 years and all the rest were either in homes that I had either built myself or bought readymade. For this I am thankful.

The question about maintaining myself, I am never as extravagant as the author. A tub or two of creams would suffice and never ever bought Bath oil, but botox and fillers I had many, and stopped abruptly. Losing friends is something that I can also relate too. Many friends had died and I would say that they had died too soon.

Wells, ok I have one on my computer, which I update annually along with the annual letter that I write at the end of each year to tell others what I did in that year. The others are those that read my blog.

Protect yourself people. You need it

El otro día en la oficina un hombre, un señor, un tipo de la oficina paso por delante de mi mesa, vio esta portada y soltó: está sobrevalorada. Podría llegar a pegarme por Nora, qué narices, podría matar por ella. Nora explica en este libro que escribe cartas imaginarias a autores de libros que le han causado ‘arrebato’, yo voy un poco más más allá. Hablo con ella. Le cuento cosas. Hablo con Nora de vez en cuando.
Me pone triste haber leído este libro de ensayos después de su último libro ‘No me acuerdo de nada’, todos sus peores temores se acaban cumpliendo. Lo siento Nora. No he parado de repetir mientras la leía.
Es listísima y lo mejor es que ella lo sabe y le da igual, no hay falsa humildad, joder nos faltan más como ella. Es tan asquerosamente graciosa, en el punto justo, ni desternillante ni a medio gas ¡Es ta atractiva la ironía!
Y habla de lo que ninguna más se atreve por miedo a parecer poco feminista: de las arrugas del cuello, de no poder llevar ya más bikinis y de las amantes de los maridos. Y eso que no puede quedarme más lejos su vida privilegiada, su hablar de pisos de ocho habitaciones y grandes trabajos en revistas. Pero me da igual, podría estar hablando del precio del caviar durante cincuenta páginas y la leería igual.
Tenía un libro siempre al lado para cuando quería escribir algo abrirlo por una página cualquiera y empaparme de la buena escritura de otra. Ahora van a ser dos.

I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a [Rich White] Woman [Living in a Bubble of Privilege on the Upper East Side]

I like Nora Ephron (her politics, movies, etc), and I really wanted to enjoy this book. But it's painfully dull, and her "witty insights" are bland/overtrodden enough to make Andy Rooney seem cutting edge.

Worse yet, many of her complaints are offensively tone-deaf to the realities most people face.
- Nora Ephron sees a homeless woman on the street? Time to complain at length about the price of her weekly hair and nail appointments, and joke that she's just a few missed beauty treatments away from becoming a "bag lady". (Kinda horrifying that a feminist icon would completely ignore — and hell, mock — the humanity of a homeless woman).
- Ephron gets surgery done by one of the world's best surgeons? Time to complain about how she wishes she'd had her plastic surgeon present to help avoid a small scar.
- NY passes law changing rent-control regulations? Time to complain about how her salary, which exceeds the new $250,000 threshold set by the new law, means the rent will increase on her 7-room Manhattan apartment.

The last third of the book is tolerable; she's best when writing about death, the joy of reading, or reminiscing about her days as a young woman in sexist work environments. But it's not enough to overcome the book's overall flaws. In short, these are the ramblings of an old rich person complaining about old rich person problems.

Do not read/listen to this book if you're searching for answers to life's existential questions. That isn't what this is about, although from the title alone I gathered that. What it is is an insight into some of the pitfalls of becoming older -- frivolous pitfalls with which many readers can identify and laugh about together with the author.

As Ehpron so wisely reminds herself and the reader, even though there are difficulties with aging, the alternative is no picnic either.