Poets notice what other people miss. Nationally-known poet Molly Fisk’s singular perspective on love, death, grammar, lingerie, small towns, and the natural world will get you laughing, crying, and thinking. These 50 essays were originally written as three-minute radio commentary for community and NPR stations.
"Molly's voice is made for radio—crisp and decided yet relaxed and just close enough, somehow—and the pieces all are impeccably shaped and written." John Updike
A lovely, immensely satisfying read. So many parts of life are covered — friendship, illness, writing, gardening, swimming, and the overall precarious state of the world. On some pages I laughed out loud; on others, my eyes welled up. Molly Fisk addresses the reader as though sitting just across the table, cradling a cup of coffee and her own and the reader’s heart in her hands.
Molly Fisk's hilarious and thoughtful take on life and all the little and sometimes big events makes for easy but not superficial reading. The short essays can be read in a couple of minutes and still leave one feeling very full and nourished, even though they are snack size. Great gift for someone who has "everything" or anyone else.
Molly Fisk is not only a great poet, she has now proven to be a fine essayist. I just can't get over how prescient her observations on so many things are. Each chapter is an eye opener, and it's all unbelievably witty. What's not to love? Strongly recommend...
Molly Fisk's "famous uncle" John Updike said of her that her "voice is made for radio--crisp and decided yet relaxed and just close enough, somehow--and the pieces are all impeccably shaped and written." And they are. These little essays were originally written as radio spots for community radio in Northern California, but you don't need the audio to appreciate Molly's voice. It is unique and very specific, funny, self-deprecating, kind and never clichéd. They are about things she has learned, things and people she has loved, including "Lingonberries" and "Home-made Grape Juice," and of course, how to blow-dry a chicken.
This book is hilarious, heart-provoking, fun, wonderful. Can't recommend it highly enough. My sweetheart was reading it at the hot springs this past weekend and laughing out loud and interrupting me in my reading every few minutes to read me lines from it (despite the fact that I've read it!). It's also, quite honestly, a super great gift book to give to someone else.
I just finished reading my copy of Blow-Drying a Chicken and I LOVE this book. In these smart, funny, precise, and attentive essays, Molly Fisk has patiently, lovingly sat on the toilet seat lid and blown-dry the chicken that is this world. It's a book to go back to -- I see myself pulling it off my shelf in years to come, murmuring... "Didn't Molly Fisk have something to say about that....?" I want this book to be in every waiting room in the whole wide world. At your bedside wouldn't be a bad place for it, either.
