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Transitions and Life Events: Graduations and Weddings, 2018

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: May 13, 2018
Category: Beyond Classification

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‘Tis the season for Transitions and Life Events: Weddings & Graduations. Yes, you can spend a bundle and give One Big Thing. I prefer collections of small things. Practical things. That can be used. That last. Especially now, because despite the rosy stock market and the ever increasing wealth of the rich, these are tricky, tough times for newly minted grads and marrieds. Want to make recipients think of you as the smarty you are? Consider building a kit from these 26 suggestions.

WANT SUCCESS? CONSIDER A… BOOK

Setting the Table
This book is by Danny Meyer, an immensely successful New York restaurateur, but it’s not about cooking or restaurants. It’s a how-to manual, a common sense guide to smart business practices that should be read — like: today! — by anyone whose livelihood involves face-to-face encounters with customers. What he’s concluded is obvious to those who have been to his restaurants: It’s not about the food. It’s about the people. It’s about the way you feel when you’re there — about the way the staff makes you feel. In a word, it’s about a philosophy: “Hospitality is present when something happens for you.”

The Creative Habit
Twyla Tharp explodes the myth of “creativity,”and, in the process, returns our creativity to us, whether we’re “artists” or accountants. And she does it in language that could convince anyone from a timid l6-year-old to an elder who “wants to write” but has just never gotten around to it. Let’s be clear: This is not a book about dance. “The Creative Habit” is about one thing, and one only: the habit of working — and working hard — at something you care about.

The Queen’s Gambit
Because you don’t get anywhere alone.

Epictetus
Epictetus was a practical philosopher — if you’re looking for deep thoughts, big ideas or anything that leads to the linguistic and mathematical analysis we now call philosophy, he’s everything you don’t want. His concerns are the here and now: reality, life, death. And he’s not about to quibble over their ambiguities. As Epictetus has it, your first task is to look hard at reality and see it for what it is. Then your decisions start…

Georgia: A novel of Georgia O’Keeffe
This uniquely American story — told in this novel by O’Keeffe — starts as the tale of a woman with a good story and a killer bod. A tale of Branding and Marketing? Well, she has a man who wants the best for her and knows how she can get it. But in the end, this is a book about a talent so fierce it crushed pretty much everything in its path — a rare story of artistic triumph.

Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion
This is very much “the book of the moment.” And the next moment too. It deals with male oppression and female subjugation, female friendship and female ambition, youthful Idealism and adult careerism, and every other #RightNow topic that has provided full employment for pundits. Yes, it is almost entirely about privileged white people. But I opened “The Female Persuasion” in the morning and didn’t put it down until I’d finished it — the ultimate compliment — for a reason that has nothing to do with politics and issues and everything to do with the people. Simply, I fell in love with them. I felt I knew them. And I wanted to know them better, even when their foibles and flaws made me want to yell “Turn back!” at them, as if they were characters in a horror movie.

THIS COULD HURT
This funny, accurate, compassionate novel about people who work in Human Resources is stocked with recognizable humans. Someone’s aging and sick. Someone slacks. Someone is inappropriately sexual. Going to work in an office? Read this, be prepared.

Pema Chodron: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Pema Chodron may be a Buddhist scholar, but she doesn’t talk or write like one. She comes across like your smart, no bullshit next-door neighbor. And she pierces all your armor. We don’t get, she says, that fear is our friend. Or that it’s “a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” Instead, “we freak out when there’s even the merest hint of fear.” Which only makes our situation worse. And then everything falls apart — “we run out of options for escape.” Here’s a first step to not freaking out.

KNITTING
Everything you need to know about knitting
Knitting expert Turner Houston: The choices and quantities and sizes and content of everything in the knitting world are totally overwhelming when you are a pre-beginner, so I have chosen a few all-in-one kits, one set of 10 of the most commonly-needed needles, and a few yarn selections. I let newbies master the ballet of the stitches first, let them be seduced by the magic of their own creation — and find peace.

ON THE MOVE

The Filson Briefcase
Reader Testimonial: “I’ve had a Filson briefcase since the early 2000s. Mine survived a car fire and the laptop inside was fine.”

The Filson Duffle
The Tin Cloth is virtually bulletproof. Certainly waterproof. Rustproof brass zipper and storm flap closure. Two inner pockets. Rugged handles and shoulder strap.

SELF CARE

Clarisonic Facial Sonic Cleansing System
I asked Ali McGraw what our teenager should do to keep her young-Ali good looks. “Tell her to keep washing her face,” she said. And, I might add, use this. You may never need to visit a dermatologist again. You may never need a facial again. Why is the Clarisonic so great? Because it doesn’t scrub. It cleanses — a sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second works on your skin to clean it, then smooth it.

THE ESSENTIAL DRINK: COFFEE

The Burr Grinder
A burr grinder runs at a slower speed, so it generates less heat. The burrs create uniform grounds. You can set a timer for five to sixty seconds so you don’t stand there, your life reduced to this chore, while you grind.

Zojirushi Insulated Mug
Hot stays hot. Cold stays cold.

THE COOKBOOK COLLECTION

Canal House Cooks Every Day
Want to make deviled eggs but have no time? Split hard-boiled eggs, spread mayonnaise over them, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper. And… done. Spare ribs? Baste them with hoisin sauce and bourbon. Chicken in a pot needs only scallions. And no recipes call for foam or truffle oil.

Julia Child and Simone Beck: Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One
WGBH, Boston’s public TV station, invited Julia Child to promote her book. The station had no studio kitchen, so she brought eggs, a whisk and a hot plate. On camera, she made an omelette, narrating the process with wit and confidence. A TV series soon followed. And the recipes!

Marcella Hazan: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Until Hazan published her instantly classic cookbook, you went to a restaurant that featured Northern Italian cooking, had a meal that was destined for your top ten list, and returned home with a nagging question: This is “simple” food. Why can’t I cook like this? Her recipes were the essence of simplicity — her famous tomato sauce contained only tomatoes, onion, butter and salt.

The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook
Gramercy Tavern is a great restaurant. But can you cook from this book? I put myself to the ultimate test: I invited two friends for a dinner at which I’d serve an entrée I’d never cooked before: Braised Lamb Shoulder with Broccoli Puree. The text described how Michael Anthony and his team prepare it. The labor is daunting, even for a restaurant staff. Then comes a simplified version for the home cook. I eliminated the broccoli puree and set to work. But it wasn’t work. Braise meat. Chop vegetables. Cook in oven. Serve. Easy. Brilliant.

Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs
Julia Turshen’s book is a collection of the foods she likes to cook, stories about those recipes, life lessons learned from cooking, and “small victories” — little tricks and home truths that make easy recipes easier and better. “If you can make spaghetti, you can also make rice, quinoa, or soba noodles,” she writes. “If you know how to grill a hamburger, you know how to grill anything.” And this, above all: “Stress makes food taste bad.”

HOME SWEET HOME

NEST Reed Diffusers
“The NEST sticks last longer than candles — 90 days,” one of you wrote. “They cover odors, but they’re never overt. And may I add: $42.”

Diptyque candles
Once it fills a room with scent, you can blow it out and the room will continue to be gently perfumed for hours.

ART

Shirley Hartman: The Matisse of Pennsylvania
Shirley Hartman isn’t a slavish copyist of Matisse. I think of her as a gifted interpreter. And her watercolors and drawings are affordable. A Matisse just sold for $80 million. A Hartman costs between $80 and $180.

IILLUMINATION

TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp
The footprint is small. The design is sleek. It looks chic and expensive. It costs $19.99. It has a one-touch, 3-level dimmer and an I’m-leaving-the-room “escape timer” that turns the light off after an hour. The bulb is estimated to last 40,000 hours. The arm is adjustable. It uses 75% less electricity than an old-fashioned lamp. It folds for easy transport. It’s no heavier than a small bag of feathers. If the 5-star Amazon reviewers and I have missed something, I have no idea what it could be.

TIMELESS CHIC

Timex Easy Reader Watch
It’s known by its big black numbers, its faux silvery case, and its elegant brown pleather strap. I love this watch because it’s easy to read in the day; because it lights up (gently) at night if you push the stem button. Was $24. Now $18.

MANNERS

Louise Fili: Quattro Parole Italiane: 12 Note cards and Envelopes
Why are these cards so striking? It’s not the words, which are refreshingly ordinary, but the typography, which is dramatic and different and, at the same time, nostalgic and familiar, taking you back to visits to small towns in Italy or, more likely, period movies.

POST-COLLEGE REMEDIAL READING

HeadButler.com: The 100 Essentials
Just like the title says.