On Beauty

Author: Zadie Smith
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101218118
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction, another bestselling masterwork from the celebrated author of Swing Time and White Teeth "In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty's only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone." —Kirkus Reviews Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, Massachusetts, whose misadventures in the culture wars—on both sides of the Atlantic—serve to skewer everything from family life to political correctness to the combustive collision between the personal and the political. Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny, this tour de force confirms Zadie Smith's reputation as a major literary talent.

On Beauty and Being Just

Author: Elaine Scarry
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400847354
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
Have we become beauty-blind? For two decades or more in the humanities, various political arguments have been put forward against beauty: that it distracts us from more important issues; that it is the handmaiden of privilege; and that it masks political interests. In On Beauty and Being Just Elaine Scarry not only defends beauty from the political arguments against it but also argues that beauty does indeed press us toward a greater concern for justice. Taking inspiration from writers and thinkers as diverse as Homer, Plato, Marcel Proust, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch as well as her own experiences, Scarry offers up an elegant, passionate manifesto for the revival of beauty in our intellectual work as well as our homes, museums, and classrooms. Scarry argues that our responses to beauty are perceptual events of profound significance for the individual and for society. Presenting us with a rare and exceptional opportunity to witness fairness, beauty assists us in our attention to justice. The beautiful object renders fairness, an abstract concept, concrete by making it directly available to our sensory perceptions. With its direct appeal to the senses, beauty stops us, transfixes us, fills us with a "surfeit of aliveness." In so doing, it takes the individual away from the center of his or her self-preoccupation and thus prompts a distribution of attention outward toward others and, ultimately, she contends, toward ethical fairness. Scarry, author of the landmark The Body in Pain and one of our bravest and most creative thinkers, offers us here philosophical critique written with clarity and conviction as well as a passionate plea that we change the way we think about beauty.

See No Color

Author: Shannon Gibney
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab ®
ISBN: 146778981X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
"Transracial adoption is never oversimplified, airbrushed, or sentimentalized, but instead, it's portrayed with bracing honesty as the messy institution it is: rearranging families, blending cultural and biological DNA, loss and joy. An exceptionally accomplished debut."—Kirkus, starred review For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge has known two things about herself: She's a stellar baseball player. She's adopted. Alex has had a comfortable childhood in Madison, Wisconsin. Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a wealthy white family hasn't been that big a deal. What mattered was that she was a star on the diamond, where her father, a former Major Leaguer, coached her hard and counted on her to make him proud. But now, things are changing: she meets Reggie, the first black guy who's wanted to get to know her; she discovers the letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her changing body starts to affect her game. Suddenly, Alex begins to question who she really is. She's always dreamed of playing pro baseball just like her father, but can she really do it? Does she truly fit in with her white family? Who were her biological parents? What does it mean to be black? If she's going to find answers, Alex has to come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her. • Winner of the Minnesota Book Award • A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen book of the Year • A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year

Beauty of the Broken

Author: Tawni Waters
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481407090
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Book Description
As if her parents' heavy drinking and her father's abuse--which nearly killed her half-brother, Iggy--were not enough, fifteen-year-old Mara is caught kissing her girlfriend, Xylia, by the preacher's son and becomes terrified that her own life is at risk.

Eva Scrivo on Beauty (with embedded videos)

Author: Eva Scrivo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143916486X
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
Eva Scrivo has worked with thousands of women and knows firsthand that beauty is a learned skill that is within everyone’s grasp. Now, in this cutting edge, enhanced ebook, she shows you how attainable becoming your own beauty expert really is! Approaching beauty as a whole and each person as an individual, Eva Scrivo on Beauty empowers you and brings to life a world of possibilities, providing the tools and techniques for achieving the looks and confidence you've always dreamed of. By debunking common myths, simplifying professional techniques, translating industry terms, and sharing insights gained from years of experience, Eva not only teaches you the rules, she shows when to break them in order to create your own personal style. In this definitive interactive guide to gorgeous hair, glowing skin, beautiful makeup, a healthier body, and a stronger fashion sense, in addition to Eva’s insight, captivating photography, and illustrations, this enhanced ebook includes 36 original how-to videos that bring the knowledge of this preeminent expert to life. Completely unique and comprehensive, Eva Scrivo on Beauty gives you the virtual experience of sitting in Eva’s chair at her salon and will show you how to: Effectively communicate with a stylist to design the perfect haircut. Select hair color to complement your skin tone and add dimension to your cut. Give yourself a salon-worthy blowout. Style your bangs. Work with the natural wave of your hair. Apply makeup like a professional. Determine the eyebrow shape best for you. Make smart fashion choices to pull it all together. And much more!

Beauty at Home

Author: Aerin Lauder
Publisher: Potter Style
ISBN: 0770433618
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Style icon Aerin Lauder reveals what it means to live beautifully Extravagant and fun to be around, Estée Lauder, Aerin's grandmother, loved jewelry and chocolate-covered marshmallows. She adored flowers and rooms full of exuberant patterns. When Aerin was a child, weekend visits with Estée meant ice-cream-and-late-night-TV adventures and spending time together at her grandmother's dressing-room table with its intriguing lipsticks and creams. From an early age, Aerin understood that Estée's passion for family was equal to her love of beauty. Now, Aerin has made this legacy her own. For the first time, she shares memories of the family celebrations and world travel that formed her sense of style. Aerin opens the doors to her New York apartment, where on any given night she might host a relaxed dinner with firends under a vintage French chandelier or, just as often, an impromptu get-together for her sons. Aerin also reveals how she preserved Estée's heritage in her former Hamptons home while adding her own twists. The traditions Aerin has created in her own family--from pool parties with her sons to walks along the beach collecting sea glass to breezy summer lunches--blend elegance and fun in equal measure. Throughout this book, evocative photographs by Simon Upton show Aerin's world in inspiring detail and enhance Aerin's insights into surrounding oneself with beauty and family in every aspect of life.

Aquinas on Beauty

Author: Christopher Scott Sevier
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739184253
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
Aquinas on Beauty explores the nature and role of beauty in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Beginning with a standard definition of beauty provided by Aquinas, it explores each of the components of that definition. The result is a comprehensive account of Aquinas’s formal view on the subject, supplemented by an exploration into Aquinas’s commentary on Dionysius’s Divine Names, including a comparison of his views with those of both Dionysius and those of Aquinas’s mentor, Albert the Great. The book also highlights the tight connection in Aquinas’s thought between aesthetics and ethics, and illustrates how Aquinas preserves what is best about aesthetic traditions preceding him, and anticipates what is best about aesthetic traditions that would follow, marrying objective and subjective aesthetic intuitions and charting a kind of via media between the common extremes.

Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty

Author: Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
ISBN: 9780714877273
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Acclaimed designers Sagmeister & Walsh explore the essence of beauty and the transformative power of beautiful design In this groundbreaking highly visual book, world-renowned designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh set out on a mission: to find out what beauty is and the many ways that it impacts our lives. They turn to philosophy, history, and science to understand why we are drawn to beauty and how it influences the way we feel and behave. Determined to translate their findings into action, Sagmeister & Walsh show us how beauty can improve the world.

Slow Beauty

Author: Shel Pink
Publisher: Running Press Adult
ISBN: 0762462574
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 415

Book Description
SpaRitual founder Shel Pink's Slow Beauty is all about carving a few moments out of each day to practice the kind of mindful self-care and wellness that makes us glow. Slow Beauty works because it's a lifestyle, not a quick fix. It provides inspiration, support, and tools for working from within toward looking and feeling healthier and more joyful than ever. In this book you'll find: Ideas on beauty with substance from around the world; Rituals such as finding and designing your own sanctuary, breathing exercises, meditation, and deepening relationships (and inner strength) through women's gatherings; Recipes for teas, soups, juices, smoothies, scrubs, body oils, and even how to create your own mantra; How to incorporate these practices into daily life in the best way for you. Filled with inspirational images and a message that's sustainable for a lifetime, Slow Beauty will harness the power within every woman to physically, mentally, and spiritually nourish their bodies from the inside out.

The Autograph Man

Author: Zadie Smith
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1400034434
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Swing Time and one of the most revered writers of her generation comes an "intelligent ... exquisitely clever [novel] about fame, mortality, and the triumph of image over reality” (The Boston Globe). Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries. The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow trappings of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. It offers further proof that Zadie Smith is one of the most staggeringly talented writers of her generation.