November 5, 2017
by jenniferpuryear
Today, Laura Cooper stops in at Bacon to dish on a troubled relationship – and her journey to happily ever after. From Laura: I’ve spent the year estranged from an old and dear friend. I’ve tried everything you’re supposed to do in such a case: time apart; time together in a fresh environment. I’ve tried mixing it up, seeking out surprise and even a little …
December 16, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: Swing Time
Is female friendship really so complicated? Laura Cooper, lately featured at Lithub, returns to Bacon today with her latest thought-provoking piece on the myths that surround us in life and literature. From Laura: There’s been a run on major literary fiction about women and fraught friendship. Just in the past year or so – and just counting my own stack – there’s been Dana Spiotta’s Innocents …
October 25, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: The Rain in Portugal: Poems
As the days grow short and mornings chill and those last knockout roses cling sadly to summer, it seems the time to share this unsettling little poem by T.S. Eliot. Song When we came home across the hill No leaves were fallen from the trees; The gentle fingers of the breeze Had torn no quivering cobweb down. The hedgerow bloomed with flowers still, No …
October 20, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: Swann's Way
You can always count on Laura Cooper to elevate the Bacon conversation! Today, she thinks about the South, our “Garden and Gun moment” in national culture – and Marcel Proust. From Laura: Last week, Nashville hosted Bonnaroo for book lovers (otherwise known as the Southern Festival of Books). The Southern Festival of Books isn’t only about Southern books. But this Nashville tradition reminds me how essential writers – …
June 8, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: Swann's Way
Regular Bacon contributor Laura Cooper has expectations in check for the summer. “I definitely think summer ranks right up there with New Year’s Eve on the expectation-vs-experience, sine-cosine graph,” she observes. That being said, she’s “eager to enjoy the day-to-dayness” of summer with three growing sons in the house: “The boys are planets these days rather than just more dust in our family nebula, so …
April 19, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: Swann's Way
Arya’s got nothing on Regular Bacon Contributor Laura Cooper. They both know how to place the dagger. From Laura: When I was in junior high, I had a girl-crush on a classmate named Ann. I was over-tall and scratchy, in my wire-framed glasses and Dorothy Hamill haircut. She was a tiny, cheerful China doll with long, swingy buttercream hair, moving with ease (it seemed) across …
January 21, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: My Brilliant Friend
Today, regular Bacon Contributor Laura Cooper loves on the “Neapolitan novels” by Elena Ferrante and explains why she’s becoming a fangirl! The New York Times recently named the fourth novel in the series, The Story of the Lost Child, one of its top 10 books of 2015. Laura began at the beginning…. From Laura: I’ll admit, I love to talk – yes, on and on – about …
November 19, 2015
by jenniferpuryear
Book Title: A Little Life
Today, friend of Bacon Laura Cooper takes on on a book that’s received a tremendous amount of attention lately, A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. She’s not as enchanted as some, and I can see why. From Laura: Who doesn’t love book prizes? They’re my September treat. Just in time for reading season – that stretch of gorgeous, school-shaped routine between Labor Day and Christmas – come the …
August 4, 2015
by jenniferpuryear
Book Titles: Claire McCardell: Redefining Modernism, Claire McCardell: Redefining Modernism
Laura Cooper manages three sons, a husband (currently running for City Council, see johncooperforcouncil), and three dogs. She also manages to read widely, think deeply, and consider the big picture: why are things as they are? Today, I’m delighted to feature her essay on an exceptional woman you’ve probably never heard of – Claire McCardell – who had a big impact on how American women dress. (Afterwards, …
April 2, 2015
by jenniferpuryear
Book Titles: A Kitchen in France, Heritage
Today’s post by Friend of Bacon Laura Cooper will make you think about the particular fantasy you’re buying when you spring for La Mer. But she’s not giving up on dreams coming true. From Laura: Fantasy can be tricky. It can make you stockpile empty photo albums, blank journals, and unfinished needlepoint kits. Your cobwebbed mountain bike? Your “Kitchen Gardens” Pinterest board? Cosmetics that flaunt the …