Book List July 12, 2006

Hip Tranquil Chick by Kimberly Wilson

I’ve listened to all of Kimberly Wilson’s Hip Tranquil Chick Podcasts. They are my weekly treats, as indulgent and self-nurturing as a pedicure or hot bath soak. When she launched her book, I felt obligated to buy it. I usually buy my books used from half.com to save money and to reuse, but this was one I immediately ordered from Amazon. I want to support her efforts, and this is my small way of saying thank you for her free weekly podcasts.

Reading the book is like picking up your favorite magazine. The chapters are arranged attractively, with tips and cute graphics throughout. The material is interesting and informative, ranging from Yoga exercises to best financial practices to fashion. Half of my reading was a reminder of what I should be doing but already know, while the other half was new information. It’s a book I won’t sell–and I hardly say that of any book! Most of my nonfiction is relisted on half.com. But I will enjoy soaking in the hot tub with this book, revisiting a chapter that catches my eye. There’s also many journaling options at the end of the chapters, another aspect that makes it a repeat read.

You can find Wilson’s podcasts on iTunes or at http://www.hiptranquilchick.com.

The Pocket Stylist by Kendall Farr
This book should become a required textbook for high school reading. Everyone should enter the workplace with a fundamental understanding of how to dress oneself. Unfortunately, this book only covers women’s fashion, so I suppose it wouldn’t do. But for every woman I know, this is a must read!

In this very quick guide, author Kendall Farr walked me through dressing my body type and the staples of an essential wardrobe. For some, this may be considered common knowledge. It was not for me. Since abiding by this book, I have received many compliments from friends on how slim I look or how polished I look. The book has helped me to develop a couple of habits. First, when I put together what I am wearing, I consider my body type and whether a certain look is really flattering for my body. In the past, I figured that if something wasn’t flattering, it just meant I was wearing the wrong size. So I ended up with larger and larger pants, but still a poor fit. Now I am back to my smaller size, but I am simply choosing cuts that I know work for my figure. Second, this book reinforced a habit that I had unfortunately abandoned: saving my money for quality clothing purchases. Some reviews I have read of this book claim that Farr’s recommended shops are too high-end and not practical for all. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that my closet sees a very high turnover in the cheap clothes that I purchase from poor quality vendors. Farr provides a short list of “indispensables.” Even if it is a slow accumulation of quality garment pieces, the point is that if one buys an appropriate fit, in a quality fabric, one will have a classic, enduring piece of clothing. I know that of four pairs of pants that previously had a regular rotation in my work day wardrobe, only one has made it to this season, and that particular one happens to be a higher-end purchase. I would rather stop accumulating expendable clothing and start accumulating a closet full of well-fitting classics. In further defense of purchasing quality clothing, with the wide variety of discount shops available, I can consistently find fabulous designer deals. My favorite ground shopping resources include Ross, T.J. Maxx, Loehmann’s and Zara, and I have found the best online deals through eBay and my favorite brands’ online store sales. It is possible to follow Farr’s advice without breaking the bank. Best of all, Farr has advice on what fabrics have very little variations in quality, so you know when to grab the bargain shirt at Target and when to pass.

My only complaint is not in regards to Farr’s advice, but to the advice she solicits from others in the beauty industry. In this last chapter, I found the advice incredibly vague and common. For example, when a hairstylist gives advice on cut, he tells the reader he recommends taking one’s lifestyle into consideration as well as one’s overall body. Well, as for the first, I could have told Farr the same thing, and as for the second, what type of cut is flattering to what type of body? Is a short style more flattering or less to a chubbier face? I have no idea. These are the particulars I would have liked to hear more about.

Keep the Change by Becky Tirabassi

In eight chapters, Tirabassi helps you see just how screwed up you really are. Well, ok, maybe that makes it sound a little too rough. This is a book that helps you discover that you are actually processing information slightly differently than the individual next to you and it shows you what that means in terms of your strengths and weaknesses. If you have ever heard about the personality types of the sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, and choleric, this book helps you to identify your personality type and then shows you what that means in day to day living. As a result, you will see how you start to think in certain patterns that can be either healthy or unhealthy. Of course, the aim of the book is to recognize the unhealthy patterns and to change, hence the name. As a reader of an embarrassingly large amount of self-help books, I found Tirabassi’s book an efficient read: it helped me to immediately identify my unhealthy thoughts that had seemed so perfectly normal and reality-grounded before, and it helped me to develop an action plan for changing these patterns. The book was so good that I went ahead and purchased Tirabassi’s Change Your Life Daily Journal as a follow-up to my reading. All of Tirabassi’s products are available on her personal website, www.changeyourlifedaily.com, or at any book retailer.