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Elizabeth Benedict

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Michele
30,310 books | 5,115 friends

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4,665 books | 549 friends

Lisa (NY)
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Robin
13,726 books | 822 friends

Tom
Tom
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Sonya
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Colleen
9,485 books | 1,484 friends

Vladimi...
13 books | 146 friends

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Elizabeth Benedict

Goodreads Author


Born
Hartford, CT, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences
Virginia Woolf, James Salter, Michael Ondaatje, Philip Roth

Member Since
December 2007

URL


Me: Lots of books, zillions of essays and articles. This season: REWRITING ILLNESS: A VIEW OF MY OWN. A very serious and kinda funny take on how my lifelong fear of illness collided with actual illness in 2017. I survived. I had time to think about doctor-speak, patient-speak, death, health insurance, CANCER, my husband, my friends, did I mention CANCER? I love this blurb: "As though Nora Ephron had written a book called 'I Feel Bad About My Tumor.'" --Thomas Beller.

I'm the author of the novels ALMOST and SLOW DANCING, and of THE JOY OF WRITING SEX: A GUIDE FOR FICTION WRITERS, and editor of three anthologies: ME, MY HAIR AND I: 27 WOMEN UNTANGLE AN OBSESSION, the NYTIMES bestseller, WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: 31 WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTE
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HOPEFUL ... BEST ... SURVIVORS

This letter just arrived from a reader of REWRITING ILLNESS:

"This is the best and most hopeful book for anxious cancer survivors--which is pretty much everyone I know! I will be recommending to the gang in my Wednesday night [support] group."

Want an audiobook? Listen to me read the story -- 6 hours and 12 minutes -- on Audible. Or read it on your screen or in your lap.

Coming soon to a book group Read more of this blog post »
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Average rating: 3.58 · 4,595 ratings · 689 reviews · 15 distinct worksSimilar authors
Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-...

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Almost

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What My Mother Gave Me: Thi...

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The Beginner's Book of Dreams

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Slow Dancing

3.40 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 1985 — 15 editions
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Safe Conduct

3.32 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 1993 — 3 editions
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Drive Your Plow O...
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Elizabeth’s Recent Updates

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Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
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Twice Born by Hester Kaplan
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Don't Stop by Bonnie Friedman
Don't Stop
by Bonnie Friedman (Goodreads Author)
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There are first novels and there are first novels.

In the case of Bonnie Friedman's Don't Stop, it's the first novel by someone who's written a series of unusually impressive books of essays and nonfiction, including The Thief of Happiness: The Story
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Elizabeth Benedict and 2 other people liked Shreya's review of Don't Stop:
Don't Stop by Bonnie Friedman
"I am in awe.

Never in my life did I think I'd pick up a book that had such passion, such intensity, such a gravitational pull on me. Don't Stop by Bonnie Friedman is a story of identity and love, but not just the romantic kind. It follows the after l" Read more of this review »
Elizabeth Benedict and 2 other people liked Alice Dark's review of Don't Stop:
Don't Stop by Bonnie Friedman
"By all rights this novel should be a classic of literature about a person's search for self and for fulfillment in all areas of life. Ina is a fascinating mix of high intelligence and lack of self-knowledge. She has led a rather constrained life of c" Read more of this review »
Elizabeth Benedict and 2 other people liked Crystal 's review of Don't Stop:
Don't Stop by Bonnie Friedman
"Intimate, messy, and uncomfortably honest.

This is about more than just desire. It’s about what happens when the version of your life that looks right starts to feel like it belongs to someone else. At 41, Ina is brilliant, controlled, and seemingly s" Read more of this review »
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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
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Go Gentle by Maria Semple
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Lucien by J.R. Thornton
Lucien
by J.R. Thornton (Goodreads Author)
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A fast-paced skillful academic thriller--what will it take for the poor narrator be corrupted by rich idiots at Harvard?--this is a fun book to read (in my case, listen to). As someone who helps kids get into college when not writing my own novels, I ...more
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Quotes by Elizabeth Benedict  (?)
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“What gives value to travel is fear. It breaks down a kind of inner structure we all have.”
Elizabeth Benedict

“There is an exquisite irony - a perfect relationship storm, you might say - between daughters and mothers. Because girls and women are judged by appearance, mothers want their daughters to look as attractive as possible. But any suggestion for improvement implies criticism. And therein lies the irony: for mothers, the person to whom you most want to offer helpful suggestions is the one most likely to resist and resent them; for daughters, the person you most want to think you're perfect is the one most likely to see your flaws - and tell you about them.

-Deborah Tannen”
Elizabeth Benedict, Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession

“And if I didn't fret about my hair, something else would take its place. I believe we are born with a cup of affliction and it is our destiny to keep that cup filled at all times.

-Patricia Volk”
Elizabeth Benedict, Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-seven Women Untangle an Obsession

Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Completed Tasks: PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ANY POST IN THIS THREAD 3383 283 Aug 31, 2021 09:00PM  
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“Writers aren't born, they're made--from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. And sometimes tutelage.”
Alexander Chee

40134 'Box of Lies' with Mark Laflamme — 7 members — last activity Mar 23, 2022 01:13PM
November 9, 2010 to December 09, 2010...
37905 National Book Critics Circle — 332 members — last activity May 04, 2021 06:29AM
The National Book Critics Circle honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature.
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