You Don't Look Your Age...and Other Fairy Tales Sampler

by Sheila Nevins

Download a free excerpt from Sheila Nevins’s You Don’t Look Your Age…and Other Fairy Tales!INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Thank you to Sheila Nevins for putting all this down for posterity. Women need this kind of honest excavation of the process of living.” —Meryl Streep An astonishingly frank, funny, poignant book for any woman who wishes they had someone who would say to them, “This happened to me, learn from my mistakes and my successes. Because you don’t get smarter as you get older, you get braver.” Sheila Nevins is the best friend you never knew you had. She is your discreet confidante you can tell any secret to, your sage mentor at work who helps you navigate the often uneven playing field, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” your hysterical girlfriend whose stories about men will make laugh until you cry. Sheila Nevins is the one person who always tells it like it is. In You Don’t Look Your Age, the famed documentary producer (as President of HBO Documentary Films for over 30 years, Nevins has rightfully been credited with creating the documentary rebirth) finally steps out from behind the camera and takes her place front and center. In these pages you will read about the real life challenges of being a woman in a man's world, what it means to be a working mother, what it’s like to be an older woman in a youth-obsessed culture, the sometimes changing, often sweet truth about marriages, what being a feminist really means, and that you are in good company if your adult children don’t return your phone calls. So come, sit down, make yourself comfortable, (and for some of you, don’t forget the damn reading glasses). You’re in for a treat.

14 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 20, 2018

About the author

Sheila Nevins is an American television producer and the former President of HBO Documentary Films. She has produced over one thousand documentary films for HBO and is one of the most influential people in documentary filmmaking. She has worked on productions that have been recognized with 35 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, 42 Peabody Awards, and 26 Academy Awards. Nevins has won 32 individual Primetime Emmy Awards, more than any other person.[

Reviews

[z. imama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes it is the SAMPLER. Yes I was wrong to think that it's the WHOLE novel. But does it still deserve the two stars? Yes. Am I not just being vengeful because I didn't get the full novel like I expected? No.

This sampler covers a short story titled "From Cosmo to Ms." (or something like that) and it really sounds like one long-ass monologue, of someone reminiscing her youth. And honestly, how it depicts "flirty girls bad, marching girls for a cause good" just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This feels like another She wear short skirts, I wear T-shirt feminist badge stereotype. Like, please.

[Maryjo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version with an amazing cast: Cynthia Adle, Alan Alda, Bob Balaban, Cristine Barnski, Kathy Bates, Ellen Burnstyn, Glenn Close, Katie Couric, John Henry Cox, Blythe Danner, Lena Dunham, Edie Falco, Tovah Feldshuh, Diane von FFurstenberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Gayle King, Diane Lane, Sandra Lee, Judith Light. Jenna Lyons, Audra McDonald, Janet Mock, Sheila Nevins, Rosie O’Donnell. Jean Richards, RuPaul, Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Gloria Steinmen, Martha Stewart, Meryl Streep, Marlo Thomas, Lily Tomlin. Gloria Vanderbilt. With such a variation, some essays were great, some good and some not so much. I would, however, recommend for simple enjoyment

[Marlene Spigner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough.

[Raphaelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

One or two worthwhile stories but so many that displayed a nasty self serving narcissism through a very ineffective veneer of humility. Feh!