Customer Reviews

Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move

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I was drawn to this book by its premise--a mid-life move to New York--expecting witty fish-out-of-water anecdotes, and, yes, Ms. Lanpher delivered. But what I also got was a beautifully written, thoughtful, compelling memoir, insightful, funny (yet poignant), foody, and self-deprecating. I really loved this book and have been recommending it to all my friends.

After spending her entire life in the Midwest, Katherine Lanpher decided to make a clean break and move to New York City to host a radio show with Al Franken. Lanpher had already made a name for herself hosting her own show in Minnesota, where she had built an active--if not completely fulfilling--life with close friends and a husband married to the theatre. Ready to start anew after her divorce, Lanpher was understandably reluctant to leave her home, but she was tempted by the idea of a national radio program and a new life in glamorous New York.

Lanpher moved to New York on leap day and makes good use of the metaphor by starting the first chapter with her trapeze lessons, another example of her attempts to open herself up to new things, no matter how scary they may be. Throughout the book, Lanpher describes her initiation into big city life: hailing and keeping a cab, cooking for one, befriending the local butcher. Her writing is candid, and she expresses an emptiness that anyone who has ever left home can understand.

In addition to her homesickness, Lanpher finds herself feeling remarkably insecure around the gaggles of young, beautiful women on every street corner. Both of these feelings Lanpher leave her wondering if she can ever fit in. Fortunately, she has a few friends to keep her connected to the frantic world around her, each one willing to dole out advice.

But Leap Days isn't just about Lanpher's life in New York. It's also about the things that have made her the person she is today: the strength and love of her parents, the sudden death of her brother, the struggle to be a serious journalist when men controlled the field, the end of a marriage but subsequential rebirth of a lifelong friendship. Lanpher examines her life thus far, accepting both the good and the bad of what got her there. And then she considers where she is going, knowing only that she has gotten closer to becoming a New Yorker and farther from the life she left behind.

Armchair Interviews says: Good story of a Midwesterner's move to NYC!

If Katherine Lanpher's touching, funny, brave and darling book doesn't quicken your heart and make you want to add her to that imaginary list of dinner guests - seated right between Einstein and Cary Grant (or is it Wallace Shawn and Paul Lynde?), then I suspect you're not old enough to vote and you've probably never risked anything bigger than a bagel.

Katherine's move to New York from the Midwest at Midlife has a pioneer spirit that could stand up to anyone's idea of a covered wagon on a trip to the Promised Land. I am a born and bred New Yorker and my family has barely moved more than 200 blocks in nearly 400 years, but that journey loomed large in our family story and I believe I recognize a Pilgrim when I see one; where the limb you climb out on may, indeed, be your only reward, but also, the only reward you really want.

Let me take a moment to cheer,"Buy this book!" --- for everyone you know who's frightened of the road ahead; or brave and daring and not looking down; or settled snug, perhaps forgetting that their journeys may not have flown over miles but over roadblocks that appeared on the maps of their own imaginations. And buy it for yourself. You won't regret a page you spend with her.

I didn't know Katherine Lanpher, I simply read the book because I love New York. I had no idea she was connected to Liberalism or any of the other -isms that disgust men in general. Her experiences were typical of first-time New Yorkers and the culture shock they endure. Her style is simple yet poignant, and it really picks up halfway with her chapter on feminism ("That Girl") and how she struggled finding her way in the world of journalism.

This book is sheer pleasure. It's a wonderful read, and it is funny, clever, intimate, and in many instances really extremely moving. Lanpher, whose personality became public property after her work with Al Franken on Air America, comes through very much as herself, and very much in her own voice--gutsy, sweetly sentimental, rigorously honest, playful, and gentle. She writes with telling conviction and pure honesty about not having children, and the chapter devoted to this topic is really very searing and even painful. On the other hand, she writes with a dreamy nostalgia about Paris, a million miles from that anguish. Her depiction of her parents is just lovely and reflects such a fine character in such a straightforward way. The explanation of Lanpher's burgeoning feminism in elementary school, and of how it's played a determining role in her deciding to vote in every election now, was really compelling and might inspire some other innocents to the cause. But in between, there is a wit that is sharp but never acid, a becoming habit of self-deprecation, and an underlying dignity that is fully commensurate with crazy laughter. This is a wonderful book.

Leap Days made me remember what it was like to be the newcomer to New York City. Katherine Lanpher has a wonderfully keen eye for the absurd and unusual (to the midwesterner) and she tells it well. The book filled me with nostalgia for my own first days in NYC.

She is very direct and tells her own personal story with no frills. This is a wonderful read.

If I lived in Manhattan, I would want Katherine Lanpher to be my next-door neighbor. She radiates self confidence and conviction worthy of a motivational speaker. Yet, she is fallible, human and privately insecure. As you read her casual autobiography, Leap Days, you feel like you are spending a memorable morning with a long lost friend. In one short book, she invites you to visit nearly every facet of her soul. I read her book in one three-hour plane ride. I didn't want the flight to end!

Leap Days was written as a therapeutic vehicle. In 2004, Katherine accepted a gig, on a lark, as the side-kick to comedian Al Franken on the Air America radio network. To begin this new chapter in her life, she quickly moved to New York City after spending most of her life in Middle America. Finding herself newly alone in a big city, she sat down and wrote her heart out to us. You'll wish she had sooner. This lady certainly knows how to write.

Throughout the beautifully crafted passages of her book, Kate's stories paint realistic portraits of all the important times in her life. I often felt as if I had been by her side. Most memorable were her recollections of her tumultuous marriage to an irresponsible Frenchman and her indoctrination into the world of journalism in Minnesota. Being someone who also began their professional career in a newsroom in the 1970s, I felt great empathy for her. As for the Frenchman, Kate, we all make mistakes!

I especially enjoyed her description of her premiere broadcast on radio. Maybe you've had this nightmare: Someone leads you into an announcer's booth, points at you and says 'You're on!' I love the way she can tell a story. You'll have to read the book to see how it turned out!

Katherine is a dyed-in-the-wool journalist who has never given up on herself. In Leap Days, she shares her childhood, her family, her career and her loves. It is comforting to know we are not alone in the trials of life. I wonder how she found the courage to reveal everything in her heart. I am glad she did. Her book is cleansing for both writer and reader. Take her hand and enjoy her journey. You'll delight in every page.

Easy to identify with many feelings expressed by this author. Interesting adventures. I recommend this book as a quick read that leaves you thoughtful. Thoroughly enjoyable throughout.