This Day: Diaries From American Women (Paperback)

~ Joni B. Cole (Author), Rebecca Joffrey (Author), B.K. Rakhra (Author) "Once a groovy girl lawyer intellectual...now an "over-educated under-achiever" who fell into the role of homemaker..." (more)
Key Phrases: day diarists, day diaries, day diary, New York, Uhis Tay, New Hampshire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Part itinerary, part journal," the selections in this anthology of diary entries written by women across America reveal women's "lives from the inside out-showing not only how they spent their time, but what was in their heads and hearts as they went through those twenty-four hours." The editors received contributions from 529 women, including famous ones, like "Satellite Sister" Lian Dolan (who has a nationally syndicated radio show with her four sisters); spiritual teacher Sharon Salzberg; and WNBA forward Rebecca Lobo; and not-so-famous ones, including Therese Ojibway, a program coordinator for autistic children; and "executive mom" Marisa Thalberg. A brief introduction gives a thumbnail biography each woman, which is followed by a series of entries, with time references, from one day in her life. The vignettes range from the mundane to the extraordinary, and make for an inspiring volume on how women from all walks of life think and feel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Intensely entertaining -- I highly recommend this book."-- Ben Pappas, Us Weekly magazine.

"Filled with funny, fresh, vital voices. So much fun to read! I saw a little of myself on every page, in every woman's story."-- Lian Dolan, co-host, Satellite Sisters; columnist, O, The Oprah Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books/Beyond Words (August 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582701024
• ISBN-13: 978-1582701028
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #703,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great for bookclubs!, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This is the kind of book that busy women can leave on their kitchen table or bedside table or briefcase. It is the kind of book that you can dip into for an always thought provoking, sometimes humorous, often touching read. My bookclub is going to read it, and we are going to do our own day diaries and share them out loud with one another. I think this book has made me feel linked to the community of women in a new way. A book to pass on.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A one day glimpse into the lives of several American women, September 11, 2003

By	Norman Goldman "Editor of Bookpleasures.com" (Montreal) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Have you ever looked out of an airplane and wondered about the people living in the match- box houses below? Who are these people? What were they doing when you just flew over them?

Feeling down one day, writer Joni B. Cole decided to email a few women from different circles of her life and ask what a day in their life was actually like? I guess this would be something akin to looking down from my airplane.

As she points out, "the responses they sent back were illuminating. Part itinerary, part journal, these `day diaries' revealed their lives from the inside out-showing not only how they spent their time, but what was in their heads, and hearts as they went through those twenty-four hours."

Prodded on by the responses she received, Cole and two other partners, Rebecca Joffrey and B.K. Rakhra, decided to invite women across the USA to participate in a kind of survey, where they would write a personal and candid diary as to what they were doing and thinking on Tuesday Oct 15th, 2002. Why Oct 15th? "It was a window in the American calendar, unencumbered with holidays or national significance."

The culmination of the survey resulted in the publication of a book entitled: This Day: Diaries from American Women.
Five hundred and twenty nine women contributed day diaries, and of these, thirty- five had been published. In addition, there were excerpts taken from several other day diaries.

Many of the respondents displayed a great deal of optimism, notwithstanding that their lives were not always a bowl of cherries. One very touching diary concerned a wife who was a full-time caregiver to a husband with Lou Gehrig's disease. She read books to look for magic in her life.

What is fascinating is some of the data extrapolated from the diaries. As an example, 64% of day diarists felt stressed out, 47% worried about money, 57% didn't get enough sleep, 22% cried, and 55% prayed.

When I interviewed the three editors, and asked them what information did they feel came as a surprise, Cole indicated: "she was moved by the honesty of these day diaries. Women wrote the truth about their daily experience, their relationships, and their feelings. Their openness and generosity still takes me by surprise. It makes me appreciate these women-and women in general-all the more." To this, my reply is, Amen!

Although the book is not meant as a scientific study, it certainly is an eye-opener.
In fact, it would make a useful addition to a suggested reading list for university or college courses pertaining to feminism or relationships.

This review first appeared on the reviewer's own site
Bookpleasures.com

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A novel in every page, November 8, 2003

By A Customer

I heard one of the editors of this book speak this morning, bought the book, and read it all in the same day. It is absolutely riveting, which is strange, because none of these women has a truly earthshattering day. Yet somehow, each one of these diaries or excerpts is a story in and of itself, and I found myself caught up in the trivialities of their daily lives. From sippy cups and string cheese to chocolate cravings to memorials to lost loved ones, each one of these women has so many stories to tell.

Some ones that stick with me - the newly widowed woman writing her entries to her late husband, the funeral home director going to pick up a dead man and meeting his wife, the president of NOW cuddling with her children, a 60 year-old woman getting her GED, and the barista at Starbuck's with the lovely metaphors for her line of work. And oh so many more.

What is nice about this book is that you could read it in bits and pieces (bathroom reading), or inhale it in one greedy gulp, as I did. I recommend it highly.