{"title":"Meghan Daum","description":"Meghan Daum is the author of the essay collection The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion. She is also the editor of the anthology Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids. Her other books include the essay collection My Misspent Youth, the novel The Quality of Life Report, and Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House, a memoir. Since 2005, Meghan has been an opinion columnist for The Los Angeles Times, writing on political, cultural, and social affairs. She has contributed to public radio's Morning Edition, Marketplace, and This American Life, and has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, GQ, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The New York Times Magazine. She lives in Los Angeles.","products":[{"product_id":"the-unspeakable-and-other-subjects-of-discussion-paperback","title":"The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA master of the personal essay candidly explores love, death, and the counterfeit rituals of American life in this \"brave, funny compendium\" (\u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNearly fifteen years after her debut collection, \u003ci\u003eMy Misspent Youth, \u003c\/i\u003ecaptured the ambitions and anxieties of a generation, Meghan Daum returns to the personal essay with \u003ci\u003eThe Unspeakable, \u003c\/i\u003e a powerful collection of ten new works. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhere her previous collection explores what it is to be a struggling twenty-something urban dweller with an overdrawn bank account and oversized ambition, \u003ci\u003eThe Unspeakable \u003c\/i\u003econtends with parental death, the decision not to have children, and more-a new set of challenges tackled by a writer at her best, investigated in the same uncompromising voice that made Daum one of the most engaging thinkers writing today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Unspeakable, \u003c\/i\u003eDaum pushes back against the false sentimentality and shrink-wrapped platitudes that surround so much of the contemporary American experience. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the New Age search for the \"Best Possible Experience,\" champions the merits of cream-of-mushroom-soup casserole, and gleefully recounts a quintessential \"only-in-L.A.\" story of playing charades at a famous person's home. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCombining the piercing insight of Joan Didion with humor reminiscent of Nora Ephron's, Daum dissects our culture's most dangerous illusions while retaining her own joy and compassion. Through it all, she dramatizes the search for an authentic self in a world where achieving an identity is never simple and never complete.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376634429663,"sku":"9781250074928","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/gGdH_10ws_9781250074928.webp?v=1789218216"},{"product_id":"selfish-shallow-and-self-absorbed-sixteen-writers-on-the-decision-not-to-have-kids-paperback","title":"Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSixteen literary luminaries on the controversial subject of being childless by choice, in this critically acclaimed, bestselling anthology\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year, \u003ci\u003eSelfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed\u003c\/i\u003e is the stunning collection exploring one of society's most vexing taboos. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the main topics of cultural conversation during the last decade was the supposed \"fertility crisis,\" and whether modern women could figure out a way to have it all--a successful career and the required 2.3 children--before their biological clocks stopped ticking. Now, however, the conversation has turned to whether it's necessary to have it all (see Anne-Marie Slaughter) or, perhaps more controversial, whether children are really a requirement for a fulfilling life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this exciting and controversial collection of essays, curated by writer Meghan Daum, thirteen acclaimed female writers explain why they have chosen to eschew motherhood. Contributors include Lionel Shriver, Sigrid Nunez, Kate Christensen, Elliott Holt, Geoff Dyer, and Tim Kreider, among others, who will give a unique perspective on the overwhelming cultural pressure of parenthood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis collection makes a smart and passionate case for why parenthood is not the only path to a happy, productive life, and takes our parent-centric, kid-fixated, baby-bump-patrolling culture to task in the process. In this book, that shadowy faction known as the childless-by-choice comes out into the light.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376635052255,"sku":"9781250081643","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/opkcoyjpO89781250081643.webp?v=1789218218"},{"product_id":"the-catastrophe-hour-selected-essays-paperback","title":"The Catastrophe Hour: Selected Essays - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e-bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Unspeakable\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Problem with Everything\u003c\/i\u003e comes a new collection of unputdownable essays.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"For the last five or six years, on many afternoons around 4 or 5 p.m., I've been overcome with the sensation that my life is effectively over. Note the personal touch here. This is not a sensation of the world ending, which has been in vogue for quite some time now, and maybe for good reason. It's a distinct feeling of being at the end of my days. My time, while technically not 'up, ' is disappearing in the rearview mirror. The fact that this feeling of ambient doom tends to coincide with the blue-tinged, pre-gloaming light of the late afternoon lends to the whole thing a cosmic beauty, as devastating as it is awe-inspiring. As such, I've dubbed this the catastrophe hour.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten between 2016 and 2023, these essays are classic Daum, showcasing the author's wit, her intellect, and her uncanny ability to throw new light on even the most ubiquitous of subjects. Delving into divorce, dating, music, friendship, beauty, aging, death and money, Daum's unflinching honesty and exacting observations secure her reputation as one of our most important and enduring essayists.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376683450591,"sku":"9781912559688","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ajQ06guP1K9781912559688.webp?v=1789221685"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/meghan-daum.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}