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How To Sew A Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew (2009)

by Erin Bried(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0345518756 (ISBN13: 9780345518750)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Ballantine Books

review 1: 2.5 Stars. It had some nice tips in there, and the quotes from the grandmothers where nice and interesting, but overall I felt like it was a waste of time. Rather than have a classy, vintagey feel, it is written in the author's own modern style. I think some of what she wrote was intended to be funny, but if there are people reading the how-to's who seriously did not already know how to do these things they would have been confused. I'm not even convinced the author had any idea what she was talking about some of the time. Other than the quotes from the grandmothers at the start of each chapter, their voice is totally lost, which is a shame.
review 2: I like the idea of this book a lot, and some of the helpful info in the last half helped it earn the last ... morestar, but overall I wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. For one thing, many of the tasks chosen seemed to speak to an audience of helpless people. On the other hand, though, too many of the tasks are things that really can't/shouldn't be explained without pictures in a few pages or less (see: brewing beer, knitting, butchery, among others). If someone really didn't know how to do these things (like how I don't know how to carve a turkey because I'm a vegetarian), the descriptions would be difficult to follow and in some cases lacking critical information needed to complete it successfully. (For the record, I do know what a turkey looks like, and I tried to follow along mentally, but without pictures it was hopeless.)My second major complaint is that this book was a little heterosexist (paraphrase: your neighbors might be weird, like two men living together; how to tie your husband's tie), and even though I'm totally comfortable in my role as 1950s housewise, the gender assumptions still made me a little uncomfortable (really? it's so important for women greet their husbands at the door with a smile when they get home?). Overall, a handy entertaining little read (I really liked the writing style), but not useful as a reference for any of the things it purports to teach you to do. less

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