Clearly, I've become a Nora Ephron fan. Not a crazy huge one, but a mild one. The best parts of this book? Here they are:

I love this line so much: "...simply because you've been raised to believe that the only polite response to the words "I love you" is "I love you, too."
How to properly cook mushrooms: "He taught me to cook mushrooms. He taught me that if you heat the butter very hot and put just a very few mushrooms into the frying pan, they come out nice and brown and crispy, whereas if the butter is only moderately hot and you crowd the mushrooms, they get all mushy and wet."
I can't describe how much I relate to parts of this story and it makes me very happy: "I felt really sad when Arnold (<their hamster>) died, because Charlie (<her ex-husband>) was devoted to Arnold and had invented a fairly elaborate personality for Arnold that Arnold did his best to live up to. Hamsters don't really do that much, but Charlie had built an entire character for Arnold and made up a lot of hamster jokes he claimed Arnold had come up with, mostly having to do with chopped lettuce. Also, and I'm sorry to tell you this, Charlie often talked in a high, squeaky voice that was meant to be Arnold's, and I'm even sorrier to tell you that I often replied in a high, squeaky voice that was meant to be Shirley's (<their other hamster>). You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets, but I didn't care."
The recipe for her favourite vinaigrette: "Mix two tablespoons of Grey Poupon mustard with two tablespoons good red wine vinegar. Then, whisking constantly with a fork, slowly add six tablespoons olive oil, until the vinaigrette is thick and creamy; this makes a very strong vinaigrette that's perfect for salad greens like arugula and watercress and endive."

I've been waiting for this book for awhile now and it definitely delivered. The only thing I would change about it would be this: I wish she talked less about how inexperienced she is as a book writer. I'm a big fan of self-deprecation - but I thought that it was too excessive at times. But other than that one thing, this book was fantastic. My favourite parts are ahead.

"Nice manners are the secret keys to the universe."
"Did you know that when your water breaks the best thing to do is stand up? Your baby acts as a plug. Isn't that insane?"
The fact that she allots two blank pages for the reader to write down their own personal "Day I Was Born" story = so kind and too great.
"It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for. It takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate."
"Anger and embarrassment are often neighbors. Sometimes we get defensive about what we feel guilty about."
She mentions the book The Gift of Fear and made me really want to read it, so that'll have to go on my book list. (Nora Ephron's book Heartburn was also put on that list because of this book - I can't remember where she mentioned it, but it was enough of a mention to make me want to read it.)
"A word about apologizing: It's hard to do it without digging yourself in deeper. It's also scary and that's why we avoid the pain. We want so badly to plead our case and tell our story. The bad news is that everybody has a story."
In her ninety-year-old self advice paragraph she says to: "Make "No" a complete sentence." (Ugh, I can't tell you how much I love this one.)
If there's one chapter you definitely need to read, it's the one describing her two sons (on page 299). Not only does she sound like an amazing mother, but the things that she does with her kids makes me so envious that these little boys get to live the lives that they do.
"The only way we will survive is by being kind. The only way we can get by in this world is through the help we receive from others. No one can do it alone, no matter how great the machines are."

(On that second page scanned up there (with numbers seven through ten) you can see a strand of my hair. Sorry about that, that was an accident. There are strands of my hair all over my apartment and there's nothing I can do about it. My long, luxurious hair wants to seep into every aspect of my life. Apparently it really wanted to be in a blog post, so who am I to stop it? Hope you're not grossed out. And yes, I could have just re-scanned that page, but ugh - re-scanning? Who has the time.)

Anyway, it's a great book. You should definitely read it.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron - A Review

Yes Please By Amy Poehler - A Review