pagesofjulia

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today I am still working on the neverending biography of Hugh Hefner. No, I’m not complaining. I still find it a fascinating story, particularly as author Watts really makes it the story of the American people, the U.S. economy and culture, and a number of general trends. I’m intrigued and I enjoy the book. But, I do look forward to being able to read some other things, too!

Your teaser today comes from page 297:

“No longer the daring trailblazer on the sexual frontier, the magazine struggled with a growing perception that time had passed it by. Ironically, the success of the sexual revolution in the Swinging Seventies made Playboy appear quaint to acolytes of sexual openness.”

All right, I confess, I didn’t pick this teaser randomly. I thought it was a neat capture of an interesting irony: that the magazine and the institution that was Playboy had sort of done such a good job of making itself relevant, that it was no longer quite so relevant. Hefner made girly magazines so acceptable that he ended up with competition. It’s a good lesson in any kind of competition, too: don’t rest easy! Being the best last month or even yesterday is rarely enough to carry you through this month, or today.

I’m afraid I’m getting a bit busy with the class I’m taking this semester on top of the usual work, extracurricular fun & family and the bike riding I need to do more of before a few things happen, like the spring race series and especially YIKES the Ouachita Challenge. Whew. I really want to still read lots and post more-or-less daily. That’s what I mean when I say I look forward to moving on from Mr. Playboy; I’m enjoying it but I’m accustomed to reading through books a little faster than this. So, I look forward to the next book in my life. 🙂 No, don’t ask me what that will be.

Filed under: tuesday teasers | Tagged: nonfiction |