The Banana Sculptor, the Purple Lady, and the All-Night Swimmer Hobbies, Collecting, and Other Passionate Pursuits

by Sheehan, Susan; Means, Howard

• ISBN13: 9781416575207
• ISBN10: 1416575200
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-24
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

We Americans love to look at ourselves. How we vote, where we work, what we think about church and school -- studying ourselves is a national pastime. What has been missing in all this self-examination, until now, is a book about the greatest national obsessions of all: the hobbies we pursue, the collections and amateur sports to which we devote so much of our lives.The Banana Sculptor, the Purple Lady, and the All-Night Swimmerchronicles the amazing variety of ways in which we relax, compete with others and ourselves, and indulge some of our richest fantasies. Here are wonderfully warm and witty accounts of Americans as they: attempt to swim all the Great Lakes, often in horrible conditions; quit a job and begin raising sheep to accommodate a newfound passion for spinning; eat at every McDonald's in the nation; carveThe Last Supperfrom wood; cross all the world's suspension bridges; build huge banana sculptures; roller blade, scull, and bake; and collect marbles, Noah's arks, talking birds, and much more.In these pages you'll meet a marvelous array of ordinary people who do unusual things, sometimes to extremes, as they define for themselves worlds of imagination, contest, and excellence. These are people who thrill to the chase and sometimes plain wear themselves out having fun, whether it's flying kites as big as a king-size mattress, canoeing in the Canadian wilderness, or meticulously recording the daily details of their everyday existence.InWorking,Studs Terkel gave us an unforgettable oral history of the working life of an earlier generation.The Banana Sculptor, the Purple Lady, and the All-Night Swimmeris a history for our own times -- of the passionate pursuits by which so many of us define ourselves and of the universal search for happiness and a sense of fulfillment.Maybe you'll find yourself in the forty people profiled here. Maybe you'll find a hobby that you'll want to make your own. Either way, your life is likely to be enriched, just as the lives of the people you will read about are enriched by the depth of their commitment and the beauty of their accomplishments.

Author Biography

<b>Susan Sheehan</b> is the author of seven books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning <I>Is There No Place on Earth for Me?</I> She has been a staff writer for <I>The New Yorker</I> since 1961 and has written for <I>The New York Times</I> and <I>Architectural Digest,</I> where she is a contributing writer. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface

Artful Expressions Doug Fishbone

Lots of Bananas

Essential Natures

To the Fair Ann and Sam Ritter

To Fly Leonard Lauder

The Beauty of Small Things

Thrill of the Chase

Food of Life

On the Road Again

First Words

Buried Treasures

The Go-Between

Going to Extremes Gig Gwin

Wordly Riches

Far Shores

Macs Without End

Bossing Around

Song of Myself

Pleasures Small and Large

Got Her Marbles

Bird Brains

Matters of Fact and Fiction

Two by Two

All Steamed Up

"Thar She Blows!"

Motion Pictures

Snow Job

Blade Runner Mike Gaines

Hot into the Corner

Call of the Wild

Callings

Masterwork

I, Spy Claire Miller

Family Ties Ted Furey

For God and Man and Old Ireland

Spinning Yarns

The Sporting Life

Tiger! Tiger! Burning Bright

Good Deals

Odds-on Favorite

Tiddly Wonks

Holing Out

Passionate Pursuits

The Things We Die for Sonia Young

Color Me Purple

Love of the Game

Route Man

Crossover Artist

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.