Wallflower at the Orgy Paperback – June 26, 2007

I stopped just short of halfway through. While (as expected) the writing was very good, the topics of this collection of magazine articles suffers a great deal from being essays steeped in the early '60s from a New York social writer point of view.

I love Nora Ephron movies and was very excited to try one of her books. But I think I should have started with something else. I am sixty-something so I was familiar with some of the people she profiles in the articles here (Mike Nichols, Bill Blass, Helen Gurley Brown, others). But I didn't think she got to the heart of any of them. What made men want Bill Blass suits instead of gray flannel? Nora doesn't say. I couldn't help but contrast with another book of collected magazine articles I read recently: Rick Bragg's Southern Journal. I can't help but think that his book is timeless because it shows not just what people were doing, but why. He shows a way of life fast disappearing or already gone, but so intimately so that we feel connected to these people. He loves his people. Whereas Nora Ephron's articles here are not about the times, but about people who were outwardly successful in those times. We don't really connect with them. We're reduced to wallflowers,too. Ultimately dated and superficial.

Nora Ephron reminds me of that friend you like to travel with because no matter what you do, she can be counted on to see things you miss and make everything crackle. Early on, Ephron exhibited the careful observation and wry point of view readers would come to rely on not only in her essays, but in the wonderful films the wrote. Although some of these pieces were written in the seventies, I found them delightful and still relevant. Especially, i loved her take on Cosmopolitan's Helen Gurley Brown and on Ayn Rand, who has been resurrected by the 21st century right wingers. And her interviews with Mike Nichols are skillful and illuminating in a way that makes them all the more precious now that both of them have passed on.

All of her books are enchanting— funny, intelligent, and timeless. What a gem she was!

I thought this was going to be a very funny book but before I even got halfway through I got bored with it and stopped reading it. I do know that Nora Ephron is supposed to be a humorous writer but she didn't quite hit the mark for me on this one.

Mediocre humor.

Ephron is at her best, and it was fun to go back and read about the 70's. Life looked much simpler then--before email and social media. Who would have thought.... ? She's one of the few who still makes me laugh out loud.

What more could you want? This collection of her articles is funny and surprisingly still relevant, especially the pieces on the food industry. You would think they were written recently. Great read, but if this is your first Nora Ephron book I would recommend starting with "I Feel Bad About My Neck" rather than this (even though her books do not technically have an order in which you are supposed to read them in.) Witty and self deprecating as always. Most people will enjoy this.

I always enjoy reading Nora Ephron books and this was no exception. A good read but perhaps not as amusing as some of her other ones.

Super essays by the late great Nora Ephron. Witty and sensible writing. Though some of the pieces are old they read very well.

Great to read Nora Ephron anytime. This is a collection of her earlier journalism and a must for any fan.

Nora Ephron is not only witty - her films testify to that, but wise too. She writes of the uncertainties we all feel, and I'm only sorry I was never able to meet her.

Nora was a brilliant genuinely funny woman who will be sadly missed - by men too who admire her insights into the female mind .