Little Labors
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
In paperback at last: Rivka Galchen's beloved baby bible—slyly hilarious, surprising, and absolutely essential reading for anyone who has ever had, held, or been a baby
In this enchanting miscellany, Galchen notes that literature has more dogs than babies (and also more abortions), that the tally of children for many great women writers—Jane Bowles, Elizabeth Bishop, Virginia Woolf, Janet Frame, Willa Cather, Patricia Highsmith, Iris Murdoch, Djuna Barnes, Mavis Gallant—is zero, that orange is the new baby pink, that The Tale of Genji has no plot but plenty of drama about paternity, that babies exude an intoxicating black magic, and that a baby is a goldmine.
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
Rivka Galchen. (2019). Little Labors. New Directions.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Rivka Galchen. 2019. Little Labors. New Directions.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Rivka Galchen, Little Labors. New Directions, 2019.
MLA Citation (style guide)Rivka Galchen. Little Labors. New Directions, 2019.
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
OverDrive Product Record
- sortTitle
- Little Labors
- crossRefId
- 2706325
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0044-1/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0044-1/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0044-1/0B5/D1E/5E/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0044-1/0B5/D1E/5E/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780811222976
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B01E9EHXAW
- name: Kindle Book
- id: ebook-kindle
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780811222976
- name: OverDrive Read
- id: ebook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- mediaType
- eBook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Rivka Galchen
- id
- 0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1
- title
- Little Labors
- starRating
- 4.2
- dateAdded
- 2016-05-26T17:37:47.927-04:00
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=2706325
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
- id: 1151
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0044-1/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0044-1/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0044-1/0B5/D1E/5E/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0044-1/0B5/D1E/5E/{0B5D1E5E-212F-4942-BB73-13DA721EE7A1}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- formats
- fileName: LittleLabors_9780811222976_2706325
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 1088279
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780811222976
- rights:
- type: Copying
- value: 0
- type: Printing
- value: 0
- type: Lending
- value: 0
- type: ReadAloud
- value: 0
- type: ExpirationRights
- value: 0
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- onSaleDate: 3/26/2019
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: LittleLabors_2706325
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 0
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B01E9EHXAW
- name: Kindle Book
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-kindle
- onSaleDate: 3/26/2019
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: LittleLabors_9780811222976_2706325
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 278128
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780811222976
- name: OverDrive Read
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 3/26/2019
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Galchen, Rivka
- bioText: RIVKA GALCHEN's 2008 first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, and her 2014 story collection, American Innovations, were both New York Times Best Books of the Year. She has received many awards, as well as an MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Galchen lives in New York City.
- name: Rivka Galchen
- subjects
- value: Family & Relationships
- value: Literary Criticism
- value: Nonfiction
- publishDate
- 2019-03-26T00:00:00-04:00
- publishDateText
- 03/26/2019
- otherFormatIdentifiers
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780811222969
- mediaType
- eBook
- shortDescription
In paperback at last: Rivka Galchen's beloved baby bible—slyly hilarious, surprising, and absolutely essential reading for anyone who has ever had, held, or been a baby
In this enchanting miscellany, Galchen notes that literature has more dogs than babies (and also more abortions), that the tally of children for many great women writers—Jane Bowles, Elizabeth Bishop, Virginia Woolf, Janet Frame, Willa Cather, Patricia Highsmith, Iris Murdoch, Djuna Barnes, Mavis Gallant—is zero, that orange is the new baby pink, that The Tale of Genji has no plot but plenty of drama about paternity, that babies exude an intoxicating black magic, and that a baby is a goldmine.
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- Little Labors
- fullDescription
In paperback at last: Rivka Galchen's beloved baby bible—slyly hilarious, surprising, and absolutely essential reading for anyone who has ever had, held, or been a baby
In this enchanting miscellany, Galchen notes that literature has more dogs than babies (and also more abortions), that the tally of children for many great women writers—Jane Bowles, Elizabeth Bishop, Virginia Woolf, Janet Frame, Willa Cather, Patricia Highsmith, Iris Murdoch, Djuna Barnes, Mavis Gallant—is zero, that orange is the new baby pink, that The Tale of Genji has no plot but plenty of drama about paternity, that babies exude an intoxicating black magic, and that a baby is a goldmine.
- sortTitle
- Little Labors
- crossRefId
- 2706325
- reviews
- premium: False
- source: The New York Times Book Review
- content: A highly original book of essays and observations. Many mothers (and other sleepless readers) will pick up this book and feel that they have found an unexpectedly intimate friend.
- premium: False
- source: NPR (Best Books of the Year)
- content: Not your mother's motherhood lit. Brief, gemlike reflections on adjusting to life under the rule of a baby daughter (called 'the puma') are interwoven with literary and historical references. It's a book that will ring both familiar and strange.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
January 25, 2016
Galchen (Atmospheric Disturbances) brings both humor and serious inquiry to this collection of short vignettes about the curious nature of babies and the experience of becoming a mother. Her infant daughter, whom she nicknames “the puma,” a “near mute force,” imbues Galchen’s life with renewed enchantment: “So that the world seemed ludicrously, suspiciously, adverbially sodden with meaning. Which is to say that the puma again made me more like a writer.” Referencing the Japanese classic The Pillow Book, the musings of an 11th-century court lady, Galchen observes the prosaic everyday of her own life in order to uncover the wonder behind it. She also contemplates the limitations and assumptions forced on female writers of the past, such as Jane Bowles and Patricia Highsmith. Galchen includes a trove of cultural references, from television (Louie, I Love Lucy) to literature (Beloved, Anna Karenina), drawing observations from their varying representations of babies. Among her observations: Godzilla is “child-like,” and paintings of the baby Jesus have seldom borne much resemblance to actual infants.She also deconstructs strangers’ compliments on how nicely shaped her daughter’s head is. Each literary morsel is imbued with Galchen’s unique wit and charm. The book is an endearing compilation of social criticism, variously contentious, commonplace, funny, and incisive.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
April 1, 2016
An engaging mind offers reflections on being a mother, being a writer, and having a baby. It would be tempting to term this slim volume "singular," but Galchen herself (American Innovations, 2014, etc.) provides the inspirational template when she discusses The Pillow Book, written in Japan more than 1,000 years ago. That book "is difficult to characterize. It's not a novel and not a diary and not poems and not advice, but it has qualities of each, and would have been understood at the time as a kind of miscellany, a familiar form." Now a decidedly less familiar form, this work presents dozens of sections, some a sentence or two, none longer than a few pages, which encapsulate her experiences as her daughter matures from a newborn baby into a more mobile toddler. Or, in the author's words, "when she began to locomote, she ceased being a puma and became a chicken." She has almost invariably been referred to in the preceding pages as the puma, without sentiment but with a range and depth of feeling that has obviously transformed the author. None of this is offered as instructional about mothers and babies in general but about this particular baby and her effect on this particular mother--who had never intended to write this book. "I didn't want to write about the puma," admits Galchen. "I wanted to write about other things. Mostly because I had never been interested in babies, or in mothers....I almost hated the 'topics.' " Many of these reflections concern the baby in art and literature and how having a baby affects the output of a writer. The author also traces the development of a feminist consciousness, as she describes herself as someone who mainly read books by men and had friends who were men, but finds that the years and personal circumstances have shifted her perspective. A talented writer delivers a miscellany about her maternal transformation.COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- popularity
- 80
- publisher
- New Directions
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- self:
- id
- 0b5d1e5e-212f-4942-bb73-13da721ee7a1
- starRating
- 4.1
- bisacCodes
- code: FAM032000
- description: Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood
- code: LCO010000
- description: Literary Collections / Essays
