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'During my life, I've spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars on my hair, my makeup, and my clothes, trying to look prettier because I grew up believing that pretty girls had happier lives.''I'd be a lot happier now if I had that time and that money back.'Ilene Beckerman has lived long enough to have finally learned that there's more to happiness than finding the right hairdo and maintaining an ideal weight. This is never more clear than when she's invited to her fiftieth elementary-school reunion.'Of course I'd go to the reunion.'Beckerman says. But delight soon turns to dismay:'I wondered who'd be there. How would they look? Would I look as good? What would I wear? Could I lose twenty pounds by June?'Her reunion presents the perfect occasion to illustrate the anxieties and doubts, the dreams and hard-earned triumphs, of women—from Queen Victoria to Britney Spears. Beckerman knows what really matters in life (besides good hair), and she imparts her wisdom in letters (unsent) to Madonna, Ava Gardner, Sofia Coppola, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others, and to her granddaughter Olivia. Frida Kahlo, Cinderella, Whistler's Mother, and Audrey Hepburn make appearances too. In this wise and wonderful book, she shares a lifetime of experience that reminds us that, ultimately, our mothers (and our grandmothers) were right: real beauty comes from within. The author of Love, Loss, and What I Wore presents “a whimsically illustrated memoir about [her] acerbic Jewish grandmother” (St. Petersburg Times). Ilene Beckerman’s first book “illuminates the experience of an entire generation of women,” wrote the New York Times Book Review in a full page of praise for Love, Loss, and What I Wore. It became a bestseller and inspired the hit Off-Broadway play by the same name. Now, Gingy returns with her fifth illustrated treasure, The Smartest Woman I Know—a tribute to the insightful woman who raised her. It’s been said there’s nobody as smart as an old woman. That’s Gingy’s grandmother, Ettie, though she had no more than a third-grade education. She dispensed unforgettable wisdom to Gingy and her sister, Tootsie, as well as to the customers at her and (her husband) Mr. Goldberg’s stationery and magazine store, where customers ranged from Irish nannies to Sara Delano Roosevelt to Marlene Dietrich. Clever about life and love, food and men, Ettie had advice for everyone, and it didn’t hurt that she got some of her best ideas from talking things over with God, out loud. Known for bringing wit and emotion to issues that concern women, depth and poignancy to subjects as seemingly trivial as clothes, beauty, and bridesmaids, Gingy now magically brings the irrepressible Ettie Goldberg to life. “With its compact format and bright colors, The Smartest Woman I Know by Ilene Beckerman looks deceptively cute, but it’s a deeply felt homage to the author’s 4-foot-10-inch grandmother Ettie.” —The Jewish Week “Ettie’s epigrams are packaged in a quick, amusing read, complete with quirky illustrations.” —Publishers Weekly The relationship between a mother and daughter is often fraught-but never so much as during the preparations for a daughter's wedding. Who better to offer a fresh perspective on weddings than the mother of the bride? And who better to describe it-the agony and the ecstasy-than Ilene "Gingy" Beckerman, who's married off three daughters and remembers it all very clearly.

--The high cost of wedding cakes: "I could have had a lifetime supply of Entenmann's chocolate doughnuts!"
--Bridesmaid dresses: "What do five girls-one short, one tall, one buxom, one flat, one who gave birth a month ago-have in common? A bridesmaid's dress they hate."
--Mother-of-the-bride dresses: "I tried on green velvet. A Rodney Dangerfield line came to me: 'If that dress had pockets, you'd look like a pool table.' The dress had pockets."
--And, finally, the sight of her daughter walking down the aisle: "My daughter was Cinderella, Snow White, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Jacqueline Kennedy. But better."

Gingy looks at the bride-to-be and sees the teenager who wanted Bo Derek braids, the little girl she taught to dance to the tune of "Me and My Shadow," the beautiful baby, the miracle she gave birth to decades earlier. And now, en route to the aisle, their relationship is tested in ways Gingy never imagined.

Beckerman simply and brilliantly describes the highs and lows of life with an adult daughter. What emerges is a poignant and telling story.

"During my life, I've spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars on my hair, my makeup, and my clothes, trying to look prettier because I grew up believing that pretty girls had happier lives." "I'd be a lot happier now if I had that time and that money back." Ilene Beckerman has lived long enough to have finally learned that there's more to happiness than finding the right hairdo and maintaining an ideal weight. This is never more clear than when she's invited to her fiftieth elementary-school reunion. "Of course I'd go to the reunion." Beckerman says. But delight soon turns to "I wondered who'd be there. How would they look? Would I look as good? What would I wear? Could I lose twenty pounds by June?" Her reunion presents the perfect occasion to illustrate the anxieties and doubts, the dreams and hard-earned triumphs, of womenfrom Queen Victoria to Britney Spears. Beckerman knows what really matters in life (besides good hair), and she imparts her wisdom in letters (unsent) to Madonna, Ava Gardner, Sofia Coppola, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others, and to her granddaughter Olivia. Frida Kahlo, Cinderella, Whistler's Mother , and Audrey Hepburn make appearances too. In this wise and wonderful book, she shares a lifetime of experience that reminds us that, ultimately, our mothers (and our grandmothers) were real beauty comes from within.

Looking for love isn't easy, and it's never what you expect. WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE is a reminder of how true that is. Unlucky in love herself, "Gingy" Beckerman shows us there is always reason to keep trying. "Recaptures in words and line drawings young love in all its glorious agony and possibility."--Glamour; "Charmingly written and illustrated . . . this savory little truffle turns out to be surprisingly poignant, laced with the bitter, the rueful, and the sweet." --Good Housekeeping; "This book would make a perfect gift from a woman to her best woman friend."--Chattanooga Free Press. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB selection.

Publishers Weekly

Beckerman achieved a small but loyal cult following with her 1995 book, "Love, Loss, and What I Wore", which constructed a memoir of her life as a young adult in the 1950s and 1960s from remembrances of wearing specific outfits. In What We Do for Love, employing the same keen observational skills and quoting freely from old love letters written to her, she probes deeper, laying bare the details of the series of relationships she has had with men over the years. Humor works as a disarming foil for Beckerman; she depicts herself as a naive adventurer who allowed men to take advantage of her, in part thanks to the mores and customs of the day.

Ilene Beckerman{u2019}s first book ?illuminates the experience of an entire generation of women,? wrote the New York Times Book Review in a full page of praise for Love, Loss, and What I Wore. It became a bestseller and inspired the hit Off-Broadway play by the same name. Now, Gingy returns with her fifth illustrated treasure, The Smartest Woman I Know{u2014}a tribute to the insightful woman who raised her. It{u2019}s been said there{u2019}s nobody as smart as an old woman. That{u2019}s Gingy{u2019}s grandmother, Ettie, though she had no more than a third-grade education. She dispensed unforgettable wisdom to Gingy and her sister, Tootsie, as well as to the customers at her and (her husband) Mr. Goldberg{u2019}s stationery and magazine store, where customers ranged from Irish nannies to Sara Delano Roosevelt to Marlene Dietrich. Clever about life and love, food and men, Ettie had advice for everyone, and it didn{u2019}t hurt that she got some of her best ideas from talking things over with God, out loud. Known for bringing wit and emotion to issues that concern women, depth and poignancy to subjects as seemingly trivial as clothes, beauty, and bridesmaids, Gingy now magically brings the irrepressible Ettie Goldberg to life 1958. The movie is Vertigo. Kim Novak asks Jimmy Stewart, "Couldn't you like me just the way I am?"
2001. The movie is Bridget Jones's Diary. Rene Zellweger asks Hugh Grant, "Can't you just like me the way that I am?"
A lot of things have changed since 1958. Some things never change.

So begins Ilene Beckerman's deftly drawn look at the doubts, dreams, and hard-earned triumphs of women, from the Audrey Hepburn era to the era of Britney Spears.

Like most women we know, Ilene Beckerman has struggled with self-esteem, confronted insecurities, survived dashed hopes, and lived long enough to have finally learned that there's more to happiness than finding the right hairdo and maintaining an ideal weight. This was never more clear to her than when she decided to go to her fiftieth elementary school reunion.

In Makeovers at the Beauty Counter of Happiness, Beckerman addresses what really matters in life. She shares her (unsent) letters to celebrities (including Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Madonna) and letters imparting wisdom to her granddaughter. Along the way, she discovers something that our mothers tried to tell us long ago: that beauty comes from within.

Ilene Beckerman's first book "illuminates the experience of an entire generation of women," wrote the New York Times Book Review in a full page of praise for Love, Loss, and What I Wore . It became a bestseller and inspired the hit Off-Broadway play by the same name. Now, Gingy returns with her fifth illustrated treasure, The Smartest Woman I Know —a tribute to the insightful woman who raised her. It's been said there's nobody as smart as an old woman. That's Gingy's grandmother, Ettie, though she had no more than a third-grade education. She dispensed unforgettable wisdom to Gingy and her sister, Tootsie, as well as to the customers at her and (her husband) Mr. Goldberg's stationery and magazine store, where customers ranged from Irish nannies to Sara Delano Roosevelt to Marlene Dietrich. Clever about life and love, food and men, Ettie had advice for everyone, and it didn't hurt that she got some of her best ideas from talking things over with God, out loud. Known for bringing wit and emotion to issues that concern women, depth and poignancy to subjects as seemingly trivial as clothes, beauty, and bridesmaids, Gingy now magically brings the irrepressible Ettie Goldberg to life. Great books never go out of style, and the New York Times recently re-recommended this classic bestseller, an illustrated gem,'Ilene Beckerman's heavy-hitting mini-memoir of a stylish life.” Beckerman's runaway bestseller —adapted into an Off-Broadway hit by Nora and Delia Ephron — articulates something all women know: that our memories are often tied to our favorite clothes. From her Brownie uniform to her Pucci knockoff to her black strapless Rita Hayworth-style dress from the Neiman Marcus outlet store, Beckerman tells us the story of her life. “Illuminates the experience of an entire generation of women... This small gem of a book is worthy of a Tiffany box.” —The New York Times Book Review “A memoir every reader will wish to copy in her own size.” —Glamour “Ilene Beckerman's sleek little memoir... strikes a startling chord.... Unsettling and oddly powerful.” —People “Surprisingly poetic.” —Entertainment Weekly “[A] poignant biography.... This little book will charm anyone with an interest in style.” —USA Today Ilene Beckerman has found a way to articulate something all women know: that our memories are often tied to our favorite clothes. In this original and eloquent book, Gingy, as Ilene is called, tells the story of her life through the clothes she wore. From her Brownie uniform to her Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress, Gingy offers a closet full of memories. She remembers her prom dresses, her wedding dresses, and her starting-over-her-new-life dresses. Gingy is Everywoman. She's a wise old friend who's survived divorce, the death of a child, the quirks of friends and family, crushes and heartbreak and bursts of joy and happiness. Like all of us, she likes to look nice while she's pursuing happiness. In Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Gingy invites us to reflect on our own lives and remember what we wore. “An account that is sweetly sentimental and brutally honest, touching and witty—in short, a true gem.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A work that adds great luster to an already golden event.” — The Memphis Commercial Appeal “Her prose is spare, but rich with meaning and always very honest.” — The Cleveland Plain Dealer “Pithy wit and cute drawings sketch the happy tears, bittersweet memories and flares of anxiety that a daughter's wedding elicits.” — The Dallas Morning News The relationship between a mother and daughter is often fraught— but never so much as during the preparations for that walk down the aisle. Ilene Beckerman has taken that walk with three daughters and tells us—with great wisdom and wit—why childbirth is less painful than planning a wedding. Beckerman's runaway bestseller articulates something all women know: memories are often tied to one's favorite clothes. From her Brownie uniform to her Pucci knockoff to her black strapless Rita Hayworth-style dress from the Neiman Marcus outlet store, Beckerman tells the story of her life Just as a familiar old song can bring into focus an event from the past, so for the author, the clothes in her closet are like a magic key opening a door to the past