Bikini Is a State of Mind

By Nancy Gardner, Cynthia Lewis, Ann Haley

Book Overview

To: Female Baby Boomers Cc: Young women who may grow old one day Subject: The Joy of Life Dearest Baby Boomers and Future Bifocal Wearers, Are you old enough to need bifocals, but young enough to deny... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1420897500
• ISBN13: 9781420897500
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

everyone should have a team of their own!

First off, I'm a recent college grad not a baby boomer nor a midlife woman; this book that captures the essence of friendship, the poise of self-comfort, and the joy in creation and humor is for everyone. Recently, my roommate of four years and I picked up this catchy little blue-bound book, hopped into a car for a five hour drive to a wedding, and started reading aloud. We couldn't stop reading--each page held new humor, coy satire, beauty, and an exuberance of creation. The Bikini Team certainly enjoys life despite its stumbling blocks (and they have clearly had a few) and that enjoyment cannot be hidden on these pages, a quality that makes this book irresistible. This manifesto of women friendship and ease is incredibly fun, witty, and satisfying (maybe that's the best word to describe my experience reading Bikini with an extremely close friend). The two of us aren't in our fifties as these fabulous women are, but we are still fabulous women and we recognized the genuine ease and simple fun that the Bikini Team requires. We resolved to form a Team of our own--maybe not a Bikini one (we are both rather fair), and certainly not a Team on the professional level like this one (I'm pretty sure we need to be in the little leagues for a while to get proper training and experience), but we were inspired by the Davidson Bikini Team and how deep their friendships are. We loved the book for its humor, its glimpse of close women friendships, its obvious joy in creation, and much more. I thank the Bikini Team for this marvelous nugget of truth, simple beauty, and unabashed wit. I'm sure that Jill is right in her predictions and that within a few years the book will be a best seller. And I can't wait for the movie!!

Baby Boomer Manifesto

FIRST, THIS NOT A BOOK JUST FOR WOMEN. SECOND, MEN SHOULD NOT READ THIS SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE BIKINIS ON THE COVER. IT IS A BOOK FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY FOR BABY BOOMERS WHO REFUSE TO GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.... As that great sage and philosopher of our age, Johnny Depp, once stated, we have to grow old, but we don't have to act old. That is the essence of the Bikini Team. Our parents/grandparents may have been the Greatest Generation, but we are definitely the most stubborn. We will wear bikinis until we are rocketing around in our turbo-powered wheelchairs. Of course bikini is just a symbol for the way women "of a certain age" are refusing to act it. Not only is the bikini a symbol of defiance, it's also a symbol of our acceptance of our bodies at every age. Unfortunately, not every Baby Boomer gets it, but these ladies explain it very well and serve as standard bearers for those who do. These women are not bimbos, obviously, as proven by their accomplishments and contributions to society. The envy they inspire among other women is understandable. But they put on their most charming Southern Lady smiles and kill these people with kindness--and now they are sharing recipes. Something else we can learn from this book: Women can be friends. Most of the time, women are portrayed as envious, devious, conniving [...]. These ladies have overcome that stereotype and have remained friends seemingly forever. Any woman can tell you that this sort of comaraderie is only possible when every women involved is "comfortable" in her own skin." (Back to that bikini thing again!)Respect among women is an awesome thing.

A Manifesto of Fun

I started out reading this for a voyeuristic good time, but I soon figured out that beneath the girls-just-wanna-have-fun premise, this is actually a dry social satire about how to do the single most difficult thing that people can set out to do: stopping giving a damn what anybody else thinks. It's about a bunch of middle-aged women having fun in the clashing gazes of (I would guess, though they never say this) envy and admiration and maybe some disapproval, an exhortation to tune out the values of the massive ant colony of middle-American social roles, whose cultural and sartorial demands amount to a code of conduct for women, complete with uniforms appropriate to a Soviet client state. The Bikini Team, who live in a small town in North Carolina, really seems to have escaped the prison of expectations of age, status in life, and what anyone else might define as appropriate (or inappropriate) for them to do. (And they invite you along, any old you, and though it's addressed mostly to women, I'm a guy, and I thought of a few ways I could bikini-up my little life.) While the neighbors may cluck about you trimming the hedges in your halter top, they're going to cluck about some damn thing or other and screw em. Bikini is a state of mind, and so is Taliban. The Team's message is, Don't censor yourself in word or action, and you'll find that the world will pretty much leave you alone. If you try to act "age-appropriate," you'll find the goal posts continually moving and you'll spend your entire life having no fun. Since this is about public near-nudity, you'd think this had been written by women obsessed with dieting, yet the book is filled with recipes -- an extension of the metaphor that Bikini is actually a sport ("You run, we bikini"), and while in training (read: getting ready to lie on an inflatable raft in a pool in the sun with your friends, with whatever degree of sun-block you need), the true Bikini athlete must stick to a severe regimen of culinary indulgence. It sounds as though they exercise, too, but they're not crazed about it. Though they work like dogs the rest of the year - most of them are teachers -- during bikini season they're not into being crazed about anything. In a culture that promotes Xtreme Recreation so intense that a return to the office is a respite, the Bikini Team promote getting off the grid whenever you can, by not merely tossing the to-do list, but forgetting it altogether. The book seems to answer the question, To be, or not to be? And their answer is just plain Be.

Absolutely hilarious!

Read this book straight through (which I did in one quick sitting) or just open to any page and start reading aloud to your husband or friends. Laughter is guaranteed...page after page...even when reading the recipes!

Goodbye red hat. Hello bikini. (Or, why some women mustn't be shaded)

This book is a riot! Irresistibly edgy. Stylish & sharp. The paradigm of brio & wit. Meet the five brazen women of the self-subscribed, self-described Bikini Team: five school teachers in their mid-fifties, who not only dare to bare aging skin, but also insist on the increasingly radical concept of honoring one's self. Invite your own inner goddess out for an exercise--in spirited indulgence. (Recipes to be found between every chapter!) The world needs more women like this.