Book of the Week: The Most of Nora Ephron

Athena McKenzie | December 19th, 2013

You’re probably a Nora Ephron fan and don’t even know it. The prolific author wrote everything from essays on feminism, aging and politics, to novels and plays, but she probably reached her largest audience with her screenplay for the movie When Harry Met Sally and other huge hits like Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.

She made us laugh and she made us cry; and who among us hasn’t reenacted that scene in the diner? “I’ll have what she’s having!”

The Most of of Nora Ephron is “a whopping big celebration” of the work of the late author, who passed away last year. It includes her novel Heartburn (based on her acrimonious divorce from Carl Bernstein); the screenplay from Harry Met Sally; her Tony Award-nominated play Lucky Guy, published here for the first time; and a wonderfully diverse collection of essays and blogs covering everything from food, to opinions on political scandal, to sex, her breasts, and aging (including the seminal I Feel Bad About My Neck).

At 577 pages, it’s only a small sampling of her tremendous volume of work, but it’s a fabulous way to get reacquainted with — or discover — Ephron’s voice, an effortless mix of wit, perceptiveness, and compassion.