Hats & Eyeglasses - by Martha Frankel (Paperback)

About the Book

In her gloriously written memoir of growing up in a family of hardcore gamblers, Frankel thought the gambling gene had passed her by, until she found herself addicted to online poker and knee-deep in debt.

Book Synopsis

Martha Frankel grew up in a warm, loving family of diehard gamblers, where her father's poker games and her mother's mah-jongg blended happily with big pots of delicious food and endless gossip. As kids, she and her cousins bet on everything?from which of their Weight Watching mothers would lose the most to who could hold their breath longest underwater or eat the most matzo. But once Frankel left for college and later became a successful entertainment journalist, gambling didn't factor much into her life. She thought her family legacy had passed her by.

In this ?fast-paced and amazingly funny? (The Times- Picayune) memoir, Frankel traces her love affair with poker, an obsession that didn't hit until her mid-forties. And she was good at poker. Frankel won routinely, whether she was playing in her Wednesday-night poker game or in one of the seedy, out-of-the-way rooms she always managed to find when on assignment. But all this changed when she discovered online poker. It was the beginning of what one of her uncles called ?hats and eyeglasses, ? a term used to describe those times when you?re losing so bad your ship is sinking until all that's left on the water's surface are your hat and eyeglasses. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Hats & Eyeglasses is a tale of passion, addiction? and those times in life when we almost lose our shirt.

Review Quotes

"Martha Frankel . . . proves in her intimate, exuberant memoir that even in the face of a gambling addiction, frank self-appraisal and an armload of hugs can sometimes win the day."
-"O, The Oprah Magazine"

?Martha Frankel . . . proves in her intimate, exuberant memoir that even in the face of a gambling addiction, frank self-appraisal and an armload of hugs can sometimes win the day.?
?"O, The Oprah Magazine"

aMartha Frankel . . . proves in her intimate, exuberant memoir that even in the face of a gambling addiction, frank self-appraisal and an armload of hugs can sometimes win the day.a
a"O, The Oprah Magazine"

a[This] Honest, funny betting memoir rises to the top... Frankelas lively storytelling allows her to turn her own crapola into a winner.a
a"USA Today"
"In five minutes you will feel not only as if you have known [Martha] all your life, but as if you still have one of her sweaters."
a"The New York Times"
aIntimate, exuberanta
a"O, The Oprah Magazine"
aSparse and honest writinga
a"The Associated Press"
aFast-paced and amazingly funnya
a"New Orleans Times-Picayune"
a[A] frank and unaffected memoira
a"Publishers Weekly"
aFearlessa] powerful, even uplifting and funny.a
a"The New York Post"
"Fun and full of life. I've known Martha Frankel for twenty years and "Hats & Eyeglasses" was still surprising. A wonderful book." -Jane Smiley, author of "Ten Days in the Hills" and "A Year at the Races" "A bluntly honest memoir of gambling addiction-harrowing, funny, and compulsively readable, straight through to the end." -John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "The City of Falling Angels" ""Hats & Eyeglasses" is a hamische tour de force. With a warm voice and a light touch, Martha Frankel's account of growing up with gambling pays off, big- time. My bet is on her as she both enshrines and kicks her compulsion. Entertaining and enlightening, this is a must for memoir addicts, and a fine debut for the author." -Laura Shaine Cunningham, author of "Sleeping Arrangements" and "Beautiful Bodies"

"[This] Honest, funny betting memoir rises to the top... Frankel's lively storytelling allows her to turn her own crapola into a winner."
-"USA Today"
"In five minutes you will feel not only as if you have known [Martha] all your life, but as if you still have one of her sweaters."
-"The New York Times"
"Intimate, exuberant"
-"O, The Oprah Magazine"
"Sparse and honest writing"
-"The Associated Press"
"Fast-paced and amazingly funny"
-"New Orleans Times-Picayune"
"[A] frank and unaffected memoir"
-"Publishers Weekly"
"Fearless... powerful, even uplifting and funny."
-"The New York Post"
"Fun and full of life. I've known Martha Frankel for twenty years and "Hats & Eyeglasses" was still surprising. A wonderful book." -Jane Smiley, author of "Ten Days in the Hills" and "A Year at the Races" "A bluntly honest memoir of gambling addiction-harrowing, funny, and compulsively readable, straight through to the end." -John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "The City of Falling Angels" ""Hats & Eyeglasses" is a hamische tour de force. With a warm voice and a light touch, Martha Frankel's account of growing up with gambling pays off, big-time. My bet is on her as she both enshrines and kicks her compulsion. Entertaining and enlightening, this is a must for memoir addicts, and a fine debut for the author." -Laura Shaine Cunningham, author of "Sleeping Arrangements" and "Beautiful Bodies"

"Fun and full of life. I've known Martha Frankel for twenty years and "Hats & Eyeglasses" was still surprising. A wonderful book." -Jane Smiley, author of "Ten Days in the Hills" and "A Year at the Races" "A bluntly honest memoir of gambling addiction-harrowing, funny, and compulsively readable, straight through to the end." -John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "The City of Falling Angels" ""Hats & Eyeglasses" is a hamische tour de force. With a warm voice and a light touch, Martha Frankel's account of growing up with gambling pays off, big-time. My bet is on her as she both enshrines and kicks her compulsion. Entertaining and enlightening, this is a must for memoir addicts, and a fine debut for the author." -Laura Shaine Cunningham, author of "Sleeping Arrangements" and "Beautiful Bodies"

About the Author

Martha Frankel grew up in a warm and loving family of die-hard gamblers, where her father's poker games and her mother's mahjong mingled with big pots of delicious food, endless gossip, and storytelling. Hats & Eyeglasses is her first book, a memoir chronicling her upbringing in a family of gamblers. She is the Executive Director of the Woodstock Bookfest and has interviewed the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Roman Polanski, Susan Sarandon, Robert De Niro, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Her work has appeared in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, Fashions of the New York Times, Japanese and German Men's Vogue, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Movieline's Hollywood Life. Frankel lives near Woodstock, New York, with her husband, woodworker and sculptor Steve Heller.