Cleopatra's nose, paperback/judith thurman

A New York Times Notable Book of 2007 Cleopatras Nose is an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles, representing twenty years of Judith Thurman s writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and womens work--a term that, in her definition, encompasses haute couture, literature, and ruling empires.

The subjects are varied--Cleopatra, Jackie Kennedy, Anne Frank; tofu, performance art, pornography--but as a whole these essays hint at the central preoccupations of a uniquely inquisitive mind.

About author(s): Judith Thurman is the author of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller and Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette .

A staff writer at The New Yorker , she lives in New York City.