Compare Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire

is an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles, representing twenty years of Judith Thurman's writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and "women's 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.