Katharine Hepburn, who would have turned 100 in May this year, was known for doing things her own way. Her choices were famously unconventional—rejecting family life in favor of her career, living as Spencer Tracy's mistress for decades, wearing slacks instead of skirts. Convinced there are lessons here for modern women, journalist and novelist Karbo (Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me
) decided to try to figure out how Hepburn made it all work. For instance, while Hepburn rejected marriage, perhaps she got everything she really wanted (love and companionship) without the baggage she didn't want (fights over doing the laundry or cooking dinner). Karbo acknowledges "you don't always have to know what you're getting into in order to succeed"; Hepburn knew that to "go forward blindly" often works just as well. Also, Hepburn found denial worked just fine, allowing her to ignore early criticism that she couldn't act or that she had a terrible voice. Karbo presents all this heterodox advice with great humor, but there's a point she's making to sister Gen-Xers: Hepburn broke all the rules women were supposed to follow and still had a fabulous life. (May)
