Hanging Out

November 15, 2022
A glancing meditation on the value of spending idle time with friends, family, and strangers. "Hanging out is about daring to do nothing much and, even more than that, about daring to do it in the company of others," writes Liming, a professor of literature, media, and writing. The "daring" bit seems a little overstated. Most people, apart from those in isolation and agoraphobes, seem not to have trouble finding ways to lounge around with a clutch of fellow lollygaggers watching a ball game or arguing over the ways of the world. Liming means something more rarefied, with hanging out--not doing much--as an act of resistance against a late-stage capitalist regime that demands that we all be available to work all the time. Hanging out, she writes, "marks the boundaries of a sanctuary space that exists at a remove from the pressures of market-driven competition." That's all well and good, and capable of being said without much buttressing. Still, the author consistently calls in the cavalry, from Emerson to Theodor Adorno to Walter Benjamin. Where the appeal to authority is apposite, it's often qualified: "[M.F.K.] Fisher is, so far as I am concerned, one of the preeminent twentieth-century voices not just on the subject of eating but on eating socially." The hedging clause is no more necessary than Liming's rendering of a hiking trip as "the work of collective arrival," a formulation both arid and abstract. The author deserves praise for honesty, however, in admitting that the conferences so beloved of academics are really "fundamentally about seizing the opportunity to hang out." Liming is at her best when she considers in-person lounging against the online hanging out that younger people seem increasingly to prefer and which will change the face of socializing: After all, you can't catch pandemic diseases over the internet, and gathering in groups is a prerequisite condition for mass shootings. A hit-or-miss ramble in praise of giving time to wasting time.

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December 1, 2022

Liming (literature, Champlain Coll.; What a Library Means to a Woman) suggests ways to reclaim one's social life through what's supposed to be the simple act of hanging out. However, the pandemic made hanging out difficult. The book includes tips and strategies for different situations such as parties, work, and more. The author discusses the importance of making room for these types of activities, being assertive about it, and protecting that time from those other aspects of life that can affect it, such as working more than usual. The book's format is laid out in sections that seem to build on each other, from the start to the finish. It is written in a stream-of-consciousness style, so, at times, it seems to go in different directions, but the conclusion nicely wraps the content together, along with relatable examples of the author's experiences. VERDICT This book is recommended for those interested in social theory, time management, and relationships.--Bridgette Whitt

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December 1, 2022
Hanging out can happen spontaneously or be part of a planned occasion. Author Liming (What a Library Means to a Woman, 2020) shares the example of her worthwhile trips from North Dakota to Minnesota to visit with friends. Getting together in person, she explains, offers connection and a shared intimacy that can't be replicated. The impacts of social media and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, though, have isolated people from this kind of connection. Hanging Out explores a variety of ways of spending time together and the lessons that can be learned from these interactions. Liming also explores the concept of gatherings from every facet to shed light on why they are crucial to both personal and professional life, often Illustrating her points with examples from her own experiences, from jamming in a band to attending work conferences. Readers will gain a new appreciation for their next get-together after reading this fascinating book and taking the author's well written words to heart.

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February 20, 2023
Champlain College writing professor Liming (What a Library Means to a Woman) surveys in this erudite if meandering meditation “the many ways in which hanging out happens in contemporary culture” and encourages readers to do more of it in real life. Drawing largely from her own personal experiences with a smattering of references to literature, psychology, neuroscience, and sociology, Liming documents various places where people get together—such as dinner parties, academic conferences, musical jam sessions, and on social media—and discusses the degree to which they foster “connection, intimacy, and meaning.” Though Liming’s observational and storytelling skills shine, her examples often undermine the book’s prescriptive message by dwelling on awkward and unsatisfactory experiences; for example, the chapter on dinner parties opens with an account of the time the chancellor of North Dakota’s university system ruined Liming’s “dream dinner party” by eating filet mignon in front of a vegan guest of honor and leaving Liming and her husband to pay his $200 bill. Elsewhere, a chapter about television and contemporary social life gets sidetracked by an anecdote about filming episodes of a friend’s reality TV show. This is a mixed bag.