June 17th, 2009
Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City and Lipstick Jungle, is a sort of female Tom Wolfe. She writes about personalities that make up a subculture and how the former creates the latter. Many of her novels, including Lipstick and Four Blondes, are almost too bizarre to get through, but with One Fifth, Bushnell succeeds in captivating the reader with the intricacies and complexities of her characters, rather than just conveying their exploits for facination’s sake. One Fifth Avenue is the story of a co-op in Washington Square Park and the writers, business people, actors, actresses, and socialites that live there. A little bit Bonfire of the Vanities, a little bit Sex and the City – it will make you long for NYC and yet give thanks that you don’t live there.
**BTW, one of the characters, Lola Fabrikant, hails from Alpharetta, GA and spends some time in the ATL suburb during the story. Pretty sure it’s fair to say, Candace Bushnell does not wish she lived there.
April 7th, 2008
We have a choice to make: we have to suspend the monthly book list, or we have to start reading books with some more depth. Obviously we are not stopping with the chick lit (bikinis and beach read season!), but we can at least read something that suggests we went to college. However, we didn’t get there this month, so check out the trash we did read:
1. Queen of Babble in the Big City, Meg Cabot: We’ve only read some of Cabot’s work and we were sort-of ambivalent about it, but the Lizzy Nichols series is v. cute. It takes place in Manhattan, and Lizzy has a Becky Bloomwood obliviousness that is mostly charming. We decided to read the rest of the series!
2. Size 14 is Not Fat Either, Meg Cabot: Of the two Meg Cabot books we read, the Heather Wells series is our favorite. Heather is a 29 year old has been pop star who wants to be a criminal investigator and is an assistant dorm director at New York College. The mystery part is a little predictable, but Heather’s cynical, yet hopeful personality kept us giggling throughout. Plus, each chapter begins with the lyrics of her pop songs that are so bad they’re good.
3. Trading Up, Candace Bushnell: Candace Bushnell could be a Jane Austen of our time, because her characters are dark, complex, and driven to succeed in the societies in which they belong. Janey Wilcox, the protagonist, is no exception and is ruthless, ambitious, and completely unlikable. While part of us finds Bushnells novels offensive, we’ve read them all. Bottom line: it’s like a car wreck. You feel like you should look away, but you can’t stop yourself.
