welcome to elaney!

Not Shakespeare.  C’mon, it’s summer!  Time for crazy nail polish and sunning by the pool.  There is nothing we love like some good beach trash in the sun.  And until we write our own beach read (have a really strong first chapter…), all we have is to enjoy the antics of fellow fun loving, wine drinking, PR girls, just trying to find love and make an honest living in a crooked world.

This is what’s on the list for vaca:

Last Night at the Chateau Marmont, Lauren Weisberger

Not out until May 27 (this is a faux cover), the premise is that “Two college sweethearts are living a happy, rather ordinary life in New York, but the tables are turned when he’s discovered by a Sony exec and their worlds are turned upside down. Soon they are holidaying in the Hamptons and attending every glitzy party in town.  But the trappings of this elite lifestyle mean our heroine must face the wrath of the US press….”

Why?  Anything by Lauren Weisberger, we will read.  Thank you Devil Wears Prada.

The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell

We all know about a little lady called Carrie Bradshaw…”Before Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small town girl who knew she wanted more. She’s ready for real life to start, but first she must navigate her senior year of high school”

Why?  Can’t get enough SATC, and perhaps a little more innocent version will be a refreshing change.

Hush, Kate White

From the Editor-n-Chief of Cosmo, Aunt eDoll got us hooked on these murder mysteries.  ”When fabulous New Yorker Lake Warren learns that her husband, Jack, is suing for full custody of their two kids four months after their separation, she’s pretty certain that things can’t get any worse.  But the morning after a one-night stand, Lake discovers that things can indeed become worse—they can become deadly…”

Why?  Have read every single Kate White mystery, the Bailey Weggins series is amaaaaaazing, and we’re exciting to meet Lake!

Total Waste of Makeup, Kim Gruenenfelder

From our FAVORITE beach read of last year, Misery Loves Cabernet, here is Kim Gruenenfelder’s first book.  ”Charlize “Charlie” Edwards certainly knows, in theory, what it takes to lead a successful and happy life.  She has glamorous and loyal friends who accompany her to the hottest clubs in town. And she works as the personal assistant to Drew Stanton, Hollywood’s sexiest movie star. But she’s also turning 30, chronically single, and faced with serving as maid of honor at her younger sister’s wedding.”

Why?  LA + Career Woman + Failing Love Life = Too fun for words.

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.

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.