I'm So Happy For You

I'm So Happy for You: A Novel About Best Friends -- What if your best friend, whom you've always counted on to flounder in life and love (making your own modest accomplishments look not so bad), suddenly starts to surpass you in every way?

Wendy's best friend, Daphne, has always been dependably prone to catastrophe. And Wendy has always been there to help. If Daphne veers from suicidal to madly in love, Wendy offers encouragement. But when Daphne is suddenly engaged, pregnant, and decorating a fabulous town house in no time at all, Wendy is...not so happy for her. Caught between wanting to be the best friend she prides herself on being and crippling jealousy of flighty Daphne, Wendy takes things to the extreme, waging a full-scale attack on her best friend-all the while wearing her best, I'm-so-happy-for-you smile-and ends up in way over her head.

Rosenfeld has a knack for exposing the not-always-pretty side of being best friends--in writing that is glittering and diamond-sharp. I'm So Happy for You is a smart, darkly humorous, and uncannily dead-on novel about female friendship.

Chronicle Books Summer Sale!

Go to Chronicle Books now especially if you have kids!

Dom Perignon: A History of Champagne

Dom Perignon: A History of Champagne -- Dom Pierre Perignon tells the story of the world's most luxurious champagne, tracing its circuitous history across four centuries, arranged in three chapters--one each for the seventeenth, eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Beautifully produced, in keeping with its subject, this page-turning luxury object unravels the myth of Dom Perignon champagne, beginning with its namesake--the pioneering Benedictine Monk Dom Pierre Perignon--who set out to create the best wine in the world. Offering glimpses of the champagne-infused hedonism of Louis XV's court at Versailles, Marilyn Monroe's glamorous affiliation with the beverage and Karl Lagerfeld's recent advertising campaign for the brand, this volume incorporates a spectrum of artifacts, including texts, drawings, paintings, photographs and film stills from artists and writers such as Francois Boucher, Denis Diderot and Jonathan Swift.

Lillian Bassman: Women

Great article in the NY Times today about photographer Lillian Bassman (there is a short slideshow that accompanies the article with great pictures) and also a post by Helene at The Luxe Chronicles (I wanted to comment but Typepad won't let me!). I worked with Lillian's son in NYC and have met both Lillian and her husband Paul Himmel (also a photographer). Facinating and talented people. I am really looking forward to the new book Lillian Bassman: Women which will be released in October.

At Home with Wedgewood

At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table -- There’s only one Wedgwood, but there are limitless expressions of Wedgwood style.

At Home with Wedgwood showcases 250 years of the company’s innovations–in all its manifestations–and the imaginative ways today’s collectors draw inspiration from the past and integrate Wedgwood pieces into their lives. Whether gracing a table for Saturday breakfast, bringing whimsy to a garden party, or arranged for a formal affair, Wedgwood is classically beautiful yet contemporarily stylish. Quite simply, Wedgwood is as much at home on the everyday table as it is when carefully styled for special occasions.

At the heart of At Home with Wedgwood are the homes of a group of renowned collectors, beautifully photographed to reveal how this diverse and dynamic group of people live and entertain with Wedgwood. From Carolyne Roehm’s movable feast to Charlotte Moss’s after-the-ballet supper, from the vintage collection that fills Thomas O’Brien’s country house to Jasper Conran’s English style, and from Vera Wang’s elegant bridal shower to Martha Stewart’s perfect setting, you will see how today’s style makers draw on their Wedgwood for every occasion.

At Home with Wedgwood also includes a stunning visual gallery of patterns–from classic favorites to popular new motifs–and a portrait of Josiah Wedgwood, the company’s inspirational founder whose values still inform Wedgwood today. Finally, a resource section makes this both a sumptuous book of style and a practical guide to the world’s best-known maker of tableware.

Foreign Tongue: A Novel of Life & Love in Paris

Foreign Tongue: A Novel of Life and Love in Paris -- Few streets have been more hungrily plumbed for romance than those of Paris, and Marsot's debut is no exception. Fluent in English and French, Anna leaves Los Angeles for Paris after breaking up with her boyfriend. She devotes her time to translating an erotic French novel into English and, at times, Anna's voice mirrors the tedium she ascribes to the task. Her frequent expositions on the nature of translation become miniature lessons on idiom, nuance and linguistics, ironically delivered with greater passion than the erotic scenes themselves, which fall flat. Though the plot generates a series of questions—will Anna end up with actor Olivier? will she keep her job despite her disgruntled editor? whose work is she translating?—Marsot is more interested in Anna's inner tumult. Despite Anna and Olivier's somewhat textbook love affair, the increasingly complex relationship between Anna and elderly bachelor Bunny helps shore up the novel. The stunning descriptions of Parisian food and social life will certainly satisfy Francophiles.

Hope in a Jar

Hope in a Jar -- Twenty years ago, Allie Denty was the pretty one and her best friend Olivia Pelham was the smart one. Throughout high school, they were inseparable…until a vicious rumor about Olivia — a rumor too close to the truth — ended their friendship.

Now, on the eve of their twentieth high school reunion, Allie, a temp worker, finds herself suddenly single, a little chubby, and feeling old. Olivia, a cool and successful magazine beauty editor in New York, realizes she’s lonely, and is finally ready to face her demons.

Sometimes hope lives in the future; sometimes it comes from the past; and sometimes, when every stupid thing goes wrong, it comes from a prettily packaged jar filled with scented cream and promises.

Beth Harbison has done it again. A hilarious and touching novel about friendship, Love’s Baby Soft perfume, Watermelon Lip Smackers, bad run-ins with Sun-In, and the healing power of “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific.” Hope in a Jar: we all need it.

Kids Books: Custard and Mustard

Custard and Mustard: Carlos in Coney Island -- Carlos the French Bulldog takes the subway to Coney Island where he is smacked by salty breezes and captivated by its cornicopia of carny delights Nathan's Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, Aquarium, the Ballpark, Mermaid Parade and beach.

Pop Tart

Pop Tart -- An eager, aspiring make-up artist, Jackie O'Reilly has always dreamed of a high-profile Hollywood career—and now fate has made her fantasy a glittering reality. Filling in at the last minute for her boss, Jackie finds herself working with America's newest sweetheart—wild and glamorous Brooke Parker, who's on the brink of superstardom.

Jackie's right where she's always wanted to be: in the entourage of an "it-girl," a globe-trotting world of private jets, long white limos and all-night parties. Brooke is fun and real, but also impetuous and unpredictable. And when the pop princess begins to unravel, Jackie will have to decide where her true loyalties lie—or become a victim of the unrelenting chaos of the twenty-four-hour media circus.

A blistering, dazzling, and authentic novel written by two knowledgeable Hollywood insiders, Pop Tart is a high-speed roller-coaster ride through the treacherous playland of pop culture stardom.

Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?

Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?: And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask -- Dunn's travails will be instantly recognizable to readers in their late 30s and 40s—a generation that's shifted the family bickering about what to serve at holiday dinners to conference calls and e-mails. Her parents are a bottomless well of comedy, sending her wacky newspaper clippings and grilling her loudly about her inability to go to the bathroom during their vacation. Her circle of friends is equally familiar, like the gay buddy who invites her over for TV-movie parties and can always be counted on to make catty remarks about strangers. Several chapters are filled with transcripts of phone conversations with her best friend, Julie, flitting from topic to topic, comparing the embarrassing songs saved on their iPods and wondering why their parents haven't figured out voice mail isn't like an answering machine (Hello? Anybody there? Hello, it's Dad). Dunn's tone is genial, only turning serious briefly near the end when she discusses not having kids—and then inadvertently discovers she's finally pregnant. The seriousness doesn't last long, though, and soon it's back to affectionately mocking her mom's decision to get tattooed—although, as her sisters point out, she's secretly pleased to have something new to write about.

Dunn also wrote "Don't You Forget About Me" which I read last summer and "But Enough About Me: How a Small-Town Girl Went from Shag Carpet to the Red Carpet." Plus, she's a fellow Jersey girl which always makes me want to read.

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People -- Zama’s debut novel captivates the reader as an entertaining chronicle of a contemporary Indian matchmaking service and as insightful commentary on the lingering dictates of religion and class in modern India. Mr. and Mrs. Ali live in Vizag, on India’s eastern coast. Several years into his retirement, Mr. Ali grows bored, so he opens a marriage bureau, where the city’s well-to-do can come to find the perfect match for their offspring based on their unique requirements as to caste, religion, dowry amount, age, and height. The business flourishes, forcing Mr. Ali to hire an assistant, Aruna, a young woman whose family’s financial collapse forced her to give up her postgraduate studies and go to work. Aruna has a knack for making even the most difficult matches—failing only to find a young woman for a wealthy young doctor with especially picky parents. Zama sprinkles his lively narrative with morsels of everyday life and age-old traditions, from marriage and burial rituals to the making of mung-bean crepes—all of which enrich and enliven his simple and engaging plot.

Friday Nights

Friday Nights -- When a British retiree invites two young single mothers from the neighborhood to her flat, a Friday night tradition begins. As their klatch widens, Trollope's memorable characters do more than just represent varying female predicaments: they develop as rich individuals who come to triumph over their pasts. Paula has a wary relationship with the married man who fathered their son, Toby: she must move on, yet stay in touch for Toby's sake. Struggling Lindsay was widowed before she gave birth, while her sister, Jules, is a careless aspiring nightclub DJ with a wild streak. Independent, put-together Blaise contrasts starkly with her often bedraggled business partner, Karen, who barely manages her role as mother and breadwinner. And then there is Eleanor, the catalyst for the gatherings, a no-nonsense older woman who, though full of wisdom and spunk, keeps her thoughts to herself unless asked. When a new man enters Paula's life, Trollope masterfully shows how work and romance can tip the scales in female friendships. The result is a careful and compelling examination of one man's insidious effect on a group of female friends, as memorable as it is readable.

Moon Shell Beach

Moon Shell Beach -- Lexi and Clare, townies on the island resort town of Nantucket, have been best friends since childhood. When the girls hit college, though, things start to change. Lexi, eager to leave the small town, elopes with a wealthy developer, angering the community. Clare struggles to maintain her relationship with the town lothario. Years later, the divorced Lexi returns, and the friends once again try to find their way together. The title, Moon Shell Beach, tells you all you need to know: that this is a thoroughly enjoyable if slight novel perfect for reading in Nantucket or on any other beach. The characters and events are interesting, if not completely fleshed out. The focus on women’s friendship as opposed to romance makes for an enjoyable change of pace.

Someday My Prince Will Come: True Adventures of a Wannabe Princess

Someday My Prince Will Come: True Adventures of a Wannabe Princess -- Many little girls dream of becoming a princess and finding their Prince Charming. Fine was no different and, at the age of six, traced the Windsor family tree to Peter Phillips, an English royal of her same age, and announced she would marry him. Unlike other girls, however, this dream did not fade away with adolescence. With a story line akin to a chick lit novel, her memoir follows her single-minded path to become suitable wife material for a prince, to move to England and to be swept away in a royal romance. Born to hippie parents in rural Colorado, Fine comes of age feeling out of place and escapes to the East Coast for college and then to graduate school in London. There she ingratiates herself into English social circles, eventually rubbing shoulders with Princess Anne, the Duchess of York and others. Amid her lessons in British society and the universal woes of dating, she also gains the important knowledge that the strength of one's conviction can be the strongest predictor of one's fate. Provided the reader doesn't grimace to see her determination, intelligence and grace used to pursue a man she's never met, Fine's is a charming and humorous story.

This is a wonderfully entertaining read that I highly recommend!

American Adulterer

American Adulterer -- "The subject is an American citizen holding high elected office, married, and father to a young family..."

From its opening line, American Adulterer examines the psychology of a habitual womanizer in hypnotically clinical prose. Like any successful philanderer, the subject must be circumspect in his choice of mistresses and employ careful calculation in their seduction; he must exercise every effort to conceal his affairs from his wife and jealous rivals. But this is no ordinary adulterer. He is the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

JFK famously confided that if he went three days without a woman, he suffered severe headaches. Acclaimed author Jed Mercurio takes inspiration from the tantalizing details surrounding the President's sex life to conceive this provocatively intimate perspective on Kennedy's affairs. Yet this is not an indictment. Startlingly empathetic, darkly witty and deft, American Adulterer is a moving account of a man not only crippled by back pain, but enduring numerous medical crises, a man overcoming constant suffering to serve as a highly effective Commander-in-Chief, committed to a heroically idealistic vision of America. But each affair propels him into increasingly murky waters. President Kennedy fears losing the wife and children to whom he's devoted and the office to which he's dedicated. This is a stunning portrait of a virtuous man enslaved by an uncontrollable vice and a novel that poses controversial questions about society's evolving fixation on the private lives of public officials and, ultimately, ignites a polemic on monogamy, marriage and family values.

See article here for further dirt!

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It -- Award-winning writer Maile Meloy's return to short stories explores complex lives in an austere landscape with the clear-sightedness that first endeared her to readers.

Meloy's first return to short stories since her critically acclaimed debut, Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It is an extraordinary new work from one of the most promising writers of the last decade.

Eleven unforgettable new stories demonstrate the emotional power and the clean, assured style that have earned Meloy praise from critics and devotion from readers. Propelled by a terrific instinct for storytelling, and concerned with the convolutions of modern love and the importance of place, this collection is about the battlefields—and fields of victory—that exist in seemingly harmless spaces, in kitchens and living rooms and cars. Set mostly in the American West, the stories feature small-town lawyers, ranchers, doctors, parents, and children, and explore the moral quandaries of love, family, and friendship. A ranch hand falls for a recent law school graduate who appears unexpectedly— and reluctantly—in his remote Montana town. A young father opens his door to find his dead grandmother standing on the front step. Two women weigh love and betrayal during an early snow. Throughout the book, Meloy examines the tensions between having and wanting, as her characters try to keep hold of opposing forces in their lives: innocence and experience, risk and stability, fidelity and desire.

See NY Times Book Review here.

Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever -- Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together.

Jennifer Johnson Is Sick of Being Single

Jennifer Johnson Is Sick of Being Single

From Publishers Weekly: A heroine with Bridget Jones-like neuroses and klutziness learns the costs of scoring a glamorous life in McElhatton's delightful second novel (after Pretty Little Mistakes). Jennifer Johnson is a financially unstable copywriter toiling in the marketing department of Keller's, a family-run Minnesota department store. Jennifer learns her ex is engaged and is subjected to her younger sister's wedding preparations, horrid dates and a fire in her Hello Kitty–adorned apartment. Enter Brad Keller, the caddish heir to the Keller's department store fortune. Though at first she couldn't imagine that he'd ever be interested in her, soon enough they're dating, and a marriage proposal follows. Things, of course, aren't exactly as they appear, and Jennifer's eventually confronted with the classic dilemma: money or love. Jennifer's a wonderful narrator—honest, witty, self-deprecating and sharply observant—which more than redeems the story's familiar aspects (gay best friend, high maintenance sibling's pending nuptials, lame Internet dates). McElhatton blends just enough cynicism into the whimsical narrative, creating a fun romp through a woman's manifold insecurities.

Kids Books: Uncle Andy's Cats

Uncle Andy's CatsIt all started with a little blue cat named Hester. Then along came Sam, and it was love at first sight— and lots of little Sams! While the cats are perfectly happy stampeding through Uncle Andy’s art studio and frolicking among his soup boxes, the humans know things have to change. So Uncle Andy devises a brilliant plan to make his cats famous—and easier to find homes for.

James Warhola’s childhood memories of trips to New York City to visit his uncle, Andy Warhol, inspired this warm, funny story of the famous artist’s house full of cats. Kids will pore over the illustrations trying to spot all the Sams, as well as some very clever mice.

James Warhola’s children’s books include Uncle Andy’s: A Faabbbulous Visit with Andy Warhol, which he also wrote. He lives in the Hudson Valley area of New York and Baltimore, Maryland.

By Invitation Only

By Invitation Only -- Nobody knows the Hamptons like Jodi Della Femina, who captures the inside world of love, society, and scandal in this delicious summer page-turner.

Toni Fratelli has a busy summer ahead.

After several setbacks in Manhattan force her to move home to East Hampton, her To Do list is full. She has to help her father run his popular Italian restaurant. Start up her own catering company. And plan, cater, and be the Maid of Honor at her best friend’s wedding on the beach.

Unfortunately for Toni, the groom’s mother is a competitive New York socialite who’ll stop at nothing to make sure her son doesn’t marry a local girl – especially on the family’s Southampton estate. The biggest caterer in the Hamptons is trying to run her fledgling business out of town. And worse than anything, Toni seems to be losing her best friend to a circle of snooty bridesmaids. Everything might be tolerable – if her dad could just stop treating her as if she was seventeen again.

At least Toni finds love. When she meets a sexy surfer named Chris, it quickly turns into the most romantic summer fling of her life. But there’s more to Chris than his vintage Mustang and used guitar … and he’s not sure Toni’s going to like the truth. Before the end of the summer she’ll be forced to face her hopes – and fears – as trying to forgive becomes her biggest challenge yet.

The Allure of Chanel

The Allure of Chanel -- I've had this book in my Amazon cart for awhile now - I recently saw it on a blog and again on NYSD so I am definitely adding it to my Coco collection of books! Click here for photos and the article from NYSD.

Twenties Girl

From the publisher's website: Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?

When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie–a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance–mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, and Sadie cannot rest without it. Lara, on the other hand, has a number of ongoing distractions. Her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, her start-up company is floundering, and she’s just been dumped by the “perfect” man.

Sadie, however, could care less.

Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.

The Wildwater Walking Club

The Wildwater Walking Club -- The rest of your life starts with one step. Noreen Kelly learns this the hard way when she takes a buyout offer at her small shoe company and wakes up the day after—jobless, dumped by her slick co-worker, and wondering who she is and what she wants. She becomes tentative friends with Tess and Rosie, and together the women form a walking club, each step bringing them closer together and closer to the life solutions they all seek. Cook creates likable female characters with realistic flaws. The plots are marked with Gilmore Girls–type dialogue and settings, utterly charming from beginning to end. There’s plenty of laughs, anger, sorrow, and rage to keep the story moving along at a breezy pace; and all the subplots involving the multigenerational characters and their kooky suburban antics are tied up nicely. There’s a little more edge here than in a typical “gentle” novel, but more softness than in an edgy “hen-lit” novel. Miss Julia would be proud to be friends with these women.

Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote

Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote

From Publishers Weekly: Considering Truman Capote's fabled social life, one would think that his private letters would be dripping with juicy gossip. Indeed, with correspondents and friends that included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lee Radziwill, Cecil Beaton, Christopher Isherwood, David O. Selznick, Tennessee Williams, Audrey Hepburn and Richard Avedon, these bright, energetic missives do include an occasional tasty tidbit. But as candid as Capote can be, one ultimately gets the sense that the author always knew his letters would be read by a wider audience some day, and rarely does Capote express less than bubbling enthusiasm and childlike devotion to his correspondents. It's up to Clarke, Capote's biographer, to fill in the occasionally sordid blanks, which he does in chapter intros and extensive footnotes. Much more profound than any gossip is the humor, sensitivity and ambition with which Capote seems to have approached every experience in his life. and his incredible discipline and passion for writing, spending hours sequestered in some of the world's most glamorous locations, composing the stories and books. This entertaining collection gives us a firsthand account of Capote's journey as he comes into his own as an artist, charting his gradual but inevitable transformation into a literary and society superstar. Readers who want to know more about the real Capote will pick up the author's books (which include In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's) and continue to revel in his wise and whimsical prose.

The Story Sisters

The Story Sisters --From The Washington Post's Book World:

It's a rare year that doesn't bring a novel from Alice Hoffman, and those who follow this maddeningly uneven writer have learned to cast a wary eye on each new offering. Will it be Good Alice, poser of uncomfortable moral dilemmas and marvelously rich portraitist of family life ("Blue Diary," "Skylight Confessions")? Or will it be Bad Alice, blatantly careless plotter and outrageous overdoer of the magic-beneath-the-surface-of-our-lives shtick ("The Probable Future," "The Third Angel")? "The Story Sisters," actually, is In-Between Alice: excessive and over-determined but ultimately so moving that it overwhelms these faults. Elv, Meg and Claire Story share a secret imaginary world, Arnelle, complete with a private language that they speak to each other. Yes, Hoffman is back in fairy-tale territory. Arnelle made its appearance after 11-year-old Elv rescued 8-year-old Claire from a child molester and was abused in her stead -- the random intrusion of malevolent fate that this author has explored many times before. Grin and bear it, readers, because a brilliantly detailed delineation of ever-shifting power relations among siblings and a beautiful portrait of love's redemptive power are twined around the fey Arnelle material and grim recollections of the abuse. (Still, Hoffman should trust her readers to get the point -- Elv will never be the same; Claire feels guilty -- without endless repetition.) The main narrative begins when Elv is 15; she's dangerously reckless, taking drugs and sleeping around, to the horror of sensible Meg, who knows nothing about the abduction her sister endured four years earlier. Claire, meanwhile, seesaws between her siblings but increasingly turns to Meg. Their mother decides the only thing to do is incarcerate Elv in rehab, despite the carping of her self-absorbed ex-husband, one of the novel's many vividly realized secondary characters. At the brutal facility, Elv meets a junkie who provides her first taste of heroin but also brings her the love she's always dreamed about, "the kind that turns you inside out." After Elv comes home, she's responsible for a death that estranges her from the family, but a series of poignant scenes shows her tentative attempts to reconnect. Many years after the party that introduced us to the Story sisters, a wedding in Paris provides them a tender opportunity to reconcile. This radiant finale reminds us what a satisfying novelist Alice Hoffman can be, when she feels like it.