This is what I read during August:
Where The Grass Is Green And The Girls Are Pretty by Lauren Weisberger
I kicked off August reading Lauren Weisberger’s latest chick lit entry. Note the handcuff earrings: the book is about the immediate summer after a set of parents along with others, get busted by the feds.
I highlighted the following phrase thought about the protagonist, “despite all the achievements, was convinced she deserved none of them.” As someone who suffers from imposter syndrome, this hit home hard.
Family, motherhood, parenthood, sisterhood, and social and traditional media are themes in Where The Grass Is Green And The Girls Are Pretty.
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
With the upcoming And Just Like That… series, I wanted to visit the original source material. I cannot believe I had not read it until over twenty years since the groundbreaking pilot aired on HBO.
Not only do exact characters from the series pop up: Capote Duncan, Amalita Amalfi, Miranda, Samantha Jones, Skipper Johnson, and the first character we are introduced to, the British journalist. But also verbatim lines were ripped from the Observer article and used as a springboard in the initial series season:
An English journalist came to New York. She was attractive and witty, and right away she hooked up with one of New York’s typically eligible bachelors. Tim was forty-two, an investment banker who made about $5 million a year. For two weeks, they kissed, held hands… On Tuesday, he called and said he’d have to take a rain check. When she hadn’t heard from him after two weeks, she called and told him, “That’s an awfully long rain check.” He said he would call her later in the week… He never did call, of course… Welcome to the Age of Un-Innocence… No one has breakfast at Tiffany’s, and no one has affairs to remember—instead, we have breakfast at seven A.M. and affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible. How did we get into this mess?
Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
How many basic bitches with Holly Golightly, or more broadly, Audrey Hepburn posters decorating their dorm rooms actually read the Truman Capote novella?
At less than one hundred pages, I was shocked at how short the book was. I had no idea it was so brief. A decidedly east read, I finished it in three sittings.
If you haven’t read it, do it. Low effort, high reward. And imagine the air of ultra smugness that you can emit when talking about the movie, I mean book, with other basics.
How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
I closed out the month by revisiting Cat Marnell’s memoir, How to Murder Your Life. Afterwards, I reviewed my initial thoughts on the book.
I found myself having less empathy for Cat this read around. I think my updated impression was influenced by how her former boss, Jean Godfrey-June, seemed to favor her over her coworkers at Lucky.
As I mentioned before, I resolve to make my son and future daughter to read this book the summer before freshman year of college or when I start worrying about “extracurricular activities,” whichever comes first. How to Murder Your Life is a cautionary tale.
