I’ve got plenty of great book news this week. 

First, I’m reminding all of you that our first Ghetto Girl Book Club begins two weeks from tonight.  Since The Girl from the Ghetto is newly unemployed, we are working with books I can check out from the library as well as the books I have in my own personal library.  Hopefully we will be moving on to new books in the future months.  Book Club is November 10th, and we are reading Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and watching the movie as well. 

Have you read it yet, or obtained your copy?  Don’t forget that we are also comparing and contrasting the book to the film.  And for those who didn’t get to finish the book, you can share your thoughts on the movie.  I’m really excited to do this online book club, and I hope it is fun for all of you.  Remember your thoughts are as important as mine, and nothing you share is wrong, as it will be your opinion.   

St. Martin’s Press.  Cover Art by Phil Mazzone.

Second, Augusten Burroughs  is on tour with his new book which was released today, YOU BETTER NOT CRY: Stories for Christmas.  I am so excited to read this book, and it is killing me not to be able to afford to buy it today.  Those of you who have started it, please let me know what you think, but don’t spoil it for me.  His tour starts tonight in Chicago, and if I had someone to drive twelve hours with me, I would have went.  I flew to Durham, N.C. earlier this year to hear him read with his BFF Haven Kimmel, and the two were wonderful together.  Augusten is a brilliant writer, and a fantastic speaker.  Please, go see him if you get the chance!

Augusten’s Tour Dates:

Chicago, IL
Tuesday, October 27 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Music Box Theatre
3733 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
773.935.3909
Hosted by Borders Books
$5 with purchase of book, $10 without.
 
Boston, MA
Thursday, October 29 @ 6:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Coolidge Theater
290 Harvard Street
Brookline, MA 02446
617.566.6660
Hosted by Brookline Booksmith
Seating is at 5:45
Price is $5
 
New York, NY
Monday, November 2 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Barnes & Noble
Union Square
212.253.0810
Free + open to public
 
Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, November 4 @ 6:30 PM
Discussion and Signing
 class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”">SCAD Auditiorium
1600 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
Hosted by Outwrite Books
404.253.3206
Lecture free + open to public
Book sales: personal check or cash only
 
Miami, FL
Friday, November 6 @ 8:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Books & Books
265 Aragon Ave.
Miami, FL 33134
305.442.4408
Free + open to public

Austin, TX
Monday, November 9 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Book People
603 N. Lamar St.
Austin, TX 78703
512.472.5050
Free + open to public

Portland, OR
Wednesday, November 11 @ 7:00 PM
Discussion and Signing
Bagdad Theater
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
503.236.9234
Hosted by Powell’s Books
$22 advance and day of
 

Ticket price includes a copy of the book. Tickets available at Bagdad Theater box office, the Crystal Ballroom box office, Ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.

Third, I have just heard that Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, writers of  The Nanny Diaries have written a follow up novel called Nanny Returns.

 The book will be released in stores on December 15 - just in time for the holidays and those last-minute shoppers.  I loved the first book, and can’t wait to read the second.  What I’m most excited to share with you is that you can enter a contest on their website to win a free copy of Nanny Return.   

http://www.emmaandnicola.com/

They are asking readers to choose new cover art for their NY Times bestseller Dedication.  If you vote, you can be one of five who will win an advanced and signed copy of Nanny Returns.  The contest ends October 31st, and it is easy and fun to enter.  I voted for cover A, just in case you were wondering.  You can catch a sneak peek of Nanny Returns on the website on November 2nd. 

Hey, everybody!

Today, I’ve got a couple of awesome photos for you, which illustrate interactions between human beings and the natural world, and feature (especially!) bicycles! I was inspired by the thought that our new library should soon be getting a bike rack. Who knows what wonderful things may then be seen in Mount Kisco?

The first photo is by Ton Van der Weerden from Holland. The horse is a Dutch Draft, a breed I did not know before. Isn’t he beautiful?

As you see, the type of horse is very similar to the Belgian Drafts from my home town, but the hairstyle is quite different! For pulling, people in my part of the world clip the horses’ manes short and trim their fetlocks. In Holland, they leave the horses’ hair long and make beautiful braids!

And here’s a Russian Blue kitten, photographed by Lindy Meow! Gorgeous, isn’t it!

This one’s definitely set for wurld domanashun, don’t you think?

So, it will be very exciting if we do actually get a bike rack at the library!

In the meantime, I am happy to report that we did get some new furniture today! Behold the Teen Room Computer Desks! The teenagers tell me they like them a lot, and I think they are very pretty!

That’s it for this afternoon — enjoy! And I am always amenable to comments or suggestions!

PS Don’t forget, Emma McGlauchlin and Nicola Kraus, authors of The Nanny Diaries will be at the library to introduce their new book, The Real Real on Wednesday, September 30th at 7:00 PM!

PPS Just noticed, I ended almost every sentence in this post with an exclamation point! What in the world was I thinking?!

WARNING: SPOILERS.

There are a lot of problems with this book. There’s a lot of sloppiness, a lot of laziness, a lot of “I can’t believe they published this” writing.

To start with, instead of describing the intonation of the character’s voice or giving a descriptor for how the character was yelling/screaming (as this was most often the case when it would happen) the writers chose to not only use caps, not only to hold down the vowel keys, but to alternate using caps so it looked like something out of a comic book. Example: “NOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo.” I shit you not. Now I realize we’re dealing with children, who are difficult to write, and everyone’s entitled to a little fanciness now and again but seriously? I could open up any given page of that book and within five or six pages you could find an example of, if not the alternating on and off caps, at least the stretched out vowels. Uh…no. That’s a lazy bomb you get to drop once. After that you fucking work so I hear the character. Because it ends up where all I see is the keyboard and you holding down the damn keys ad infinitum. And there was one scene in particular (where Nanny is made to leave Grayer in the middle of the night without saying good-bye) that you guys completely blew because of this idiotic technique. The kid goes, “NAAAAAANNY. I NEEEEEEEED YOOOOOOOU.” And she leaves because she’s being forced to and then the last line of that chapter is, “I can still hear him screaming for me.” I can still hear the keyboard crying out in pain is what I fucking hear. That could’ve been a powerful line and you blew it. Use your caps and extended vowels with care, Christ.

Also…I don’t honestly think I’ve ever seen the single word sentence (ie, “Don’t. You. Ever.”) as emphasis outside of fanfiction before, but I may be wrong on that.

Another major problem was the sheer lack of description. Starting with physical description. Until the middle of the book I didn’t know what color hair Mrs. X had. Until the very end of the book I didn’t know that Mr. X was fat. I have no idea what H.H. looks like except that he’s “hot” (hence the second “H” in “Harvard Hottie”) and likewise Nanny’s parents and friends remain complete blanks. Most disarming is that I don’t really know what Nanny or Grayer, the main characters, look like. It’s unnerving not to know. I realize this is chick lit and a lot of what we’re meant to pick up on about the characters is the brands they wear (and man are brand names dropped) but that doesn’t really help me either because the description of the clothes is completely left out in lieu of the brand names except in a rare few cases. Yes, I get that those brands are expensive and that imports some vague image to me, but once again you are being LAZY. Give me the name and then describe it, goddammit.

Character describing wise, they didn’t do so hot either. Aside from Nanny, Grayer, and Mr. and Mrs. X, pretty much every character was a set piece used to facilitate whatever action the authors required of them. H.H., Nanny’s boyfriend, is the one that pisses me off most of all because it seems it’s a standard requirement of chick lit that the girl get with someone, regardless of whether that’s necessary to the plot or not (and it so wasn’t here), and worse than having no real personality he was completely unbelievable. Every time Nanny would start bitching about her job he was totally chill and would be all, “You just get it all out, babe. I’ll get some ice cream for you.” …What the fuck kind of fantasy world is this?

So why the 7 if so many things went so horribly, horribly wrong? Because the simple fact is, is that like most chick lit, this book is satisfying like candy. Delicious, but I can’t make a meal out of it. Entertaining, because the ante is constantly being raised with the ridiculous and insulting things Mrs. X makes Nanny do, but I wouldn’t read it again because there were, as I said, many problems with it. Also the conclusion was ultimately disappointing because Nanny was a weakass character who took everyone’s shit lying down. I knew that ending was coming and it was pathetic. Entertaining, but pathetic.

Basically, it’s readable, but don’t expect a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Book: The Real Real

Authors: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Initial Impression: If this is what The Hillsis really like, I’m starting to kind of feel bad for them.  But not Speidi.  Never them.

(from barnesandnoble.com)

I really feel for Emma and Nicola, the authors of The Nanny Diaries.  Since capturing that lightening in the bottle and writing very well about the true world of nannies, they’ve released a couple of other co-written books that are Okay… but I feel like their first book will always be their best.

That said, I do rather like them. They have this great story: just a couple of girls who had some funny stories to tell and suddenly they’re huge authors. I’m sure there’s more to it than that.  And I usually like their plot ideas– the last one I read, Dedicated, even featured some scenes from my beloved UVA.  Sometimes though, as I’m reading, it just feels… rough.  Maybe the dialogue is abrupt, or characters are suddenly friends for no discernible reason, or the ending doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the story. I suppose this might just happen sometimes when you co-author a book.

The current offering follows a girl plucked from the middle class of high school and gets shoved into the Inner Circle of the Beautiful People for the sake of a Laguna Beach-style reality show filming for an MTV knock off.   She is cast by the long-suffering assistant of the show runner who sees something genuine and fun about her; and Jesse is told she can no longer hang out with her own friends or do anything that she would normally do.  She agrees to this plan because she needs some cash for college, but she (predictably) gets more than she bargained for.

Things happen about the way you would expect: the real best friend gets jealous, the rich bitch is kind of messed up and misunderstood, the cute guy who has always been there suddenly notices her, she chooses the wrong guy for a while, and she loses everyone at one point before boldly storming a corporate office building and outsmarting the smarmy exec who tricked her in the first place.

I do wonder how much of the story is lifted from actual behind the scenes information from reality shows. We know The Hills is more or less choreographed, but do they really go to the spa in the middle of the night and cast extras instead of filming regular patrons?  Are they really told, “You seem to have chemistry with that one. Why don’t we make you go on a date?”

Anyway, I read it on a plane, and it was a nice frothy read and I really was pretty absorbed by the time I got to the end.   Jesse is identifiable  in that Everygirl kind of way and reading the book is a bit like being a voyeur on the set of a reality show. A fictional reality book for a reality show maybe? 

Anyway, I speculate this will take the wind out of Lauren Conrad’s sails (and sales?) as she preps to release her own fictional autobiography, LA Candy.

M’s rating: 6 sparks because, I mean, why not? It was fun enough and the crush is a cutie pie most of the time.

Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus – The Real Real – June
Jesse O’Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwitting reality TV star. Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown-your school-is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras. Now imagine they’ve trained them on you. When Jesse O’Rourke gets picked for a “documentary” being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she’s tempted to turn down the offer.

But there’s a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she’s studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for “what sells on camera.” . . . At least there’s one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse’s crush has also made the cast. As the producers manipulate the lives of their “characters” to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

Heather McElhatton – Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single – 1st June
Body conscious, cubicle-working, and love lorn in the Minneapolis suburbs, Jennifer Johnson is your average American woman. So it’s totally understandable when she freaks out after learning her ex-boyfriend is getting married, as is her younger sister, Hailey. To add insult to injury, this means she’ll have to wear an Asian-inspried kimono bridesmaid dress, which shows every curve and dimple plus more. Approaching thirty, single, and still unsatisfied with her career as a copywriter for the family-owned Keller’s department store, like any woman would, Jen begins to obsess about finding a boyfriend, losing weight, and perhaps chasing her dream job. When Brad Keller, heir to the Keller’s business, comes into the picture, it looks like Jen’s luck just might be changing. But, as often is the case, in reality, things are never quite as glossy beneath the surface and life’s decisions aren’t always about following your dream. We’re with Jen every step of the way from her daily struggle to eat or not eat a Cinnabon to her decision to ruin the kimono with Drano, and finally, to her chance to define her ‘happiness’.

Emma Bowd – The Shoe Princess’s Guide To The Galaxy – 1st June

Overwhelmed by the realities of first-time motherhood and disillusioned with the corporate world, Jane trades in her Manolos for nappies, nipple shields and the foot spread of a yeti: a lifestyle choice her man-eating girlfriend, Rachel, thinks is taking retro chic just one step too far.

Unlike the lovely Liz, who’d give anything to be in Jane’s pram shoes. Desperate to reconnect with the outside world, Jane finds salvation in her local New Mothers Group, a nonagenarian neighbour, and a royal duo of bloggers dedicated to shoes and behind-the-scenes celebrity gossip. Meanwhile, her unlucky-in-love best friend, Fi, thinks she’s found THE one – Marco.

Should Jane be concerned that Marco is a handsome, intelligent, Italian shoe designer with a passion for teaching his craft to bored housewives? Or that her work-focussed husband is spending increasingly long hours at the office A heart-warming and timeless tale of the transition from career-girl to new mum, The Shoe Princess’s Guide to the Galaxy is a sassy and sparkling debut about one modern woman’s attempts to put her best foot forward.

Alison Kervin – Celebrity Bride – 4th June

It’s the celebrity wedding of the season…The news that Hollywood bad boy Rufus George is finally settling down has caused a media storm. Especially since his bride is a civilian – a nobody. Kelly Monsoon is a pretty, curvy theater administrator. She never expected to meet a mega-star like Rufus let alone have him fall in love with her. And when Rufus asks Kelly to come and live with him, in his magnificent mansion, she feels like it’s a fairytale come true. Only this Prince Charming comes with a 12-person entourage, a bevy of beautiful ex-girlfriends and the world’s press camped on his doorstep. But when Rufus proposes Kelly accepts and the media interest in this new couple hits the roof. However, the small, intimate wedding Kelly always dreamed of is taking on Hollywood epic proportions…Rufus’s manager is trying to book Buckingham Palace for the wedding reception and all Kelly’s mum wants to know is where to buy a nice hat. It’s a clash of cultures: British versus American, celebrity versus civilian – with poor Kelly stuck in the middle, not knowing where she belongs. Will this celebrity bride ever make it up the aisle?

Katie Fforde – Love Letters – 4th June

With the bookshop where she works about to close, Laura Horsley, in a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, finds herself agreeing to help organize a literary festival deep in the heart of the English countryside. But her initial excitement is rapidly followed by a mounting sense of panic when reality sinks in and she realizes just how much work is involved – especially when an innocent mistake leads the festival committee to mistakenly believe that Laura is a personal friend of the author at the top of their wish-list.

Laura might have been secretly infatuated with the infamous Dermot Flynn ever since she studied him at university, but traveling to Ireland to persuade the notorious recluse to come out of hiding is another matter. Determined to rise to the challenge she sets off to meet her literary hero. But all too soon she’s confronted with more than she bargained for – Dermot the man is maddening, temperamental and up to his ears in a nasty case of writer’s block. But he’s also infuriatingly attractive – and, apparently, out to add Laura to his list of conquests…

Claudia Carroll – If This Is Paradise, I Want My Money Back – 4th June

Charlotte Grey is hovering between life and death, but the weird thing is, it’s taken a coma for her to finally open her eyes and see things clearly. Namely that she’s made a complete mess of her short time on Earth, and don’t even get her started on the five precious dating years she’s just wasted on the worthless, faithless James Kane. But after a quick peek at the afterlife, she decides that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be either. Kind of like a big retirement home in the sky, with an awful lot of bingo and bridge and absolutely no sign of Elvis/Princess Di/Kurt Cobain or anyone it would actually be nice to spend eternity with. So when Charlotte is offered a chance to go back to Earth, this time as a bonafide angel, she jumps at it. But there’s a catch. The person she’s assigned to watch over is …a certain Mr James Kane. Which is where the fun really starts. Well, just because she’s passed on doesn’t necessarily mean she’s moved on, does it?

Bridget Asher – The Pretend Wife – 11th June

For Gwen Merchant, love has always been doled out in little packets—from her father, a marine biologist who buried himself in work after her mother’s death; and from her husband, Peter, who’s always been respectable and safe. But when an old college boyfriend, the irrepressible Elliot Hull, invites himself back into Gwen’s life, she starts to remember a time when love was an ocean.

What does Elliot want? In fact, he has a rather surprising proposition: he wants Gwen to become his wife. His pretend wife. Just for a few days. To accompany him to his family’s lake house for the weekend so that he can fulfill his dying mother’s last wish. Reluctantly Gwen agrees to play along—with her husband Peter’s full support. It’s just one weekend—what harm could come of it?

But as Gwen is drawn into Elliot’s quirky, wonderful family—his astonishingly wise and open mother, his warm and welcoming sister, and his adorable, precocious niece—she starts questioning everything she’s ever expected from love. And as she begins to uncover a few secrets about her own family, it suddenly looks like a pretend relationship just might turn out to be the most real thing she’s ever known.

Jane Green – Girl Friday – 11th June

When Kit and Adam separated after almost fifteen years of marriage, Kit felt like she had lost her lover, her best friend and her identity all in one fell swoop. But now, a year on from the divorce, Kit has found herself again and she loves her life in the idyllic Connecticut town of Highfield.

She has the perfect job – working for Robert McClore, the famous novelist – two wonderful children, a good relationship with her ex-husband and time to enjoy yoga with her friends. Then Tracy, Kit’s yoga instructor and close friend, introduces her to Steve – attentive, charming, the perfect gentleman – and, for the first time in years, Kit thinks she may have found the right one. But is Steve really as perfect as he seems?

And why does it bother Kit when Tracy starts dating Kit’s reclusive boss, Robert? What no one knows is that Tracy is hiding a secret – one that threatens to ruin her new-found happiness with Robert and her friendship with Kit. And now Tracy must decide whether to keep her past hidden from them both for ever or whether she should reveal the truth before it’s too late…

Katherine Center – Everyone Is Beautiful – 11th June
Piling everything she owns into her car, Lanie leaves family and friends behind – all so her husband can realise his dreams of becoming a professional musician. But, somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane, it hits Lanie that she once had dreams too.

If only she could remember what they were. Fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she’s willing to count after she said ‘I do’, Lanie longs desperately to feel like her old self again.

It’s time to fish her va-va-voom out of the nappy bin and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her existence – harder said than done, when by finding herself she seems to be losing everything else in the process.

Sarah Tucker – The Control Freak Chronicles – 18th June

At forty-four, Helena Treadwell thought she had everything sorted. After divorcing her control freak ex, Leonard Wallis, she and her nine-year-old son, Freddie, relocated to her home town of Castleford. She’s made a happy home for them and has a successful career as a radio presenter.

Finally she feels she’s clawing back the control and confidence she lost to Leonard. But life is never simple for long …Helena unexpectedly loses her job and Leonard announces that not only does he want Freddie to attend a private boarding school, he’s also decided to move to Castleford to set up home with ‘the other woman’. Suddenly Helena’s losing control again, as her past comes back to unravel her future.

Lindsey Kelk – I Heart New York – 25th June
It’s official. Angela Clarke is in love — with the most fabulous city in the world.

Fleeing her cheating boyfriend and clutching little more than a crumpled bridesmaid dress, a pair of Louboutins and her passport, Angela jumps on a plane, destination – NYC. Holed up in a cute hotel room, Angela gets a New York makeover from her NBFJenny and a whirlwind tour of the city that never sleeps.

Before she knows it, Angela is dating two sexy guys. And, best of all, she gets to write about it in her new blog (Carrie Bradshaw eat your heart out). But it’s one thing telling readers about your romantic dilemmas, it’s another figuring them out for yourself !

Angela has fallen head over heels for the big apple, but does she heart New York more than home?

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’s next adult novel will be a sequel to The Nanny Diaries titled Nanny Returns. It’s due for release in December. It will apparently pick up a decade later when Nanny returns to NYC.

Their newest novel is called The Real Real and is a teen novel. It’s out in June. The synopsis reads:

Jesse O’Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwitting reality TV star. Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown-your school-is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras. Now imagine they’ve trained them on you. When Jesse O’Rourke gets picked for a “documentary” being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she’s tempted to turn down the offer.

But there’s a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she’s studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for “what sells on camera.” . . . At least there’s one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse’s crush has also made the cast.

As the producers manipulate the lives of their “characters” to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

So, some chick lit writer got herself married, and folks are apparently bursting to tell the world that the “Vows” article re: the whole deal is damn depressing. As it turns out, they’re right!

Now, I don’t read “Vows,” or chick lit, because both forms are completely invested in the standard narrative of “young female’s life was a total shambles, and her uterus was slowly withering from disuse, but then she got MAAAAAAAAAAAARRIED, and now has a reason to live.” My moms has been married three times, and so I can’t really bring myself to believe that putting on a fancy dress and shilling out for a reception hall will ensure the success of a relationship, or a life. (The parties are fun, though – and when couples write their own vows? It is SO SWEET. You will cry.) But! This column is totally captivating, because it turns out that the combination of chick lit (awful) and wedding columns (awful) gives rise to a new variety of SUPER AWFUL, from which you simply cannot turn away.

Did you know, for instance, that the bride, Nicola Kraus, dated some bad dudes in her time? Indeed, “she dated a string of inappropriate people, including an on-again-off-again beau who blamed her for his unwillingness to commit.” Nothing says “I am happy with my current partner” like trash-talking the exes at your wedding! It’s a super classy move. Also, did you know that if Nicola Kraus does not have babies, her life will be totally ruined? Es verdad. Check it:

She experienced a month of severe insomnia and realized that she was deeply unhappy. “I was 32 and single and all my friends had babies,” she said. “I felt so broken.”

Ah, poor Nicola. This is my personal nightmare – that, at the age of 32, I will be single and childless, and will have only MY MASSIVELY SUCCESSFUL NOVELS AND LARGE FORTUNE for comfort. Thank God her worries are over – because, and I quote:

On June 14, Ms. Kraus walked down the aisle to a recording of Miss Piggy singing “He’ll Make Me Happy.”

I would try to record my uncensored reactions here, but they would read something like “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH NO OH SHIT MISS PIGGY AT YOUR WEDDING BWAHAHAHAHAHA,” and that would hardly be productive, now, would it? Instead, let’s skip ahead to the closing paragraph:

Then Kevin Jennings, a minister of the Sanctuary of the Beloved, pronounced the couple husband and wife. When their bodies entwined, it was not so much a kiss, as a melding — a complete embrace of happiness and hope.

Mmmmm. Let’s all toast Nicola and her new husband with a big, chunky wave of vomit, shall we? Mazel tov!

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have both worked as nannies in New York City, and in The Nanny Diaries they have written a caustic satire about nannies and the rich families they serve in New York’s Upper East Side.

The Nanny Diaries is an incredible book about a NY Graduate student, Nanny, who meets the X family in Central Park and soon afterwards starts working for them, as a nanny. Her role is to educate Grayer, the only child of the X family. Soon we enter a fascinating world in which we come to meet Nanny, Grayer- the spoiled little brat, Mrs. X- an important lady of the NY “high call”, too busy to give her son a hug, Mr. X, a busy and successful banker, too busy to show up even at the most important family events. Under these circumstances, Nanny seems to be the only one who cares for Grayer, the kid’s only friend.

The Nanny Diaries presents a Mary Poppins of our days, who lives in Manhattan and tries to jog between school, work, a new (hot) boyfriend from a rich family and her own family. It’s simply incredible how bad she is treated and how often the rich child actually sees his parents, busy with anything else but him.

Mrs. X treats her son as a fashion accessory and Nanny as less-than-human, someone there to keep her son company and see to all her personal errands. Nanny is all and nothing in the same time. Mrs. X needs Nanny for every little errand she is supposed to do, but, in the same time, Nanny doesn’t really exist for her as a person. Nanny’s feelings are not important, Nanny’s opinion is not something to take into consideration, and Nanny’s schedule is just a trifle, not to say more.

Accepting this job, Nanny loses her independence, her personal life and moreover her dignity. For Mrs. X she is just a piece of decoration at her discretion, depending on her money to pay the rent. I asked myself so many times why didn’t Nanny quit the job, why did she, a beautiful intelligent young lady, accept this horrible situation? When her family or her new boyfriend, H H- Harvard hottie -, suggest this idea, Nanny refuses motivating that she needs to stay for Grayer.

I think I enjoyed this book so much especially because I had the possibility to see a little bit of the world the authors are talking about. Some of the places named in the book are so vivid in my mind. I felt like reading a real diary, fresh, honest, full of life and so authentic. Every mom-to-be should read this book. And every working mom should read it too, as well as every person considering to hire a nanny or to become one.

For the first time since joining the blog, I have finally read a non-school book all the way through! It’s hard to follow up a review on “The Alchemist,” but if you’re not familiar with this book, just keep in mind it’s by the same duo that wrote “The Nanny Diaries”–that is, not exactly classic literature. My mom bought it for me at Powell’s (amazing used book store!), and I assumed it fell in the “chick lit” category; not my usual cup of tea, but it seemed more appropriate for my early morning plane ride than “Already Dead” (which I will hopefully finish sometime soon and review). As it turns out, however, there was a bit more thought put into than I had supposed, so for my low expectations, it wasn’t too bad.

With that large grain of salt: the story follows the struggles of a recent college grad as she reconciles personal convictions and a paycheck. More specifically, after being fired from an organization that encourages feminist activism in young woman, she lands a job with a company that acts as a web portal for women’s magazines and relevant topics, particularly beauty information. She is supposed to find a way to broaden the company’s feminist appeal, first through wooing Ms. Magazine to add their content to the web archives, but later through more and more sketchy–and misogynistic?–tactics. Add some co-worker animosity and a background romance, and you pretty much have the plot.

The story itself, however, is primarily a backdrop for feminist debate, which the authors make no attempt to disguise: the protagonist is named “Girl,” her annoying male boss, “Guy,” and the one woman with any business skills, “Manley.” As I said, I started reading what I thought would be an amusing, light story, and the book’s agenda caught me off-guard. Once I settled into it a bit, I appreciated the attempt to bring some intellect and serious discussion to a book aimed at the female, light-novel-reading audience. I think some individuals with a bit of intellectual curiosity and some kind of opinion on the subject would enjoy the effort. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure some vacation readers simply felt tricked, and I personally found it a bit shallow. In particular, it’s clear the authors wanted to cover every possible viewpoint on feminism that exists, and there are many; while I don’t think the goal is bad (if a person had never considered the subject, it may be a good introduction to the abundance of perspectives), it’s very unwieldy in a book of limited length, especially when you are also trying to tell a story. This isn’t a treatise. So, at least for me, I never had a moment of “aha, I never thought of that!” It was more of a gloss on ideas I was already familiar with, with a story along for the ride. To be fair, several of the discussions brought up valid and relevant concerns, but they didn’t have anything particularly new to add, in my judgment.

That being said, I may have read this book from entirely the wrong angle; it wasn’t until I was almost finished that I read a quote on the back of my copy referring to it as a “satire.” Maybe if I started with that expectation, I would have found the content less jarring. But…if I didn’t notice it was a satire, I also doubt it was a very good one. It was only in (literally) the last few pages when a situation came up to make me say, wait, hold on, that can’t be real? I actually read the segment twice, thinking I had come to some dream scene. So, maybe that part at the very end lived up to the “satire” label. Otherwise, however, I really think it was more of a novel with a story to tell about feminism.

Would I recommend it? Hard to say. If I found it shallow, you guys probably would, too. On the other hand, I’ve never formally studied gender/feminism/etc, and perhaps if I had, I would be more interested in how mainstream literature treated the academic subject. Or perhaps it would have frustrated me to no end. Not sure. Overall, for a plane flight, after 4 hours of sleep, the book wasn’t bad, but probably not one I would reread.

-liz

]]> http://readabookonyou.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/books-22-26/ Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:32:18 +0000 readabookonyou http://readabookonyou.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/books-22-26/

The layout of this blog doesn’t look quite right,I think the most recent review should be first but as I haven’t used that set up previously I’ll just carry on with the slightly skewed way!

22.Emily Barr-The Sisterhood

I’ve read all of Emily Barr’s books and always enjoy them greatly and read them in a couple of days.Her books always deal with secrets from the past being gradually revealed and in any book I find dipping into the past and the characters’ backgrounds gripping. ‘The Sisterhood’revolves around a young French woman who discovers her English Mother gave birth to a daughter many years before and being bored and restless decides to travel to London to meet her.Helen’s story runs parallel to that of Elizabeth,the focus for Helen’s clinging affections.

Although I didn’t particularly warm to the character of Elizabeth,largely because she is portrayed as such a victim throughout,(she discovers her long-term partner is gay in the first few pages of the book and later struggles with an unexpected pregnancy)I found the character of Helen compelling.She is in turn manipulative,woefully naive and unstable,all of which serves to make her fascinating as events take an increasingly dramatic turn.

Whilst all of Emily Barr’s books follow a similar structure and generally involve the characters taking a trip or migrating,she skillfully builds tension without being melodramatic and ‘The Sisterhood’stands as one of her best novels so far.

23.Jacqueline Wilson-Jacky Daydream

I had been looking forward to reading Jacqueline Wilson’s book detailing her childhood for months so eagerly purchased the paperback edition on its release.It was with some reluctance that I then admitted to myself that I didn’t enjoy the book allt hat much.The problem,albeit an obvious one is that despite being an autobiography the book is clearly aimed at children,meaning many of the observations within it are superficial and jovial,when the more compelling aspects of the story,like Jackqueline’s difficult relationship with her difficult and angry Father and the financial struggles of the family in post-war Britain are left in the shade.The upbeat and persevering tone,whilst often evident in autobiography doesn’t come across as genuine and the questions about characters from Wilson’s books at the end of each chapter trivialises things further.

Although I greatly enjoyed the sections where Jacqueline discusses her love for books and writing stories I felt the book lacked any real insight into her childhood and failed to evoke any real sense of the era,a real shame considering she is such a sparky and warm writing in the rest of her work.

24.Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace-Are You Dave Gorman?

A book I purchased in a 3 for £1 sale in a charity shop and started reading in the same day whilst at a loose end, ‘Are You Dave Gorman?’chronicles the development of a drunken bet into a worldwide search for brethren.As this book has been in print for several years now anyone who is a comedy fan is likely to be aware of the search of its authors and their subsequent TV show.

‘Are You Dave Gorman?’certainly has its merits,largely in the insanity of its premise and the dedication of Dave to win the bet and meet as many people with his name as possible.There are certainly very amusing and surreal anecdotes to be found,but after a while the process gets a little familiar and repetitive,and although all of this did happen it’s difficult to understand why two people would dedicate so much time to such a project,which suggests that perhaps they had far too much time on their hands.

25.Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin-Dedication

From the authors’ of ‘The Nanny Diaries’, ”Dedication’ is the story of a woman who remains obsessed by her high school boyfriend who left her suddenly the day before their prom and has since become a huge singer-songwriter who draws much of his inspiration from her personal life during their teenage years.So far a rather lame and unoriginal summary but I was drawn to this book because a)I love reading anything vaguely involving musicians,and b)the sleeve claims it pays a tribute to growing up in the ’80s,something I definitely thought I’d appreciate.The book fails on both counts however as it written so poorly it’s a shock it was ever published at all.I haven’t read either of the previous efforts of these writers but on the strength of this I don’t intend to.The characters never amount to anything more than sketches on the page and the whole thing reads more like an episode of a lame high school sitcom than anything else.

26.John Niven-Kill Your Friends

This book is written by a former A&R man and I was drawn to it on two accounts,1)the front cover which features a cassette tape and b)the back cover featuring a quote from My James Dean Bradfield.Yes,these two factors were enough for me to shell out £10.99 at Borders,lay your pity at the feet of the book addicts.Clearly the marketing department did their job effectively anyway.The book revolves around an A&R guy at a lucrative record label during the Britpop boom.

I’m not the kind of person who claims to be shocked easily,desensitised as I am to screen violence and shock tactics used in literature.This book,however is a rampage through the mind of an immoral psychopath and as a result his observations are both wickedly amusing and wickedly horrifying.I won’t reprint any of them here but the grotesque images the writer conjures will stay with you long after having digested this book.On amazon the journalist James Brown describes ‘Kill Your Friends’as “the indie ‘American Psycho’”a conclusion I reached independently thanks to the protagonist’s fascination with wealth and power as well as his utter disdain for the rest of humanity and his blood thirst and homicidal tendencies.

Although towards the end the events of the narrative become rather too exagerated and self parodying for my liking this book is a wonderfully scathing assault on the indie music industry,gleefully ridiculing the posturing of artists and esecutives alike.Anyone with my affection for the Britpop era will adore the references to long forgotten indie bands like Unltrasound and this book is worthwhile for the unrelenting onslaught of its blistering prose.

I must have been living under a rock because I had never heard of Nicola Kraus or Emma McLaughlin. That meant, of course, that I had also never heard of their novel, “The Nanny Diaries.” This novel, from 2002, was apparently a huge bestseller and satirized upper class Manhattan society as seen through the eyes of the nannies and caregivers of that world. With McLaughlin and Kraus as former nannies, the novel probably contained a good deal of insightful humour into the profession and the interactions between the nannies and the upper crust of New York society life. Naturally, then, Hollywood made it into a film.

The Nanny Diaries is a 2007 comedy-drama based on the aforementioned novel. The film was directed by the team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who were behind the 2003 film American Splendor. Pulcini and Berman, before American Splendor, were acclaimed documentary filmmakers. The Nanny Diaries is their second feature film.

The Nanny Diaries stars Scarlett Johansson as Annie Braddock, a recent college graduate of anthropology who is very interested in studying other cultures. After a chance encounter in which Annie is believed to be a nanny – don’t ask me how that happens – she takes a job as a nanny and hides this deplorable occupational error from her mother, who imagined her daughter to venture directly into a “real career.” Annie becomes employed by Mr. X (Paul Giamatti) and Mrs. X (Laura Linney), a family of wealthy socialites from the Upper East Side. They have an adorable but ignored little boy, Grayer (Nicholas Art). Annie “falls in love” with Grayer instantly and her little foray into the cultural exploration of the Upper East Side life via nanny turns into something deeper. Also, there’s a love interest tossed in on the side (Chris Evans). His name is, I kid you not, Harvard Hottie (well, sort of). So yeah.

There are a lot of problems with The Nanny Diaries, the first of which is an utter lack of compelling and engaging characters. The film flounders about from situation to situation, attempting to highlight satirical elements of Upper East Side life but instead actually making the whole situation seem rather sad. The Nanny Diaries, because of its strange characterizations, seems rather more like a bleak melodrama in which we want to rescue Grayer from these terrible people. It’s not really a comedy. The performances do little to change the tide here, as the novel’s attempts at satire contain more spunk than the lacklustre performers in this film could ever attempt to convey.

Another problem within The Nanny Diaries was the nature in which they convey the occupation of the nanny. Instead of impressing upon audiences the role of the nanny as being important, the film impresses the idea of the role of the nanny as being important only if a complete outsider with other, “higher” aspirations fulfills the role. Watching the film led to me to this realization, as any other nanny in the film is ridiculously over-the-top ethnic and incompetent. Only Johansson’s Annie has the ability to change the hearts and minds of the crusty Upper East Side while everyone else who actually IS a nanny has no ability to accomplish such loft goals. Then, like a talk show host masquerading in a fat suit to change the hearts and minds of the skinny, Annie’s off back to her regular more fulfilling life having taught a valuable lesson to Mrs. X. Bravo!

The marketing for this film was often confusing, which led to what seemed to be some confusion about the final product, even from the directors and performers. The Nanny Diaries is too damn bleak to be a comedy, but too damn flighty to be a drama. Instead, we focus on various things throughout the film and wander to and fro between socialites and regular people (regular people in films are never really regular, are they?). We waft around through Mr. X and his affairs and how they affect little Grayer, yet we’re given no real reason to care for Grayer other than that he’s a kid. The relationship between Annie and any other character is redundant and tepid, leaving nothing to hold on to in a land of bland characters and weak dialogue. It’s no wonder that FOX reviewers found this film “intelligent.” Ouch. Burn.

All in all, The Nanny Diaries isn’t particularly offensive or awful, but it’s not particularly entertaining or enlightening either. It’s a pretty poor film by most standards. Johansson is, once again, nice to look at but rather uninteresting in her own performance. Linney has never been anyone I’ve cared about in film and Giamatti continues his rush to downgrade himself from past glory with a waste of time role in this one. The Nanny Diaries is a pretty poor comedy and a pretty poor drama, with no designs on either genre and no realization of the satire that the book contains.

2/10

Trailer: