Book Report: The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

I wouldn't be me if I wasn't drawn in by this cover: give me girls in colorful 50s gowns and gloves, telling secrets as the title suggests and I'm there!

And while the cover fits, there's a lot more to The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets than fashion and gossip.  Set in 1950s England, it's about being part of the generation that were only children when the war ended.  Our narrator, Penelope Wallace, is young, "six foot with my shoes on," and lives with her beautiful mother and teddy boy brother in a grand house that fell into disrepair during the war.  Penelope is level-headed and somewhat unadventurous, but like many teenage girls, she's obsessed with the singer Johnnie Ray.

After a chance invitation to tea at a bus stop, Penelope befriends the spunky Charlotte Ferris and Pen's quiet life changes for good.  Charlotte is outgoing, spirited, and totally loveable; the girls share a love of Johnnie Ray and quickly become best friends.  Charlotte introduces Penelope to her cousin Harry.  Soon after their meeting, Penelope finds herself agreeing to accompany Harry to a party to make his ex-girlfriend jealous.  But will their friendship remain just friendship?

The book focuses on Penelope's family, also, which I found lovely.  After a dreaded "duck supper," Penelope and her brother Inigo learn that the family is broke and that their ancient, grand house, Magna, won't be restored to it's former grandeur.  Their young mother, married at 17 and a widow at 23, hesitates to even speak to another man (even a charming and handsome American who's very interested and very rich!).  Inigo, her little brother, is getting in trouble at boarding school for listening to rock and roll on the radio; after receiving a record from his American uncle, Inigo cultivates a growing obsession with a new American singer, Elvis Presley, and hopes to make his living as a musician.

That's about the full cast (though I neglected to mention the fabulous Aunt Clare, Harry's mother).  There are so many things to like about the plot, which has a sweet romance, but also focuses on Penelope and Charlotte's best friendship and the Wallace family's struggles living in Magna.  Much of the book is about the changes in post-war England: Charlotte plans on designing and selling clothes in her own shop, Inigo wants to move to America to become a musician, Mrs. Wallace overcomes her resistance to Americans, and Penelope is allowed to fall for someone who isn't rich.

It's a simple book and a quick read, but there's a lot to think about and enjoy inside.  If you're looking for a sweet book with a little romance, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is a great choice!

Book Report: Bright Young Things

You already know that I loved The Luxe books, Anna Godbersen's YA series set in Edith Wharton's turn-of-the-century New York.  Now, Ms. Godbersen turns to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's 1920s New York with Bright Young Things. 

Our cover girl is Astrid Donal, a young society girl with loads of flapper style and a boyfriend who's the son of booklegger-to-the-rich Darius Grey.  Along the way, Astrid meets Cordelia Grey, a gal just off the train from Ohio, who came to New York in hopes of meeting her long-lost father.  Cordelia ran away with her best friend, Letitia Haubstadt, now Letty Larkspur, who fully expects to see her new name in lights very soon.  Drama and romance ensue, along with plenty of clothing description (which I've been a sucker for ever since the Baby-Sitter's Club).

I really liked the two different worlds represented in this book: Cordelia and Astrid find themselves in the country clubs and all-night estate parties of White Cove, Long Island, while Letty moves in with three roommates and works as a cigarette girl in a downtown speakeasy.  The upper-class stuff is done well (unsurprising after The Luxe books), but I found myself really loving Letty's life as an every day New Yorker: sharing a tiny basement apartment with three other girls, eating breakfast at a local diner, working all night until her feet are sore, circling auditions in the trade papers.  It's every bit as romantic as Cordelia's new life as a wealthy bootlegger's daughter. 

While I like Letty the best, the other girls are well-written characters, too.  It looks to be a fun, exciting series and I can't wait to find out what happens next (and what was worn when it happens)!

Spreading the gospel of Margaret

It's not often that I'm asked for book recommendations beyond asking my opinion about The Hunger Games (very favorable, btw). When I am, my go-to rec is "anything by Margaret Atwood," with a particular plug for The Blind Assassin.

(cover loving!)

A few years ago, in between school semesters, I spent my summer devouring any Atwood book placed in my path. She's an author with the amazing ability of creating a complete, believable, and absolutely unique first-person voice for each novel she writes. Her narrators are realized so fully that initially I thought she wrote autobiographical fiction. And while some aspects of her stories are probably autobiographical, Cat's Eye in particular, most of them are simply life stories told by complete, rounded characters.

Many of her books deal with feminist issues, some through realistic fiction and others through science-fiction. One of her most-read titles is The Handmaid's Tale, often referred to as a feminist 1984. While I like The Handmaid's Tale, I think The Blind Assassin is her most interesting and successful combination of genres.

The Blind Assassin is a "novel within a novel," a science fiction/romance book that's broken up and woven between the story of two sisters and their lives in Toronto. The younger sister dies as a young woman, but becomes a beloved literary celebrity when her science-fiction/romance book is published posthumously. Her novel is interspersed between the voice of the oldest sister, now an old woman, explaining her decisions and coming clean about all the mistakes she's made. It's extremely engaging - the stories are placed together and combined perfectly.

All of this is to say that a patron read The Blind Assassin on my recommendation and came in to tell me about how much he loved it/Margaret Atwood. It made me feel happy and I decided that I've picked the right career.

Last post of the year

Books I read this year:

Maren's 2009 book montage

Maren's favorite books »

There's probably more, I just lose track.

Book Report: The Luxe Style Edition

Awhile ago, I posted my thoughts about the great brain candy series The Luxe. The final book in the series came out a couple weeks ago and it was everything I hoped it would be: dramatic and romantic with lots of fabulous hats. Plus, Splendor has maybe my favorite cover of the series:
Gorgeous, right? I love the lavender and the sparkly appliques - and our cover girl is Diana, who is my favorite character.

So, here are a few gorgeous items, in honor of the fab New York socialites of 1900:

1. Necklace by Kay Adams, $945 at kayadams.com
2. Ring by Happy Max Designs, $16 at happymaxdesigns.etsy.com
3. Lavender Dress from theVINTAGEdress, $65 at theVINTAGEdress.etsy.com
4. Red Poppy evening gown by rubypearl, $725 at rubypearl.etsy.com
5. Rhinestone and pearl necklace by luxedeluxe, $128 at luxedeluxe.etsy.com
6. Large gold bonnet by Natalilouise, $400 at natalilouise.etsy.com
7. Midnight black fascinator by Natalilouise, $300 at natalilouise.etsy.com

Book Report: What I Saw and How I Lied

The cover of What I Saw and How I Lied contains a single, stark image of a young girl, in sepia tone, but for her lipstick. The lighting imitates the dark-and-light contrast that characterized vintage noir. It's a beautifully designed cover that speaks to many of the themes in the book.


Evie Spooner is fifteen in 1947; like all fifteen-year-olds, she dreams of being grown-up. Her story begins with a trip to the candy store with her best friend; they buy candy cigarettes so they can "practice smoking." Her friend considers smoking the ultimate in adult glamor; Evie finds that glamor in lipstick, which she's forbidden to wear until she's 18.

It's nearing the end of summer and Evie's stepfather Joe, recently returned from the war, wants to take his girls on a trip to Palm Beach. They stay in a glamorous, but near-empty resort, where Evie is reduced to playing hopscotch on the hallway carpet for lack of a companion.

But that all changes when Peter Coleridge shows up. Joe seems nervous around his former army buddy, but the Spooner girls take to him quite easily. Evie begins spending time with him, finding herself in the middle of her first love.

Although the first love plotline is the stuff of a typical coming-of-age story, What I Saw and How I Lied uses it as a jumping-off point for Evie's true growing experience: Evie loses Peter tragically, then becomes swept up in a murder investigation focused on her parents. The second half of the book centers around Evie's decisions about what she's capable of doing and her own decisions about moral right and wrong.

I've been reading a lot of books from the Young Adult section lately, but this is the first that really tries something different. Judy Blundell writes with a noirish spareness that adds a stylish melancholy to Evie's transition into adulthood. There's a cinematic quality to the story in general - Evie's narration has that cynical noir voice-over quality and the locations are very stylish, grand, and smoke-filled.

It's a story that stays with you. I've been thinking about what I want to say about it all week - that it's stylish, affecting, a believable coming-of-age story. But mostly, it's just a good book that I really, really loved reading!

Book Report: The Luxe, ect.

If you've read Edith Wharton (and truly, you should), you know that turn-of-the-century, high-class Manhattan was as full of scandal as turn-of-the-other-century Gossip Girl Manhattan. There's the same wealth, the same manipulation, and the same struggle to find true love within a society so concerned with appearances.


It's with that idea that Anna Godberson created The Luxe, a series of young adult novels that read just like Gossip Girl: 1899. The novels focus on a group of wealthy Manhattan teenagers, each of whom has a secret or two. . .

There's It Girl Elizabeth Holland, our old-timey Serena van der Woodsen, who radiates goodness and propriety but has a secret love. Her sister, Diana, an impulsive, romantic, Jenny Humphrey-type, who dreams of life beyond the confines of Manhattan society, but finds herself in love with society's bad boy, Henry Schoonmaker (aka not-as-cool Chuck Bass). The Holland sister's maid, Lina, who resents her place in life and learns that the way up may involve betraying her former employers. And finally, our Queen B, Penelope Hayes, a girl from a new-money family who stops at nothing to get a prominent place in society and the man (Henry) who goes with it.


The connections to Gossip Girl provide a familiar framework for the teenagers who don't normally read historical fiction. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a society column or etiquette book that ties in with the following pages; like Gossip Girl, the gossip columns sometimes create expectations or realities that wouldn't exist otherwise.

Unfortunately, The Luxe shares another characteristic of the Gossip Girl books: the writing often gets in the way of character development and plot. The dialogue suffers occasionally when it drops from 1899 formality to more modern speech. In places, the historical details feel tacked-on, rather than organic to the setting. And while it's sparkly and scandalous, don't expect much more than a superficial glance into the lives of 1899 Manhattan's elite.


Having said that, don't think that I didn't enjoy this series - I will be reading the final book, Splendor, when in comes out in October, for certain (I have to know if Diana and Henry will finally be together and if Lina finally discovers that wealth doesn't always equal happiness!).

All in all, it's a fun way to wile away a few summer hours, daydreaming about wearing the book-jacket dresses to a fancy Fifth Avenue ball.