All Cakes Considered
- Melissa Gray is National Public Radio's Cake Lady. Every Monday she brings a cake to the office for her colleagues at NPR to enjoy. Hundreds of Mondays (and cakes) later, Melissa has lots of cake-making tips to share. With more than 50 recipes for the cakes that have been dreamed of and drooled over for a lifetime including Brown Sugar Pound Cake, Peppermint and Chocolate Rum Marble Cake, Lord and Lady Baltimore Cakes, Dark-Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, and Honey Buttercream and Apricot Jam Cake All Cakes Considered is an essential addition to every baker's library.
- Melissa Gray is National Public Radio's Cake Lady. Every Monday she brings a cake to the office for her colleagues at NPR to enjoy. Hundreds of Mondays (and cakes) later, Melissa has lots of cake-making tips to share. With more than 50 recipes for the cakes that have been dreamed of and drooled over for a lifetime including Brown Sugar Pound Cake, Peppermint and Chocolate Rum Marble Cake, Lord and Lady Baltimore Cakes, Dark-Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, and Honey Buttercream and Apricot Jam Cake All Cakes Considered is an essential addition to every baker's library.
- Veteran New York photographer Roxanne Lowit has chronicled John Galliano's fashion shows for over a decade. With a rough-hewn, up-close approach she delves into the fascinating details behind the scenes. Her collection of snapshotstyle photographs convey the buzz of fashion's consistently most inspiring spectacle. A bold mixture of color and black-and-white, these images are by turns whimsical and awe-inspiring. As much a star as the celebrities she profiles, Lowit brings an insider perspective to this world of high glamour. This title will be released on November 15, 2009.
- The trench is no mere raincoat. What began as a military staple in the mid 1800s has become a cornerstone of the 21st century wardrobe, striking an enviable balance between form and function. Its straight-forward, structured design captures the essence of the individual, from the mystique of a private investigator's coat, the sinister allure of a leather trench, or the seduction of a belted sheath with nothing underneath. The Trench Book explores the evolution of this outerwear icon through the pages of history, the legends of film, and the tastemakers of fashion. A richly illustrated tour through high society, old Hollywood, catwalks, and street cafes, The Trench Book serves as a unique timeline of one perfect coat.
-- In February 2009, 733 pieces from Pierre Bergé’s and Yves Saint Laurent’s art collection—one of the world’s largest private collections—was auctioned off in a record-breaking sale of the century. Modern paintings, baroque bronzes, antique silverware, statues, cameos, and minerals comprise this diverse collection that furnished the pair’s two luxurious residences in Paris, and included major works by Picasso, Brancusi, Matisse, Mondrian, in addition to furniture by the Art Deco masters Eileen Gray and Jean Dunand. Many works sold for prices far exceeding the highest estimates.
- A wonderfully compelling debut novel about the intertwining—and darkly surprising—relationships between the teachers and students at an all-girls prep school Spend a year at the Carmine-Casey School for Girls, an elite prep school on Manhattan's Upper East Side: the year when the intimate private school community becomes tempestuous and dangerously incestuous as the rivalries and secrets of teachers and students intersect and eventually collide.
--Benefiting America’s leading center for the research and treatment of cancer, this is an invitation to a year’s worth of fabulous fetes hosted by New York’s most celebrated party-givers and fund-raisers. Taking the reader to some of the most glamorous private homes in Manhattan (and in the country), Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations showcases the unique élan and elegance these ladies bring to entertaining— be it a glittering New Year’s Eve or an alfresco lunch on the terrace. From the mint juleps kicking off Derby Day to the Spanish Christmas cookies by the fireplace, these hostesses offer easy ideas that anyone can achieve at home.These ladies show that taste is all about how you put things together—on a tabletop, in a vase of flowers, with handmade invites. It’s these small touches, and the generous spirit behind them, that will inspire readers everywhere. The recipes they’ve chosen are tried and true crowd-pleasers that are guaranteed to be down-to-earth dishes you’d be proud to present at any occasion.
more than just one of the world's most successful fashion labels, also the name of a woman who led a fascinating life. This Paris designer banished the corset from women's fashion, created the bouclé suit and the famous little black dress, and made costume jewellery socially acceptable. Her elegant but comfortable clothing stressed the new-won freedoms of 1920's women; her perfume made ladies irresistible. Chanel's head designer Karl Lagerfeld explains why her simple style is still today an inspiration. Unique shots and designs from the archives reveal Coco Chanel's passion both for fashion and for life.
- Elegant and enigmatic, the silhouette is the simplest of art forms—but that simplicity belies a rich and varied past. In this first major work on the art of the silhouette, art historian Emma Rutherford draws from dozens of American and European sources to create a fascinating history of the art form—and to illuminate the compelling social history hidden behind its shadows.
- Like an around-the-world vacation through resort locations and timeless fashions, the history of resort clothing is fashion at its most fun. Crossing continents, styles, and generations, the book travels through the tradition of vacation style, taking a visually stunning trip from early beach pajamas by Chanel and Schiaparelli to sailor stripes, to Pucci and Pulitzer prints, and, of course, to the bikini. Resort Fashion features rare photographs and never-before-published images by photographer legends, including Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Toni Frissell, Norman Parkinson, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Helmut Newton, and Scavullo. The fashions showcase renowned designers from the past and present who have contributed their unique touch to resort wear, including Claire McCardell, Michael Kors, Rodarte, and many more. From Palm Beach to Montego Bay to St. Tropez, this book celebrates resort wear’s vibrant history with an allure that extends beyond runways to the most exotic, far-flung destinations.
-- Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.
-- When Mireille Guiliano became a senior executive and spokesperson for Veuve Clicquot, she took the Champagne to the top of the luxury market, using her distinctive French woman's philosophy and style. Now she uses those same talents and savoir faire to help readers pop their own corks and get the mostout of life. Drawing on her experiences at the front lines and highest echelons of the business world, she gives women (and a few men, peut-être) the practical advice they need to make the most of work without skimping on all the other good things in life.
isn't coming to a theater near you, you can now pre-order it on Amazon! I saw it, loved it and am definitely pre-ordering mine today.
-- “Damian Baxter was a friend of mine at Cambridge. We met around the time when I was doing the Season at the end of the Sixties. I introduced him to some of the girls. They took him up, and we ran about together in London for a while….”
-- This one-of-a-kind book of 300 photographs of some of the most celebrated actors, artists, models, First Ladies, and social figures draws on stories that have appeared in the pages of Vogue over the past four decades, as well as photographs from those stories that have never been published. These trendsetters and newsmakers are captured by such famous photographers as Cecil Beaton, Jonathan Becker, Eric Boman, Horst P. Horst, Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, François Halard, Helmut Newton, Stephen Meisel, Snowdon, Toni Frissell, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and Annie Leibovitz. Not only did these photographers take dazzling portraits—in studios or on location—that caught these iconic figures in classic, playful, or dramatic moments but they also documented their parties, weddings, houses, and gardens. Writers like Hamish Bowles, Paul Rudnick, Truman Capote, Francis Wyndham, Jeffrey Steingarten, Joan Juliet Buck, William Norwich, Gloria Steinem, Georgina Howell, Vicki Woods, Marina Rust, Michael Specter, and Jonathan Van Meter tell you the stories behind these figures and events.
tells the story of a woman born into the proprieties of an East Coast dynasty who nevertheless leaves her world of privilege for a career as an investigative reporter. Recounting her upbringing, Eve Pell offers an inside look at the bizarre values and customs of the American aristocracy, from debutante balls and the belowstairs hierarchy of the servant class to the fanatical pursuit of blood sports and private men's clubs whose members were cared for like sultans. In the patriarchal world of the upper crust, girls were expected to flatter and defer to boys and men: her scholar-athlete sister was offered a racehorse if she would refuse to attend college. A parade of eccentrics populates the book, from the cockfighting stepfather who ran away from boarding school with a false beard and a stolen motorcycle to the Brahmin great-uncle who secretly organized the servants in Tuxedo Park to vote for Teddy Roosevelt.
-- From Publishers Weekly: At once an engrossing historical, a love story about an unlikely passion and a novel of ideas that lucidly presents philosophical speculation about natural science, Stott's second novel (after Ghostwalk) is a powerful offering from an immensely talented writer. Narrated by young Englishman Daniel Connor, fresh out of medical school and traveling to a coveted research position in post-Napoleonic Paris in 1815, the novel begins with his realization that his scientific credentials, including a priceless coral specimen, have been stolen by the beautiful woman who sat next to him in the coach. She turns out to be Lucienne Bernard, a notorious thief being pursued by the chief of the Bureau de la Sûreté, Henri Jagot (based on a real figure and bound to make readers think of Javert). A cat and mouse game ensues, as Jagot tries to enlist Connor to trap Lucienne, but Connor falls deeply in love with the philosopher-thief and eventually makes a decision that might cost him his career, his freedom and his spiritual beliefs. Vividly atmospheric, propulsive and intricately plotted, this is a surefire page turner with literary heft and wide appeal. 
-- Charlotte Sanders a precocious American girl growing up in Paris in the late 1970s, leads a charmed life. As students at an elite international school, she and her peers study in Paris's cafés and tabacs, see movies at the Cinémathèque, and experience the thrills and agonies of first love to the sounds of Serge Gainsbourg and Pink Floyd. Charlotte's father, a lawyer and quiet intellectual, devotes his spare time to Balzac and opera. Her sister, Lea, is a star equestrian. And her mother Astrid's passion for left-wing causes is equaled only by her fashion sense.
-- Magpie's Tearoom is a cozy haven in bustling L.A. — a place for luncheons, baby showers, or simply hanging out. Its owner, British expat Margaret Moore, relishes tradition...but between a frustrated chef preoccupied with her neglectful producer girlfriend and the tearoom's waitstaff — a talented but desperate TV star who hasn't acted since Detective Buck Love went off the air, and a twenty-something ingénue who'll do anything to get the part — her grandmother's scones begin to feel irrelevant.
-- From Publishers Weekly: In her follow-up to How to Sleep with a Movie Star, Harmel, a chick lit reviewer for morning television show The Daily Buzz, nails the formula: girl can't get guy, girl employs zany tactics, girl gets string of lame guys, girl learns about herself. Harper Roberts is a brilliant 35-year-old New York patent attorney who hasn't had a satisfying relationship in three years. So when her girlfriends dare her to test the "Blonde Theory" as fodder for a magazine article, Harper takes the bait and agrees to spend two weeks as not just a blonde (which she is), but as a ditsy blonde, complete with skimpy clothes and a stunted vocabulary. She quickly rounds up dates with men who think she is either a cheerleader or a bartender, and she also connects with Matt, a dreamy soap opera actor who knows the real Harper. Assuming he is as superficial as the men ditsy Harper is dating, smart Harper doesn't believe his attentions are genuine. In the meantime, she receives sage advice from her (cute) plumber. This book isn't a life-changer, but it is a nice time killer. 
-- Tad Friend's family is nothing if not illustrious: his father was president of SwarthmoreCollege, and at Smith his mother came in second in a poetry contest judged by W.H. Auden--to Sylvia Plath. For centuries, Wasps like his ancestors dominated American life. But then, in the '60s, their fortunes began to fall. As a young man, Tad noticed that his family tree, for all its glories, was full of alcoholics, depressives, and reckless eccentrics. Yet his identity had already been shaped by the family's age-old traditions and expectations. Part memoir, part family history, and part cultural study of the long swoon of the American Wasp, Cheerful Money is a captivating examination of a cultural crack-up and a man trying to escape its wreckage.
- This one sounds so bad it looks good - pathetic city "sanctimommies."
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-- One of the great pioneers of fashion photography, Norman Parkinson is famous for his sense of style and glamour. Heralded as one of the true innovators in his field, he pushed the boundaries of the day by bringing the model out of the studio and onto the street. He set the model against unusual and daring backdrops, such as the gritty working-class districts of London, and was a seminal influence on subsequent generations of fashion photogaphers. Norman Parkinson: A Very British Glamour is a lavish portrait of Parkinson’s long career from the 1930s through the 1980s. In a unique collaboration with the Norman Parkinson archives in London, his iconic photographs for Vogue, Queen, and Harper’s Bazaar are reproduced alongside a trove of previously unpublished fashion work. The classics of Parkinson’s career are also shown here, providing the full breadth of his career. This exciting and definitive look into Parkinson’s illustrious legacy is sure to rank among the most important publications on fashion and photography. 
- The Marquise de Maintenon, mistress of Louis XIV, was born in a bleak French prison in 1635. Her father was a condemned traitor and murderer who seduced the warden’s daughter. Yet in her lifetime, Françoise d’Aubigné—armed with beauty, intellect, and shrewd judgment—managed to make her way from grimmest poverty to the center of power at Versailles, the most opulent and cutthroat court in all Europe.
-- A collection of fascinating black-andwhite images created by some of the world’s leading modern artists. Each one has been specially selected to help babies begin to recognize pictures and connect with the world around them. 
-- In a society driven by celebutante news and myspace profiles, women of class, style and charm are hard to come by. The Audrey and Katharines of the world continue to lose their lustre as thongs, rehab and outrageous behaviour burn up the daily headlines. But, despite appearances, guys still want a girl they can take home to their mother, employers still like to see a tailored suit and peers still respect classy conduct. So is it possible to maintain old fashioned virtues in a modern world without looking like a starchy Amish grandma? Christy shows women how in this guide to glamorous style, professional success and true love...the classy way. Full of fun assignments, notable names and real-life examples, Christy offers a new look at seemingly 'old fashioned' advice. She covers diet, speech, work ethic, friends, relationships, manners, makeup and fashionable yet modest clothing, showing modern ladies how they can be beautiful, intelligent and fun while retaining values and morals.
- received a lukewarm review from Publishers Weekly but sounds like some mindless end of the summer beach reading!
is a captivating, offbeat look at style, celebrity, and self-invention—all held together with droll Chanel-style commentary and culled from an examination of Chanel’s difficult childhood and triumphant adulthood, passionate love affairs, and eccentricities.
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- pre-order from Amazon now! It will be released at the end of September! 400 pages!
- Hollywood outcast, best-selling author and chronicler of the rich and famous, Dominick Dunne is one of the world's leading journalists and society commentators. This is his story. Vanity Fair Special Correspondent Dominick Dunne has become known the world over for his vociferous championing of the rights of the victim in high-profile murder cases. His powerful commentaries have made compelling reading in Vanity Fair for a quarter of a century. Now, aged 82, Dunne is covering his last murder trial for Vanity Fair - the trial of music producer Phil Spector - and reflects upon his past as a decorated World War II veteran, his rise and spectacular collapse as a Hollywood producer, and his rebirth as the writer we know today. Dunne's mind offers a fascinating insight into the American psyche and its obsession with fame. Featuring Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, Tina Brown, Joan Didion, Griffin Dunne, and New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith as well as legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans (The Godfather, Chinatown), the film uncovers what lies beneath a life. 
-- When it comes to Britain, most Americans don’t know (Union) Jack. Fortunately, now an Anglo-American husband-and-wife team are here to help with a smart, funny, and handy guide that minds the gap between fact and fiction. From Whigs and Windsors to wankers and Wales, this spit-spot-on reference covers all manner of British history, society, culture, language, and everyday life, including
-- Thirty-four-year-old Manhattan accountant Cat Connelly has always lived life on the safe side. But after her little sister gets married, Cat wonders if she has condemned herself to a life of boredom by playing by the rules. She decides to take a chance for once, accepting an invitation to spend a month with an old flame in Italy. But her reunion with the slick and gorgeous Francesco is short-lived, and she finds herself suddenly alone in Rome. Now, she must see if she has the courage to live outside the lines for the first time - and to face a past she never understood. It will take an unexpected friendship with a fiery Italian waitress, a whirlwind Vespa tour of the Eternal City with a handsome stranger, and a surprise encounter with an old acquaintance to show Cat that life doesn't always work out the way you expect, but sometimes you have to have fall in order to fly.
-- Laurie Viera Rigler’s debut novel, 
, was a hit with fans and critics, and a BookSense and Los Angeles Times bestseller. Its open-to-interpretation ending left readers begging for more—and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict delivers. While Confessions took twenty-first-century free spirit Courtney Stone into the social confines of Jane Austen’s era, Rude Awakenings tells the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman’s daughter from Regency England who inexplicably awakens in Courtney’s overly wired and morally confused L.A. life.
-- Rachel Ashwell created Shabby Chic: a peaceful, practical way of living that embraces a respect for the things in our lives we hold dear and keeps them at the heart of our homes. Romantic florals reclining against pure white linen, ruffles of muslin skirting a bed base against bleached floorboards, the deep comfort of a simple nest of fluffy towels...This is Rachel Ashwell's signature style that for the past 20 years has been a major influence in our modern lives.
-- Isaac Mizrahis Mushroom Truffle Spaghetti, Carolina Herreras Pommes Toupinel, Mark Eckos Adults Only Chocolate Chip Cookies, Derek Lams Yellowtail Crudo, John Varvatoss Calaloo Soup food can be fashionable too!
In this collaborative effort, the authors explore the anxiety of personal interaction versus the safety of e-mailing and the dubious trustworthiness of cyber friendships. With her characteristic sharp-witted angst, former David Letterman writer, humorist and novelist Markoe (It's My F—-ing Birthday) alternates chapters with music veteran Prieboy, who is perhaps less witty, but twice as angsty. Hip 40-somethings Lisa Roberty and Grant Repka are, respectively, a television writer and rock 'n' roller in L.A. After a brief and slightly awkward introduction backstage at his Tommy! (Lee!): The Musical, they begin an e-mail correspondence. At first it's just friendly and benign, but after a while they begin comparing scars acquired on the battlefield of love. Grant shares horrifying stories of his doomed relationship with a heroin addict, while Lisa, unaware that she's writing to Grant and his Pamela Anderson–esque girlfriend Winnie, reveals years of emotional abuse inflicted by her very famous ex, Hollywood A-lister Nick Blake. Markoe's misery is less comical than in her previous novel ("Love relationships seemed to be the place where perfectly nice men went to become nightmarish monsters"), and Lisa seems a derivative of Birthday's unnamed protagonist, with whom she shares a crazy mother and love of sake. Prieboy's prose is darker and more poetic ("Like my mouth was a tiny, festive pink-and-white theater where my monologues died and clown act bombed"), and their styles complement each other nicely. Unfortunately, the concept is more compelling than the finished product, a shame since these two are talented storytellers.
-- “We are all so curious. Hungry for the truth. If only we could ask the questions we really want to ask of each other and get the real answers. Like how many times a month do you have sex? What prescription drugs are you on? Are you happy? Really happy? Happy enough?”
-- At 38, Tiana Tomlinson has made it. America adores her as one of the anchors of America Tonight, a top-rated nightly entertainment and news program. But even with the trappings that come with her elite lifestyle, she feels empty. Tina desperately misses her late husband Keith, who died several years before. And in a business that thrives on youth, Tina is getting the message that her age is starting to show and certain measures must be taken if she wants to remain in the spotlight. It doesn't help that at every turn she has to deal with her adversary—the devilishly handsome, plastic surgeon to the stars, Michael Sullivan. But a trip away from the Hollywood madness has consequences that could affect the rest of her life. 
-- Taylor Green is a corn-fed young man from the Midwest who stumbles into New York without a clue, a contact, or a proper wardrobe. Through true serendipity (or possibly misfortune), he is hired by the outrageous, Jennifer Weinstein, the sleepless city’s most notorious public relations diva. Quickly morphed into her most trusted assistant and confidante, Taylor is sucked into a whirlwind of restaurant openings, gossip columnists, and fashion shows. Suddenly Taylor is in the core of a world he never knew existed, a world of sex, greed, power, and fame, that's ruled by Jennie Weinstein herself. Under Jennie’s guidance, Taylor quickly discovers that there isn’t a catastrophe, betrayal, or person that can’t be spun to suit the client’s needs. The perks are sweet: rubbing elbows (and other appendages) with big-name celebrities, the sudden opening of velvet ropes, and thousands of dollars worth of free designer duds. But like all swag, it comes at a price, and Taylor struggles to balance his own definition of sanity with that of Jennie’s drug-fuelled, high-intensity world.
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-- Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father’s ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura’s best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents’ respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, in the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that’s now thirty years old and has largely come true. He’d left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they’d moved into an old house full of character; and they’d started a family. Check, check and check.
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--Breakups are hard to forget, and this collection-surprisingly restrained yet full of emotion-is equally memorable. Patty Van Norman's two-frame graphic story "Dear Ugly, Dear Fatso" (other graphic entries are from Lynda Barry and Emily Flake) resonates like a quick punch to the solar plexus. Josh Kilmer-Purcell writes of the lover who could only perform with Wonder Woman on the television. George Singleton urinates a bellyful of beer into his ex's kitty litter box. Maud Newton tells of a sex- and rage-filled relationship, wondering: "was he the abusive one, or was I?" Taeckens, publicity director at Algonquin Books, anthologizes modern heartbreak in stories replete with contemporary commentaries (e.g., using Match.com to express a new relationship status). In a book full of hits, Amanda Stern's "Scout's Honor," about camping in the Washington Cascades, stands out. The collection's material could make one feel a bit voyeuristic, but throughout this tender book one instead feels like a privileged confidant.
-- 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?
-- 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.
which will be released in October. 
-- There’s only one Wedgwood, but there are limitless expressions of Wedgwood style.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
" which I read last summer and "
." Plus, she's a fellow Jersey girl which always makes me want to read. 
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- "The subject is an American citizen holding high elected office, married, and father to a young family..."
-- 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.
-- 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.
It 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.
-- Nobody knows the Hamptons like Jodi Della Femina, who captures the inside world of love, society, and scandal in this delicious summer page-turner.
-- 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 
is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family. 
-- 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. 
--From The Washington Post's Book World:
-- Wiggens is a Chocolate Labrador puppy who just can’t seem to mind his manners. His parents don’t know what to do, until they discover a place that teaches puppies all about refinement and how to behave — the famous Four Seasons Restaurant! Wiggens is nervous at first, but with the help of a Saint Bernard, he and the other puppies soon learn ten important lessons (and sample delicious food as well). Leslie McGuirk’s playful art and language enliven tips from Four Seasons owner Alex von Bidder in a truly fetching tale about mastering your manners.
-- Against the backdrop of the leadup to the French Revolution, Delors's mostly successful debut follows the life of Gabrielle de Montserrat, a feisty young woman forced by her meddling brother to forsake her commoner true love and marry the Baron de Peyre, a wealthy, older man. The baron is abusive and cruel, but the short-lived marriage produces a daughter before the baron dies. A widowed Gabrielle travels to Paris and enters the heady world of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, where, with a sparse inheritance and the responsibility of a young daughter, Gabrielle becomes the mistress of Count de Villers. Delors shines in her portrayal of the late 18th-century French women's world (she has a rougher time with the men), though the amount of political-historical detail covered overshadows the tragic love story that develops once Gabrielle reunites with her first love, Pierre-André Coffinhal, who is now a lawyer. The appearance of historical figures sometimes comes off awkwardly (as when Gabrielle meets Thomas Jefferson or has a private audience with Robespierre), and the ending is marred by a too-convenient and seemingly tossed-off twist. Nevertheless, the author ably captures the vagaries of French politics during turbulent times and creates a world inhabited by nicely developed and sympathetic characters.
-- Johnson's bittersweet and often humorous hen-lit debut portrays the lives of five very different Southern women: compassionate Lorraine, bossy Margaret, grief-stricken Bernice, ambitious April and brusque Rhonda. At the center of this character-driven novel is Lorraine, a nurse at the nursing home where Margaret and Bernice live. As the three women drift into friendship, hairdresser Rhonda arrives to take a part-time job, and the older women begin to change her life. Lorraine's daughter, April, meanwhile, is also gradually drawn into the circle. The story unfolds slowly over decades and life milestones, giving the characters plenty of time to reveal themselves. The underlying message of the power of love and friendship resonates, as does its depiction of the way in which people leading unremarkable lives can have a tremendous impact on those around them. 
-- Denham’s novel, written entirely in e-mails, began as a serialized Web site, www.hollysinbox.com. The story revolves around Holly Denham, the new receptionist at a London bank, and through her correspondence, readers get to know her daily life. She befriends Trish, the other receptionist, and begins a relationship with James, a charming higher-up. Between organizing meetings at the bank, she trades hilarious, risqué e-mails with her friends Jason and Aisha, assures her parents she’s getting along well, helps her grandmother decipher the Internet, and offers her siblings much-needed advice. Her e-mails even reveal a life-altering event from her past. While the premise can be tiresome—who doesn’t have to slog through enough e-mails of their own?—the story becomes more engrossing as fresh details come to light. The author, a placement-agency owner writing under a pen name, explores a new format with compelling results. A second novel is planned, and Holly’s adventures continue online.
-- A reunion of four friends becomes a cathartic journey into the past in Cathy Holton’s luminous new novel.
