Book Report Time

Growing up I always dreaded book reports despite the fact that I was obsessed with reading.
For someone who loved the entire process of reading (IE:Shopping for a new book, Picking just the right one, Getting into the story line and characters, The ultimate pleasure of finishing the book and The agony of ending a really good read); Book reports meant that I had to squeeze a marvelous love affair into a page or two of chicken scratches with a cute conclusion. Torturous, I say.

But now that I'm older I look at book reports as a sort of advertisement or sometimes a warning label for the books that changed the way i view life and for the books that made me question my shopping instincts, respectively.

So here are a few of the books I've been thumbing through lately:

The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake
I didn't quite finish this book, maybe this isn't the best book to start with... Either way Drake's book examines the rise of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. The book tracks their humble beginnings in the fashion design world from young apprentices to the height of their decadent 70's mogul days. A must read for anyone interested in Fashion, Semi-Biographies, and Glamorous Parisian Life.

The Private Lives of the Impressionist by Sue Roe
One of the classes in my final semester of college was an art course about the Realist, Impressionists and the Post Impressionists. The class truly opened my eyes to Impressionists art, and this book provided the insight to lives of the artists that I craved. Roe's book shows the real inspirations behind some of the most notorious Impressionist paintings (for example: Le Dejuener sur l'herbe, Olympia, and Monet's Water Lilies series). This book will increase anyone's interest in 19th century French Art and shows the true meaning of the term "Starving Artist".


The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
This is the most recent book I've read, actually I'm in the final pages of it as I type.
I really enjoyed this book and will forever be grateful to it for keeping my company as my flight from London to New York was delayed for 3 1/2 hours. Diaz's writing style makes this book an easy and immensely entertaining read. Diaz frequently slips from proper English to Spanish slang in his prose in a witty and charismatic manner. I love his style of narrative and anachronistic story telling. Definitely Culture Approved.