Summer Reading: If You Have to Cry, Go Outside

Anyone with some knowledge of the fashion world knows it is a cut throat industry with zero room for error and forgiveness. In Kelly Cutrone If You Have to Cry, Go Outside , Cutrone gives advice to women combining personal and professional stories to share her secrets for success without selling out.

I value Cutrone's advice as an aspiring designer myself. She has built one of the most powerful fashion PR firms from the ground up she must be doing something right! This book is so refreshing! - CC

The Love List Recommends... Fifth Avenue, 5AM

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman

Like 99.9% of the female population, I was captivated by 1960s New York, Audrey Hepburn and the iconic fashion found in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Those of us interested in the background stories of the film and its characters would do well to investigate Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, released at the end of June. According to the many rave reviews, author Sam Wasson does more than give a trite, book report-style look at the movie and Audrey. He delivers an intricately researched, heart-felt peek inside the film with a style that reads more like a novel than nonfiction. I fully intend to get my hands on this book ASAP. Anyone read it yet? -Katie Diaz

Summer Reading: Confessions of a Rebel Debutante

 

Considering that The Love List's subtitle reads "Southern living for the rebellious debutante,"  reading Anna Field's Confessions of a Rebel Debutante was imminent. I admit that I began the book with a touch of a bias, expecting it to be one of those self-important, "too cool for school" autobiographies. I was definitely off in my judgment. Sure, Anna  tells her fair share of defiant tales, but the book left me wishing I was a little less inhibited and had a touch more of her courage and spunk. One of my favorite parts on the book was in the very beginning, when Anna listed life lessons learned by a local waitress. A few of them include:

1. Be kind. Everyone you know is fighting her own silent battle.
2. If you stop accepting "no" in life, you might start getting a different answer.
3. You won't find any answers in a bar, but if you stay a while and drink enough, you might just forget the questions.

Overall, the book is a lighthearted, entertaining read, but watch out for a couple of crushing parts. (I won't spoil it here!) A perfect poolside companion, Confessions of a Rebel Debutante will leave you wishing you could have been Anna's partner in crime, shaking the pretentious world of Cotillion school and debutante balls with style. -Katie Diaz

Pucci Pucci Pucci!

If you're on the hunt for a sumptuous summer read, look no further. Emilio Pucci, edited by Armando Chitolina with text by Vanessa Friedman, fashion editor of London's Financial Times, follows the pioneering Italian brand from its start in a tiny Italian boutique to a multibillion dollar international brand. Rooted in the Italian renaissance, Pucci's story is a testament to the brand's innovation. It was the first brand to use a logo, and it was the first brand to crossover into interiors, athletic wear and accessories. Complete with hundreds of photographs, drawings and candid shots from the archive of the Emilio Pucci Foundation, I'm sure the prince of prints would be proud. 

You can get your unique limited edition of just 10,000 copies bound with one of Pucci's recent print fabrics July 27, but you'll pay for it. At $200 a book you may want to start saving or at least make yourself feel better about the purchase by perusing the prices of clothing on Pucci's website. -Mary Mentz

Image credit: TASCHEN Books

Summer Reading: Lunch in Paris

 

If you dream of traveling to Paris like me (but there's no room in your current budget) you must read Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard. You'll become completely immersed in French culture and cuisine.

Bard's writes about her tap dancing lover through French recipes, molten chocolate cakes and swordfish tartar. My goal for this summer? Make as many of these recipes as possible... without burning down the kitchen!

The Love List Recommends...To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition

Yesterday, To Kill a Mockingbird turned 50 years old. As one of the most popular, poignant and endearing titles in American literature, I felt it necessary to wish the novel a happy birthday by recommending it to fellow Love Listers. Whether you've read it once or a dozen times (or God forbid, never at all), stepping into the world of Scout, Atticus and Boo Radley never ceases to inspire and to captivate. Hats off to Harper Lee, and Happy Birthday to a quintessential Southern classic. -Katie Diaz

The Library Loves: Julia Reed

Julia at home with her precious beagle, Henry

The more I learn about author and New Orleans resident Julia Reed, the more I wish we were friends. I figured she must be anything but mundane just by discovering that one of her books is called Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena. With a title like that, I was immediately convinced that this woman must be awesome. And although I'm still a little fuzzy on the details, I also decided participating in a turtle derby at some point in my life is absolutely mandatory.

After perusing her blog on WowoWow, I learned Julia was born and raised in Mississippi, though she now lives in New Orleans. True to her Southern roots, she's a phenomenal chef, dishing out to-die-for recipes in her book, Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (with Recipes). Having family from Mississippi, it comes as no surprise to me that Julia knows her way around the kitchen- it's basically a prerequisite for social acceptance.

 Julia with husband and nieces on her wedding day

Adding to her charm, she opens admits to reading The National Enquirer (don't judge, we all scan rag-mags at the checkout counter!), being addicted to fried food, splurging on Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin shoes and collecting bird nests. Okay, admittedly that last one is a touch quirky, but I'm a nature-nut as well, so I can accept it. Overall, Julia seems like a stylish Southern woman. I may have just found a new role model. -Katie Diaz

Image credit: Savannah Book Festival, WowoWow

Julia's Books

In her first book, Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena, Julia humorously explores the eclectic inner-workings of Southern society. From outlandish traditions and distinct fashion to crime, she gives readers a peek into the fabulous, often misunderstood life of the South.

Julia's second book, Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (with Recipes), is a compilation of delectable recipes and entertainment customs reigning in the South. While candidly discussing her personal culinary convictions, she also provides readers with useful tidbits on proper social graces in this Southern survival guide.

In her latest book, The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story (P.S.), Julia chronicles her trials and triumphs as a proud New Orleans resident. With detailed and clever prose, she poignantly pays homage to one of most fascinating and history-rich cities in America.

O, Jackie...

So as I was waxing poetic about my need for the exhibit poster yesterday, my client and fab interior designer Traci Zeller informs me that there's a book all about it... order up!

Summer Reading: Dead End Gene Pool

Dysfunctional, taxing, embarrassing. Words that come to mind when you think of family gatherings? Sorry, you have nothing on Wendy Burden.

In Dead End Gene Pool, Wendy recounts her twisted upbringing as a member of the Vanderbilt-Burden dynasty. As the great-great-great granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wendy took me on a painful journey through her multidimensional, totally erratic upbringing. Her grandparents managed to redefine WASP as Weirdo-Audacious-Stiff-Posers, while her mother's uncanny ability to drink like a sailor and inappropriately exploit sexuality brought a blush to my ordinarily desensitized cheeks. 

We've all heard the "Poor Little Rich Girl" song enough times to recite it from memory, but Dead End Gene Pool is a little different. I liked that Wendy didn't blame all her problems on her eccentric family; throughout the memoir she just pokes fun at the cards life dealt her. It's refreshing in a pitiful, creepy sort of way. 

After reading this unusual autobiography, I most certainly developed a new concept of what constitutes a quirky family. I feel everyone should take a peek at this one before the holidays roll around. Aunt Mildred with her 12 cats and that mute second cousin will seem positively charming. -Katie Diaz
  
Scoop it up here: Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoir 

Image Credits: Book Page, Wendy Burden 

Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra

Though I went into detail about why I'm a fan of Walton Ford's work at The Love List today (here) I have to note here, on The Library, that his large, heavy, glossy, gorgeous tome, Pancha Tantra, from Taschen is more than worth it's price tag. If you love naturalism, satire, or simply love the luxury of flipping through a beautiful book, then it's a must-own.

Meg Lonergan

LeSueur Interiors 
Blog

 
The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story (P.S.) 
By Julia Reed 
Julia has great taste and truly knows how to live a beautiful life. Her take on food, family, her house, entertaining in New Orleans remind me of my love of the south and growing up in Louisiana.

 
Slumdog Millionaire  
Slumdog Millionaire, the movie directed by Danny Boyle - After spending time in India last year, it was so nice to see the colors, sounds and culture of India captured on the big screen. I am constantly inspired by Indian culture, fashion, jewelry and architecture.

 

Radio Retaliation, The Mirror Conspiracy, The Cosmic Game  
Thievery Corporation, any album - I love this group of musicians from around the globe. It's a mix of reggae, bossa nova, jazz that I can happily listen to anytime of day. Lyrics are in English, Spanish, French, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian and Hindi. I feel like I'm traveling the globe when I listen to them!