Miss Thompson Reads More Alice Munro

I've read Alice Munro in The New Yorker, came upon a big book of her Selected Stories at the library, and carried it home to read in bed. The book was too heavy to read in bed, but the stories are great, each with a blind hem of mystery running beneath. I liked the selections in this volume more than those in (the lighter) Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. "Wenlock Edge" is especially creepy and cold. You'll intuit Munro's heritage via a peppering of distinctly Canadian references, underscoring the impression that, reading along, you're traveling in another land.

Can't Look Away from The Bag Lady Papers

Alexandra Penney's The Bag Lady Papers tells how Penney has coped since losing her fortune to Bernie Madoff. Penney is a New York photographer and painter, and a Conde Nast alumnus (editor in chief of Self magazine, beauty editor at Glamour). Since her savings were stolen, she's had to curb her fondness for expensive things, sell her Florida and Long Island homes, and faces a financially insecure future. She still has her Upper East Side apartment, her brains and talents, and a host of accomplished friends, so she may sound like a person who has no right to complain. But regardless of circumstance, she is no less a victim of thievery than any other Madoff client. The writing is lively, and the book is full of dishy details. Penney's history of hard work is inspirational -- the girl never gives up! -- and glimpses of her childhood raised by cold withdrawn parents add other dimensions to the story. Penney's chin-up Rx —the daily donning of a crisp white no-iron shirt from Lands' End or Brooks Brothers—is so appealing I am heading out to buy one of my own.

Dylan Landis Sure Can Write

I finished Normal People Don't Live Like This by Dylan Landis first thing this morning, and only stopped 15 pages short of the end last night because my eyes were seriously starting to blur (1 a.m.). If you're a person who appreciates words, notice how the author conjures up character with a few deft strokes. These interlinked stories about young women, their mothers, and lovers will stay with you long after you close this lovely pink book (Persea Books, $15). Normal People Don't Live Like This is the perfect gift for a friend with a couch, a blanket, and a Saturday afternoon.

Miss Thompson Returns

Jancee Dunn never fails to amuse me; she's a female David Sedaris. Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? and other questions I wish I never had to ask is a small pink book you can read in a few days; the only chapters I skipped were a few of the verbatim phone conversations she has with her best friend, because I have the same phone conversations with my best friend every morning. Jancee's husband is apt to say "call Julie" when the subject veers toward emotions and minute examination of feelings and motives, just as my husband says "Ask Phyllis" when decorating, kids, or mysterious medical symptoms are raised. Jancee's best friend is Julie Klam, and I loved her book, too: Please Excuse My Daughter. Clever women, these two.

Miss Thompson Plays Darts at the 321 Club

The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris (Tin House Books, $15, ISBN 978-0-9794198-8-1) is seriously overdue, but I don't want to bring this little book back to the library. I'm sorry I finished it, and I might even have to read it again.  Or (don't tell my dad) buy it. ("Don't buy a book, Miss Thompson, if you can get it at the library.") I write a rare fan letter when something hits home, and this Clemson University English professor is definitely hearing from me. (I've actually heard back from author Jane Stern and actor Sam Waterston, which makes me a lifelong fan.) So The Dart League King: The writing is impeccable. Some of the characters are dangerous, and you'll sense SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN without the writer ever saying so. It's all in his pace, and the narrative flow. Wow. I want to write like this. I'm going to see if Keith Lee Morris is teaching at any writer's workshops this summer. One more thing: This handsome paperback has one of those heavy-stock covers with book flaps that work as bookmarks. Love this. Speaking of love, Miss Thompson was once carried away by a handsome dart king of her own. Therefore, she was predisposed to like this book. The book didn't fail her like the dart king did. Then again, the book didn't drive a Corvette. C'est la vie.

*Miss Thompson wore Burt's Bees Wings of Love All-Natural Lipstick in Grace pink to write this review.* 

Miss Thompson in Kenya

A tender little story of unrequited love, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa

by Nicholas Drayson (Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-547-15258-5, $22) can be devoured in hours--it's that good. Under Kenyan skies, the wild man Mr. Kahn and the shy widower Mr. Malik compete for the affection of the lovely British widow Rose Mbikwa. Each chapter begins with a simple illustration of a Kenyan bird—so pretty—and the cover alone is a work of art; kudos to Christopher Neal.  I imagine this book could be compared to those written by Alexander McCall Smith, though I have never warmed to his writing. Drayson's 202 pages are perfection, and I love how he talks to me as he writes: "Before we find out more about the mysterious stranger, I should tell you a little more about Mr Malik, and about Rose...." Mysterious stranger? I'm there! No need to wear lipstick while reading this book: just jump into bed, pull up the covers, with a hot water bottle at your feet...and possibly a cat.

Miss Thompson Steps Back

I'm not sure how I missed reading Jhumpa Lahiri until

now, as her name and her books have been in the news

for years. Over the holidays, I devoured Unaccustomed 

Earth (Knopf, 2008) and it gets four stars, four lipsticks, full accolades.

It's enough to say her writing is perfect. Now I'm reading

The Namesake (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), just to catch up

($2 at the library book sale). 

And because I admire George Stephanopoulos on ABC, I am

reading All Too Human (Little, Brown, 1999) about his work

on the Clinton campaign, way back when. All that history; all that

fun. It's an icy day; Miss Thompson is wearing Body Shop pink-brown

lip pencil all over her lips, topped with peppermint Chapstick and

some Molton Brown gloss. Time for hot chocolate.

Miss Thompson In Venice

My first recommendation for 2009 is a ghost story! ... 

not my usual fare, but this book is hand-size and readable

in just a day or two--can't stop 'til you finish. British author

Susan Hill's The Man in the Picture (Overlook Press, 2008) 

concerns murder and a piece of art that continues to haunt people,

time and again. Read this wearing Cinderella's Castle lipgloss 

from Krisscosmetics.com, from makeup genius Kriss Soterion. 

Miss Thompson says, Be beautiful and scared.

Miss Thompson in New Orleans

Julia Reed's charming The House on First Street documents how

she and her husband rehabbed an old house in New Orleans,

just before Katrina hit. She loves to eat and drink (she writes

for Vogue and the NYTimes) and that joy and enthusiasm

permeates every page. Delightful for anyone who loves houses.

Nose in A Book

Loved this week: Two true ones

Cathy Alter's UP FOR RENEWAL--how she

straightened out her life with advice

from women's magazines.

And Nancy Peacock's BROOM OF ONE'S OWN:

reflections on writing. She cleans houses when

she's not writing, and she's right--you need something else

to do each day besides sit at your computer and write.

Keeps you alive in the world.

Today I'm wearing Sassaby's Pineapple Delight Frost Lipstick,

topped with Clinique's Color Surge Butter Shine "Pink Goddess'...

kind of like wearing a Pina Colada on your mouth.... 

....Hey.... where's that pool boy? ....

Miss Thompson Goes Political

Just finished The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg, recommended

by my brainy and beautiful friend LWT. Kept flipping back to the family tree 

to figure out all the complicated connections, as the

Walker and Bush sides of the family intertwined. A multigenerational 

"inside look" at the family whose not-favorite son

will soon be out of the White House. 

Wear sheer Mango Lip Butter from The Body Shop to read this one.

Miss Thompson Stays Up Late

I started reading Please Excuse My Daughter by Julie Klam

about 4 pm yesterday, and finished it at midnight.

Another true story. Klam's a writer (she worked as David Letterman's

personal intern for a while; she says he's a great boss)

and former spoiled brat who tells about having 

to grow up and make money instead of depending on

her husband to support her. Dog Otto (Boston

terrier) is a big character, too, as is baby Violet 

(but that comes later). (Riverhead Books/Penguin, $23),

but Miss Thompson got this book at the library. 

Put your foundation on before your concealer so it

doesn't slip away.

Miss Thompson in a Diamond Necklace

Oh, those California girls!

A bunch of women in California pooled their money

and bought a fabulous diamond necklace--the kind of splurge

no one would probably indulge in on their own, but that was do-able as a group.

Each woman got to wear the diamond necklace during their

birthday month. Daughters got married wearing it, the

necklace went on vacation--a guy even wore it at the local

coffee shop.  This is a true story about the power of women's

friendships and sharing, and the good works that

came from this single indulgent purchase. Bling bling bling!

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis (Ballantine, $24).

Prescriptives.com had free shipping last week, so I 

finally got a new Reflective Eye Pencil in Beaming Black--mine

was down to a nub--

and my favorite brush-on lip gloss in Neutron. $17.50 each.

If you've got a lipstick or gloss you've used up, that

means the color looks good on you. Buy another.

Miss Thompson Punches Up Her Decor

If you're a hypochondriac like me, or know someone

who is, you'll love Jennifer Traig's Well Enough Alone.

She's a hypochondriac, too. When you worry about

your health, it's fun to read about someone who shares your

affliction.

I was talking to my best friend Eve yesterday. She's an interior

designer. She was warning me about Big 

Decorating Mistakes. (Her exact words were, "If you feel yourself going towards any

of these things, STOP!")

So remove these things from your house at

once:

-Linoleum

-Fish decor in your bathroom (I have this)

-The color aqua

-Dried flowers

Then do this:

•Update your lamps. Get rid of old lamps or change 

the lampshades. Put a lamp in your laundry room, and a small lamp

on your kitchen counter. If you've got a lamp that looks dowdy, 

add a riser--a little screw-on piece--

beneath the finial at the top of the lamp. It will 'raise the hemline' of your lampshade

just a tiny bit--and that  can make all the difference. 

•Simple bedding and fewer pillows. 

•Paint your front door hot pink. Add a door knocker. "It's like

your house took a shower." 

• Replace your dog's ratty bed with a new one that matches your

decor. (Eve buys her dog beds at COSTCO; I've seen cute ones at Target and TJMaxx.)

• Buy fun colorful dishes--a few solids, a few prints.

• Always use bone china teacups--"so it feels like

tea at The Plaza."

• Split up your dining-room set: Put the formal chairs in the

kitchen; buy wicker chairs for the dining room. Or mingle fun 

chairs around the table, with two upholstered armless chairs  for the host and hostess. "No matchy-matchy," 

warns Eve. (She's so bossy.)

• Paint your hutch or breakfront white and use it as a guest room wall 

unit. Or wallpaper the inside and use it in your bedroom.

• Buy a funky chair for your living room, to shake things up.

• Add something black to every room as an exclamation point. 

Eve has bare wooden stairs, and painted the banisters, 

balusters, and railings black. "Make it bold and make it a focal point."

• Toss dead plants that drop their leaves; they're a downer. Buy a quality silk tree 6-feet high from NSI or some other good company.

• Eve says red living rooms and jewel-tone rooms are OUT! 

Instead, "use soft soothing pale colors." 

(Eve decorated her bedroom in black patent leather when she was a teenager.)

Eve's lipstick: Anything from NARS.

I just bought Edgar Sawtelle for my mom for her birthday;

I hope it's as good as everyone says.  

My lipstick today is "Glaze"

by Club Monaco--not even made anymore. Could be the Monica

Lewinsky lipstick, I'm not sure. Vote Obama and let's head

for a new future! Miss Thompson signing off.  

Miss Thompson's Reading Room & Lipgloss Hut

My fabulous friend LWT reports she's loving What Happened to Anna K, "a sort of modern-day Anna Karenina set in modern day Russian Jewish Brooklyn...really interesting and good--and a first book by the author."  I'm getting it! Of course, LWT is wearing her signature red lipstick: her latest, the new Lipstick Queen Saint Red lipstick by Poppy King from vivre.com. As Benny Goodman would say, "Pow! Pow! Pow!"

I just finished Phillip Lopate's Two Marriages. Two novellas about two different marriages. Well done. How do people think of these things?

Miss Thompson Recommends a Board Book !

My great-niece is turning one. 

I bought her Charley Harper ABCs.

It caught my eye on Amazon and I really like

the artwork.

I'm hoping it will be a hit.

Miss Thompson Recommends

MISS THOMPSON IS PRESCIENT:

January 09 OLIVE KITTERIDGE IS A FINALIST FOR THE 

2008 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

Finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout last night.

The last essay, called River, is about Olive falling in love again,

in her seventies, with a man she initially didn't care for.

Her courtship behavior is typically Olive: straightforward, blunt.

She's always using expressions I love. 

In the final sentences, Olive ponders "what young people 

don't know... that love was not to be tossed away carelessly, 

as if it were a tart on a platter with others that got passed 

around again." Read this one. Don't miss it.

Yesterday was one of those

crystal-blue days that appear end-of-August, early

September. At the shore, I asked my friend, who

is a Mary Kay lady, what the new colors were for fall.

 She said something wise:

"Take care of your skin." That's more important

than the latest look.

Miss Thompson's Reading Room & Lipgloss Hut

Miss Thompson recommends:

Not sure if this one is even in print anymore, but I can't

stop recommending Susan Parker's hilarious and true story

of how she continued her life after her husband's devastating bike

accident and subsequent paralysis.  It's called 

Tumbling After: Pedaling Like Crazy After Life

Goes Downhill (Crown, April 2002 

ISBN 0609608568) There is love, sex, 

and neighborhood support. I guarantee you'll laugh and cry. 

This is a wonderful book--one of my all-time favorites.

Be open minded. Last I knew, 

Parker was a columnist at the Berkeley Daily Planet

and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Get your hands on this book at the library or a used

book store. It's the best. (Must be open minded.)

Miss Thompson heads down the shore tomorrow,

wearing sunscreen and CoverGirl's new WetSlicks

AmazeMint lip gloss (tastes/smells Crest minty),

shade 640 Freedom of Peach. Similar to Nars'

Chelsea Girls lip lacquer pot gloss, but a little sparkly. 

In sponge-wand form, so it's easy to put on in the car. 

Miss Thompson paid for her lip gloss using her

debit card. $4.69 at Harmon Face Values.

Miss Thompson's Reading Room

Today Miss Thompson recommends:

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

Thirteen stories, each including the character of Olive Kitteridge, 

a large outspoken wife.

Dialogue wonderful.

Clearly, Elizabeth Strout is a close observer of human

nature and interaction.

I read the first story before falling asleep. Laughed out loud

several times.  So far, I give this book 5 bookmarks--my highest 

rating.

Miss Thompson