After making the decision to collect the Virago special edition Modern Classics, the second one I came across after the rather wonderful Excellent Women (thoroughly charming!) was Valley of the Doll’s ,and if I’m absolutely honest it’s reputation went before it and left me suspecting that the chances of me enjoying it were about as slim as me wanting to take to my bed with a bedside table heaving with pulp fiction of Jackie Collin’s ilk… But I was wrong. Yet again my inner literary snob (she who read’s Heat!) came over all tutty and huffy and successfully managed to keep me apart from a book that has had me using matchsticks to prop up my eyelids for the past two evenings, so gripping it is in a falling apart in the golden era of Hollywood kinda way… Dear Readers, I wish I was capable of writing an intelligent analysis of the books I recommend to you, but I’m not very bright and thus it is mere enthusiasm I have to rely on to tell you that HERE IS A BOOK I AM ABSOLUTELY LOVING (a book that bears no relation to the film, let it be said here and now!)… It’s trashy and it’s sad and it’s fabulous. And yep there’s sex, drugs and the Vintage Hollywood/Broadway equivalent of rock and roll, but in this day and age it’s potency is diluted and it excesses oddly quaint. I insist you love it as much as I do. (P.S: As far as I can tell, the edition above with it’s cover designed by Barbara Hulanicki of Biba fame is not available stateside, but what the heck… in both the case of Valley and the Doll’s and Excellent Women it’s what’s inside that counts, so seek out the oh so kitsch glossy lips edition of The Dolls if you dare…)
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
I wan’t going to join in this argument. I read The Retro Wife and then I read the resulting bloggy furore and I thought well yes, that’s how it is now: we align ourselves to one mythical cultural group and those who…
My country is drowning. Rivers are bursting their banks, people are panic buying bottled water and old men are being ferried to hospital in rubber dinghies. And still the rain keeps on coming. It is a scary business. We live, all of…
If I ever grow up enough be considered a font of wisdom, this is what I shall say: Wait. Just wait. But live a life worth talking about in the meantime. Live it wholeheartedly. Live it so wonderfully, scrumptiously, deliciously well, that…
While I do my best to be of a glamorous nature, there are days my friends, when tying one on makes me feel all sack of potatoes and bosoms… which is such a shame because the images below prove that it is…
Ok, Helen, you think you’ve got it bad? Here’s a girl who loves Anthropologie so much, she has dedicated her lovely little blog to it… Go say hello to Jade, and tell her Alison sent you. Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome Browse…
Spotted! Tiny little shells holding flakes of sea salt and black peppercorns at each place setting on a raffia covered table… The epitome of sandy, Summer nights… Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome Browse the Bookstore Discover a curated list of books…
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