Fair Maidens: We Came Here to Shine by Susie Orman Schnall

It was an interesting idea to set this novel against the backdrop of the 1939 World's Fair, and to include some of the most famous people in the popular culture of the time in the action, including Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan of the movies), or as subsidiary figures to the story, Billy Rose (the theatrical showman and producer). There are some terrific historical details, such as descriptions of the architecture and events of the fair, such as the visit of King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth (parents of the current Queen of England) and references to political figures including President Roosevelt and Governor Lehman of New York.

The fictional characters bring the book down because they are somewhat unbelievable, and don't quite hold up in the intermixing of historical and plot events. 

Vivi Holden is a young actress, originally from Brooklyn, but beginning to make her way in the movies, who is pulled from a leading role at a Hollywood studio and sent back East to replace real-life actress Eleanor Holm in the Aquacade (an eye popping water ballet that was one of the most popular entertainment events of the fair). That idea is hard to accept. 

Maxine Roth is a college student in the journalism department at New York University (NYU) who is sent to the Fair to work on its daily publication Today at the Fair as a summer intern. We read that she lives with her parents and sisters in an apartment on New York's Upper West Side, in Manhattan. It's confusing for contemporary readers to learn that Maxine worked on a college newspaper called The Heights, without some explanation. Today's NYU is well-known as a fixture of Greenwich Village, but during the time period of the novel, NYU's main campus was located in the University Heights section of The Bronx (in the 1960s, due to financial distress, it was sold and became the location of Bronx Community College). 

The two young women meet and bond, but their exploits both separately and together seem heavy-handed and contrived. I truly enjoyed reading about the fair, and author Susie Orman Schnall has done a wonderful job of capturing its physical aspects and describing some of its exhibits and amusements. Hats off to Schnall for her excellent research.  

Daring Days and Dior Dresses: The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

One of those "can't put it down" historical novels, even at 462 pages. 

A tale of two heroines, Skye Penrose and Kat Jourdan. The former is profiled from her pre-World War II childhood in Cornwall, England, and then on through the war...and the latter is a highly-educated, respected fashion conservator and the newly-divorced mother of two young girls in Sydney, Australia and also the granddaughter of the beloved, but enigmatic, Margaux Jourdan, who raised her.

Skye becomes a pilot in the WAAF, the Royal Air Force's WAAF, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, but she is a maverick who is committed to doing all she can for the British war effort no matter the personal cost. She and her sister Liberty were raised by a single mother with many secrets, but in beautiful Cornwall, while still a child, she meets Nicholas, an American boy staying with his aunt, and they form a bond that will resurface in a future adult relationship.

Kat travels to England for professional reasons and visits an empty Cornwall cottage owned by her grandmother and finds closets filled with gorgeous Dior gowns and dresses. What are they doing there and why?

The story of how these two paths twist and turn make for compelling reading, with highly detailed accounts of the war in England, France and Germany, a great deal of which is far from romanticized, though the complicated romantic, family and friendly relationships add a rich and satisfying human element. And, the link to the Dior house of couture, through Christian Dior and his sister Catherine (the Miss Dior of the famous perfume) is truly fascinating, especially for those of us with an interest in fashion.

Highly recommended, to be read preferably with a plate of fresh scones and another of French macarons at hand. Adding a deluxe box of luxurious chocolates would not hurt either!

Hollywood's Most Notorious Hotel: The Castle on Sunset by Shawn Levy

This is a very interesting, well-researched and well-paced book. The subject is the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles, but it is also a commentary on the development of that city, the movie and music industries, and includes many intriguing anecdotes about the hotel's famous residents and guests. 

The hotel was originally built as an apartment house in the late 1920s, and its location made it a bit of a boondoggle, as it was just off what was then the unpaved Sunset Boulevard, but between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, on an unincorporated piece of real estate that wasn't particularly convenient to anything at the time. You could even say it was the Dakota of its time and place, much like the once out-of-the way building in New York.

Over the decades, it became the discreet getaway of the film industry's stars and executives, along with many others in the arts industries. Over time, and with various owners, it became a hotel, more for long-term tenants, though there were transient ones, and accommodations in the form of housekeeping bungalows were gradually added. 

As the fortunes of what became the Sunset Strip waxed and waned, and then waxed again, so did the Chateau. It became much more known to the greater public in the 1980s, when actor and writer John Belushi died of an overdose there, but there were many other famous residents who indulged in excesses of many types but managed to fly under the radar.

The property has also been owned and managed by equally colorful and intriguing businesspeople, and that is another aspect of its story. All in all, the Chateau is probably the most famous hotel that most people, aside from those with an interest in Hollywood and Los Angeles history, have never heard of.

If you have that interest, you will most likely enjoy this book, and learn a lot. The author, Shawn Levy, has created a really fine journalistic work, and resisted the temptation to merely write a tell-all, sensationalist piece. He has framed the story of the hotel against the background of its milieu, and his hard work shines.

All Dancing, All Singing: The Movie Musical! by Jeanine Basinger

The only reason I can't give this marvelous compendium of movie musical history by Jeanine Basinger five stars is its physical presentation. It is nearly 600 pages of marvelous text and remarkable photos, but it is so heavy and awkward that it is literally hard to hold, at least for me. It is basically an encyclopedia of the subject, but the design includes extra-wide margins of white space. Had the text been set wider, or the margins reduced to a more normal size, the book could have been physical lighter with fewer pages. And, considering that the list price for the print book was $45.00, a less expensive format would have made it more accessible.

Despite that, it is still wonderful. The initial tribute to Fred Astaire, for example, is absolutely terrific, and he receives all the accolades he deserves in a later section. The profiles of Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and others are full of details. Ethel Merman comes alive with added dimension and there's a great analysis of why Broadway star Mary Martin never really made it in the movies. Doris Day's career receives much-deserved attention – it's often forgotten that she handled musical, comedic and dramatic roles well. Gene Kelly, too, gets an appropriate five-star treatment, and An American in Paris has an extensive review.

Basinger covers the MGM era and its stars – Judy Garland, a legendary example – with an in-depth discussion. She does not give short shrift to more recent decades either, but devotes a long chapter to them. Barbra Streisand gets her due for Funny Girl, Yentl and her take of A Star Is Born. 

Basinger also covers the contemporary resurgence of musicals that have recently appeared – La La Land, The Greatest Showman and the most recent A Star Is Born with the powerhouse voice of Lady Gaga – proving that the movie musical, in new variations, is still alive and kicking. 

As a side note, and something that is too recent to have made it into the book, Netflix's current smash hit series Bridgerton has already inspired plans and songs for a Broadway show (once the pandemic is finally tamed). Once the show is produced, a movie version is sure to follow.

If you are a fan of the musical and the silver screen, this book is for you – but consider the Kindle edition if such a physically weighty tome will overwhelm you.

More Is More: Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

Part love story, but also a social satire of the ultra-connected, ultra-rich of New York, with a twist: the heroine is half Chinese (via her American-born mother) and half WASP (via her father).

Reminiscent of the super-swanky, over-the-top families portrayed in Crazy Rich Asians and its two sequels, in terms of the clothes, jewels and homes, Sex and Vanity goes deeper and further and skewers WASP and Asian society along with the social climbers who aspire to the top. 

There is a good deal of humor, extensive descriptions of couture and designer clothing, the homes and getaway places of the various characters, but Lucie Tang Churchill, the center of the book, comes off as a real young woman with real aspirations, problems and conflicts.

Kevin Kwan brings together inspirations from the work of Tom Wolfe, as in The Bonfire of the Vanities (on general principles), E.M. Forster's A Room with a View (for aspects of the plot line, and certain character names and personalities: Lucy, Charlotte, George and Cecil), and hints of Henry James's 19th century characters (the WASP Americans might be the modern equivalents of James's European gentry, and the Asians are James's brash Americans). The outrageous details, however, are completely Kwan's own, and he is a master of embedding them into the tale.

The novel can be read for its entertainment value, but is also a great coming-of-age story. There is bound to be an even more stupendously lavish movie adaptation than that of Crazy Rich Asians, and won't that be fun?

A Historical Journey: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Absolutely sublime. The book of the title refers to the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated Passover haggadah which is believed to date back to the period of the Inquisition in Spain, and has had various owners over the centuries. It is now in the museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

The author has created a fictionalized account of the haggadah's journey through Europe, but incorporates some real life individuals under different names, along with her totally imagined characters as the backstory. The central (completely fictional) character is an Australian, Dr. Hannah Heath, a rare book expert and conservator, who is hired to make repairs to the haggadah to stabilize, rather than restore it.

Hannah's painstaking work becomes a high-level detective story with elements of family strife, romance, history, the modern art world and international politics. The artistic and scientific aspects of Hannah's efforts offer clues to the haggadah's origin and its various owners. We follow its movements through the Inquisition in Spain, to the Jewish ghetto of Venice in the early 17th century, Hapsburg Vienna of the 1890s, the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, the Bosnian War of the 1990s, and eventually to the present, with side visits to Israel, Australia and Boston.

A great read, fascinating and satisfying! I am totally ready for the movie or Netflix series version, should there be one.

Madam Speaker: Pelosi by Molly Ball

Molly Ball's biography of Nancy Pelosi is packed with detail, but some of it is incredibly silly and distracting: do we really need to read about Seth Moulton's square jaw, or Hakeem Jeffries's "bald pate" and "lilting accent"?

It started off well – I found the chapters describing Pelosi's childhood and rise in the Democratic party very interesting. Later, the sections covering her political process with President George Bush were also a good reminder of the issues of that period. 

I must also say that Ball lays into President Obama with vehemence to the extent that her disapproval of him is palpable. She is highly critical of his stewardship of the economy, and his rescue of the country's finances after the deep hole the Bush administration left behind seems much diminished here. The emphasis seems to be on his conflicts with Pelosi, and while those have already been reported upon, she seems to heighten them to an unbalanced level.

Once we came to the Trump era, it was all too familiar. The incidents she covered have all been examined ad infinitum in the New York Times, Washington Post, on CNN and by other news outlets. Since we are in the closing days of that horrendous presidency and there is hope on the horizon, I really did not want to relive the nightmare of the past four years. I merely wanted to finish the book, and after having invested so much time on it, was not going to drop it, but skipped through quickly. I was happy to come to the end.