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WHAT WOULD GRACE DO?

Name: WHAT WOULD GRACE DO?
Author: Gina McKinnon
ISBN: 978-1592408283

HOW TO LIVE LIFE IN STYLE LIKE THE PRINCESS OF HOLLYWOOD

by Gina McKinnon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2013

Readers eager to learn more about Grace Kelly would be better served by reading Donald Spoto's High Society (2009) or Wendy...

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A heavy-handed, tedious “self-help” book offering precious little in the way of advice—unless listing New York restaurants once patronized by Grace Kelly counts as advice.

Purportedly written as a “modern-day guide to the classic beauty and timeless style of the Hollywood starlet and real-life princess, Grace Kelly,” the narrative is just an amalgamation of the juicy bits of the books McKinnon (1001 Ridiculous Sexual Misadventures, 2009, etc.) has read about Kelly in the last year. Did you know Grace had a difficult relationship with her father? Have you heard she had affairs with her co-stars? Or that her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco was “no fairytale”? Do you know the difference between being fashionable and possessing “true style”? If not, you will learn all that and more from this mediocre book. The advice about how to “channel Grace” in one's everyday life ranges from the obvious and unspecific (“Exude confidence,” “Make friends from all walks of life,” “Remember birthdays,” “Keep in touch”) to the insultingly out of reach (“Stay at the Savoy when in London”). The author's attempts at humor are often strained: “now it's time to put your life in the dock and subpoena your inner Grace. As a witness in the vagaries of life, we can't think of anyone more expert than she”; “Keep with tradition and don’t show your husband your dress…or what’s underneath it until your wedding day.”

Readers eager to learn more about Grace Kelly would be better served by reading Donald Spoto's High Society (2009) or Wendy Leigh's True Grace (2007), both of which are quoted at length here. Readers who wish to be more like Kelly would be better off watching her films.

Pub Date: April 11, 2013

ISBN: 978-1592408283

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Gotham Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.