Grace Coddington seems like a fun person

A very sun-faded copy. I’m pretty sure the cover should be a uniform shade of orange.

Grace is, as advertised, Grace Coddington’s memoir. She is a hoot, and this is a fun story of a person who loves clothes and fashion and art practicing her craft throughout the mid- to late- twentieth century. She certainly sounds like a lively person to be around and being in the fashion world during that time seems like a hoot.

Unfortunately, I only got through about half of this book because, while she seems like a great person who is full of enthusiasm, the story got a bit repetitive (she’s in London! no Paris! now London again!) and it was more name-droppy than I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong, she’s just talking about her friends, but a little bit less of making sure we know she knows these people and more about fashion in the 1960s and beyond would have been better. It was eventually tiresome.

Sometimes entertainment is good

If you are looking for entertaining brain candy, The Royal Runaway is your book. Princess Thea gets caught up in an international investigation when her fiancĂ© just doesn’t show up at the altar during their wedding. Well, he doesn’t show up at all – they don’t make it to the church. Everyone thinks he’s a cad, she nurses a broken heart, and four months later she’s getting on with things. Until someone starts investigating exactly what happened to her former fiancĂ©.

It’s got old-school James Bond style investigative fun and intrigue and it’s all told from Princess Thea’s point of view so there’s none of that icky misogyny.

Recommended for when you need something to escape from the real world.

The definition of a summer read

Last call at the nightshade lounge

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a ridiculous book. Demon-fighting bartenders who get superpowers from perfectly mixed drinks? Ridiculous. A Long Island iced tea being the perfect drink the give you maximum superpowers (and possibly immortality)? Ridiculous. A young woman’s parents, after pushing her to get a “real job” after she graduates from college suddenly being ok with her decision to be a bartender (they don’t know about the demon fighting)? Ridiculous.

I loved it.

It doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s fun, it reads relatively fast. It’s a great summer poolside read.