First of the summer reads.

Coming Home, John Betjeman.

‘To each his private pleasure. Mine is looking at buildings. ’ So wrote John Betjeman shortly after WW II. From the evidence of the decades of writing collected in this companionable volume, he might have added ‘church-crawling’, Walter Scott novels, ‘the slow descent into English winter’, Paddington (‘the London equivalent of Brighton’), Australian flora, the films of Cecil B de Mille, ‘the romance of decay’, seaside towns, the history of England and, of cource, poetry. An affection for ‘what is beautiful…regardless of date [and] association’ irradiates Betjeman’s prose, whether his subject is St. Pancras station (very apropos) or the elegies of forgotten eighteenth-century parson poets.






Secrets of the Harem, Carla Coco

‘So much tedium, so much languishing’ is how Theophile Gautier described the life of the harem in 1853. His is one of any number of opinions expressed by Westerners about an institution that came to embody all the perceived luxury, corruption, and voluptuousness of the Ottoman Empire. In this book, Carla Coco explores in detail the life of the imperial harem in Istanbul, first at the Topkapi Palace, later at the Dolmabahce-its eleborate rituals and covert ambitions of the inmates of this court-within-a-court. The text is beautifully illustrated and includes paintings by Guardi, Ingres, Delacroix, Matisse and Renoir; all testify to a European fascination with the opulent licentiousness of the world of the Thousand and One Nights. Secrets of the Harem, dispelling myths, nevertheless increases the lure of the vanished seraglio, which remains enticingly elusive.

Farewell My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug Fine

Doug Fine tells the story of his move to a remote ranch in New Mexico, his solar plights and triumphs and his veggie oil conversion. Humorous and candid, the book is fun to read. Although peppered with interesting Eco-facts, it is much more a personal memoir than an educational manual.

Although I enjoyed all of Farewell, My Subaru, the best part was the Afterword, in which Fine details what he feels are the five (or six) most important conclusions he's come to. It reads like a mini-Manifesto and is laced with great suggestions for demanding change of the people we keep in business.

This book is probably not a book for anyone wishing to learn more, nor is it likely to be a keeper, but if you're looking for a light read or a bit of inspiration from the library, you might enjoy Farewell, My Subaru by Doug Fine.

Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise, a biography by Sam Irvin. I've always wanted to know more about the enigmatic Miss Thompson, star of cabaret, movie musicals, and authoress of the famed Eloise at the Plaza series and, apparently, one of the great (and more complicated) creative characters of the twentieth century. Now that Mr. Irvin has come out with his well-received book, I have my chance.

I purloined Wendy Burden's Dead End Gene Pool from Clive. The book provides a window into the world of inherited wealth and storied privilege, it is also a rollicking good read and at times darkly amusing in the description of a world that by the time the author arrived on the scene had gone seriously awry.

Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes, the author of the delightful Snobs and best known for the screenplay to Gosford Park.  I do relish this man's prose.  I am only several pages into it, and enjoying it immensely.

P.S. A heads-up readers, Google is improving our sites, so there are bound to be some hiccups.