February 20, 2009
As I was gathering notes for this newsletter last night, a close friend sent word that my very first boss, Nonnie Moore, the fashion director when I was at Mademoiselle magazine, had passed away at the age of 87. Nonnie was a legend in the fashion business and worked at Harper's Bazaar and GQ as well as Mademoiselle. She was so much fun to be around as she had this marvelous energy that surrounded her, an enthusiasm for life that was contagious and a smile that lit up the room. Now I was not a fashionista --- unlike most of the women in the fashion department --- so when I started there I had a very funny epiphany. In many conversations, Nonnie, Edith Raymond Locke, the editor in chief, and Sandy Horvitz, the senior fashion editor, would talk about Willi, Perry and Ralph. I thought these were their husbands. No, they were designers Willi Smith, Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren. And, oh, sometimes they threw in Calvin, you know Klein, in there just to mix things up.
What is the most books you ever bought in one trip?
February 20, 2009, 639 voters
Editorial content for The Help
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It is 1962 in Jacksonville, Mississippi. The times may be changing, but not fast enough for three women, two black and one white, in this town where the lines between the races are so rigid they don’t need to be voiced. Read More
Teaser
It is 1962 in Jacksonville, Mississippi. The times may be changing, but not fast enough for three women, two black and one white, in this town where the lines between the races are so rigid they don’t need to be voiced.
Promo
Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women --- mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends --- view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
About the Book
Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women-mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends-view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Click here to listen to Kathryn Stockett discuss THE HELP, and discover the story behind the novel.
February 13, 2009
The wind over the past 36 hours in the New York area has me feeling like I could end up in Kansas at any moment passing Dorothy on her way to Oz. The weather has been warm, which has ensured that all the snow has melted. I am hoping it does not snow next week as my husband is traveling and I have no clue how to run the tractor/snow blower. If I have to deal with this, I am sure it would unfold like an "I Love Lucy" episode. The lawn would get plowed and I would hit a few trees. Yes, the boys will oblige if needed, but I am not sure that they will have more fun riding or clearing. I know, I know, I could read the manual, but I confess that while I love to read books, somehow reading instruction manuals is something that just evades me, so I never know what half the buttons on most of the electronics that I own actually do!
February 6, 2009
My last two weeks have been more hectic than I want to think about. If I think about them too much, I may need a nap. But each day I still have found time to read before I fall asleep. I gave some thought this morning as to why this happens, because with me everything has to have a reason, and came up with this. Reading before bedtime allows me to escape into a world with characters who have their own stories to share. And for a lovely few moments, minutes, hours, I am able to drop into their lives and mine fades away. And then I can sleep. These past weeks I have been grabbing my nighttime book in the morning as well, reading a few pages before my day gets started. I like starting the day with a book as much as I liked ending it this way. I wonder how many of you have ever found yourselves doing the same thing.
