Sunday, June 03, 2007

Book Recommendation

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

I am handselling this one to dozens of people each month.

It is a true story of two college roommates from Iowa who spend the Summer of 1945 in Manhattan. They get jobs at Tiffany & Co. as the first female pages on the salesfloor where they see such stars of the era as Judy Garland, Vicente Minelli, and Marlene Dietrich. Through some familiy connections, a well-established couple take the two girls to some of the posh nightclubs of the time. The gentleman of the couple turns out to be the founder of the March of Dimes.

The two girls date a couple of Navy seamen during that Summer, and they are actually in Times Square when, on the huge marquee, it is shown that Truman announces Japan's surrender in WWII.

The author is a professional cellist who is now in her 80s. This is her first book, and it is absolutely delightful. It is a cute little hardcover for about $17.

Please check it out next time you're in your bookstore.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

FDR founded the March of Dimes (that's why he's on the Dime).
He might have had a co-founder in the MoD, but I've never heard mention of one. Before he was president, he founded a nonprofit called "warmsprings foundation" for polio victims, then as president he instituted "the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis." The names was later changed to "March of Dimes" and they asked people to send dimes to the cause. I only know all of this because I wrote a paper about the march of dimes and presidential leadership over a year ago. FDR was able to get things done.

Jilly

CatBoy said...

FDR had a hot wife.

PS. I'll the keep the book in mind when I shopping for gifts. I already have too many books that I have yet to read, so I can't buy any new books for myself.

CatBoy said...

"I AM shopping," it should read.

Anonymous said...

Hey, this sounds like my kind of read!

Anonymous said...

Charles, do you ever "regift" books to people? my mom has this habit of giving me cookbooks (trying to domesticate me) but she never gives me cookbooks that i like, so i give them away as presents. Alas, no one wanted 30 min meals by that horrible annoying woman. It seems i'm stuck with it.
jilly

CatBoy said...

Hello Jilly. I have often bought a book not knowing if I was going to give it to someone else or keep it for myself. If it is a non-fiction book that I keep telling myself I "should" read, it usually becomes a gift.

I don't think I have ever given a book as a gift that I received as one; if I really don't like a book someone gave me I usually donate it. I do the same thing with ugly clothing, such as a leather trench coat from the Starsky & Hutch Huggie-Bear collection. That thing was beyond words.

If I knew someone who wanted a book by the cook you mention, I wouldn't admit to it.

CatBoy said...

I guess I should have added, I don't see anything wrong with it. Books are for reading; if you aren't going to, the give it to someone who will.

Anonymous said...

Jilly,

Here is information about Carl Byoir who created the initiative that became THE MARCH OF DIMES for FDR:

http://www.prmuseum.com/byoir/cbfdr.html