Gunn's Golden Rules

I've liked Tim Gunn since the first season of Project Runway. I used to just like Tim Gunn, the character and even loved the spoof of Tim that Mad TV did because I thought that he was added to the show for flavor and flair. But after watching several seasons I've liked Tim Gunn for who he is, the credibility that he brings to the show, his candidness, rapport and in some cases, "non-rapport" with some of the designers. He is a respected source of technical information but more often than not, it boils down to a question of style which he definitely knows something about. But more than that, Tim just oozes with "realness" that can't be faked.


Upon reading Gunn's Golden Rules, his newest book on how to make your personal life work, his uncompromising view of what's right and wrong is clearly evident. He dishes out the dirt on the divas in the fashion industry in trying to debunk that sense of entitlement some people in high places have. He rats out even his mother and father in trying to share nuggets of wisdom in being true to yourself, having manners and just being nice. He takes us inside his personal life to illustrate what to do when we are invited to a party, when we have guests over and even when we are being taken advantage of by our nearest and dearest. Indeed no one is spared, not even himself. 


He holds an engaging conversation with the reader and there were times when I laughed out loud because the words on the pages came alive and I could almost hear him speak. He has come a long way and he is lucky that success came to him late because he takes everything with a grain of salt and he is old enough to know that anything can be given or taken away in a blink of an eye.  What he is is grateful. And considerate. And polite. And real. And of course, well-dressed. Read this and you'll learn some of the ways to "make it work" in real life.

Missing Mom

Gwen Eaton was the mother we all know, love, and happen to ignore. She is warm, kind, overly concerned and not at all demanding. She is independent and a certified homemaker, baking her own bread, being active in the church and an overall good samaritan. Nikki Eaton didn't think much of her mother, she loved her for sure but she couldn't wait to get away from the small town she grew up in. So eager was she to start her own life and to make it big out there. Adulthood doesn't make it easy to keep in touch with her mother what with her many responsibilities, love affairs, work duties and the big life that she was leading. 

Then one day after a Mother's Day celebration that was memorable for the wrong reasons, Gwen Eaton was gone. Nikki, the black sheep of the family and Clare, the eldest daughter go through the motions of burying their mother and dealing with their grief in different ways. Clare takes charge and tries to control her surroundings by being a superwoman while Nikki just wants to bawl and sleep. Before long, she goes back to her Mother's house, bakes her bread recipes, dives into her old photos and letters to discover a woman that she did not bother much to get to know. A woman who was called "Feather" when she was young because of her light disposition, a cheerleader and a popular girl and ultimately a great friend. Nikki's grief overpowers her and she stays in her mother's house to feel her, to connect with her and to save her soul.  

Joyce Carol Oates' novel is an ode to all mothers and this is her own unique story which she tells in a warm and uncomplicated way. Grief is a weird thing and we are all unique in our ways of dealing with it. Nikki was able to find herself while she put herself in her mother's shoes, continuing her good work and trying to be the woman that she was and I think in the end, this could be her mother's gift to her as well as Nikki's gift to her mother. This is a book that we all should read before it's too late.

Five Quarters of the Orange

Joanne Harris has been a favorite author of mine ever since I read Sleep, Pale Sister. Her stories evoke a magical feeling with the right tinge of nostalgia. I was able to pick up Five Quarters of the Orange in a discount store and I was so happy with my find but couldn't for the life of me imagine how it could have ended up there. Surely her books are flying off the shelves? Well, that's a different matter.

This novel revolves around Framboise, a woman in her sixties recalling her childhood in a small French town during the German occupation. With her brother, sister and dour mother, they eke out a life not without hardships. Framboise is a complex character, as a nine year old she is precocious, angry though wanting of affection from a cold mother who had nothing good to say about her and their little lives. She would use an orange to induce her mother's bad spells so they would be left to their own devices while their mother retired to her bed for a long time. She was very smart and crafty often times besting her older brother and sister in games and dares using her steely determination and will power.  As a sixty year old, she grudgingly sees herself as a woman that inherited her mother's negative traits. She is scared of being close to her two daughters and would rather live an anonymous life without complications which means allowing no one to get too close.

As Framboise goes back from present to past you can already sense an underlying darkness in her story. Her past is rife with secrets and mischievous acts but Harris won't tell the reader right away. You have to travel with Boise back to her hometown where she puts up a small cafe using her dead mother's recipes that were compiled in an old album which was her inheritance.  There are many things that she is soon able to decode from her inheritance. Did her mother wish it so? Harris reveals them slowly and sweetly, much like wrapping the last piece of delectable chocolate.

Parallel to her reminisces is the story of the German soldiers which the children would trade information with, unwittingly setting off  wheels for a bigger and more evil act. There are so many revelations, insights and questions that need answers and my general feeling while reading the novel is that I wanted to consume it right away only to hold on to the very pages in the hope that the story wouldn't end. Such is Harris' magic in weaving a magical romantic tale where even the ugly, the hopeless and the evil can be rendered good, beautiful and like a crepe, sweet.