Book Review Sunday? (AKA, The Slacker Post)

I realize that it isn't ACTUALLY Sunday, but we can all pretend, right?  I've actually been fighting a cold that seems to be getting the better of me, so I haven't been updating on schedule.

But enough of that.  Today's book review is for Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners by Laura Claridge.

You can find it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Emily-Post-Daughter-Mistress-American/dp/0375509216/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1292421454&sr=8-8

Allow me to begin by saying, I adore just about everything Emily Post stands for.  Elegance, manners, social niceties.  She was a goddess among women.  That being said, it was nice to explore her "human" side as well.  Her adoration for her father (who, incidentally, was a brilliant architect and decendent from Francis Scott Keyes, how nifty is that?), her love for a husband who did not return her affections, her weathering of a marital scandal with panache, and her eventual divorce, after which she went on to be hugely successful as an author.

Contrary to the image one conjures when thinking of Emily Post (sort of an uptight, prim rule follower, right?)  She was actually a fun loving, sensitive, advocate for women.  Laura Claridge does a lovely job of bringing her to life in this book.  Annnnd, I've discovered that Ms. Claridge has also written biographies of Norman Rockwell and Tamara de Lempicka, which have been dutifully added to my Amazon wish list :)

Happy reading!

Emily Post - Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum

XO,
Me