The Power of Glamour
by Virginia Postrel (Simon & Schuster, $28)
Glamour has a strong ally in critic Virginia Postrel, said D.J. Taylor in The Wall Street Journal. In this “thoughtful, wide-ranging” study, the Bloomberg columnist shows that glamour isn’t a creation of modern consumer culture but instead a dream of living better that has always fueled human endeavor. If only she hadn’t buttressed her argument with a stream of “not very illuminating” remarks from artists and other notable contemporaries. It’s a device best left to run-of-the-mill business books.
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Finding the Dragon Lady
by Monique Brinson Demery (Public Affairs, $27)
The subject of this fascinating book would have hated how she’s portrayed, said Mark Jacob in the Chicago Tribune. Tran Le Xuan, who from 1954 to 1963 was known to the world as Madame Nhu, the de facto First Lady of South Vietnam, lived long enough to befriend the author during the past decade. Even so, readers are never allowed to lose sight of why this “audacious, intelligent, glamorous” woman was once so polarizing that some still blame her for the regime’s collapse.
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck
by Victoria Wilson (Simon & Schuster, $40)
Barbara Stanwyck “isn’t in the same glam class as Katharine Hepburn or Bette Davis,” but the 1940s screen star makes a fine subject for a deep-dived portrait of Hollywood’s dream factory, said Bill Desowitz in USA Today. “There are many tangents along the way” as author Victoria Wilson traces Stanwyck’s transformation from Brooklyn orphan to movie idol, and this 900-page tome only takes Stanwyck to age 33. “But be patient”: The larger story is “worth the journey.”
In My Shoes
by Tamara Mellon (Portfolio, $30)
“Reading Tamara Mellon’s memoir is like wearing stilettos: thrilling and uncomfortable,” said Amanda Gordon in Bloomberg.com. On the one hand, the onetime British Vogue editor proved herself a canny businesswoman in her late 20s when she created the designer shoe brand Jimmy Choo. On the other, she sounds bitter and sad about how family and business partners have treated her. She now vacations in Capri and outfits stars for Oscars night, but “all the glamour does very little for her.”
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”