N. Rue and Co.

Greetings, readers! Rue apologizes for being absent last week. I got caught up in reading all of the new magazines that arrived in my mail box. My favorite? Vanity Fair. As soon as I saw the cover, a beautiful photo of a young Elizabeth Taylor in a white bathing suit, I said to myself, AWWWWW YEAAAAAH!! She. Was. So. Beautiful. The caption with the photo was just as enticing: “Before There Was Brangelina, There Was Liz Taylor and Richard Burton’s Romance of the Century. Exclusive: Their Love, Their Passion, Their Intimate, Unseen Love Letters”. Hello! How could I do anything else until I read this article? Any woman who has been married and divorced 8 times, twice to the same man, surely has one helluva story to tell. I have read one of her biographies, Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli, and it was an excellent, juicy read. The Vanity Fair article is based on a new book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger titled Furious Love, all about Liz and Dick. I am countin’ down the days until it is available! For now, the article will do…heck I may read it again.

E.T. is not the only celeb with a juicy story in this issue – her pal Michael Jackson is featured in a great piece about the making of Thriller. Totally took me back to Friday nights in the 4th or 5th grade, waiting for Friday Night Videos to come on so I could see Thriller, the 14-minute movie/video. My sis and I thought M.J. was SO COOL and SO CUTE! It’s hard to believe he has been gone for a year now. This article gives all kinds of inside scoop about him and his co-star in the video and tidbits about his home life and his dad and all sorts of interesting M.J. things. The July 2010 issue of Vanity Fair magazine – you need to get it now!

For all of you LHOTP (Little House on the Prairie) fans, “Mary Ingalls” has written a book: The Way I See It. Melissa Anderson (aka Mary) has made the talk show rounds in the last month and her book is now available at book retailers (probably) just about everywhere. My husband surprised me with a copy last week! He knows the way to my heart. I am in the first few chapters and if you are a true fan like me, you will love it! If not, like “Laura’s” book, you probably won’t give a hoot and I don’t recommend you reading it. I will keep you posted on how it turns out. FYI – If you aren’t sure which sister Mary is, she is the one that goes blind and eventually becomes a teacher and marries Adam. Should you like further info about Mary or any of the other LHOTP characters, just drop me a line!

One of the best books I’ve read recently is The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel. I am not sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I am so glad I did! If you love history and the glamour of “old” New York, this is a must-read for you.
 
One of the best things about this book is that it’s a true story. Imagine keeping a personal diary for five years while you are growing up, leaving it (somewhere) and never really thinking about it again. Then, almost 60 years later, it is returned to you by someone you’ve never met. 
 
Lily Koppel is a young twenty-something living in New York – writing for a newspaper – trying to figure out….life. The building she lives in is old and for some reason, the owners decide to clean out the storage. There is stuff that has been there for decades! Lily rescues a trunk from the dumpster and finds the diary in it. But she finds much more than a diary! She has found entrance into a world that no longer exists: New York City in the twenties and thirties, through the eyes of the diary-keeper, Florence, a young lady who is trying to figure out…life.
 
I really can’t say it better than the back of the book does: “Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and promise of a remarkable era and brings to life the true story of a daring, precocious young dreamer.” Lily ends up finding Florence, meeting her and developing a warm friendship with her. If you still are not sure about this book, check out www.redleatherdiary.com
I loved this book!

It’s official: I am too old to read, or enjoy, Cosmopolitan magazine. It’s been slowly happening over the last 5 or 6 years i.e. since I turned 30. I bought my last copy at an airport a few weeks ago because I had literally read every other magazine that was of the slightest interest to me.

I should have known better – Lady Gaga was on the cover for frig’s sake! But hey – I like Lady Gaga and I thought I might find intriguing the “Love Advice Only She Would Give.” Puh-lease. She is 24 years old – what can she possibly tell me about love – a seasoned, married 36-year-old-woman of the ….not world maybe, but country?! The city of Indianapolis?! Gaga says “I’d tell any new boyfriend to hang on, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” Why, Gaga? Because you’re going to be doing it on top of the washing machine? Heck, I can teach her a thing or two! (snicker, snicker).

I guess my point is that I am too old for Cosmo because I find it boring and just plain dumb. I’ve been reading it since I was 13 or 14 easily – probably younger than that. (Mom? Dad? Where were ya?) After 20-plus years, I have read all of the reader’s sexcapades and how- to- attract- a- man- articles I can stomach. I’ve got a man now (no thanks to Cosmo, though) and I want to read stories about politics and history and life as a thirty-something.

Buying Cosmo for the last time, I thought maybe there would be some good fashion or style. At least that is how I justified buying it when my stepson saw my purchase on the plane and said, “Oh Cosmo! That’s just all sex!” You’re right, Alex, it is.