RAT beach kiteboarder on a VERY windy day

Hooked on hues: ‘True Color’ by Kory Stamper

I began reading “True Color” for the its promise of wordplay and ended up learning more about the science behind about all the hues, tints and shades around us than I ever expected to know, plus interesting factoids about margarine marketing restrictions of the past and the massive amount of work that went into creating Webster’s gargantuan unabridged dictionary in the pre-Internet age. Truth be told, I would have been happier with even more wordplay from Kory Stamper, who began working for Merriam-Webster in 1998, but she animates her research with playful prose. Reading her recently published book, subtitled “The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color — From Azure to Zinc Pink,” made me think of my own love affair with color and the Kelly green trousers from my Connecticut youth. For more about that, read this over at Lititude — and be sure to stay for peek at my vintage copy of the “Preppy Handbook” and its description of go-to-hell-pants.

Reviewing Jay McInerney’s latest out of order

Books, DG Creations, Writing

I have a friend that refuses to watch any movies or TV shows based on books until she has read the books first. This has never really been a ruled I have followed — sure, sometimes I make a point of reading the pertinent books first, but I have more frequently not done so — and I have been known to dip into movie franchises and TV shows midstream rather than the proper order. So I wasn’t too concerned about reading the supposedly last installment Jay McInerney’s Calloway book series first.

“See You on the Other Side” checks in with Russell and Corrinne Calloway in their 60s at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. They’ve just moved into a Greenwich Village penthouse after a decade in gentrifying Harlem, and are living comfortably when the pandemic upends their lives and those of the people around them. Over the course of the novel, McInerney deftly weaves in backstory from the previous three installments into the narrative to serve as both a reminder to readers of those books — published in 1992 (“Brightness Falls”), 2006 (“The Good Life”) and 2016 (“Bright, Precious Days”) — as well as newcomers. In my view, it’s not necessarily to have read the earlier books first, but you may want to circle back to them if you start with the last first, as I did.

I wrote more about “See You on the Other Side,” and reconnecting with McInerney’s breakthrough novel, “Bright Lights, Big City,” at Lititude.

Introducing a new L.A.-centric book Substack — please check out Lititude

Books, DG Creations, Uncategorized

Given all my years as an entertainment journo, it’s only fitting that I launched this venture with a post about two new novels that get real about women’s work woes in Hollywood — a subject some people don’t want to always hear about, I know a bit painfully from personal experience as a former trade journo. Click here to read.