Snobbery can take many
forms, as the following books at the Mid-Columbia Library depict. Whether it’s the closed ranks of upper crust
society who shun the social climber; or the humorous payback of an Italian tour
guide who’s tell-all anecdotes portray American tourists in a revealing, yet
kindly light; or the so-painful-it-hurts honesty of self-styled fashioned gurus
who tell you “what not to wear.”
SNOBS
by Julian Fellowes, c.2005 by St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY; 265
pgs. Fellowes is an English character
actor best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay, Gosford Park
and his role as Lord Kilwillie on BBC’s “Monarch of the Glen.” In Fellowes’s novel, the narrator, an actor
from a prominent family, mingles easily with the well to do and the seriously
connected (read near-royalty) as well as the bohemian company of actors and
performers. Through his eyes we witness
the rise and fall of Edith Lavery, a beautiful social climber determined to
break into the closed ranks of aristocratic society by marrying well. The subtleties of class structure are
invisible at first to Edith, who charms Charles, Earl Broughton and heir to the
Marquess of Uckfield, into offering marriage.
Charles’ mother, Lady Uckfield, is just as determined to prevent the
nuptials. What happens when a
strong-willed beauty finds herself saddled with a desirable title (Countess
Broughton) but a tediously boring husband?
Anglophiles will enjoy a glimpse into the lives of the upper crust, whose all-too human foibles are chronicles in this dramedy of manners.
TOO MUCH TUSCAN SUN: CONFESSIONS OF A CHIANTI TOUR GUIDE by Dario Costagno with Robert Rodi; c.2004, The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT; 269 pgs.
Recent years have seen a multitude of books written about Tuscany in the form of guidebooks, cookbooks or literary memoirs by ex-patriot Americans. Dario Costagno, a free-spirited tour guide from the Chianti region has chosen to set the record straight from the Italian point of view.
For more than twelve years Costagno has escorted an increasing volume of American tourists through the hills of his beloved Chianti region. With warm affection and wicked candor he recalls a variety of clients who either appreciate his services or abuse him mercilessly in an effort to “do Tuscany.”
Each chapter begins with a new month and a lyrical description of the natural treasures awaiting Dario’s guests. While Costagno isn’t above stereotyping the Americans he guides (in his opinion, all American tourists are addicted to Diet Coke), his charming wit allows him to see the humor in the couple who insists on eating at McDonalds instead of trying the local cuisine, or the Dutch tour group whose staggering capacity for wine and beer leaves him reeling. He affectionately recalls a newlywed couple whose impenetrable lip lock leads Dario to drop them off at a private glade with a picnic basket and return hours later to retrieve them. When they call Dario nine months later to announce the birth of his namesake, he’s not the least bit surprised.
A group of geriatric honeymooners whose impaired vision, hearing and mobility, tax Dario’s skills to the maximum, leave him hoarse from repeatedly shouting his spiel and frazzled from rescuing the game elders from poisonous vipers and perilous footpaths.
Costagno’s joyful enthusiasm for the beautiful back roads of Chianti and his reverence for the art and history of the jewel-like Siena make him eminently suited to his chosen profession.
WHAT YOU WEAR CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, c.2004, published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group, New York, NY; 259 pgs. If you’ve ever watched this dynamo duo on BBC’s
What Not to Wear, you know their fashion critiques are beyond frank. But they are more than just fashion snobs, these girls really know their stuff and they’re not afraid to apply it to themselves. Within the shiny foil cover of their latest book, Trinny and Susannah bare (nearly) all to illustrate how to dress to overcome what most women lack, that is, the genetics of a supermodel. Step by step, with wickedly funny captions and photography, Trinny and Susannah offer a modicum of hope for the fashion impaired, the thick of ankle and waist, preggers and not. A rollicking read, whether you adhere to British or American fashion tastes.
--Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Mid-Columbia Library System, Kennewick Branch.