Pills & Pucci: Those Sex & Shopping Novels!

[HotLips]

I can see that. Candice was really gorgeous[/color] back in the day.

I forgot to comment on this earlier:

What do you think it says about Susann that the dreamy-studs in her books are always novelists (or aspiring novelists ala Lyon & Robin), but the none of the women are writers? January is a columnist, sure, but I don't think of her as a "writer."

Maybe her peers at that time were all men? In the NYT article they mention several writers knocking off her style and the names mentioned are all men. I don't know much about that time period, but were there other women writing shopping & fucking novels? I mean, even if there weren't, she still could have written a female writer character, but maybe she identified more with the male.

[huntergrayson]

Per her thread, Lindsay tweeted (In response to Katy Perry saying she had seen VOTD for the 1st time):

@katyperry FOR THE FIRST TIME! woman! I have new script for it! it is BEYOND brilliant, and a razor away from the truth about this life~!

Dare I dream?

ETA: My friend's response: "I will give that bitch a permanent sleep cure."

TLM seemed to stuff all the really good stuff at the end.

I have to go to a used bookstore and pick up Dolores & Yargo, even though they're unofficial/posthumous novels. I also need to read Shadow of the Dolls.

Is the Jackie biopic starring Bette Midler & Nathan Lane as bad as I've heard?

[Peggy Lane]

The dreamboat who plays Charles Brandon on The Tudors would make a kick ass Lyon. He's unbelievably attractive, and has a great wolfish grin.

I went to the used bookstore Friday and bought TLM, OINE, Dolores, Lovers, and The Mistral's Daughter. Somehow, I have never read Lovers or TMD (and Scruples I and II are some of my favorite trash, ever). My only complaint about Lovers is that Zack was boring. Really, really boring. I'm totally digging TMD, though.

It's good Krantz, but it really reminded me of Barbara Taylor Bradford's books. I love the first few books in her Emma series. Any sex and shopping book that includes its own department store are automatic winners.

[huntergrayson]

I just had an interesting thought re: OINE - I wonder how much of Karla's developmentally disabled daughter is Jacqueline working through the issues she had in her own life.

Annnnnnd the LiLo as Neely rumor has now made it to Neely O'Hara's wikipedia page. Oh dear.

[HotLips]

I just started reading Scruples. I'm only on the first chapter, but I loved the snark about Cher wanting to dress as a Zulu princess on her wedding day for the Oscars.

[marmalade]

Scruples is so awesome. I'm jealous of you getting to read it for the first time! Of all the S&S novelists, Judith Krantz is really the only one I liked. I reread all her stuff at least once a year (except Till We Meet Again, which is, it must be admitted, kind of boring).

[dwanollah]

I didn't mind 'Til We Meet Again, actually, but I love the whole turn of the century thru WWII era, and, even though I wasn't into the airplane thingie, I liked the historical LA aspect.

The problem with Krantz is, while not Mary Sue-ish outright, she CAN be a little too fond of her tomboyish redheaded characters. It's, like, dude, I'll decide if I really like Freddy/Maxi/Gigi/Frankie/whoever-ie that much... I don't need you to beat it into me!

[marmalade]

I read an interview with Judith Krantz where she said she never identified with the main characters, only the best friends. So they might be a little Mary-Sue-ish. Gigi's the only one who annoyed me a little bit. The entirety of Lovers bored me, although I've found it more interesting in later years because I like finding out stuff about the advertising world.

Don't be dogging Maxi, though-- she's my favorite Krantz character (and she's not a redhead)!

[Peggy Lane]

My only complaint about Gigi is that it felt like Valentine, whom I adored, was sacrificed to make room for Gigi. Seriously, Billy and Spider? Seriously? Anyway, I always felt Krantz was far more Mary Sue-ish about Sasha.

[marmalade]

Sssssh, Peggy, HotLips only just started Scruples!

I never got a Mary Sue vibe from Sasha, but I did about Gigi. She's a teeny tiny beautiful perfect cook and genius advertiser with whom every man falls in love, even the unwinnable Zach Nevsky. She gets the better of a number of evil people and seems to have no faults whatsoever. At least Lovers was supposed to be about her, but Scruples II started off about Billy (who is infinitely more interesting) and ended up about stupid Gigi. At least Gigi didn't end up with Spider.