Pills & Pucci: Those Sex & Shopping Novels!

[Daisy Pusher]

Jun 8, 2009 14:06:56 GMT -4 Peggy Lane said:

We should have a Jacqueline Susann book club this summer!

I am SO in! Great idea, PeggyLane!

[huntergrayson]

I totally emailed Dwan a Salon article tracing VOTD's debt to Ulysses. Seriously. She says she's in Jacqueline Susann book club as long as I read Scruples by Kranitz.

The first rule about Jacqueline Susann book club is you don't talk about Jacqueline Susann book club because you're too busy swallowing a doll/gin/your lover's spunk to speak!

I'm almost at that rape scene and it seems awful just skimming it.

[dwanollah]

I'm running low on dolls, so you have to get me more.

And dude, just imagining the themed munchies I could serve at Susann Summer Book Club Night....

Seriously, I'm in. July. We meet at the Newsstand.

[Peggy Lane]

People, I'm in Atlanta. We're going to need to stick a webcam in the Newsstand or something.

And y'all, if we read Scruples, we must read Scruples II. After all these years I'm still trying to pull of the alluring trick of matching my red lipstick to the exact shade of my red sweater.

We could do the decades: Peyton Place for the '50s, VotD for the '60s, and Scruples for the '70s. That's a well rounded list of lit right there. (Although I'm torn between Krantz's Scruples and Collins's Chances for the '70s.)

[huntergrayson]

"July" like Lolita was supposed to be for Book Club in "April?" Or like actual July?

I think OINE is the one where everyone gets hopped up on Vitamin "B-12" Shots that are really LSD and so they never eat or sleep. My doctor is very homeopathic/vitamin oriented so when she started giving actual B12 Shots, I found this endlessly amusing.

The cutest boy just came by the stand and asked for a job. He is like barely legal and just moved here from the Midwest. We've found our poolboy to serve us!

I was just telling Dwan about how I own the DVD of Peyton Place (film, not TV series) and haven't watched it yet and want to do so while be all girly and foofy soon.

I really considered ordering a copy of OINE off Ebay but VHS? WTF? And Kirk Douglas as Mike Wayne? That's an, ahem, interesting choice.

[Daisy Pusher]

Jun 8, 2009 17:40:14 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

I think OINE is the one where everyone gets hopped up on Vitamin "B-12" Shots that are really LSD and so they never eat or sleep. My doctor is very homeopathic/vitamin oriented so when she started giving actual B12 Shots, I found this endlessly amusing.

I really considered ordering a copy of OINE off Ebay but VHS? WTF? And Kirk Douglas as Mike Wayne? That's an, ahem, interesting choice.

Oh that's right, I remember the "B-12" shots now. January became a junkie!

Totally know what you mean about Kirk Douglas as Mike Wayne, but for me, that was not so bad as David Janssen as Tom Colt! So not only does Tom Colt have a small willy, he has ginormous ears, to boot?

And I second the rec on Scruples. Except, in addition to the first one, you also have to read Scruples Two (my personal fave of the trilogy) and Lovers.

eta: I still vividly remember Billy's snack of toast spread with Tiptree's Little Scarlet strawberry preserves in Book 2 of the Scruples trilogy and I have never been able to find it in any stores here.

etaa: Peggy Lane, how about how many different ways can Krantz describe Gigi's hair?

[huntergrayson]

The aforementioned article in Salon was about the "Shopping & Fucking Novel" as a genre. Rule #1? "Words like St Laurent and Givenchy and Pucci should appear no less often than personal pronouns like me, you, her, him."

[dwanollah]

Peggy Lane, if you were really committed, a cross-country flight wouldn't daunt you.

I'm beginning to think we should change the name of this thread to "Shopping & Fucking Novels"....

And y'all, if we read Scruples, we must read Scruples II. After all these years I'm still trying to pull of the alluring trick of matching my red lipstick to the exact shade of my red sweater.

You too? I also prefer II to I and Lovers, even though it seems Judy is WAY too enamoured of Gigi. And Sasha and Vito have the exact same first date as Sasha and Josh did.

(P.S.: Tiptree Little Scarlet is fine, but their Strawberry jam is better.)

[kateln]

Jun 8, 2009 17:34:09 GMT -4 Peggy Lane said:

People, I'm in Atlanta. We're going to need to stick a webcam in the Newsstand or something.

And y'all, if we read Scruples, we must read Scruples II. After all these years I'm still trying to pull of the alluring trick of matching my red lipstick to the exact shade of my red sweater.

We could do the decades: Peyton Place for the '50s, VotD for the '60s, and Scruples for the '70s. That's a well rounded list of lit right there. (Although I'm torn between Krantz's Scruples and Collins's Chances for the '70s.)

If we read Peyton Place I'm totally in.

[notmquinn]

huntergrayson, thank you so much for starting this thread! After a totally craptastic day (no one can break your heart like your 16 year old daughter, but I digress ), just the thought of re-reading VOTD, and getting ahold of OINE, has perked me right up. A little glass of wine helped too.

Jacqueline Susann, Judith Krantz, and Sidney Sheldon could write some awesome summer reads. Jackie Collins is good, but not as great as those three.

Grabbing my credit card and heading over to amazon.com...