Gloria Vanderbilt: It seemed important at that time

I picked IT SEEMED IMPORTANT AT THAT TIME by Gloria Vanderbilt, (2004) because lately I am very interested in Truman Capote and his life and I wanted to know more about Gloria Vanderbilt, who is an actrice, painter, designer and author and was one of his good friends.

Though it is a read which language you could find either poetic or preposterous - it didn't make me feel that I learned more about her life. I know that this is my fault - next time I pick a biography - and not memoirs.. ;")

It took me only one evening to read it and it was like a friend talking to you - but a not very close friend:

I can't get rid of the feeling that we would not harmonise with each other - but still I am interested to find out more about her.

That she was married to Leopold Stokowski and Sidney Lumet and that she had affaires with Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes and Marlon Brando wasn't that exciting and new to me. Well, I did not know that she snogged Gene Kelly - but for that bit you should not consider buying this book.

So - this was a rather short post and here you have the German Cover - which shows actually my favourite picture of Gloria Vanderbilt:

Elizabeth Edmonson: Frozen Lake

FROZEN LAKE (2004) was the debut of one of my favourite authors: Elizabeth Edmondson.

Christmas 1936, Lake District/Noth West England. It is a really cold and snowy winter (reminds you of something? well, maybe you should look out of your window - now!) and the lake is freezing. Two families, the Richardsons and the Grindleys are coming together to celebrate Christmas - and go ice skating. But there are dark secrets buried - and now they are up to be solved.

As I thought - this book was to become one of my favourites in 2010. I loved it!! The female characters are great - even the dislikable ones!

If you're interested in the history part of the book: The politicial situation in Third Reich is discussed and there are some English fascists, too - actually the followers of Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley are mentioned very often. I did not know anything about him - for that matter I am better imformed about the German part in this era - and I wish this wouldn't be such a big part.. Actually my wishes concerning this are much more far-reaching... But let's skip that for now.

In the beginning I was a little bit confused with all these persons - and their relations to each other, but this did not hold up for long. The German edition has an index of persons - which was a great help in the beginning. I did not need it after page 100. *yay*

I would love to see the books of Elizabeth Edmonsen picturized! (Please, dear BBC-folks, would you? Could you? Please!?!)

The German title is LADY HELENAS GEHEIMNIS -> Lady Helena's secret. - I really don't know why they changed the original one, becouse it would have worked in German, too - and there is no such novel with that title yet. And it's not Lady Helena who has the secrets..

You may have recognized that I like book covers. I like the original cover which shows almost exactly the setting of the novel: a big house, a frozen lake, snow, ice skaters and I do like the German cover with the pink rose. Doesn't scream: Winter/Christmas but it shows at least a 1930ies lady and a country house -

and here is the cover the German special edition (which only means: it's cheap)

- isn't this just dreadfull? Does a yellow tulip make you think of a winter novel - setted in deep snow, christmas time and 1930ies? *sigh*

I am going to make this novel my personal holiday classic and read it again this year. - Yes, I am actually plannig next holiday season. But that's all of my plans yet - so I am not that silly. ;") And :

I wish you and your love ones a Happy New Year 2011!! May it be even better than the last one!