ABOUT THE EVENT
#30Authors is an annual event connecting readers, authors, and bloggers. Throughout the month of September, 30 authors review their favorite books on 30 blogs in 30 days. The event has been met with incredible support from and success within the literary community. In the six months following the event’s inaugural launch, the concept was published as an anthology by Velvet Morning Press (Legacy: An Anthology). Started by The Book Wheel, #30Authors remains active throughout the year and you can join in the fun by following along on Twitter at @30Authors, using the hashtag, #30Authors, or purchasing the anthology. To learn more about the event and to see the full schedule, please click here.
JAMIE FORD RECOMMENDS
Before Paris Hilton’s sex tape, Kim Kardashian’s sex tape, and Donald Trump’s hair (please, dear God, no sex tape), there was a time––not so long ago, when extreme decorum went hand-in-manicured-hand with extreme wealth.
Oh, sure, that deportment may have only been a veneer of courtliness. Like the way famed socialite, Babe Paley, was never seen without her make-up (even by her husband) but it created a visceral barrier between social classes.
We were all common blue-collar, common folk while they were capitalist royalty, whose feculence did not offend.
That is, until Truman Capote came along and ripped back the curtains of gentility and set fire to the world, accidentally burning his own bridges in the process.
**Sidebar moment**
But that’s the beauty of being an artist. You don’t belong to any one social class—you transcend them all.
I’ve met senators, governors, and once signed a book for a justice on the US Supreme Court.
I’ve also visited prisons and inner city schools that were run like prisons.
The access is amazing but you never truly belong.
**Okay, sidebar moment over**
Melanie Benjamin’s latest novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, ushers us into the final act of that gilded age. When Capote’s larger-than-life personality swims with and later against the current of New York high society.
It’s a delicious tale of when gossip became an art form, a spectator sport, and eventually a lethal weapon.
ABOUT JAMIE FORD
He is the author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet as well as Songs of Willow Frost. I've read both books and I think you need to pick them up if you have not already.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife comes an enthralling new novel about Truman Capote’s scandalous, headline-making, and heart-wrenching friendship with Babe Paley and New York’s society “swans” of the 1950s.
Centered on two dynamic, complicated, and compelling protagonists—Truman Capote and Babe Paley—this book is steeped in the glamour and perfumed and smoky atmosphere of New York’s high society. Babe Paley—known for her high-profile marriage to CBS founder William Paley and her ranking in the International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame—was one of the reigning monarchs of New York’s high society in the 1950s. Replete with gossip, scandal, betrayal, and a vibrant cast of real-life supporting characters, readers will be seduced by this startling new look at the infamous society swans.To learn more about Melanie and her books, check out her website. Be sure to check out her recommended ways to purchase this book here.
GIVEAWAY
If all this amazing is note enough for you, be sure to check out the #30Authors giveaway! It features 18 books + a BookJigs Prize Pack!!
You know, I had no idea that you lived in the same town as him when I paired you up but I did have a vague recollection of seeing something about a signing or a meeting on Instagram (I could also be making this up in hindsight). Either way, I'm glad it worked out so well! Thank you for joining in.
ReplyDeleteAllison @ The Book Wheel ... Thank YOU for having me again this year. It's been a blast!
Delete