My Ranking Of Condé Nast Memoirs
Everything Kelsey read last month 🍒
Hi friends,
Happy 7/11🥤 I hope you thought of me when you read the news about Anna Wintour. *Rubs hands together* The time is nigh. That memoir will be the last thing I read about Condé Nast because reading When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter this past month felt like a scoop of ice cream when you are already full from dinner and your pants have shrunk in the wash. This was my sixth memoir about a senior editor from the company and third about Vanity Fair alone. There was not much new information that I had not already read in the others, which makes sense considering most of these books overlap in their timelines. For a company that has been around for over 100 years, all of these memoirs come from the same twenty year period, when the going was good, if you will. I did enjoy the unique bits about his decades long beef with Tr*mp and the process of starting Air Mail.
I feel it is only fair to provide my ranking of Condé Nast Memoirs, from best to worst:
Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl - Gourmet; she seems like such a delightful person. Her chapter about 9/11 made me cry on the subway. Read if you enjoyed Ina’s memoir.
The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley - Vogue; I read this shortly after he passed away. There were tons of shocking details in how he was treated at Vogue and in the fashion industry.
Dilettante by Dana Brown - Vanity Fair; This reads how VF feels; it is gossipy, juicy, and glitzy. He was an assistant to Graydon Carter and ultimately became the deputy editor. Apparently it is being adapted for television. Yum!
Empire Of The Elite by Michael M. Grynbaum - Condé Nast; Most of it was skimmable, but there were some interesting bits about titles that don’t have memoirs tied to them (yet) like GQ, SELF, and Allure. The best parts were about the absurd expense accounts and hiring practices.
When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter - Vanity Fair; (see above)
Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown - Vanity Fair; This is the longest out of all of them at 464 pages and we surely did not need that much detail. Some bits truly dragged.
See you next month,
P.S. Here is the LinkedIn post looking for Anna’s replacement.
📚💋Funny Story by Emily Henry
★★★★
This was my first novel after reading a lot of nonfiction in May. Sometimes you need a little rom-com to cleanse the palette.
I can’t remember the main characters' names, and I really don’t think it matters. It is a will-they-won’t-they love story that centers on community, small businesses, and a children’s reading program at the library, which made me feel some type of way as I spent six years volunteering at my hometown’s summer reading program at our local library.
RIYL: Every Summer After, The Wedding People, and if you are excited for People We Meet On Vacation coming to Netflix
💻Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
★★★★
One of the first collections of short stories I have ever liked. All are intertwined, centered on the topic of rejection, and one especially goes off the rails. Read my recommendation here.
RIYL: Kinds Of Kindness, The Substance, and There There
🗞️💼When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter
★★★
Listened to the audiobook
Skip and read Dilettante instead
RIYL: The Grill Room (podcast), Empire Of The Elite, Vanity Fair Diaries, or if you’re an Air Mail subscriber
🤠🎶Wild West Village by Lola Kirke
★★★
Listened to the audiobook
I thought we were going to get more details on growing up in New York City’s West Village and instead I got really lost with all the names. These names were attached to incredibly interesting people, but we did not sit with them long enough before moving on to the next, so I felt there was a lack of characterization.
RIYL: They're Going to Love You, Girls (TV show)
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar - At the time of writing this, I am 58% through
The Book of George by Kate Greathead - a colleague told me to read this, and that is sometimes all it takes
Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman - I saw this book in strata bites
Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene - I wanted to read this memoir after seeing Jayson speak about his new novel at Books Are Magic
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I am a TJR fan, but this also happens to be our next book club book