Category: I READ.

Sometimes you read things, and you nod. Nod because you resonate so deeply with what has been written, you feel as though you could have written it yourself. And so I nodded while reading this from Alice Walker, because it is true, for me.

Last week I read: A Life in Frocks by Kelly Doust

For as long as she can remember, Kelly Doust has been passionate about clothes. She is a complete frockaholic – addicted to clothes and trends and fashion – and someone that plans her life by her wardrobe and via glossy magazines. Doust’s memoir isn’t just a chronological order of events in her life – it’s a reflection on the clothes that made the moments, the clothes that made the memories.

All the major moments of her life; from leaving school to being published in Vogue, from travelling the world over to getting married, from career achievements to having her baby daughter, are all marked by an outfit. It’s an exploration of what makes us fall in love with clothes, what makes us choose certain outfits and why moments can be defined by clothes just as much as they can be by smell or touch or feeling.

Beautifully illustrated by Zoe Sadokierski, A Life in Frocks is full of pearls, or diamonds, of wisdom. It’s an engaging read of a person’s life I had no idea existed – and that’s partly where its charm lies. It’s the story of a young woman’s life – a story that could so easily belong to so many others – and it’s honest, fabulous…and not cookie cutter perfect.

Doust delicately balances advice with emotion, reflection with fantasy, and reality with whimsy. And it works. It absolutely works.

First published in Onya Magazine on March 23rd, 2011.

Last week I read: A Guide To Australian Etiquette by Ita Buttrose

In this updated edition of her classic, Ita Buttrose, AO, OBE, sets the record straight in her latest, and tenth, book; A Guide To Australian Etiquette.

“Times may have changed but good manners never go out of fashion,” says Buttrose. Twice voted Australia’s most admired woman, and following her extensive career in print, radio and television, it makes perfect sense to me that Buttrose, a woman of, but not only limited to, grace and style should pen a guide to cover all occasions – from work to weddings.

What I love about A Guide To Australian Etiquette is that it covers more than just your usual thank you notes and order of cutlery on a table; of course, those topics are included, as well as a series of chapters on weddings, but there’s some entirely other sections that I think I’ll be referring to more often; business etiquette, environmental etiquette, dogs (and their owners), the language of flowers (a list of flowers and their meanings) and how to carve meat and poultry correctly.  I particularly love the ‘Out and About’ chapter covering everything from supermarket shopping to public transport to attending the football to eating with chopsticks.

Dishing out advice on sharing personal information on social networking sites to how to behave in a mosque, Buttrose’s A Guide To Australian Etiquette is refreshing and realistic; because we all know that sometimes you need to carve you steak and eat it too.

Last week I read: The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant

As soon as I saw Linda Grant’s book on the shelf at Melbourne’s Reader’s Feast, I knew it was going to be a book that resonated with the very core of me.

The Thoughtful Dresser is about clothes, fashion, how and why we dress the way we do and why clothes matter. It’s an academic and intellectual look at why what we wear defines our identity, and how the way we look and the things we wear tell a story.

Complete with some of her mothers famous words, “The only thing worse than being skint is looking as if you’re skint,” “A good handbag makes the outfit,” and, “Only the rich can afford cheap shoes,” it’s a treasure trove of anecdotes, excerpts and facts as to why fashion is not just for and about vain, brain-less women.

Grant writes extensively on the changing face of dress over the years, the impact of clothing during World War II, and there’s even an entire chapter devoted to fashion and clothing post 9/11. Such examples only drive home the message that there’s more to clothing than purpose. Almost every moment in history that Grant refers to has been defined by costume and dress – and she offers some persuasive explanations as to why.

The Thoughtful Dresser is, indeed, a thoughtful look at the pleasure involved in dressing and adornment, and the joy of shopping and finding the perfect dress or handbag.

It’s a welcome change from the flirty and, dare I say it, girly writings on clothes and fashion – this is a serious book, sometimes entirely exhaustive with information, on the serious matter of dress.

Last week I read: A Golden Age of Freedom by Rupert Murdoch.

A Golden Age of Freedom was the title of the Boyer Lecture Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, delivered in 2008, and is now the title of the ABC printed transcript of that lecture. And what a lecture it is – empathetic, honest, inspiring at times, and always focused on the future.

I’m impressed that Murdoch is so embracing of technology, in fact, he argues that we must vigorously embrace such change – and continue to – for the benefit of Australia and all Australians.

He discusses the opportunities available in Australia, the observations he has made about developing nations, and why he believes Australia has become complacent. The lecture is definitely stirring, mostly in all the right ways, and it has given me a greater understanding of the man behind the empire – his values and beliefs – and why, despite the fact he no longer lives in Australia, he is still qualified to comment on its future.

This week I read: I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron.

I love Nora Ephron.

I love her because I occasionally see a little bit of myself in her. I love her because I sometimes want to be like her. And because if I end up like her I won’t be in any way disappointed.

I love her because she is funny. Deeply, honestly, funny. And she’s clever. Seriously intelligent. And she’s lived.  Really lived and enjoyed and sucked the marrow out of life.

I love her because she doesn’t pretend to be something she isn’t. And because she’s wise. She’s so wise and blunt, and I love that.

Her latest book, I Remember Nothing, is a collection of short articles and essays on her life and her experiences. It’s in many ways like her previous collection, I Feel Bad About My Neck, but maybe even more personal, perhaps a little more telling. It’s a book of reflections – of memories made, events attended, people met, things felt – and everything forgotten.

The way Ephron writes is poignant, without being soppy. Sarcastic, without being too much so. And funny. I’ll call her that 100 times, because that is what she is.

Nora Ephron is so much more than the screenplays she wrote. There’s more to her than Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Hanging Up, Julie & Julia, This Is My Life and the rest. And I think it can be found in her collections. In I Remember Nothing – where she may have forgotten the encounters with people she has met, like Eleanor Roosevelt, Cary Grant, Dorothy Parker and The Beatles – she has managed to compile, to list, to remember the things that define her; husbands, and family, New York, and travel, books, and writing, waffles, and reading, dinners, and friends…and all the little pieces in between.

Nora Ephron makes me look forward to getting older. If for nothing else than because there’s still a chance to be like her.