GRAY * PROJECT X * LILLY

Gray A Novel by Pete Wentz with James Montgomery - Second in a row first person novel about a young man in love.  Only where the last one was witty and a bit outside the box, this one is very much inside the box, well written and truthful.  The unnamed narrator keeps his reader close, and we only get to know what he wants us to know.  It's tightly written yet in some ways this guy is an open book.  He hints at things that are happening to him, but gives no indication that he is doing anything besides being very passive about impending success and fame.  On the other hand, he does what he wants, when he wants, which is always the charm for me.  

Project X - This is one of those movies I love to love.  Someone like me was never the intended audience, which makes it even more fun.  It's Risky Business on steroids.  The ultimate trusting parents go out of town and leave their nerdy only child home alone for the weekend movie.  You think you can imagine how wrong it will go, but really, you can't.  It's really funny, and fun in a sick way.  That is fun in a normal way for kids, but fun in a sick way if you're a parent.  Is anyone more sweet and frustrating than a teen age boy?  How do they pull off that sweetness?  How? Lilly by Kathryn Livingston - Now we swing the pendulum back in the other direction.  Lilly is the biography of Lilly Pulitzer, she of the Palm Beach colorful shift dresses and now mega conglomerate colorful everything.  If you care to know a little about Lilly and how she did it, I recommend doing a quick internet search.  If you care to know every last detail about every rich ancestor and friend Lilly ever met, then read this book.  It's just too much!  The bits and parts about Lilly are sweet.   She accidentally fell into her business in one of those women saw her wearing it and wanted one too, so she had one made for them, and then more women wanted one, and soon she had a store, and soon she had a factory and a company.  Good stuff and it always makes a good story.  Without all the background about the other people, thank you.