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Ask Me Again Tomorrow A Life In Progress by Olympia Dukakis - What a woman. Olympia Dukakis, with all her greek and mother issues believed in herself and persevered to the top doing what she loved to do. I got this off my mom's shelf when she'd designated it for the go pile rather than the keep pile. It's a great book by the intelligent and thoughtful woman behind the actress who has played so many roles on stage and in the movies. I love that she is evolving no matter where she is in life - always looking toward the future and new opportunities. She has also spent many years studying the Goddess Theory, which gave the book a different kind of a depth and a deeper insight into Olympia. If you're inspired by stories about interesting and strong women, then this one is for you.
Blessed Are The Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch - Although this irish story is sweet, there's something corny about the writing that wasn't my cup of tea, (or shall I say wheel of cheese). Maybe it's a little too musical, or the dialect is too imposed, although that, too is sweet. It's interesting to learn about how cheese is made, and I'm almost curious to try making some but I don't like the strong cheeses enough to go about it when there are things like timpano and caramel sauce to try. The end of the book justifies the getting there, and the story is filled with quirky surprises.
The Glitter Plan by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor - Although it always catches my eye, I've never bought Juicy Couture since it seems to small, too young, and a bit too glitzy. I knew it was started by two California girls whose look caught on and who made it big. Which is true. But there is so much more to their story. The Glitter Plan is actually a guide for would be entrepreneurs about how to do it the old fashioned way. I love Gela and Pam! They took a love of fashion and vintage, $200 and a niche market, and cleverly stumbled their way into success. They never stopped having fun and laughing along the way. In the book they take credit for a number of ideas for which I can name someone who did it before them, but they are good at self promotion, so if they can get away with it, more power to them. They made it big the way I would hope to make it big.....one step at a time.
A couple of years ago, I thought it would be interesting to see if there was a market for Steve's Yogurt. It's the old fashioned greek recipe that his dad used to make and my papou used to make, and that Gia still makes. Steve's been making it for years and it's delicious. I thought we could take a few batches to some stores and see if it sold and generated re-orders. Simple, right? I mentioned it to a friend, and he said no, you have to get a distributor, get licenses, get manufacturing and go big. So all of a sudden, instead of investing a few gallons of milk and man hours, we were going to have to invest a fortune in time and money. This friend would be the perfect guy to sell this yogurt, and without him, I realized that I didn't know enough about it and love it enough to do it my way. So I dropped the idea (which Steve was never into anyway). As soon as I take Peter to college and square away a few things, I want to get back to jewelry and sewing. Love what you do.
I'm inspired by Pam and Gela and their Juicy story. It's still possible to start small and grow your company into a real brand. If you've ever had an entrepreneurial dream, this modern day Cinderella story is a great read.
Today Peter and I are off to Cal Poly. We've spent the past couple of days packing, and tomorrow we'll be moving him into his new home away from home. He chose a beautiful place to go to college, and I wish him success in his academics and athletics, as well as in his new friendships. His grandmothers have been teary, I'm just excited, Steve is Steve, and I hope his grandfathers and all those greeks who came before him are looking down from heaven and loving that their grandson, Peter George, with his Panagos, Cotsirilos, Pappas and Chelepis blood is going to college. Go Mustangs!
The Harem Midwife by Roberta Rich - Here we go. This story has it all. Intrigue, history, good and bad characters male and female, and every word, paragraph and page moves the story forward so that you'll read it in a flash. It takes place in Constantinople in the 1500s where Hannah, a midwife to the Imperial Palace has complicated her life with secrets, each one for good cause. Civilization was cruel and petty in those days and those places, so Hannah has to be clever in every situation. You're bound to love it. There's even brief mention of a Goldfinch in this story, and it's a real bird, and I couldn't help but compare how much I was enjoying this book compared to the absolute chore it was to read the book entitled The Goldfinch.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - I know that some people like a long book. The longer the better and they pour over every word as they read it for weeks on end. Not me. What is there to say in a story that takes 771 pages? Since Valerie liked it so much, I kept on reading. and reading. and reading. and reading. and reading. And I found out nothing new, and the plot advanced extremely slowly even though it covers 10 years in the life of Theo, a New York City boy who survives a museum bombing. I found it excruciating, long, wordy, and verbose. You are so lucky I read some of these books so that you don't have to. I'm glad to tell you the whole story in a few sentences if you want to know what it's about, (so in that case, call or email me) but I would never ruin it here on the blog for anyone who still wants to read it. Because I know that some people like a long book.
