Crush of the Week: Helen Fielding Creator of Bridget Jones…Ramble

I attended the BookExpoAmerica (BEA) last week at the Jacob Javits Center. It was a whirlwind of activity with arms and elbows flying as readers grabbed for free books. Well, before that frenzy which left me seeking the santity of the Harlequin booth, I had the enormous pleasure of attending the Author Breakfest hosted by Chris Matthews where I got to hear Helen Fielding speak about her third Bridget Jones’ book “Mad About A Boy.” 

I’m going to give you the gist from my notes of what she said. Imagine a fabulous dry British accent that sounds like champagne and you’ll enjoy it even more. Disclaimer: I said gist and yes some is verbatim, but don’t (literally) quote me or Helen on that!

I want to thank everyone for coming here today. It’s nice to see all of you. The first time I had a public speaking engagement like this only two people showed up. One of them I had dated. Afterwards we went to lunch where he told me he was gay. — grrlgenius: transported to Bridget heaven!) I never thought I’d write another one (Bridget Jones novel) after the first two because I lost my voice. But last year, some things started to strike me as funny again and I started writing without telling anyone so that took the pressure off and reclaimed my privacy which allowed me creative freedom.

When the first Bridget Jones book came out there wasn’t any of the online things around that are around today like Twitter. I signed up for Twitter to do some research as Bridget Jones. Twitter is like a popularity contest. I kept checking the account for followers: naught. Again: naught. Then I got suspended from Twitter for checking 150 times in an hour how many followers I had. (grrlgenius: crowd was roaring laughing). Women come up to me all the time to tell me how much they relate to Bridget. I feel like I’m the Pope, confess child confess. One woman told me she went on an Internet Date and they had kissed a bit. A few days later she’d received a mass email from the fellow announcing his wife had just given birth to a girl. 

No matter where I go though women tell me they relate to Bridget even in Japan where they are so fabulous and tiny and eat small amounts of fish! I think she is so appealing because she represents the gap between how you feel you should be and how you are inside. When I was a kid I thought middle-aged woman were sagging and not very attractive with gray hair and you know today’s middle-aged women are very glam. This book sort of rebrands the older woman of today. Now there’s young children and you have so many priorities the to-do list might have find cheese, finish novel on it. Look at David Cameron, the PM of Britain. He was in the car on the phone and his kids were acting up. He finally had to say to them “shut up I’m on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel.” So, see all of us are juggling a lot of things today and we try to act like we’re glamourous when we are a mess on the other end. I’ve been wearing sweatpants and didn’t brush my hair looking quite feral while I wrote this book. So now I’m going to go on a huge diet (grrlgenius: she is so tiny!) and have massive amounts of plastic surgery before the book comes out. 

@Rocknroll_ELLE is Picture Perfect According to MarthaStewart.com…Ramble

Seriously? Is there any prouder moment as a Frenchie mama? Seeing the smiles on people’s faces as we walk down the street is amazing and this sweater really gets a lot of compliments, but then knowing that is being spread on the web via Martha, the ultimate Frenchie mama just adds a whole other level of awesome.

Nook takes aim at Kindle Singles with original content for Nook Snaps

Reblogged from paidContent:

Barnes & Noble (s BKS) has sold e-singles as "Nook Snaps" since December 2011, but on Thursday the company announced that it is revamping the program and commissioning original singles content. Nook Snaps will release "3 to 5 new Nook Snaps selections of at least 5,000 words every other month" for $1.99 apiece.

Nook is commissioning some of the Nook Snaps, and, like Kindle Singles, will also accept unsolicited submissions -- they'll be launching a submissions box "shortly," B&N VP of digital content Theresa Horner told me.

Read more… 150 more words

This is pretty amazing. I'm obsessed with e-singles right now and this will only spur me on in my quest!

Link

Then Kylie’s Skirt Came Down…Ramble

If you read a lot of women’s fiction like I do you can’t be anything but inspired by Kylie Minogue’s new, sexy track “Skirt”. There’s one performer who always puts on a glamourous show. I am the type of person who will pay for a ticket and see Kylie on my own because I know it’s going to be a big dance party anyway. Glamour. Lasers. Scantily clad buff men and women and of course, Kylie herself. Take a listen to her new exciting track and try to stop your butt from wiggling. 

Auntie Coco Feels This Pain…Ramble

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that I am surrounded by my siblings’ Baby Army. The Baby Army is lead by a 2 year old named Sophie. When Auntie Coco (that’s me!) needed to rest following surgery, Sophie was quite insistant “NO, NO Coco up, up Coco UUUUUPPPPP!!!!!”. Good thing Auntie Coco had a lot of percocet! I thus had to laugh pretty hard when I came across this little gem “Conversations with My Two Year Old”:

Of course, no baby humor will ever top Will Ferrell’s “The Landlord” video:

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/22

My Current Reads…Ramble

There’s nothing more perfect than finding a nook and a blanket to snuggle up in with a great book on a stormy day. Better yet you can lay a towel down on your couch, but on your bathers and pretend you are reading on a beach- the point is reading is one of the greatest forms of entertainment since the first book was written. 

I’ve made a pact with myself to read the books that I’ve bought which have thus far been unread before I run out and grab any new ones. It’s a revolution I tell you and I almost jumped for joy with my ‘inner goddess’ (ugh! I never wanted to take a Sharpie to black out words prior to this!) when I realized I had finally reached the last page of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, a book I started reading at the insistence of a friend who’d read it multiple times. Ok, fine, I’ll read it and see what the fuss is about and there wasn’t anything to fuss about until one hundred pages in and by then I had already been subjected to the ‘Inner Goddess’ nonsense I had to go off and read other books. I did this several times and now look at me, because of the pact 8 months later I am FREE! Hurrah, joy, jump, laugh be free of the ‘rapey’ like thug Christian whipping her with a belt. Of course, I know, it’s a trilogy but I am happy my pact is working because I’m discovering a whole bunch of really great books I already had but not made the time to read.

Right now I’m reading Emma Donoghue’s ‘Slammerkin’ and it’s highly entertaining, set in the 1700′s in London when our young lady, Mary Saunders becomes a street walker. Now, yesterday my mother and I were watching an episode of ‘Downton Abbey’ (Season 3), where Ethel, former maid turned prostitute (‘Oh my, that’s not a word you hear in this house very often’- you are right Mrs. Hughes, not often!) decides to pack off her child and give him to his less than gracious grandfather and grandmother to raise while she ‘takes the road to ruin’. My mom then raised the point they live in a small village so would there be so many women like that? I mean, apparently enough that Mrs. Crawley has a room full of them she is single-handed saving! Oh my. 

Back to the books, here are some recent releases I have consumed:

1) Liza Palmer’s “Nowhere But Home”- yes, Liza is one of my favorite ‘chick’ lit authors. She keeps getting better and her characters are so relate able I can see myself being friends with them in real life. This one is set in Texas and is a perfect spring/summer read so get it now! (HEART!)

2) Gwyneth Paltrow’s “It’s All Good” cook book has been keeping me quite deliciously occupied in the kitchen! I love the anecdotes. Favorites so far: The vegetarian version of the turkey chili, Best Green Juice, Almond & Kale Smoothie, Bummer Bars, Bernado’s Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, Cleo’s Afternoon Smoothie… okay you get the idea. I also loved the Beet, Apple & Fennel soup. Yum. This is a fun read while you are cooking and I even learned how to make a poached egg, which is not something my mother ever made. (KITCHEN)

3) Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In”- this one is for career girls who should be leaders at the table but are in the door, head down, letting men run the show. It’s not time to lean back it’s time to be more forceful, put your empowerment to use and take what’s your’s. Sandberg gives an honest look back at her career and how she herself has to change her own habits in her career. (CAREER) 

4. John Green “An Abundance of Katherine’s” is a must for those who like teen drama. Our hero is looking for his ‘ah-ha’ moment of brilliance. He must hurry and recover from being dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine because the clock is ticking on his child genius status. This was love able from the get-go. A nerdy math kid who is a hopeless romantic and just wants to be loved!? Get it, read it, and enjoy. You’re welcome. (SWEET AND FUNNY)

A recent bad date had a very good suggestion which is next in my queue “Motherless Brooklyn” which just goes to show there is redemption in the written word. 

The Bling Ring Got Off Easy…Ramble

Five years ago I lived in West Hollywood just behind the Standard Hotel. Oh my South of Sunset by half a block! Well my dear readers half a block wasn’t going to save me from the heinous sounds of swarming helicopters as Paris Hilton was carted off to jail. The helicopters got there in the middle of the night and when I went outside in the morning (which felt like being under attack, one of the things I least liked about living in LA are the sound of helicopters chasing criminals!), I easily counted TEN coptors circling, looking like they were going to collide they seemed so close to one another. It was all for Paris Hilton, world’s most ridiculous party girl. 

Neighbors petitioned to have her tossed from the neighborhood and were successful. The heiress’ moment in the slammer only served to increase her reign of a pop culture person of note and fascination for young, impressionable teens. The upcoming film “Bling Ring” directed & written by Sophia Coppola about a group of teens who wanted to be just like Paris who then decided to break into her house and rob her to achieve her lifestyle has just been premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Ironically enough, one of the real life culprits, Alexis Neirs was in the middle of filming a reality show for E! at the time she was arrested. I mean, she wanted to be like Hilton: arrests (check), jail time (check), drug use (check), Reality TV show (check), model (check) and now Neirs is married to a guy she met in Mexican rehab and they have a baby born April 30 of this year! Girl, you got yourself a Paris Hilton life after all! 

The trailer for ‘Bling Ring’ showcases Emma Watson, who’s character is loosely based on Neirs. If anything it shows the amount of delusional that fame and Reality TV has helped create- that Paris was so familiar, that ‘seemingly’ overnight you could have and deserve designer goods no matter how you obtained them and that there really was nothing wrong with it because somehow, it was owed to you?!

I personally feel like this is a sickness of ‘want’ and feeling entitled to things not earned can lead down a very dangerous and horrible path, one that on the East Coast turned into violence at the Boston Marathon. What a person has or doesn’t have, how they go about interpretting what they should have- what other people should have- and how they might punish those who do have money. You might disagree but it has driven people over the edge and whatever you want to think, The Recession hasn’t been resolved. The darkest parts and needs of those just trying to survive from one day to the next, just trying to find their place in the world can really lead a person who is broken repeatedly into unspeakable thoughts and actions. I live in Brooklyn so I feel and see and experience the dischord on a daily basis even in my classy neighbourhood. (Sorry Hipsters Wannabes, the illusion of ‘GIRLS’ doesn’t showcase how this is NY and there is violence lurking, don’t court it by walking around fueled by cocaine in a see-through top). 

To me, the violation of stealing people’s things is an act of the most personal kind of terrorism. I had a very ill father who passed away last year. While he was alive the various medical aides used to steal from my parents’ home. It made us trapped because we needed their help to have my father live with some decency and they would easily just disappear or not show up so it was impossible to prove what they stole when it was taken. It would be random items like a good pot or nice dishware, so I can easily understand how Paris Hilton didn’t immediately notice things were missing. She is a busy person who travels constantly, I’m sure she is frequently in and out of her home going from one engagement to the next. 

Reading the press quotes surrounding it, the movie has forced Paris Hilton to face the trauma of what happened as her home was violated multiple times and included the loss of family heirloom jewelery valued in the $2 million dollar arena. I can finally relate to Paris Hilton, but not for being this object to emulate or befriend. I think the group of teens got off quite easy for what they did and they should count their lucky stars.