Monday, July 06, 2009

Read: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

Anita Loos has me quite tickled with this "illuminating diary of a professional lady". The lady in question is Lorelei Lee who lives in New York where her many gentlemen friends take her out to dine at the Ritz, emphasize to her that she has plenty of brains, and send her plenty of gifts. For example, an English writer sends her a set of books for her birthday "by a gentleman called Mr Conrad. They all seem to be about ocean travel although I have not had time to more than glance through them. I have always liked novels about ocean travel ever since I posed for Mr Christie for the front cover of a novel about ocean travel by McGrath because I always say that a girl never really looks as well as she does on board a steamship, or even a yacht".

And Lorelei gets to do plenty of posing on board when one of her gentlemen friends sends her off to Europe to get educated:
"I mean the Eyefull Tower is devine and it is much more educational than the London Tower, because you can not even see the London Tower if you happen to be two blocks away."
Of course she really spends her time meeting more men and getting them to spend money on her. And she quickly learns the difference between American men and European men: "I really think that American gentlemen are the best after all, because kissing your hand may make you feel very very good but a diamond and safire bracelet lasts forever."

Since it's all about beach reads this time of the year, I'd have to say recommend this for lazing around in the sun. It's fun and frivolous and entertaining.

2 comments:

dimsumdolly said...

Ooh, sounds like a fun read indeed! I need to take a leaf out of that book! ;p

RealLifeReading said...

Heh! I'm sure you'll be tickled by it too.