Iconographic DS

(Gianna)

Wow, I have been in awe of my very own Liz Sullivan [Gianna's so possessive of me.  I need my space!] reading Chuck Palahniuk’s library (she stopped at 10 books but it should come as no surprise that she is a Class A Quitter…strictly my opinion and I don’t mean quitter in a bad way).  Anyway, I want to hitch my high-end wagon to Liz’s little star (although I feel in the end I will end up shining a bit brighter and soaring a bit higher…and I don’t mean that in a bad way). What complete works by an iconic author should I read? Like Liz it must be someone that I have not read. Icon…I need a good icon…think brain think. James Joyce? Robert Jordan? Jack Canfield? And then it hit me. If you are going to read an icon…read THE ICON.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful....

I didn’t get an exact count but I believe my icon has written 178 books. Her books can be a little hard to find but I secured one about two hours and forty-five minutes ago. Yes, that’s right, I’ve finished my first Danielle Steel meal and it was delicious.

The Cottage was a perfect novel to fall into the abyss (and I mean that in a good way…if there is one) of Danny Steel (kids call her Danny and by kids I mean readers in their late fifties) because it contains a character (of the two dimensional type, Danny wasn’t the first to use this writing technique but I would guess she has perfected it), named Liz Sullivan. I know, it's perfect. [Really, Google it. There's a character named 'Liz Sullivan.'  It's my cross to bear.] In one scene Liz Sullivan who is completely heterosexual finds herself in line at an Indigo Girls concert reading the novel The Well of Loneliness--hilarious! Wait…no; sorry, that wasn’t in this book, that is an actual scene from this blog’s co-author. Apologies. [Apologies not accepted.  Humph.]

Nonetheless, this read was excellent. I turned down the corners of the pages that really got my “attention” and soon found that I had many turned down pages. Many. Let me set the plot up for you. An aging Hollywood star, he’s in his early seventies, enjoys dating twenty something ladies (god bless him!). By the way…and I wish I could say this is going to be the most homophobic thing this homo is ever going to write but, for a straight old man…he is incredibly…well, finicky about his clothing and the clothing of the ladies he “dates." I couldn’t get out of my head that at some point this senior citizen was going to come out of the closet. Spoiler alert…he doesn’t. Anyhow, turns out that this Hollywood star lives way beyond his means due to the tailor-made clothes, fancy food, and expensive cars. He ends up having to take in a couple of boarders. Here is the thing about this Hollywood feller…completely unlikable (and I mean that in a bad way).  In the end this spoiled, rich (actually broke) man falls in love with someone only 20 or 30 years his junior proving that people do change. People do change. Oh, by the way, she is rich so it’s a really sweet happy ending.

I really want to be clear about one thing: I couldn’t put this book down. Seriously. I get it.  You win Danny, you win.

Next up: Message from ‘Nam (spoiler alert…it’s ’Nam as in Vietnam)