On the Beach, Under a Tiffany-Blue Sky

By Janet Maslin writing in The New York Times
Published: July 11, 2008

There are two unorthodox things about this summer’s most adorable chick-lit book: It’s a work of nonfiction, and it’s written by a guy. Michael Tonello’s “Bringing Home the Birkin,” the story of one man’s relentless assault on the world’s horsiest luxury-goods label, may break the mold a bit, but it does a fine job of fulfilling this genre’s basic requirements. It’s smart. It’s fizzy. It’s amusingly snarky, with attitude to burn. The genre’s four basic food groups are ambition, romance, travel and partying, and Mr. Tonello dishily delivers (he adores alliteration) them all.

The books mentioned in this article:

AN ABSOLUTE SCANDAL by Penny Vincenzi (Doubleday); 575 pages; $24.95. (Excerpt)
ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING by Janelle Brown (Spiegel & Grau); 401 pages; $24. (Excerpt)
THE BEACH HOUSE by Jane Green (Viking); 341 pages; $24.95.

BRINGING HOME THE BIRKIN: MY LIFE IN HOT PURSUIT OF THE WORLD’S MOST COVETED HANDBAG by Michael Tonello (William Morrow); 257 pages; $25.95.

CHASING HARRY WINSTON by Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster); 280 pages; $25.95. (Excerpt)
THE DAY I ATE WHATEVER I WANTED: AND OTHER SMALL ACTS OF LIBERATION by Elizabeth Berg (Random House); 242 pages; $23. (Excerpt)
LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH by Emily Giffin (St. Martin’s Press); 342 pages; $24.95.
SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY’S by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet (Little, Brown and Company); 309 pages; $24.99. (Excerpt)
SWEET LOVE by Sarah Strohmeyer (Dutton); 302 pages; $24.95. (Excerpt)
TROPHIES by Heather Thomas (William Morrow); 511 pages; $24.95. (Excerpt)

For the full story link to The New York Times.

Books on beach illustration above also from TNYT.