Books, NonFiction

Dapper Dan by Daniel Day

Worth A Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review Daniel Day grew up in Harlem. He learned business and people throwing dice, but his passion for fashion made him into an icon. 

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I tried to be dapper… but it’s quarantine, so I just threw on the nicest clothes I had with me, but also my feet were cold. Knight just looks like he’s sending out an S.O.S. with his eyes.
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Dapper Dan by Daniel Day. | Dress | Blazer | Fascinator | Slippers | Sports Bra | Lipstick

Daniel Day had never crossed my radar until I read Dapper Dan. That shouldn’t be surprising, my knowledge of anything remotely hip-hop is pathetic at best. After reading the book, I know more than I did; so that’s something.

Harlem has been home to a Renaissance, poverty, racism, violence, drugs, gangs, police brutality, art, culture, music, activism, change, and so much more. It’s a small and incredibly controversial area. Day has lived in one of the most interesting places during some of the most interesting years of recent history. Born in 1944, he grew up in the aftermath of the Renaissance, just in time to watch his home change and his family change along with it. From an early age, his life was grounded in education and hustling. A poor kid in a poor area, he hit the streets to make his money throwing dice because that’s where the money was then. He was a promising writer with journalistic aspirations, but it’s hard to dream distant dreams when money’s right in front of you and you’re hungry. Looking “fly” was important in Harlem, and Day did what he could to be the flyest. In his late thirties, he had children to support and wanted to hustle in a less legally gray way. He channeled his love for fashion into a high end boutique centered in and made for Harlem, catering to the hustlers he knew. It wasn’t long before word of his reputation spread throughout the country. Dapper Dan dressed hip-hop stars, rap up-and-comers, hustlers, and anyone who could afford his pieces. He tore down walls marking Harlem as a destination where people could and wanted to shop. 

From the beginning, Day makes it clear this is more than a memoir, it’s a story of systemic injustice. By page four, “It was understood, literally from birth, that the system didn’t really care about keeping our information correctly, that it didn’t really care about us.” His story cannot be told without also telling the story of Harlem, the people surrounding him, and the politics confining them. Day is a product of his environment. A bright kid, he grew up surrounded by hustlers and legends, like Langston Hughes, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Patti LaBelle, Sugar Ray and more. They were all brilliant with a knowledge of the world and no access to it because of racism, prejudice, laws, and stupidity. Day showed a great deal of promise as a student, especially as a writer, having won many local competitions. All that promise didn’t keep him from dropping out of school during his sophomore year to throw dice and hustle like those who came before him, “The long-term benefits of getting an education seemed abstract at best and a lie at worst.” He wouldn’t earn his GED until he was 24; later attending Iona College before dropping out to support his children. Heroin infiltrated Harlem, ruining lives and destroying potential; Day was not immune nor was his family. He went to jail twice for drugs and spent nine months in an Aruban prison for credit card fraud.

No topic is off limits in Dapper Dan. From religion to drugs to jail time to marital affairs, Day does not shy away from telling the ugly truths of his story. In those hard truths, a man exists of unwavering loyalty, hard work, intelligence, and the ability to consciously analyze the root of his failings in order to be a better business owner, husband, father, and man. 

Each part begins with a quote from a black writer or poet. Dapper Dan is sprinkled with literary, societal, political, and historical references spanning centuries and cultures – I had to look up several – from song lyrics to wars to a chapter titled “Raisin in the Sun.” Day is showing off his knowledge base in an endearingly confident manner. He wants the reader to not-so-subtly know he is more than his faults, he’s learned. 

Dapper Dan named his boutique after his moniker. He earned it on the street from the original Dapper Dan, and it stuck with him his entire life. If you google Daniel Day, Daniel Day-Lewis immediately autofills and pops up even if you correct it, but type in Dapper Dan and the fashion revolutionary is the first hit. There was a vacuum in the fashion industry. A lack of partnerships with white owned companies and the lack of black owned companies to partner with made it difficult to start his boutique. He didn’t let those obstacles stop him. Day found a way. He wanted and succeeded in creating a haven for people to purchase quality fashion without feeling unwelcome or the stares or being followed by security guards in stores, like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. When he opened his boutique, he took his skills of reading people and improving what already exists and brought them into his clothing. He started out by selling furs and moved into creating looks inspired by haute couture looks, “I blackenized them.” They weren’t Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, or anything else. They were Dapper Dan’s couture pieces. It took years for the fashion houses to realize what was happening in Harlem, and when they did, shit hit the fan. “They had to see that I had taken these brands and pushed them into new territory,” but they didn’t see it that way. 

Day overcame obstacles only to find more in his way at every turn. Dapper Dan is the story of a man navigating a world ruled by systemic racism. At 75 years old, he is still conquering the fashion world, creating trends, dressing some of the most influential artists, and expanding his mind. I enjoyed the book immensely.  

Memorable Quotes
“After heroin and cruel law enforcement turned neighborhoods like Harlem and South Bronx into ghettos, crack and AIDS arrived to turn our lives into waking nightmares.”
“I started reading and experimenting and sciencing it out.”
“I had never really bought into organized religion, but I was fascinated by the historical need for it.”
“Sometimes a thing happens, and you think that it happened to knock you down, but it turns out the experience really knocked you up.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Dapper Dan; Made in Harlem
Author: Daniel R. Day
With: Mikael Awake
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 978-525510512

Books, Fiction

Christmas in London by Anita Hughes

Worth A Read Meh
Length 288
Quick Review Two women spend Christmas in London to make a cooking show, and their lives find new purposes. 

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Christmas in London by Anita Hughes at Levy Park in Houston. | Green Dress | Red Heels | Sapphire Necklace | Sapphire Earrings | Fossil Watch | Pearl Bracelets |

Christmas in London by Anita Hughes has a lot of things you want in a Christmas story, but it falls short in just as many ways. 

Louisa is a small time pastry chef working in New York City. Kate is a producer for a local cooking show. They spend Christmas in London to be a part of a holiday cooking show. Louisa grows close to an assistant from New York, and Kate revisits people from her past. 

I’m fairly ambivalent about this book. It’s not bad. It’s definitely not great, but it’s what people want and expect during the holidays. Loads of ridiculous romantic stuff and drama for no reason. Hughes writes in the third person and switches between Louisa and Kates’s point of views throughout Christmas in London. It’s mostly told in the present, except for when Kate has flashbacks to the past for a muddy subplot. Honestly, the writing is really boring and cliché. There is an abundance of similes. Hughes is overly descriptive to the point of monotony. It became so repetitive when as the narrative said in one way or another “a man showed up and she realized it was Trevor/Noah.” Yuck. It doesn’t build suspense. It’s just boring and a waste of ink. 

I could get past the writing if the characters were more believable or even likable. Louisa and her love interest felt like they were in high school more than adults starting out in a romantic relationship. Kate is more mature but not by a lot. I have a hard time identifying with adults in relationships who are completely lacking in mature communication skills. At the same time, their conflict resolution comes far too easily after they’ve bungled the whole situation from poor communication skills. They’re also not very likable. The parallels drawn between Louisa and Kate are not subtle; they’re basically living the same story arc.The male characters are the worst. Honestly, I don’t know why either woman put up with it? No man is better than any man. 

Anita Hughes’ Christmas in London is a decent mindless read to keep you busy instead of spending time with the in-laws or family. It’s not great, but it could be a lot worse.

Memorable Quotes
““But there isn’t time to be passionate about more than one thing. If you want something in life, you have to sacrifice everything else to get it.””
“She had never been able to separate love and attraction.”
“That was the problem with sex; it made it impossible to think.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Christmas in London
Author: Anita Hughes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9781250145796

Books, Fiction

The Farm by Joanne Ramos

Worth a Read Yes
Length 336
Quick Review Golden Oaks is a gilded cage for the very wealthy to know their babies are getting the best of everything including surrogates. 

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Reading The Farm by Joanne Ramos in Jacksonville, North Carolina. | Dress | Shoes | Sunglasses
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Cover of The Farm by Joanne Ramos. | Dress |

The Farm is Joanne Ramos’ debut novel. Ramos balances the outlandish and the painfully possible reality the near future could hold for privileged and not-so-privileged parts of society. 

Golden Oaks is a place where young, healthy, pretty, desperate-for-money women go to be Hosts for lavishly wealthy Clients in want of a baby or three. Located a few hours outside of New York City, it couldn’t be a safer or more beautiful place for a baby to grow under the watchful eye of trained health professionals looking after every aspect of the baby and the Host. Women of all colors, backgrounds, and ethnicities are hosts at Golden Oaks, which is not-so-lovingly referred to as The Farm by many of the Hosts. 

The story follows four women from vastly different backgrounds. Mae is an American of Asian descent who manages Golden Oaks. Jane is a Filipino immigrant trying to support her daughter. Ate is Jane’s older, Filipino, immigrant cousin who nannies for upper class New York families.  Reagan is a young, wealthy, white woman trying to make enough money to support her art career without her father’s money and control. The Farm dives into socioeconomic diversity and driving forces behind poverty, emigration, and choices women make based solely on need. 

Ramos fills The Farm with interesting plots and characters. There is a 1984 Big Brother kind of feel to the novel that is simultaneously overtly creepy yet almost comforting. Though, the plot has a happier rather than completely realistic ending, there are very realistic aspects and problems to Golden Oaks that ground the plot in human emotion and complexity. Ramos doesn’t simplify difficult concepts nor does she try to explain them. She tells a story about motivation, poverty, and womanhood allowing the reader to take away what they will. 

The quote “Sometimes a person has no choice but hard choices…” is incredibly insightful and the entire point of The Farm. Though simple in concept, it can be hard for people who have never experienced that kind of desperation to understand what women will do when their backs are against a wall looking into the mouth of a hippo.    

The Farm is heartbreaking and infuriating. Joanne Ramos’ has quite a literary career ahead of her if this is what she brings to the table with her debut novel. 

Memorable Quotes
“But babies are stronger than people think, and smarter.”
“the monumental efforts taken to make Clients feel food about outsourcing their pregnancies.”
“As if being a good girl and being strong willed were in conflict.”

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Title: The Farm
Author: Joanne Ramos
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781984853752

Books, Fiction

Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein

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Spreading love and tolerance to all my followers…. Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein | Coziest Target Throw Blanket | Warm Etsy Grey Ear Warmer 

Read Yes
Length 320
Quick Review The original. The revised. Every once in a while, a book comes a long that is truly memorable. This is one of those books.

I have loved Harvey Fierstein since Mrs. Doubtfire. I’ve actually loved a ton of his movies, but I never realized it until reading Torch Song Trilogy because I didn’t really know who he was other than the guy in a bunch of movies I like. More than just an actor, he is an author and award winning playwright.

In the anniversary edition of Torch Song Trilogy, the original is featured along with the revised version. A forward by Fierstein starts the book off with a bang. It started off Broadway but eventually moved onto Broadway. There, Fierstein won a Tony for best play in 1983 and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. It was a sensation. After reading it, I can see why.

Fierstein combined three one-act plays into one three-act play for the amazing Torch Song Trilogy: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! Each act centers on a different phase in Arnold’s life. Starting in the 1970’s, he is a gay, torch singer, drag queen, who is also a Jewish man living in New York City. The play runs about four hours long.

It starts with a moving and completely cynical soliloquy about the disillusionment of love. Shortly after, Arnold meets Ed, who is not secure in his bisexual skin. The second act surrounds domestic bliss with Alan a year later. The third act finds Arnold alone dealing with his mommy issues while raising a gay teenage son, David.

Almost forty years after it first debuted, Torch Song Trilogy was incredibly important at the time as it collided with the after affects of the Stonewall age. The U.S. has come a long way in triumphing gay rights, but so many of the issues Fierstein battles are still prevalent today as the LGBTQ community is under attack. The play is stunning in its own right, but held up against the backdrop of social justice it is ever more important.  

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Title: Torch Song Trilogy
Author: Harvey Fierstein
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9780525618645