Last year, I talked about how much I loved getting into stories about working girls. This year, it seems my interests have shifted towards tales of girls and the modeling world.
I've always loved the allure and mystique surrounding fashion and girls in fashion. I don't believe that it's as frivolous as it's made out to be by the media. Shows like "America's Next Top Model" has shown that it's not easy-peasy to be a successful model. Basically, I've always had some kind of underlying interest but after reading Meg Cabot's Airhead books 1 and 2, I just can't seem to curb my curiosity in regards to the motivations behind girls who go into modeling. Honestly, the Airhead books are just frivolous stories, entertaining but hardly food for thought so I'm not quite sure why I'm so into the whole subject now. Perhaps it's the dearth of ladies-of-flesh stories that has me moving on to this new fascination.
In the past month the Amazon Kindle store has afforded me three model-related books. The first I purchased was the autobiography of America's foremost plus-size model Crystal Renn, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves. It's described as "...an inspiring tale for women of all ages, Hungry is an uplifiting memoir with a universal message about body image, beauty and self-confidence...".
I finished her story within a day and a half. As these are true accounts of her experiences starting out and finally getting a foothold in successful modeling, it was quite an eye-opening read. Although I believe the issues she went through are nothing new; you hear about the body image issues and professional misconduct stories often enough to know that these things exist beyond the celluloid tales shown on TV, however, I truly connected with Crystal's struggles to accept herself for who she is. It is a good read.
After finishing Hungry, I got Robin Hazelwood's fictional story based on true accounts of her own experiences Model Student: A Tale of Co-eds and Cover Girls. I've had the paper version of this in my wish list for some time and was ecstatic to find the Kindle version for soooo much cheaper and available to me in 5 seconds (it's the speed of delivery that has me completely hooked to Kindle :D) This novel is described by Booklist as taking a look at young women trying to navigate the world of modeling and balance hot careers with the other priorities in their lives. Haven't really begun this properly as yet, just read the first few pages to get feel of the book and it does look to be a promising read.
I also got Model: A Memoir by Cheryl Diamond. An autobiography, although listed under Young Adult for some reason, Booklist notes this as twenty-year-old author Diamond's tale of the trials and triumphs of breaking into the New York modeling market, which she entered at 14. I do find it amusing when people who are barely in their twenties have memoirs but girls in fashion do tend to live very fast-paced lives, don't they? So I can't begrudge them their chance to tell their stories. I haven't read this one yet either but the book's product description promises a .....riveting, true account of Cheryl's triumphant rise, disastrous fall, and phoenix-like comeback in one of the hottest and most demanding industries in the world..... so I can't wait to sink into this one either. I do wonder if this might seem all repetitive since most themes revolving around the modeling world can't be too varying, right?
A book on my Amazon Kindle wish list is the effort borne from the collaboration between Amanda Kerlin and Phil Oh Secrets of the Model Dorm. Another fictional story of aspiring models but based on the real-life experiences of Amanda Kerlin, who is a former model, as well as Phil Oh's own connections as a DJ and music consultant. It's described as an entertainingly predictable read. I don't mind. Sometimes you need to balance the seriousness with the frivolous. It can get depressing to keep on reading about how young teenage girls are starving themselves to unhealthy porportions and doing practically anything to achieve the dream of being on the cover of the creme de la creme of magazines or the face of a major cosmetics brand.
The last model related story I'm waiting on is Meg Cabot's final Airhead book. So sue me, I like reading teenage fare :)
Disclaimer:
As per usual all images are courtesy of Amazon Kindle
I've always loved the allure and mystique surrounding fashion and girls in fashion. I don't believe that it's as frivolous as it's made out to be by the media. Shows like "America's Next Top Model" has shown that it's not easy-peasy to be a successful model. Basically, I've always had some kind of underlying interest but after reading Meg Cabot's Airhead books 1 and 2, I just can't seem to curb my curiosity in regards to the motivations behind girls who go into modeling. Honestly, the Airhead books are just frivolous stories, entertaining but hardly food for thought so I'm not quite sure why I'm so into the whole subject now. Perhaps it's the dearth of ladies-of-flesh stories that has me moving on to this new fascination.
In the past month the Amazon Kindle store has afforded me three model-related books. The first I purchased was the autobiography of America's foremost plus-size model Crystal Renn, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves. It's described as "...an inspiring tale for women of all ages, Hungry is an uplifiting memoir with a universal message about body image, beauty and self-confidence...".
I finished her story within a day and a half. As these are true accounts of her experiences starting out and finally getting a foothold in successful modeling, it was quite an eye-opening read. Although I believe the issues she went through are nothing new; you hear about the body image issues and professional misconduct stories often enough to know that these things exist beyond the celluloid tales shown on TV, however, I truly connected with Crystal's struggles to accept herself for who she is. It is a good read.
After finishing Hungry, I got Robin Hazelwood's fictional story based on true accounts of her own experiences Model Student: A Tale of Co-eds and Cover Girls. I've had the paper version of this in my wish list for some time and was ecstatic to find the Kindle version for soooo much cheaper and available to me in 5 seconds (it's the speed of delivery that has me completely hooked to Kindle :D) This novel is described by Booklist as taking a look at young women trying to navigate the world of modeling and balance hot careers with the other priorities in their lives. Haven't really begun this properly as yet, just read the first few pages to get feel of the book and it does look to be a promising read.
I also got Model: A Memoir by Cheryl Diamond. An autobiography, although listed under Young Adult for some reason, Booklist notes this as twenty-year-old author Diamond's tale of the trials and triumphs of breaking into the New York modeling market, which she entered at 14. I do find it amusing when people who are barely in their twenties have memoirs but girls in fashion do tend to live very fast-paced lives, don't they? So I can't begrudge them their chance to tell their stories. I haven't read this one yet either but the book's product description promises a .....riveting, true account of Cheryl's triumphant rise, disastrous fall, and phoenix-like comeback in one of the hottest and most demanding industries in the world..... so I can't wait to sink into this one either. I do wonder if this might seem all repetitive since most themes revolving around the modeling world can't be too varying, right?
A book on my Amazon Kindle wish list is the effort borne from the collaboration between Amanda Kerlin and Phil Oh Secrets of the Model Dorm. Another fictional story of aspiring models but based on the real-life experiences of Amanda Kerlin, who is a former model, as well as Phil Oh's own connections as a DJ and music consultant. It's described as an entertainingly predictable read. I don't mind. Sometimes you need to balance the seriousness with the frivolous. It can get depressing to keep on reading about how young teenage girls are starving themselves to unhealthy porportions and doing practically anything to achieve the dream of being on the cover of the creme de la creme of magazines or the face of a major cosmetics brand.
The last model related story I'm waiting on is Meg Cabot's final Airhead book. So sue me, I like reading teenage fare :)
Disclaimer:
As per usual all images are courtesy of Amazon Kindle
