Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster by Dana Brown

My mom, Barbara Marshall, was one of the earliest subscribers Vanity Fair Magazine when Conde Nast re-launched the pop culture magazine in 1983, following a successful run from 1913-1936. To this day, Vanity Fair is delivered to her Toluca Lake home where she reads it cover to cover. She is so loyal to the magazine I think they should give her an award for best subscriber. "Dilettante," written by former "Vanity Fair" deputy editor Dana Brown, is a book my mom would love. Brown was a 21-year-old college drop out playing in a punk rock band when he got a job as a barback at the popular 44 restaurant inside the Royalton Hotel, a well-known Conde Nast hangout. He then took on side jobs as a cater waiter at the home of then "Vanity Fair" editor Graydon Carter, where he threw star studded cultural salons. Carter saw potential in Brown that he didn't even see within himself. Carter hired him to be his assistant, inside the offices of "Vanity Fair." Thus began the exciting and exhilarating education of Brown from barback to deputy editor over the course of 24 years. This memoir is a love letter to Graydon Carter and his staff who not only support and entertained Brown, but also gave him a life and a career. From lavish lunches and Oscar parties to encounters with Anna Wintour, Lee Radziwill, Caitlyn Jenner and S.I. Newhouse, this is a coming-of-age story and the snapshot of long-running career in magazine publishing that we probably will never see again. The nostalgic flair of the prose makes you want to curl up with an old "Vanity Fair" and read some of the classic writing of legendary columnist Dominick Dunne and more. To buy this book on Amazon click here.