Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends Hardcover Author: Visit Amazon's Pippa Middleton Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0670026352 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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About the Author
Pippa Middleton is the editor of The Party Times, an online party magazine from Party Pieces, the UK's leading online party-supply company, founded in 1987. She has organised many events during her career at London-based events company Table Talk, for luxury brand and corporate companies as well as private parties.
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- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Viking Adult (October 30, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780670026357
- ISBN-13: 978-0670026357
- ASIN: 0670026352
- Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
As the sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton is in an unenviable situation. In many ways, she cannot win and it is unfortunate that to some, she will always be known as the only maid of honor to ever wear a flattering dress. Never judged on her own efforts, but on the media and public perception of her. Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families and Friends, is her attempt to change that.
Given her low profile prior to the royal wedding, Celebrate could be viewed as a premature effort. However, she's not the first person to jump on the bandwagon of her own notoriety nor will she be the last. To Pippa's credit, she acknowledges this in the introduction to Celebrate. She has the opportunity and she's taking advantage of it. By admitting this she makes it redundant for those who scoff at her efforts. Now who is being unoriginal?
Several reviews for this book have criticized Pippa for stating the obvious: 'ice goes great with drinks', 'a turkey at Christmas time is good for large gatherings'. Yes, it's true but let's be honest, even Martha Stewart falls back on 'Pumpkins add to the festive atmosphere of Halloween', 'Hearts make perfect Valentines' and 'Easter egg hunts are fun'. What Pippa does add to the field is her youth. Like her sister, she makes going the extra mile fashionable. Thus giving twenty-somethings options other than beer, wine, tortilla chips and brie cheese trays for their own parties.
Divided by seasons, Pippa presents crafts, recipes, nostalgic/traditional games and charming tidbits of trivia appropriate to the occasion. She also offers small glimpses into how her family celebrated events like Easter and Mothers Day.
Pippa Middleton took a lot of flack for her book, but as an editor myself, I believe that the flaw is on the editorial side. The basic set-up of the book (by seasons and traditional British events) is useful. I enjoyed the Burns Night section, plus other tidbits like how to make a "Christmas cracker."
Unfortunately, the book is bloated, with equal weight given to the mundane and the interesting. I understand that Pippa wanted to publish an accessible book, but it's almost never a good idea to talk down to the reader. Martha Stewart gets away with it because she's Martha Stewart; i.e., she has good reason to assume her readers can't live up to her example. In Pippa's case, I don't get it. Bobbing for apples, capture the flag, turkey for Christmas?
If I were editing the book, I'd suggest the following organization within sections:
* First, a simple list of the traditional British ways of doing things, without the play by play of every familiar game, decoration, or menu item. We can cut out paper hearts for Valentines and apply glitter without instructions, thanks.
* Full instructions for original/unusual ideas only. These are good as is but get lost among pages of "tie balloons to chairs and hang streamers."
* A feature on events that Pippa actually made special. In her Guardian article, she mentioned throwing a white-clothing-only party, a Scandinavian-themed party, and others. Why aren't those in the book? We want to read about how she *actually* parties, not how she wants the little people, I mean readers, to party.
* A smattering of only the most special and personal recipes. This is the Internet age after all. Does Nigella Lawson or Ina Garten already supply a recipe for it? Free? Online?
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