Brilliant, spiky and surprisingly warm

A tour de force memoir from the leading lady of magazine journalism’s triumphant golden age

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Excellent

An excellent insight into editing, society and celebrity. I absolutely loved it. Very well written and no holding back, funny, moving and I could not stop listening.

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One of my all time favourite audiobooks

I loved this and never wanted it to end. Beyond the fabulous titbits, there is the story of an incredible woman. Human, ethical, honest, balanced and driven by quality she is a rare and inspirational. This was a compelling narrative of the time with her wonderful thought provoking observations. Really an absolute joy.

Fun Listen

I loved listening to this breakdown of Tina's life at Vanity Fair. Name dropping, escapades mixed with life struggles. Light and entertaining.

Whirlwind

It may be to over exaggerate the sense of what a whirlwind the 80s at Vanity Fair was, and I loved the story especially the honest bits about when personal and professional life didn't sit neatly side by side but I found the reading a bit fast and lacking in tonal shifts sometimes, especially at the end of sections which I felt should have been more pronounced and lingered over.

Overall though, highly recommended.

Get me a time machine..I'm heading back to the 80s

Would you listen to The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992 again? Why?

Yes, I missed some of the characters who are referred to time and again

Who was your favorite character and why?

S.I.Newhouse and his gentle unpredictability

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

It had to be read by Tina Brown but, she started to drive me mad two-thirds of the way through

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Wonderful audio book

Where does The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks very highly

What did you like best about this story?

Authentic, or at least appears so.

What does Tina Brown bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Makes it real

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Entertaining

Any additional comments?

Audiobooks may be the future of publishing

Amazing account of an incredible time

If you lived through these times this will bring back vivid memories and a personal angle on what it was like at the centre of the excess. Love her commentary and astonishing drive and ambition. If you are in your 30s it will be hard to imagine this can be real.

Loved this

Gobbled this up so quickly I started to talk in Tina Brown’s voice?! So great

Really don’t waste your time or money......

This is a pointless narrative about pointless people who are not relevant now and other than Donald Trump and Jackie Kennedy were probably not that relevant then. Tina Brown may have been capable at what she did in the magazine publishing world (and I’m a great fan of Vanity Fair especially at the time Ms Brown was publishing it) but she has definitely overstretched herself in this genre. I’m afraid she is boringly wordy (think a talentless Thomas Hardy) and talks about totally irrelevant people who have only names and net worth attached to them but no character (except Jackie Kennedy Onassis whom she draws surprisingly well). Her overriding ego for herself and her husband is the permanent narrative and to be fair they are not appealing at any level as characters and really I did not understand why we as readers/listeners were subjected to their family and children of whom bring nothing to the story of ‘Vanity Fair’ as a publication. This is a mediocre literally exercise
which I would have no hesitation in not recommending at all. In fact I would say if this is your thing then go with the Alexandra Schulman Vogue diaries instead-it’s still not brilliant but it’s head and shoulders above this disappointing rubbish.

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