false 1704570 3 Rescued from a Dumpster on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a discarded diary brings to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman. For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. When a cleaning sweep of a New York City apartment building brings this lost treasure to light, both the diary and its owner are given a second life. Recovered by Lily Koppel, a young writer working at the New York Times, the journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York—horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped. Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel is captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ingénue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London? Compelled by the hopes and heartaches captured in the pages, Koppel sets out to find the diary's owner, her only clue the inscription on the frontispiece—"This book belongs to . . . Florence Wolfson." A chance phone call from a private investigator leads Koppel to Florence, a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor. Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams. 1701690 1 4 2008 The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal total:737|5:144|4:217|3:214|2:102|1:60| 737 2494 1662 275 5 7 false false Tue May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 10:44:17 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 05:56:29 -0700 2008
So far this book is an inspiration of living life to its fullest. Not because this teenager is necessarily more wonderful than any other human being whose footsteps have fallen on this earth; but because you can read it and look at it from afar, and touch its ed...more...]]> 1 6 false false Wed May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 18:39:54 -0700 2008 Wed May 21 06:01:48 -0700 2008 2 3 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 08:38:27 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 12:34:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 3 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 02:35:45 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 02:57:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 3 false false Fri May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 03:17:54 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 03:25:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 3 false false Fri May 08 07:32:24 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 02 14:10:46 -0700 2008 Fri May 08 07:32:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 4 true false Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 20 18:56:21 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 11 05:59:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 14 09:03:29 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 19:39:57 -0700 2008
I was intrigued by all the treasures that were found in the steamer trunks, and this journal added a "voice" to the othe...more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 20:48:30 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 09:14:53 -0700 2008 What a life she had! Her teenage...more...]]> 1 3 false false Tue Mar 18 13:32:03 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 16:16:16 -0700 2008 Lily Koppel was a gossip columnist for the New York Times when she found the red leather diary in a dumpster outside her building. She decided to track down the owner, who miraculously was 90 years old and still alive.

Here's the rest of...more...]]> 2 3 false false Wed Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 16:47:37 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 17:45:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 05:37:29 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 09:48:41 -0700 2008 I didn't like so much the presentation by Lily Koppel.Her framing of the pages seemed kind of dry.
Still recommended for a glimpse at life in NYC...more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon May 26 08:16:21 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 08:25:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 3 false false Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 19:50:39 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 16:49:05 -0700 2009 Finished! What a disappointment. This book, like "Triangle," had so much promise and just failed to deliver. The premise, that a diary was found in a modern day dumpster, chronicling the life of a young girl coming of age in the late 1920s/early 30s in New York, was excellent. Un...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Jun 03 10:54:04 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 10:57:03 -0700 2008 0 2 false false Mon Jun 16 15:41:45 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 01 09:55:57 -0700 2009 1 2 false false Wed May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 13:40:03 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 21:53:53 -0700 2008 1 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 08 11:50:41 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 08:21:41 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Sat Mar 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Feb 20 19:00:40 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 14 06:04:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 20:24:31 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 13 06:52:34 -0700 2008 more...]]>