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HOME          VIVARTE BOOKS
Some of Caite's Favorites...
Yes, there are a few themes here...I love mob books, non-fiction, true crime, Bret Easton Ellis, vampires,
and historical novels. But aside from my own personal biases, they're fascinating reads!

  Examines the role of royal mistresses throughout history.   A fact-based account of a prostitute-turned-servant girl who murdered her mistress in 1763
Outlander -
Diana Gabaldon		   Sex With Kings -
Eleanor Herman		   Slammerkin -
Emma Donoghue
         
Details the lives and choices surrounding Amish teens and Rumspringa, a rite of passage which leads them back to the church or cast out alone into the civilian world.   The majority of the facts in this book are historically-based. A fascinating account of the story behind the story. Great companion for The Tudors show on Showtime.  
Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish -
Tom Shachtman 		  The Other Boleyn Girl -
Philippa Gregory		   Dracula -
Bram Stoker
         
Written by the children of mobster Henry Hill (of 'Goodfellas' fame), this is the true story of their experiences in the witness protection program.    
On the Run -
Gregg & Gina Hill		   Mutiny on the Bounty -
Nordhoff & Hall		   The Secret History -
Donna Tartt
                                                                                                                         
A fact-based account of the effects of the Plague on a 17th-century English village.   Investigative portrait of a gambling-addicted banker who embezzled more than $10-million from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in the early 1980's   The infamous queen was not as horrible as her reputation would have you believe, and she never said "Let them eat cake".
Year of Wonders -
Geraldine Brooks		   Stung -
Gary Stephen Ross		   Marie Antoinette:
The Journey -
Antonia Fraser
         
Some of the most beautiful love letters I've ever read were written by Ronald Reagan--imagine that!    
I Love You, Ronnie - Ronald & Nancy Reagan   Love and Terror -
Alan Jolis		   As It Was Written -
Sujatha Hampton
         
Want an education in pure manipulative nastiness? This biography of Leona Helmsley is quite a read!   Although it's an interesting and dicey subject matter, it is also a great study of entrepreneurship--after all, it WAS a business which needed managing!!   Don't judge this book by the movie. This sometimes nauseating book is written with incredible style. It will make you laugh and scowl! It is perhaps the best book I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
The Queen of Mean - Ransdell Pierson   Mayflower Madam -
Sydney Biddle Barrows		   American Psycho -
Bret Easton Ellis
         
   
Serpico -
Peter Maas		 Angela's Ashes -
Frank McCourt		   The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time -
David H. Lowenherz
         
   
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -
Hunter S. Thompson		   The Rules of Attraction -
Bret Easton Ellis		   Frankenstein -
Mary Shelley
         
  A classic movie, but an even better book!  
The Godfather -
Mario Puzo		   Less Than Zero -
Bret Easton Ellis		   The Male Cross-Dresser Support Group -
Tama Janowitz
         
The true story of a multimillionaire investment banker at Merrill Lynch who was murdered by his society wife in 2003.    
Never Enough -
Joe McGinniss		   Interview With the Vampire -
Anne Rice
 		   Mary Reilly -
Valerie Martin
         
  The prequel to 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'   Don't rely on the movie--the book is always better!
Carlito's Way -
Edwin Torres		 Little Altars
Everywhere -
Rebecca Wells		   The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells
  

  
 

 
Gone With the Wind -
Margaret Mitchell		   Mob Girl -
Teresa Carpenter		   Mafia Wife -
Barbara Fuca
         
   
The Bell Jar -
Sylvia Plath		   The Beach -
Alex Garland		   Planet of the Apes -
Pierre Boulle
 
   
After Hours -
Edwin Torres		   Wiseguy -
Nicholas Pileggi		   Other Voices, Other Rooms - Truman Capote
 
   
Bonfire of the Vanities -
Tom Wolfe		   Lolita -
Vladimir Nabokov		   The Nanny Diaries -
Emma McLaughlin,
Nicola Kraus
 
    Journalist and essayist Conniff, who has written about the natural world for National Geographic and about the rich for Architectural Digest, compares the super-rich to the animal kingdom in providing a frame of reference for their behaviors and actions.
The Plague -
Albert Camus		   The Handmaid's Tale -
Margaret Atwood		   The Natural History of the Rich - Richard Conniff

 		        
   

The book is always better than the movie!
Liar's Poker -
Michael Lewis		   Memoirs of a Geisha -
Arthur S. Golden		   White Oleander -
Janet Fitch
         
  True stories of what really happens to lottery winners after collecting all that cash. A blessing? More often a curse! Not particularly well written, but interesting nonetheless!   Counting cards doesn't pay!
Jurassic Park -
Michael Crichton		   Luck of the Draw -
Barbara Stewart & Chris Gudgeon		   Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions - Ben Mezrich
         
Examines the culture of consumerism in America and its negative effects.   Probably one of the most influential books I've ever read. The authors destroy the myth that the majority of wealthy Americans have gained their fortunes through luck, inheritance or lottery winnings. Instead, they show how hard work, savings, and smart investing have brought true financial success to average Americans.   Probably one of the most influential books I've ever read. The authors destroy the myth that the majority of wealthy Americans have gained their fortunes through luck, inheritance or lottery winnings. Instead, they show how hard work, savings, and smart investing have brought true financial success to average Americans.
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough -
John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H Naylor, and Vicki Robin		   The Millionaire Mind -
Thomas J. Stanley & William Danko		   The Millionaire Next Door -
Thomas J. Stanley & William Danko
         
A Maryland-based artist collected anonymouse confessions sent to him via postcards from private citizens. The confessions are humorous, scandalous, terrifying, and fascinating.     The most remarkable stories imaginable of maroons, castaways, and other survivors from the 1500s to the present - their moral dilemmas, their personalities, and their influence on society, literature, and art.
Postsecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives -
Frank Warren		   Bridget Jones's Diary -
Helen Fielding		   Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls - Edward E. Leslie