Just loved this. The story behind the news and articles of a glamorous era. It brought back memories of a younger me living through that time. A different world

In short, the title describes it all. I really liked reading this. Tina’s engaging tone made me feel like I was sitting with her, listening to her stories. She starts with the heady eighties which was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me with references to Madonna’s “Material Girl” and Dynasty. This was a real insight to the magazine Vanity Fair.

This book gave me much to think about, especially on two areas - what is home, and what is good writing/editing. I wrote two articles on those topics.

A thrilling insight into Hollywood during the eighties, this is a wonderful memoir you will get hooked on! A peek into a world of glamour, glitz and gossip (before social media!) Loved it!

I was really excited to read this book after seeing several press reviews on it. It promised so much but delivered a bit of a half-hearted read. Yes, there is gossip and also a glimpse of another world but it just wasn't enough.

I really wanted to like this more, but I found it really hard going. There’s gossip here and no doubt Ms Brown has had a glittering career, but there was just something about it that didn’t click for me. I need to think more about what and why though.

Salacious, bitchy, interesting gossipy and well written! A great insight into the life of Vanity Fair magazine

I really enjoyed reading this. The book gave a great inside into the magazine world and you recognise a lot of the people playing a role in this book. Very entertaining.

It was ok i guess. It took me absolutely ages to trawl through it because i constantly lost interest and found something better to do.

New York in the 1980s certainly seems to have been a ‘moment’ and if you were alive then and have an interest in the magazine publishing industry you’ll certainly find Tina Brown’s diaries from her time as editor of US magazine Vanity Fair interesting. Of course she writes well, often brilliantly, and does a fair job of explaining who everyone she meets is – and she does seem to have met everyone who was anyone in that place and time, including a lot of eccentric European aristocrats, Donald Trump and Michael Jackson. If your interest is professional, and despite the fact that journalism and magazines have changed so much, you can learn a lot from Tina. However, even if you aren’t interested in how to construct a cover that sells, this is still an engaging ride, because the human, more vulnerable side of Tina is often more appealing than the driven, careerist side. In conclusion, Tina won me round, this is a relevant and very enjoyable read, and I got much more out of the The Vanity Fair Diaries than I initially thought I might.

There's something deeply compelling about Tina Brown's diaries detailing her time at the helm of Vanity Fair. Reinvigorating the ailing publication, this is a fascinating insight into life in the eighties and the difficulties of juggling a successful career with the demands of motherhood, as well as the challenge of being female in what was still a very male driven world.

Rambling and repetitive at times, which is unsurprising for a diary, it also suffers from not always concluding anecdotes - again, an issue with a personal diary rather than a fully fleshed out story or memoir. Nevertheless, it's a fun, fascinating read, and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the era.

I was expecting a lot of name dropping and a LOT of gossip and this book certainly doesn't disappoint. In 1983, Tina Brown decamped from London with her husband Harry (formerly editor of The Times) and moved to New York. Within months she was the freshly installed editor of Vanity Fair, tasked with upping its circulation while at the same time giving it its own distinctive voice. This is no small feat given the cutthroat nature of New York and the resistance of some of the already established Vanity Fair staff. Thankfully Tina Brown kept a diary and while looking back through them with the intention of using them as research for a book, realised that she already had the book in front of her and what a wise decision that turned out to be.

The diaries paint a fascinating picture of New York in the 80s. She has to work quickly to establish herself amongst the must know names and faces and quickly becomes fast friends with Norman Mailer and Annie Leibovitz to name just a couple. Part of the job is a never ending and dizzying parade of lunches and charity dinners. Donald Trump she quickly takes a shine to but then cools towards once details of his treatment of Ivana comes to light. She talks of seeing Richard Nixon surrounded by admirers and notes that America loves to give even its biggest villains a second chance. She has a run in with a young Boris Johnson and seems to have his personality nailed on even in those early days, suffice to say it isn't complimentary! The spectre of AIDS looms large throughout the book. Several of Brown's friends pass away from the disease and she notes with sadness how vague and oblique their obituaries are, as even in death their homosexuality is kept hidden.

When Tina Brown had her first child, George, her life becomes even more hectic as she balances work and being a parent. George's early repetitive play would these days be picked up on straight away by professionals but its years later that he is diagnosed with Aspergers. These parts of the diary are equally fascinating as the shoulder rubbing with celebrities. All the money and hired help in the world doesn't stop her feeling guilt at leaving George every day, even for a job she loves.

This book was a joy to read, its filled to the brim with anecdotes and the author's love for her family comes through on the page and gives the book an extra angle I wasn't expecting. I became quite attached to little Georgie and was pleased to see how he's grown and flourished in life. An excellent set of diaries and a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the 80s.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

The 'he' in question was Donald Trump! She saw his familiar Elvis coif making off across the Crystal Room. The sneaky, petulant infant was clearly still stewing about her takedown in VF over a year ago and had taken a glass of wine from the tray and emptied it down her back! What a coward! He couldn't even confront her to her face!

The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of an Englishwoman barely out fo her twenties who arrives in New York City with a dream. Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the malestrom of the competitive New York media word as she is summoned from London in the hopes that she can save Conde Nast's troubled new flagship - Vanity Fair.

Based substantially on gossip, the book is light-hearted and often funny, at the same time though there is an underlying tone of guilt at being sucked into something full of tittle tattle and derogatory chat. It's raw and honest, the magazine world can hide behind nothing in this book, and that's probably why I finished it - just to see where it would go. And for the Trump comments. Lets be honest.

A solipsistic insight into Brown's Manhattan brittle media world. For all the glamorous gossipy titbits it was less addictive than depressing and my growing dislike of the author didn't help. Less insightful and interesting than I'd hoped.

These absorbing diaries are perfect for dipping into, rather like reading a magazine. The political in-fighting and the struggle the author faced to make the magazine successful is typical of the time period. Money ruled, and materialism was the new religion. The social divide both in the UK and the US widened immeasurably. If you enjoy glamour, sharp political intrigue and remember this iconic time, there is something in these diaries to interest you. The writing is predictably excellent, and even though you make not be familiar with all the players, enough detail is provided to bring them to life for the reader.
I received a copy of this book from Orion Publishing Group W&N via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Although the book is Tina Brown's memoir of her working life with Vanity Fair, it also captures the zeitgeist of a decade with sharp precision and without the gloss of hindsight. Surprisingly compulsive.

I was intrigued by the blurb of an Englishwoman in the big bad NYC. I was a twenty something Englishwoman in the big bad NYC, but I wasn't there to work on Vanity Fair nor was I rubbing shoulders with the royalty and A-listers the author was. But a girl can dream.
The book was funny, shocking and a great adventure.
Although, I haven't read Vanity Fair more than a handful of times I did enjoy the book, perhaps seeing it from the NYC side of the story rather than the magazine side.
The book was a nice break from my usual history, craft and dystopian reads that gave me a light hearted interlude. On the laughing note, beware reading it in public chuckling and facial expressions may confuse other members of the public.
Grab this book, and maybe the latest Vanity fair, to read by the pool or with a glass of wine at the end of the day.

Thank you Netgalley and Orion for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating look behind the scenes of the ferocious and fast-paced world of New York magazine publishing. I loved it both as a curious reader and from the perspective of someone who works in the industry themselves. An exhilarating whirlwind from start to finish!

The diaries of legendary editor, Tina Brown, are an amazing journey through the glamorous and rollercoaster world of glossy magazine publishing in New York in the 1980s and early 1990s. Tina’s journal takes us from when she was just leaving Tatler as editor and then found her way to the top spot on the newly relaunched Vanity Fair - mostly through impressing everyone with her insights, skill, confidence and sheer gumption - and the years as editor, where she brought a struggling magazine to the peak of its game.
The cast of real-life characters who are brought to life through her candid diary entries are legendary figures (including more than one president, film stars, authors, politicians, fashionistas, photographers), and Tina is unafraid to paint them as she sees them. She has a wicked sense of humour and a strong sense of how ridiculous some of the people in her sphere are. But she is a champion of those she believes in.
The book is funny and exciting, with lots of drama thrown in and a whole heap of gossip. The look at her personal life can be very touching too as Tina is a woman clearly very much in love with her celebrated, crusading editor husband and her premature son, whose early birth has made him extra fragile. She is very much a woman struggling, if not to have it all at least to do everything in her life as well as she possibly can, while never being quite sure she’s done enough. This makes her very relatable as you read her exhausting efforts. At times the diaries can be very sad too, as New York is in the midst of the AIDS epidemic and so many people Tina knew died from it. The Vanity Fair Diaries is a wonderful tome and I have recommended it to several people already, knowing they will be thrilled by it as well. So clear your diary and start reading. It’s brilliant.

The first quarter of the book was very good.
Unfortunately it all went downhill from there becoming very repetitive
If you like dinner parties and name dropping this might be for you.