Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making it Work by Tim Gunn

As much as I was looking forward to reading this book, I was disappointed.

Now, I love Uncle Tim, and I still think that as a host and mentor on Project Runway, he's perfect. Plus, I did thoroughly enjoy all the gossipy dish, along with glimpses behind the scenes on PR. His autobiographical stuff was also quite interesting.

However, Gunn comes off surprisingly badly in this book. All his Lessons about taking the high road clash pretty badly with his obvious score-settling here. I don't mind at all someone snarking about ridiculously arrogant behavior by the rich, glamorous, and over-validated--but when it's coming from someone who keeps declaring how he's incapable of snark, my cynicism meter goes off.

You can tell it's pretty damn satisfying for Gunn, getting to tell all these revealing anecdotes about his horrible mother, his (possible closet case!) father, Anna Wintour, Emilio Sosa, and many others. He has a long list of grudges, including encounters with strangers, and he's pretty entertaining about getting back at these folks. I just wish he'd admit that that's what he's doing.

Also, when Gunn says (many many times) how he's too nice, what he really means is that he's spineless. Someone appropriates the Vogue magazine he's reading; instead of just asking for it back, he "takes the high road," says nothing, and congratulates himself for avoiding confrontation. He does say he's finally learned to say no--about some things. But I'm not ready to take life lessons from a guy who would rather buy a new Vogue than say "Hey, I was still reading that."