I was listening to CNBC radio on Sirius/XM as I was driving into work this morning from Tahoe. As I clicked in to the station, it was Power Lunch time and they were interviewing a woman and the discussion was about muni bonds and the bond market. And then it turned to her new book titled “The Recessionistas”. I was going to change it to Bloomberg as I wanted market news but I vaguely remembered seeing this title as I was perusing Amazon this weekend so left it on.
As I was searching for new books and saw this title, and freely admit I didn’t stop to read about it as I thought it was more of a real life “how women overcame financial trouble in the recession…snore…depressing…no thanks” book. But now as I was listening to the author talk about it, plus hear her own back story, I was quite intrigued.
She is the daughter of a long-time Wall Street man and worked at the family firm, and then started her own. They deal in municipal bonds and private wealth management. So she wasn’t just writing about Wall Street from a room in LA, she knows it. She lives it. It’s her life. I like that.
Now, this book is fiction. And “chick lit” at that. But she did say it’s “some fiction throw in” along with New York social scene stuff and, of course, Wall Street turmoil. I liked her interview and I liked that she said at the end of her interview that there is a little bit of her in all of the book’s characters, and not just the good ones. The interviewer was like – wow, really?? (it is clear some of the characters are not boy/girl scouts or role models.)
The interviewer made me giggle as well. When the author mentioned Page 6 in a way of describing how one can fall from New York society, she (the interviewer) made sure to point out that Page Six is the gossip page of the New York Post for all us non-New Yorkers who were listening and don’t know this. Who doesn’t know this?? Us non-New Yorkers do have internet access to you know :) Duurrr.
They also discussed the market, how the rich are handling life now in NYC (compared to their short-lived fad of coupon-cutting days *eye roll and yet can totally see some ding-dong arm-candy socialite wife thinking NOW she was being useful in her household*), and other fun-Vanity Fair-esque subjects. It’s a 9 minute interview – you can watch it below :)
Anyway, just added this to my Kindle list of books to buy. It sounds like a fun read and I liked the author brief interview. She came across like quite a smart cookie and women on Wall Street (gold owners/makers and not gold diggers) are quite a rare find. I think I shall make it my next read actually. Or maybe after The Big Short….haven’t decided if Wall Street truth or Wall Street fact mixed in and covered up with fiction comes first…since it’s officially still summer, I think the more fun-sounding one comes first :)
CNBC interview w/Alexandra Lebenthal:
