Phillip Oh

I cant say that I actually read this one in entirety. The long winded descriptive trance that brings you to Towles in the first place can make this a bit of a slog through. There's an easy joke here somewhere about needing to be in similar circumstances as the Count to really get through it lol. However it absolutely does as advertised; providing a vicarious development of one's taste for opulence. I read this book truly hedonistically, under the assumption that it would give me a sort of deja vu when I eventually walk into a similar life. It's vivid and prolific references to material amenities make it a sort of preference concierge.