在朋友的推荐下读了The Rainbow Comes and Goes。

这本书其实就是Anderson Cooper和他母亲Gloria Vanderbilt之间的电子邮件的合集。母亲91岁生日的时候，两人进行了一个新的尝试，互发电子邮件，深入交谈。（因为母亲以前很少提起自己的过去，很多内情儿子也不知道。）一年下来，这种交流效果奇好，让相依为命的母子俩进一步加深了感情。出版商很快嗅到了商机，于是就有了这本书。

我之前对Anderson Cooper的了解不算很多，只看过他在CNN主持的节目和不定期给60 Minutes发的报道。我完全不知道他幼年丧父、母亲40多岁才生下他、哥哥自杀等等的背景故事。我更不知道，在新闻圈以外的地方，母亲比儿子更有名。无处不在的Gloria Vanderbilt牛仔裤，就是母亲设计的！

她还是writer、artist、actress、socialite...不要太牛。

读完整本书，被母亲圈粉。印象特别深的全都是跟她有关的部分：

1. Gloria在孩童时代身陷母亲和姑妈展开的抚养权大战。该事件当年在美国引起轰动，被媒体称为trial of the century。（O.J. Simpson谋杀案后来也被称为trial of the century，可想而知是什么级别。）

2. Gloria在法庭上发现自己的母亲是lesbian，一度不知所措。

3. Gloria的情史太精彩。她结过四次婚，第一任丈夫是个mobster（！！！），第二任丈夫是著名指挥家Leopold Stokowski，第三任丈夫是著名导演Sidney Lumet（他的第一部作品就是12 Angry Men，造诣简直了），第四任丈夫才是Anderson Cooper的父亲。此外，她还跟Errol Flynn、George Montgomery、Marlon Brando,、Frank Sinatra、Howard Hughes、Roald Dahl等巨星谈过恋爱。

如果这些名字你一下子认不出来，可以自行搜索（没有八卦精神的人是不可能学好外语的，相信我）。读到Howard Hughes那部分的回忆时，我真的惊呆了。我对他的印象一直是那个有严重强迫症的航空业大亨，没想到他跟Gloria有这么一段惊天动地的爱情。

↑小李子演过Howard Hughes

Frank Sinatra也是。做不成恋人，还能做一辈子的密友，Gloria得有多大的魅力？？？

4. Gloria因为出身富贵，并不需要努力就可以过很舒服的日子，但她比绝大多数人都努力。她一直在多个领域进行各种尝试，五十多岁的时候才设计出了家喻户晓的牛仔裤。也就是说，她五十多岁的时候还在创业！

5. Gloria曾经被很多人骗过，包括钱和感情，一度甚至倾家荡产，但她依然愿意相信别人。她始终坚信，这个世界上的美丽远多过丑恶，善良远多过邪恶。

有人说，这书明明就是鸡汤，但真的很好喝啊。Took the words right out of my mouth.

摘录几段深得我心的文字：

Trying to please everyone all the time never works. It leads to hating oneself and then hating oneself even more when one later tries to assert one's authority.

Today, I am still tempted to be drawn into old patterns. Someone will ask me to do something, work on a painting for them or give an interview, and I have to force myself to pause and question: Do I really want to do this? But whether the answer is yes or no, at least I know the answer will be one that is true to my desires.

I don't think you really see yourself as a shark. It is not in your nature. If it were, you would be a businessman or a lawyer or in some other profession where ruthlessness and cunning are required. You are a storyteller, and though you may wish at times that you didn't feel pain, the fact that you continually put yourself in situations where you will, and where you can help others feel as well, speaks volumes about who and what you really are.

It should be everyone's right to nourish and develop the talents they have, and in so doing add their contribution to the world, however large or small. Why should someone born into a wealthy family be any different? None of us chooses the situation into which we are born. To think that if you are from a rich family, you should not want to achieve something on your own, is a foreign idea to me.

Remember, whenever money is involved, it brings out horrific things in people. It has the power not only to split families apart, but to destroy the foundation of one's life. Never lose sight of this. Take time and be certain you place your trust in those whose interests and goals mirror your own.

"The rainbow comes and goes," Wordsworth wrote, and boy, was he right.

I do now know the world, the good and the bad, and I would rather greet it with open arms; it is worth the hurt, the sting of loss or betrayal. Yes, worth it all.

Hope is essential. The alternative is to stop living.

P.S. Gloria Vanderbilt哪里像90多岁的人？真是逆天啊！！！

额外福利：点击“阅读原文”可下载本书的电子版（epub格式）