Discuss "The Way You Wear Your Hat" by Bill Zehme

Sinatra. Need I say more?

Oh. Well, yes, I suppose I should. It'd be an exaggeration to call Frank Sinatra the Justin Bieber of his day, but the fact still remains: the genre of music that we call "lounge" was the epitome of the Sinatra Style. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy David Jr. and the others of the "Rat Pack" entertainment scene.

As for this book, it's based on a series of interviews that Bill Zehme did with Sinatra for Esquire magazine. As such, it's not really a pure biography so much as it is a collection of musings on the Sinatra lifestyle -- fashion, partying, nightlife, and so on. From Amazon:

"Within is a masterful assembly of the most personal details and gorgeous minutiae of Frank Sinatra's way of living--matters of the heart and heartbreak, friendship and leadership, drinking and cavorting, brawling and wooing, tuxedos and snap-brims--all crafted from rare interviews with Sinatra himself as well as many other intimates, including Tony Bennett, Don Rickles, Angie Dickinson, Tony Curtis, and Robert Wagner, in addition to daughters Nancy and Tina Sinatra. Illustrated with scores of photos, The Way You Wear Your Hat captures the timeless romance and classic style of the fifties and the loose sixties and is a stunning exploration of the Sinatra mystique."

There are three copies available at the Ottawa Public Library, and it's still in print on Amazon and in e-versions.