Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag

to know more about him.I bought this book because I have been reading up on the Luxury industry. I thought it would be a fun read...and it was. I gained an insight into how Hermes has this whole marketing machine to keep the bag hard to get. It works...just look at the amount of fakes sold on EBay and the prices they get....I think the author gives us insight into the clients that buy...well because they have a passion for the scarves etc..Then there are those clients who buy because of a logo..or because it is the "it" bag. I think the last part of the book is the best part. Mr. Tonello focuses on what should be important. Another review criticized Mr. Tonello for not talking more about the Birken bag and how it is made etc...Well for those reviewers..why should he....why don't they go to Hermes themselves and find out. I wished the book at the end would have given us insight into what he is doing now.
Yes there probobly could have been some improvements but I have to say it has been a very long time since I read a book straight through until the wee hours of the morning.
Mr. Tonello took a risk and just created his own path for that time in his life. I think what he did sounded like fun. But the more important thing is that Mr. Tonello gained better insight into re-evaluating his life and making changes. That...

Many of us probably have an idea of what a dream job would be. How about one that takes you to some of the most beautiful cities in the world where you stay in the finest hotels and dine only at 5-star restaurants? Plus, when you're not in Paris or on Capri you don't even have to go to the office, you simply work at home in your pajamas.

Sound too wonderful to be true? Well, it surely is for most of us but not for Michael Tonello who tells us all about it in the highly amusing, can't-believe-he-really-did-this memoir Bringing Home The Birkin. As the affluent know a Birkin is a handbag made by Hermes with retail prices in five figures and more than difficult to obtain. Evidently the two-year waiting list makes a Birkin even more desirable.

Tonello had already seen a good bit of the world as a beautician
who traveled about prettying up the already pretty for commercial photo shoots. He was happy with his current home but had grown weary of the unfriendly Cape Cod winters. A recent assignment has taken him to Barcelona where he found he loved the people, the food, the sunny clime. When an opportunity to take a job there surprisingly appeared, he packed his designer duds and moved to Spain.

His euphoria was short lived because almost as soon as he had unpacked his job vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. What to do, how to make ends meet and keep wine at table? On an impulse he listed one of his Hermes scarves on eBay and it sold - at a nice price. Further, he was the recipient of emails from those who had lost out on his auction and wanted to know if he had more. Tonello soon realized that these were "serious collectors," and that there might be a great deal of money involved.

As he writes, "I didn't let my ignorance get in the way of my avarice. I intimated that this was only the tip of the iceberg. Well, I've always been a strong believer in the power of positive thinking - I really wanted it to be the tip of the iceberg."

For Tonello wanting made it so. It wasn't a great leap from scurrying around, finding and buying older patterns of Hermes scarves for his burgeoning list of clients to buying and reselling (at a healthy profit) the extravagantly priced, impossible to get Birkins. How could he possibly climb to the top of the daunting two-year waiting list? Where would he find the funds to purchase these more than pricey handbags?

He is one dauntless, determined fellow and his story is a carousel of chuckles, costly cuisine, and luxurious lodgings. Michael Tonello really brought home the Birkins and lives to tell his fascinating story while still enjoying Spain where, as he puts it "excuses to celebrate include getting out of bed in the morning and the ability to breathe for long periods of time."

This reader doesn't need an excuse to celebrate the refreshing honesty, wiles, and wit found in this memoir .

- Gail Cooke

From the clever perfection of the title, BRINGING HOME THE BIRKIN, through the last heartfelt pages, I cannot remember enjoying a book more than this memoir by Michael Tonello.

BRINGING HOME THE BIRKIN is fairly short, yet it's packed with every sort of adventure a reader could hope to see. There's romance, there's luxury travel, there's a kidnapped handbag chased by thugs and there's tragedy, each reflected through the unfailingly honest and funny prism of Tonello's point of view.

By the end of the book, any reader who is not familiar with the Hermes product line will have become an expert on the subject; similarly, the world of the online eBay merchant also is revealed.

All of this is offered by way of Tonello's sprightly prose and his hilarious world view. At the memoir's end, he says that he doesn't know what to do next, but it is very obvious that he is going to become a travel writer. I'm looking forward to his subsequent books.

If you love a funny story and are interested in fashion at all, you will likely enjoy this read. Could not put it down and read in a few hours. A great narrative about a fellow who learns how to obtain the elusive and exclusive Birkin handbag from the famous fashion house of Hermes, Paris. A birkin hunter/lover, I was completely lured in at hello; but I think most anyone would enjoy the tale, especially the climax of the Birkin kidnapping, which had me laughing out loud. Tonello's classification of the usual Hermes staff is hysterical and spot on. Photos add interest and help to solidify the story. I hope Tonello writes more.

Great and funny book. What a wonderful well travelled life, Mr. Tonello
Lived in his quest for the BIRKIN. A must Read for every FASHONISTA