Required Reading

An upcoming project requires me to do extensive research with styling how-to books and fashion merchandising articles. This gives me a legitimate excuse to flip through Nina Garcia's books for hours at a time, soaking up Ruben Toledo's gorgeous illustrations! I love my major.

Missing you all! One week till Spring Break 2011! Can you hear the angels singing?

-B.

Tweet


*Ruben Toledo illustrations via Google

Water for Elephants

Checking IMDB for new movie releases is one of my favorite homework-avoiding techniques. But I am definitely more of a reader than a movie watcher, so I get super excited when I find a film based on a book (yes I am aware of my weirdness).
I'm no teenaged vampire lover, but a girl has to be dead not to notice Robert Pattinson. Saying that I was interested in the Water for Elephants trailer strictly because of Reese Witherspoon would be a fantastic lie. And no one would believe me anyways.
The book was available at my library - luckily no one had caught on yet... Now there is a long waiting list.
Think Nicholas Sparks meets the Great Depression, with a little Dan Brown-style guess work thrown in. That’s the fast review anyway.
I am not sure what my expectations were, and I am equally unsure of my final opinion.
Gruen can’t seem to make up her mind about whether the book is a comedy, tragedy, romance, or a mixed drama. The characters therefore are sometimes confused about their own identities.
Jacob (Pattison’s character) alternates between total pessimism and random, sarcastic optimism. His romantic counterpart, Marlena (Witherspoon), changes between helpless femininity and raging spitfire.

Fittingly, the character with the clearest personality is Rosie, the elephant who steals the show. Whether she is intended to be the main character or not, I can’t tell. But she draws your attention, making you laugh and cry through the whole story.

Read this book before you see the film, if only to have an idea of where the story is headed. It will be very interesting to see how the directors translate the characters’ dual personalities onto the big screen.

Anyone else read this? What are your oppinions?
-B.

Water for Elephants, Sarah Gruen
Tweet

The Vanity

A big blogging trend is to make a little list of the items in your bag or wallet. For the next four months my bag(s) will be permanently occupied by textbooks, file folders, pens, and random scraps of grimey paper.
But I do have a pretty fabulous dresser. For your reading interest:

*Pink latch-closure box that used to hold a wrist watch with interchangeable bands. Perfect for earrings and pins.

*Kate Spade Twirl fragrance roller. My favorite 2010 Christmas gift!

*Vintage Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle. A lovely highschool graduation gift from my aunt.

*Piles of necklaces and bracelets that never find their way back to the jewelry box.

*Heirloom birthstone ruby ring. Early college graduation gift from my mom.

*Chanel No. 5 perfume. It's a bit musky for me, so I only use it on glamorous occasions.

*Antique piano music box. A very special 21st birthday gift from another aunt.

*Framed pictures of my best friends and family.

*Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and Emma.

Do something different,

-B.
Tweet

The Importance of Being Real

Nonfiction is generally not accepted by my flighty, 20-something brain. Give me Jane Austen, Lauren Weisberger, Dan Brown, or a stack of more New York Times bestsellers and I will be happy for hours. Christmas vacation coincided, unfortunately, with a rare lack of work so the County Library System has been brought back into my social circle (I de-friended it in 2007 when college became more popular).

The “New Books” section is conveniently placed near the door so I don’t have to venture too far into the sea of 60-and-ups (no joke, I am routinely the youngest person present). I decided to break out of my comfort zone and see if anything on the nonfic side caught my attention. This book instantly sprang out at me. Let’s be honest.. The bright pink binding probably was the main attractor.

Big HUGE fabulous luck.

The Duchess of Devonshire (Dowager, now) is 90 years old and has the writing style of a sarcastic, fresh-out-of-college journalist. “Wait for Me!” is her most recent book and tells the first-person story of her life, with lots of commentary on English happenings and on her family. Sounds boring, right?

Good thing I kept reading!

Deborah Mitford Cavendish (aka Debo) led, and is still leading, a fascinating life of social obligations that regularly include ridiculously famous people, remodeling massive castles and estates, and heading up dozens of committees, not to mention mothering 3 children and grand-mothering countless others (including supermodel Stella Tennant). She paints her family with beautiful humor that only the English can correctly pull-off, refers to dinners with Adolf Hitler and JFK as though it were perfectly normal, and gives herself absolutely no credit except when necessary.

Reading this book makes you realize the importance of the important things and the unimportance of the silly things. Personality quirks in others (that we are so quick to hate on) are accepted by her as what makes people interesting. Designer dresses, jewels, fabulous parties, regular trips around Europe, and unreal friendships with the Kennedy family and Givenchy himself fade into the background. Her parents, sisters, and husband are clearly much more dear to her than anything her status can provide.

Read this book for pleasure, since the extremely dry humor will make you laugh out loud, but also for personal benefit. I mean, really, how important is the latest Chanel nail polish in light of refurbishing one of England’s most picturesque estates to be enjoyed by the entire world?

Good question.

Now read,
-B.

Tweet