Reading

On the Road – Jack Kerouac

Reading

Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia Of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things From Times Gone By - Lesley M. M. Blume

Reading

Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews - Christian Lander

Reading

Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

What ever happened to aging naturally?

The November issue of Vanity Fair features a one-page excerpt from Lesley M. M. Blume's newly released book Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By. Blume is a style contributor at the Huffington Post, and the book is the eponymous extension of her online series.

The first item that struck me as worthy of revival was the Stork Club in New York—or, an aspect of it, at least.

"Each little table sported a discreet telephone, on which you could dial the other tables: That is a charming feature."

Every item includes its own description and commentary, many with chic, old-timey illustrations. They had me nodding in agreement, especially the idea that umbrellas should be "[beautiful] with carved handles, instead of those silly guaranteed-to-break-immediately quasi-disposable ones that you always see jutting out of street-corner garbage cans."

I have yet to read the entire book, but surely will some time soon.

Other favourites...
Radio Plays
Aging Naturally
Headscarves
Wearing White Gloves to Lunch
Riddles
Skating Parties

Reading

On the recommendation of my friend Megan Lau:
The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion

Do you have this book?

Sometimes I play a fun game. I open to a random page, then buy that book. This round's pick was Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov. If any time is a good time for Russian literature, it's the winter. While we're at it, can I confess something? I've never read Lolita. Maybe that'll be next?

Reading

The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls

On some recent accomplishments

It's been a while, yes, but I'm back from wedding mania and home from the honeymoon and I have lots to report. I'm just going to start with some things that I recently knocked off my 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days list.

Let's start from the top...

#13 - Get a job in publishing
Check! I was fortunate enough to be offered a full-time position by the company I did my internship with. I start in a week and I couldn't be more excited. Although working full time means writing my thesis will take a bit longer (pushing graduating to a later date), this is the kind of opportunity I've been hoping for since I went back to school. And bonus, we can finally start looking for our own condo! So maybe that "buy a home" item on the list will be the next thing to be checked off?

#26 - Order room service
A honeymoon is the perfect time to indulge, so I'm happy to say that this item can be checked off several times! Pictured below is a champagne breakfast on our balcony. This is moments before I shot the cork off the champagne bottle into the pool area below. Whoops!

#47 - Read 100 books
I'm getting ever closer to my 100 books. My most recent conquest was "Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert, the infamous "Eat Pray Love" author. I received it as a birthday gift and thought it would be an appropriate post-wedding read. Maybe not, though. Although Gilbert eventually comes to peace with her second marriage and finds her own nesting spot in legal matrimony, the entire book is basically her squinting skeptically at the strength and longevity of modern marriage. There was a bevy of fascinating historical information on marriage, but it was a little bleak for a beach read.

#54 - Swim at the bottom of a waterfall
We left our resort for one full day, and on our agenda was climbing a waterfall. We took a tour bus down the North coast to Ocho Rios, where we climbed Dunn's River Falls. It's a 700 foot high, unique waterfall that is broken into several shelves. Many spots involve linking hands in a human chain to increase stability when scaling the rocks. The most fun was swimming around at the bottom of the falls and the spot where the rocks had formed a waterslide.

#73 - Watch a sunrise
It's pretty much against the rules of vacationing (let alone, honeymooning) to get up at 5:00am, but after watching several amazing sunsets, we really wanted to take in the sunrise as well. We actually snuck onto the roof of the hotel...and it was worth it.

#80 - Take Luc to the spa for a massage
Not only did Luc get a massage, but we also did the sauna, steamroom, hot tub, water therapy, freezing cold plunging pool, and couples facials. He probably doesn't approve of me telling my blog readers that...but after my lengthy absence, I'm not even sure how many of you there are left!

#98 - Go an entire week without checking the stat counter on my blog
Needless to say, with the wedding and the honeymoon I've been pretty disconnected from everything digital. And it's been a nice break. But make no mistake...it's nice to be back!

Reading

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Reading

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie

Reading

Londonstani - Gautam Malkani

Reading

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

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The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho

Two bad reviews, two equally bad photos

Yann Martel recently got slammed by reviewers for his most recent novel Beatrice and Virgil. I haven't read it yet, and I'm honestly not sure that I'll buy my own copy now that I've heard that it's supposedly such a festering turd of a book. The reviews in question (NY Times &  Edward Champion) encited a discussion in class of the classic question: is all publicity good publicity? "Not if you're in the paper for being a pedophile," whispered my friend Liz. Thanks for the insight Liz, that was really deep. In the case of this book review though, I don't think so. The consensus in class, however, was that because the book is purported to be so atrocious, most people want to read it to see for themselves. But this is a class of curious bibliophiles- will the general public feel the same? I anticipate these reviews to have the same effects as a crushing movie review. If everyone is telling you how awful the movie (or book) is, you're not likely to waste your time and money just to see what the fuss was about. Many people buy books based on heartfelt recommendations and glowing reviews, and they use these tools as means to avoid wasting their time with a boring/unspiring read. Despite these sensational reviews, I doubt people will buy the book just to see for themselves how dreadful and pathetic it may be. And as for "all publicity is good publicity", that may be true for celebrity scandals, but when a critic says your book is "the literary equivalent to being completely submerged into a vat of shit," that's actually not so great. 

Reading

Catch Me If You Can - Frank W. Abagnale

Reading

Nikolski - Nicolas Dickner

The long of it and the short of it

Recommendations for quick and dirty enjoyment...

Something to read

The Blog Posts Just Write Themselves - Nothing but Bonfires

Something to watch

Babies trailer

Something to listen to

Stand up from Demetri Martin

and some things to savour...

Something to read

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers

Something to watch

Pirate Radio

Something to listen to

A Little bit of Knowledge - This American Life

And we're off!

I've only just started reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but already I can't recommend it enough. The sentences are beautiful and flow seamlessly into one another. The voice is so distinguishable, even from the first few lines. It's packed with humour and emotion and, dare I say...it's compulsively readable. Here's a great quote:

"...for aesthetically disenfranchised furnishings we are like the families that adopt troubled children and refugees from around the world - we see beauty within and cannot say no."