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Where the heck have I been for the last month? ... No really, someone tell me! I don't know, I've been around I guess? Plugging away at work, sneaking off to see a movie or two, and pausing now and then to glare accusingly at a grey, gloomy June sky.
I've also been dreaming and scheming about summer travel--and the most important part of any well plotted trip is, of course, reading material. Having the right book in your bag can make or break an adventure, and there's nothing like having just the right thing to read, at the right time, in the right place. Fall in New York with Just Kids; a cold, snowy January in the PNW with Jane Eyre; an escape to Tulum in November with Papa. You know what I mean.
It's looking like I'll be in Scandinavia at the end of this month for a few days, and I've already put holds at the library on these two volumes. Having missed out completely on Moomintroll when I was a kid (it was all about the Tomten in our house), I never gave Tove Jansson much thought. But I keep hearing such wonderful things about her novels that I figured it was high time I gave it a go.
What will you be reading this season?
Exhibit A: Gorgeous shibori dyed crop-top by Upstate x Of A Kind. Yup, it's still hot enough in NYC to wear crop tops, and cutoffs, and for bangs to be drenched in sweat (which is why you can't see them in this photo...) The upside is that I still have time to get some wear out of this beauty. Thank you Kalen!Exhibit B: I found this framed print by Gladys Emerson Cook in Junk a few weeks ago now, but managed to put on a brave face and valiantly fight off temptation. It only took six days for me to realize that I needed it, immediately. Three stops on the L and a panicked ransacking of the store later, and I was sheepishly peeling off its price-tags before bringing it home.Gone to Earth by Mary Webb, Seventh impression March 1937. I finally finished this book last night after several years worth of false starts and honestly, it deserves a post all its own. It's been a long, long while since a piece of writing spoke to me so completely, so heart-breakingly and heart-achingly. I don't even know where to begin.
Hemingway/Waters/Kinski. Some books I'm very much looking forward to reading on my "winter vacation" (cold days + long nights = plenty of time in bed or by the fire with tea, toast, book, hopefully a cat or two.)What's on your reading list??
Here's a few of my favorite corners from my dusty little room here on the Island (and for such a small space, it's got an awful lot of corners--and dust!) Thankfully, my parents have been kind enough to allow my various bits of detritus to accumulate untouched up here over the years, mostly on the walls as you can see! Sidenote: I just finished reading Just Kids
by Patti Smith, and I was completely blown away. It's honestly the most amazing, touching, exciting, and sweetly sad story I've read in ages and ages, and so incredibly well written. It's made me, me, almost excited to get back to New York--if only to spend a day tracing a walking tour of Patti and Robert's former haunts.
Having been relatively unemployed for some time now, I've had to be fairly stingy where treating myself is concerned. A couple weeks ago though, after another late night session on craigslist trolling the depths of the cesspool otherwise known as "Gigs," I came across a marketing firm that was offering a $25 Amazon.com giftcard for thirty minutes spent reviewing a new website.
The company's address was in the same wing of the Chelsea Markets as the Food Network offices, so how shady could it be, right? My Amazon wishlist is always a mile long, and I didn't have much else going on...So, after a painless half-hour spent spewing my inner monologue into a computer monitor, I emerged victorious, with twenty-five internet dollars burning a hole in my pocket.
What to buy with those $25 was a no-brainer. A few days before, I had taken advantage of my favorite library (aka Barnes & Noble) to compare a few books I had been itching to own. After carefully inspecting The Sartorialist
, Facehunter
, and The Selby Is in Your Place
, I decided hands down that The Selby Is in Your Place takes the cake.
Not only are the photos amazing (duh) but it contains an exciting mix of old favorites (Bill and Fanny, Helena Christensen, above) from the blog along with new, print-exclusive homes (like Lou Doillon's, above top.) The book itself is also just beautifully put together in a simple, unfussy, but incredibly charming way. I honestly can't recommend it enough!
On the subject of treats: last week, while strolling through the Union Square Greenmarket, I came across a sight that literally made my heart leap. A small stand was selling nothing but buckets and buckets of freshly bundled Lilly of the Valley! These have always been a sort of mythical, storybook flower to me, something strictly confined to mossy dells and Brian Jacques novels. I would always beg my mom to try and grow them in our garden, but they rarely seemed happy and never actually lived long enough to bloom.
I had to stop myself from spending a week's grocery money on a whole bucket, and brought this little bundle home instead, which I set in my Roost teapot. I'd always had the sneaking suspicion that "Lilly of the Valley" was a scent solely invented by Crabtree & Evelyn--I mean really, what flower could actually smell like that?? But they do! A bit like roses, but more so, and entirely unique. And worth every penny.
One of my favorite book covers in tee shirt form? Yes puhleeease! Stuff like this tends to smack of Urban Outfitters-type cheese-dickery, but I feel quite a bit better about this series. Plus it's got me daydreaming about other covers I'd love to don. This is another fave...but maybe it's not quite so wearable, heh?
