Fashion Book: Winter’s Tale
I’ve been MIA from the blog this entire week. It’s inexcusable, especially considering that one of my goals for the year was to devote more time and energy to blogging. It’s the second week of January and I’m already failing! Not a great harbinger for things to come.
Anyway, perhaps I can use trying to accomplish one of my other goals, spending more time reading, as an excuse for my lack of blogging. My daily reading routine usually consists of reading on the train to and from work, which adds up to roughly an hour or more every day, but reading on the train is a different experience from reading at home, and I’d like to spend more of my downtime at home reading. Right now, I’m working my way through a 750 page novel calledWinter’s Tale. Written by Mark Helprin in 1983, the book meanders through a kind of alternate reality, where time isn’t linear and New York City only barely resembles the city we know today.
Though Helprin claims he hates magical realism, the book is bursting with it–there’s a horse that can fly, a secret village on a lake only accessible to a chosen few, and a massive cloud wall that swallows up anything in its path and causes it to disappear in both space and time. The narrative shifts from the beginnings of the 20th century to shortly before the year 2000. Though the “future” of the story is a city of televisions and skyscrapers, nothing else resembles the modern world we live in today. It gives a weird and haunting quality to the story, which centers on a thief named Peter Lake who falls in love with Beverly, the consumptive daughter of a newspaper mogul. Their love is enduring, and turns out to have properties that surpass the common boundaries of life and death, time and space.
Helprin’s writing is beautiful and expansive, and in his world, winter is a truly gorgeous season, where everything sparkles and sings. It almost makes me want it to snow! ALMOST.
I initially wanted to create a look based on the book’s qualities of loveliness and dreaminess, but I decided instead to put together a look that will keep you warm in any winter. Cozy’s the word.
What’s your favorite season? Are you longing for snow?
I bought Winter’s Tale at a used bookstore in my hometown several years ago but haven’t read it yet. I look at it on my shelf, suffer fear of commitment (it is very rare I don’t finish a book once I crack it open) and pick up something else instead. I’ll be interested in hearing your final review of it. Maybe I’ll overcome my fear and read it this winter too…
looove that outfit
never heard of his book and the magical realism part has me hooked- need to find it and read it asap!
xoxoxoxo
sami
i just discovered your blog, and i am obsessed….. not surprising, given that my apartment is cluttered with tons of books and tons of clothing, shoes, accessories. reading and writing are my main loves and passions; having a fashion blog is often incongruous with that. i started my own blog more as a vehicle to combat writer’s block, those terrible slumps when i am completely uninspired, and, rather than completely stop, i thought, why not write through the bad with something i do not take as seriously. it has been great practice, for myself, and rewarding, as i know many of my friends and family enjoy what i write, but with so few fashion blogs focused on written content, it can become tedious and frustrating.
anyway, long rant short, your blog is refreshing and intelligent, and a treasure to find amidst this online realm of photographs of designer clothes and model poses. will definitely be checking in regularly!
I also just discovered your blog: it happens to be snowing and I’m stuck inside blogging and drinking coffee (poor me!) while I wait for the roads to clear up. So glad I found your blog! I love books and I love clothes so I’m in blog heaven.
I already have clicked on about five other links too! I’ve never read Winter’s Tale but have added it to my list of books to look into. I’m currently making my way through Anna Karenina, another lengthy one. That’s what winter is for though, right? Really enjoying it!
cozy indeed. love your blog, lady!