Since I didn’t get my act together on Friday to do my weekly round up, and today is especially gloomy and Monday-like in New York, I thought I would take the opportunity and pretend it’s Friday–at least here on the blog. Let’s pretend, shall we?
Best of the Looks:
The bold colors and stripes are really working together in this look from Penny Pincher Fashion.
I still haven’t gotten new flat sandals for summer–these Anthro beauties are calling my name.
Eenie-weenie book necklaces–precious!
CouldIHaveThat shows us how to properly maintain our makeup brushes.
And how to avoid those pesky nail polish bubbles.
Best of the Books:
A New York poem in book spines.
A fascinating look at what it cost 8 women writers to make it in New York City, as compared to now.
My friend Lizzie’s book about Live Action Role Playing (LARP) just published! It’s called Leaving Mundania. Check it out!
A fun book cover mystery guessing game!
A celebration of the printed book–gorgeous book boxed sets.
Have a great WEEK everyone!!
Continuing with my Middlemarch Fashion Book series, this week I’m focusing on Mary Garth, the sweet and let’s face it, a little homely, long-suffering assistant to Peter Featherstone. The Garths are perhaps the most likable characters in the book (no small feat, since there are about a thousand characters)–Caleb, Mary’s father, is a generous and principled man, and oversees much of the properties in Middlemarch. His family is the type that enjoys each other’s company, the kind where siblings bicker but over things like who gets to hang out with their older sister–basically they are like the family on 7th Heaven, but less annoying, and not as photogenic.
Again, Rosamond is used as a foil for Mary–she is described as a graceful, cool blond beauty, while Mary is painted as short, a little plump, with curly dark hair–Eliot might as well come out and just say she’s a Plain Jane. But Mary’s warmth, kindness, sense of humor, patience, and integrity more than make up for whatever her appearance may lack, and she comes out on top when all is said and done.
I don’t think Mary would give the same attention and care to selecting her clothing as Rosamond, but if she were around today, I think she would be able to pull off a kind of effortless chic style.
Much has been made in the last few days, perhaps rightfully so, of the fact that the Pulitzer Committee chose to award no prize in the Fiction category this year. It’s not that 2012 was an abysmal year for fiction–on the contrary, there have been many outstanding books published this year. In fact, three finalists in the category were chosen: David Foster Wallace’s posthumous The Pale King, Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!, and Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams.
While it’s nearly impossible to untangle the intentions behind this very secretive process, we can only assume that either the judges felt none of these works were worthy of the much coveted Pulitzer Prize, or that they were ALL worthy of the Prize, and a winner could not be determined. Maybe we’ll never know. What we do know is that the publishing world is up in arms–unsurprisingly. The Pulitzer’s are like our Oscars–we speculate about the nominees, take bets on who the winner will be, wonder which designer the winner will wear on the red carpet. Ok, so maybe it’s not that much like the Oscars….but it’s important. The winner of Pulitzer prize not only receives the prize money, but the prestige and sales and reputation that go along with it. It would have been a huge deal for a first time novelist like Karen Russell to win the prize, especially for her delightfully strange prose (I haven’t read Swamplandia! yet, but I loved her story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves).
So what does it mean that there was no fiction prize this year? Maybe it means a more even distribution of book sales. Or maybe it means, as Ann Patchett fears, that the American reading public will keep reading stuff like Fifty Shades of Grey and the latest memoir by a reality tv star, and not seek anything better. On the other hand, do we need prizes or labels to tell us what to read? Who says the elitist Pulitzer committee knows better than I do what I should read?
I, personally, am disappointed that there was no winner this year, and even though I know it’s happened in the past, I still feel that it’s coming at a momentous time in publishing, and there should be more thought when it comes to the state of literature, and literary fiction in particular. What do you think?
The Cover:
I first attempted Lolita when I was too young to understand it. I tried again a couple of years ago, and now it’s one of my all-time favorites. I did a Fashion Book post for Lolita last summer and now it’s time for the Coverall.
The Look:
This one is a challenge, honestly. I took the colors and created a look that’s sexy and playful. What do you think of Lolita?
As part of the clothing swap I hosted in January, I inherited a gorgeous vintage houndstooth skirt from my friend Lindsay. I was having trouble styling it, but I picked up a pretty navy lace top at Target last weekend when I was in RI for Easter and was surprised at how well the two worked together.
Also, it’s finally warm enough for outdoor photos!
Do you have any favorite vintage pieces? How do you mix them with the rest of your more modern closet?
And, just for fun, a coworker pointed me to Mad Style, a series of posts that breaks down the costumes in every episode of Mad Men and what their meaning is, both for the characters and the cultural context of the period. It’s addictive and so fascinating.
