Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Literary Stylings: July and August Books, and Green Culottes

Happy Tuesday-That-Feels-Like-Monday! Hmmm, I'm not sure if that's cause for celebration or not.
Stair Pose don't like culottes
 But it's one day closer to the weekend, right? Can't be that bad!

  • Top - Annalee and Hope, consignment; last seen here in August 2014
  • Culottes - Jac Dale, vintage 80s, thrifted; last seen here in June with plain ol' white
  • Shoes - Half Truth Tanya, Fluevog; last worn here with purple plaid in May

I am done with this top. I haven't worn it in a year! I thought when I found the last wearing of it, "Well, that's not so bad, I wore it in August." But no, that's 2014! Definitely time for this lacey thing to go. It doesn't feel nice on.

I was hemming and hawing about these green culottes, but you know? When am I ever going to find emerald green culottes again? For $4.00? How about never?
But I'll pack 'em away for next spring and then I'll be all, "Woo hoo! I forgot about these!" and there will be much rejoicing.

The stuff:
It's a lot of green, I know.

Green bling:
Everything but the necklace. But I had a reason!

  • Necklace - Nygard, consignment
  • Obi belt - thrifted
  • Earrings - Stella and Dot, consignment


And that reason is...Literary Stylings time, yo! I was remiss and skipped the August edition (okay, full disclosure: I didn't read more than 1 book in July. It was a busy month).

Here's what I've read. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Barrayar", which is the second novel enclosed under the name "Cordelia's Honor."
I liked the second book more than the first one, and I have the next two chronologically to read still. She writes strong female characters who are smart, not helpless and not focused on "female" things. Also, soft sci-fi, which I like as it's more character-driven. They just happen to live on different planets than us. Good stuff.

I also finished another bathroom book, "We'll Always Have Paris" by Ray Bradbury.
Ray Bradbury is one of my all-time favourite authors, but this is not his best book of short stories. That would be...hmmm..."The Illustrated Man" or maybe "Martian Chronicles" or ooh...I do really love "The Hallowe'en Tree" and "The October Country". My point being, he wrote much better short stories when he was younger. If you want to delve into Bradbury, don't pick this one.

Our most recent Book Club book up for discussion in a couple of weeks is David Mitchell's "Ghostwritten", picked by Yvonne.
I haven't read anything else by him (although I liked the movie "Cloud Atlas" well enough), and I don't know that I'm all that fired up to read more. I found that I was distracted with trying to connect all the stories, flipping around to find, "Was that the person from the other story?" or to see if that was the same name. Once I gave up on that, I just treated the stories/chapters like a book of short stories - I was much happier. I enjoyed this, although I remember very little of it now. Not a great sign. I'll give this a slight thumbs up.

I just finished this book on Sunday, "NOS4A2" by Joe Hill. Get it, Nosferatu?
Charlie Manx is a very bad man, and he drives a very bad car, a Rolls Royce Wraith with NOS4A2 as its licence plate. Don't get in the car, and do not go to Christmasland. Very nasty things happen there.

Loved Vic, the lead character - I really liked all the characters, which is unusual for me (there is usually one annoying character in most books, I find). I loved the stilted speech of Charlie Manx (reminded me of Christoff Waltz), and the frenetic pace of the story. Great, killer (pun intended) ending. Recommended. I only have one book left of Hill's to read ("Horns" - I gave it to L for Christmas, so I can't read it until L does, arg), and then I'll be finished all of his stuff.

So, this is my inspiration for Literary Stylings! I wore all green, just like a very evil Christmas elf. Hee!

And what have you read lately?

8 comments:

  1. Oh you must keep those fabulous culottes! I think they need a tighter-fitting top which ends at the waist - not that you need/want styling advice from me, Sheila! xxx

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  2. I am cheering for you dear ! All of this reading - makes me feel like i need to read more.
    Lately I've been reading just for school and the papers I'm handing in. Of course if blogs and magazines count, these too.

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  3. Those culottes are everything! They are absolutely fabulous and you must keep them.

    I really like David Mitchell; I think I've read everything of his but one. And I've liked them all, but I do very well with books that interweave about 10 different stories. I don't know why, but I do.

    I've had less success with Joe Hill. His dad is one of my all-time favorites so I tend to compare them and Joe doesn't come out on top. But, I've only read one, maybe I'll give this one a shot.

    Thanks for the reviews and for linking up!

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  4. Boring reading for me. Just finished The Essence of the Thing, a relationship novel, and Mrs. Kimble, another relationship novel - each for the fifth time? I'm out of books I haven't read and I dislike reloading my Kobo. I've read all my classics a bajillion times. We'll see what's next.
    Those green culottes are bordering on danger pants! I'm glad you're keeping them. They are magnificent.

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  5. Really, really beautiful outfit. Green is radiant on you, dear lady. that's a shame about the lace top not feeling nice on your skin though. Lace, especially in recent decades, can be hit and miss in that regard for sure.

    Big hugs & many thanks for your lovely comment on my Canadian novelty print skirt outfit,

    ♥ Jessica

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  6. Emerald slippers. Oh my. Those are the most amazing culottes I have ever seen. You look so pretty. You should wear them a lot no matter what the stairs say.

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  7. Mmmm I'm truly in love and jealous of how many fluevogs you have

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  8. Sheila, I learned something today! Joe Hill. I'm reading Finders Keepers right now (on the treadmill only, which can be a challenge as I'm sure you can imagine), just finished Mr. Mercedes (great read) and King often refers to his author son in his prologues, but not by name. Just downloaded Heart-Shaped Box and In the Tall Grass for my Kobo ... so thanks for the reco and, in turn, I highly reco that you hang onto the emerald green culottes because rejoicing in the springtime is a wonderful thing. :-)

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