The Roaring 20s

Link Love

Sometimes, during the peak of summer, I feel as though my attention is wandering.  With that in mind, here's a little collection of links and book news that might strike your fancy, all with minimal attention required.

• You knew I was on a Jane Austen kick, but here's a video for anyone reluctant to enjoy 19th century Brit-Lit. Please to enjoy Jane Austen's Fight Club.
• Jezebel's 10 Not-Trashy (But Totally Entertaining) Beach Reads are amazing--I have, in fact, read many of these on a beach chair, including A.S. Byatt's Possession and Nabokov's Lolita. Sadie Stein is kind of my kindred.
• Congrats to Deborah Johnson, author of The Air Between Us, which just won the Mississippi Library Association's Best Novel Prize.
• Found this on Galleycat today: Jeff Buckley meets Romeo and Juliet. If this musical includes Buckley's rendition of "Lilac Wine," I will swoon straightaway.
• Mad Men is back, and my inner Joan Holloway is rejoicing! If your hunger for pop culture criticism hasn't been sated, do yourself a favor and check out Mad Men Unbuttoned and the accompanying piece in The New Yorker.
• I went on a poetry binge the other day and re-read "Courage" by Anne Sexton. If you're having a rough time, or know someone who is, read this and/or forward it along.
• Lastly, ever since seeing him in Henry IV (and in French Kiss), I've nursed a wicked crush on Kevin Kline. (This blog is a safe space, so save your judgments for Twitter). Anyway, this trailer for The Extra Man reminded me he's still got it.

Comfort Reads

I was actually going to title this post "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Read Emma," but I thought that was a bit fey, even for me.  But let's face it, stress can make people do strange, even embarrassing things.  I saw the first Twilight movie under such circumstances, I bake when I'm frustrated, I take weekend walks along the Gowanus, and while we're at it, sometimes I drink soy milk from the carton on nights when procuring and then cleaning a fresh glass is too much effort. After some research, I've concluded that it's a particular yet imparticular variety of 20something angst-- an unnameable anxiety about our careers, our love lives, our friendships, our apartments--that makes us turn to our guilty pleasures for comfort.  For me, the complete and unequivocal cure-all is a BBC miniseries or a classic novel, complete with corsets, bustles, and English accents.  I melt away into the countryside and let the gentility, the sonorous and round syllables of a Mr. Darcy, wash away the dank heat of summer, the smell of garbage day, the train re-routes and cancellations.  So you won't be surprised when I confess that this week has been bad enough to make me turn to Charlotte Bronte's Villette and the stellar 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries starring Colin Firth.  Villette started off pretty drily, even for my taste, but after 100 patient pages, I've been entirely sucked in.  So it got me to thinking...what are your comfort reads? After all, as Mr. Darcy says, "I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours."

New Year and a New Take on Sherlock Holmes

Apologies for the hiatus from posting-- I was busy with holiday parties, cookie baking, book swapping, and preparations for ALA Midwinter.  I did come across a free slice of time yesterday and managed to check out Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.  Overall, I thought it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon (I especially liked the somewhat steampunk vision of Victorian London).  And as you might remember, I'm a sucker for anything involving Rachel McAdams.  If you saw the movie and/or are interested in notable takes on this 19th century detective, nj.com has a fabulous list of books--including our very own Michael Chabon.  They write:

"Michael Chabon is among the very best American writers, and his essay on the genius of Conan Doyle — contained in his anthology Maps & Legends (Harper Perennial 2008, 210 pp., $14.99) — is as good an analysis of the mechanics of popular fiction as you’re likely to find. The facile Chabon also offers an homage in The Final Solution: A Story of Detection (Harper Perennial 2005, 131 pp., $12.99), in which we find an aging Holmes battling the diminishing of his powers while taking on one last case."

Happy reading, and Happy New Year! 

Book-Inspired Halloween Costumes

While most of Manhattan is dressing as Lady Gaga this Halloween, I decided to go with an easy costume: Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  It got me to thinking about book-inspired costumes, so here's a quick list of my most random (and cost-effective) suggestions for a literary Halloween.

Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird.  I know, I know, this is totally inappropriate.  But you can paint your face an ashen white and carry a pair of scissors--cheap and easily done!

Sabina from The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  Wear a bowler hat and take a lover.  Actually, take two lovers.

Randle Patrick McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Requirements for this one include mental instability, a straitjacket, and a great Jack Nicholson impersonation.

Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife.  Go naked and carry a library card.

Dolores/Lolita from Lolita.  Tiny white socks, a pair of Mary Janes, a short skirt, and a lollipop.  Ask a man to buy you a drink because you're underage.

What do you think? Any book-inspired costumes I missed? What are you going as this year?

Coco Before Chanel

Allow me to rhapsodize a bit on this Monday morning.  I am smitten.  Last week I caught a showing of Coco Before Chanel with my very fashionable friend, Sonya.  Four days later, I still can't stop talking about it, and am very close to buying this Chanel-inspired sailor shirt from J.Crew. I've always been a devotee of Audrey Tautou (a poster of Amelie graced my college dorm room), but Coco Before Chanel proves what a powerful and versatile actress she is.  The film avoid the pitfalls of a standard biopic, and instead focuses on some meaty issues: love and relationships, individuality vs. conformity, and the role of women in the 20th century.  We see Gabrielle, "Coco," fight her way, tooth and nail, from destitute beginnings to the empire she founded.  Watching her passionately, even recklessly, take control of her destiny was both exhilarating and inspiring.  So I was beyond thrilled when I heard that we have a new biography on Chanel coming out next April, Justine Picardie's Coco Chanel: A Life.  I don't usually read non-fiction, but you can bet I'll be checking this one out.  What do you think? When's the last time a movie inspired you?