Friday, August 13, 2010

Which One? Which One?





I don't know how I happened to find these handmade bags...I love bags and I guess I sort of collect them.  Monica Kennedy is the founder of this amazing company.  She works with her collaborator, Marian Munoz and the bags are beautiful and handmade.  I am in the process of deciding which bag I can't live without...I love the name of the site...tuffcooki.com!!!

You have to click on the link and check these bags out!!!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

For The Love Of Vintage...







Free People is both a free standing store and also a fabulous online store.  They are similar to Anthropologie and have interesting and edgy clothes and coats and shoes and boots and hats and necklaces and bracelets and bags and amazing other finds.  Look at these skates!!!  I think my cousins had skates similar to these...and we probably just tossed them aside...so sad...I love all of this old old stuff.  In fact...I think I remember bright red laces that kept these on and a key?   Would there have been a key for these?  I remember watching my cousin AnnLouise speed around the block and over the sidewalks of our town with these...whoooosh!!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

My First Wordless Wednesday...and this photo says it all...

Of course this is from " I CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER"...a funny funny site!!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My Review Of Propecy Of The Sisters











The premise of this book is that within the history of our world there have always been Guardians and Gates. One is good and one is not so good. The Guardian and Gate have always been sisters and the role each sister plays is determined by birth order. There is a lot of mystery within this story. People have died and have left incomplete messages and tasks that need to be deciphered and completed or literally all hell will break loose. There are tons of souls dying to get back to the living world. There is one fierce soul determined to break through the gate and rule the world…Samael… he must be stopped. Alice and Lia are the sisters who play the key roles in this story. In the beginning of the novel the roles of the sisters were unclear but as the story progresses the plight of one sister is key to the unfolding of the story. Finding others who are destined to help her is tantamount to saving life as we know it. One sister is true and honest and will put the safety of others first. The other sister is determined to open the Gate and let Samael wreak havoc on the Earth that we know.







I love the era of this book. Horse drawn carriages and lamps that have to be lit by hand and servants and long dresses and chaperones. Tea in the drawing room…pens that must be dipped into ink…no IPADS or KINDLES anywhere. I thought the story was beautifully written and quite captivating. Characters were beautifully portrayed from Aunt Virginia to Henry to Edmond the driver…each character had a well explained personality. I must say that I read the book quickly. This was because there were so many exciting parts I had to know what happened next. There is a Book 2 which I will be reading shortly.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Grown Up Ladies And YA Books...






There was such a great article in the NYT Sunday about the total fascination that "older" women have with YA books...I loved the article!!!  It seemed to say that this is a good thing...that there is something that is fresher and more hopeful in a YA book and that is appealing to lots of us...here is a link to the article.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Everybody Is Talking About...

I have been seeing hype about this book pop up every where...Booklist says that this book...

"Captures the intimate truths and hypocrisies of class, identity, and one man's quintessential American experience."

Of course...I had to add it to my huge pile of must read books...




Another book that is getting lots of hype is Stiltsville by Susanne Daniel.  It has been described as a "bittersweet story of a marriage that spans three decades" ...I love this kind of a book!!!   It is already on my Kindle and ready for a lazy summer afternoon.





This Sunday's New York Times Book Magazine also really seemed to love the debut novel "The Quickening"  by Michelle Hoover.  I just bought this one also...it looks wonderfully enticing and is described by The Boston Globe as "a finely-crafted debut novel...vivid, fascinating...the novel grows richer with each page"...and the covers of Stiltsville and The Quickening are just so lovely.  Why is the cover of a book so meaningful?

Will you add these to your list of must read books this year?