Boxing Day is for Books

It's boxing day here in Canada and we associate this with sales in most parts of the country.  However, most of the retail shops here in Newfoundland remain closed today.   There was one exception and that was Chapters!  Bookstores, department stores and shoestores - those are my three favorite forms of retail therapy!  So, of we went.  Sipping mint tea and browsing hardcovers at 30% off  was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon after indulging way too much on Christmas Day.

Because I am considering a vacation to Argentina in November with W, I was browsing the travel aisle and the old school illustration on the cover of this book caught my eye. 

And, of course anything related to music, fashion and the marriage of the two is of interest to me as well.  Remember how "grunge" was a look, a sound and a lifestyle? 

I did make a rather interesting purchase.  Once I finish reading it, I will post a short review and let you all know if my boxing day retail therapy yielded a hit or a miss!

Dear Diary - I am so into Big!

I, like most of you, loved Sex and the City. I loved all seasons of the show, I loved the movie, and I even loved the book. I am excited about the second movie  and today I learned about something else exciting!

Candace Bushness is releasing a new book, The Carrie Diaries, which will be a teen prequel to her famous franchise. It’s set during Carrie Bradshaw's high school years, detailing early relationships and how she became a writer. The Carrie Diaries will be published on April 27, 2010 and I grabbed this image from people.com. I love the cover art! It’s edgy and girly all at the same time.

I think this is a great gift for women to give their teen daughters who might be too young for the show.  I wonder how old Carrie was when she mastered stillettos?
xo

The Bookstore

I don’t visit the bookstore very often – it’s far too tempting. I usually pick up my reading at the airport or wait for a recommendation from my sister or a friend and then I order online. But for my birthday I received a gift card from Barnes & Noble so I felt some frivolous bookstore browsing was acceptable.

I ended up buying “The Style Strategy” by Nina Garcia. I am reading one book a month – I don’t think this one counts as a “read” though. It’s more an extended Glamour magazine article. Good thing W gave me The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Guinea Pig Diaries to take care of October and November.

Usually in a bookstore I stick to the fiction, business or true reference sections. As a rule of thumb I avoid “self help”. There is nothing helpful about that area. I thought it was kind of funny that in the “self help-romance” section these two books were next to each other:

My Summer Reading List

I try to read one book every month. In 2009 I have been doing pretty well. I already told you a little about Julie & Julia.

Here are the other books on my summer reading list:

The second in a vampire romance series aimed at 14 year old girls.

A journalistic dissection of nutrition as an ideology that has become overly complicated.

A literary award wining murder mystery thriller translated from Swedish.

Add Julie & Julia, a chick lit equivalent of the romantic comedy and you have the short, seasonal reading list of a slightly scattered, slightly neurotic book lover. Yes people, my book list may just suffer from ADD.

Julie & Julia - A Micro Review

I saw Julie & Julia last night and I liked it, thank you very much snarky facebook friends. I also enjoyed the book which I read during the hot, first week of August. It was a part of my summer reading list – more on that in a different post.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about the movie, not the least of which is the fact that it combines two things I love, food and writing. I really enjoyed some of the touching moments where we see the love story between Julia Child and her husband, Paul. However, the moment that I loved best was not in the book and while I am sure the subjects of the book and movie had many special moments, this particular moment was surely created by Nora Ephron. It was still beautiful to me.

Tall, physically awkward, yet socially charming and witty Julia is at her sister’s wedding. Her sister, even taller, also charming and witty is dancing with her new husband. Julia and Paul take the floor and dance sweetly, chin to cheek due to the height difference. The camera person sweeps out to an aerial view of the dance floor and we see Julia reach across to grip her sister’s hand for a few seconds. Both continue dancing, faces pressed lovingly to their mates but connected to each other at the same time.

It was an insignificant moment in relation to the bigger story but it made me cry. Having a sister is special. Having one you can hold on to in the most emotional moments is priceless.

If you are one of my four readers, I think you will enjoy the movie. Check it out.

Inside all of us is a Wild Thing

There is definitely a wild thing inside of me. I credit my wild, imaginative side to all the reading I started at a young age.

Tonight I was at the movies and I saw previews for two of my favorites – Where the Wild Things Are and Sherlock Holmes. I remember after reading about Max’s adventures I would look for other books that had won the Caldecott prize. I had no idea what that was but I knew it meant something good. And Sherlock Holmes? He provided me with intrigue, escape and mental challenge.

I think my true literary love affair started with Nancy Drew. I read all of her adventures when I was a kid. I remember taking every single volume out of our school library and Mom bringing me paperback versions when I was having my tonsils removed. At the tender age of 11 all I really wanted was to have Nancy’s blue convertible sports car and strawberry blonde hair

Of course my tastes changed and became more refined. Maybe they got a little wilder too J.

Let the wild rumpus start!