Wyeth's Homer

I have never met an NC Wyeth illustration I didn't like enough to open it in a new browser tab and keep it there for days until I accidentally close the window or blog about it.  Homer's getting blogged, mainly because there's so much incredible ocean to share.  This fishman is also of note:

For all the waves, however, I think this Penelope is the best part of all:

via Golden Age, of course.  The fount of all great classic illustration.

Bookcases, Bookshelves

Disclaimer: I am writing this under the influence of one of those cold-y, flu-y, woozy-type sicknesses that one gets in the winter.  I will strive for coherence.

In picking out furniture and decor, the eternal struggle of mine seems to be between my two great loves: Art vs. Books.  I have a lot of art.  I like to hang that art on the walls.  I also have a lot of books.  I go thin the ranks every so often, but I am the type of reader who revisits books as if they are old friends, and I cannot tell you how often I have gone to locate a book to reread and discovered that my foolish past self had thought me done with it and donated it.  So I am a reluctant giver-away of books.  Ergo: I have hundreds of books.

Many of the larger art books (of which there are quite a few--I am an art historian, after all) have found second lives stacked and used as bedside tables.  But the rest--hardbacks and paperbacks large and small--are stashed all over the house.  A couple hundred live in a trunk in the garage.  I've done this because I was trying to avoid being the person with lots of bookshelves and room for nothing else.  However, I have decided to heck with this, I am going to own my book habit.  I was partially inspired by shots of the Eames house from Eames: the Architect and the Painter, which I finally watched this weekend.  I love their shelves!

I'm on the hunt for shelves.  I'm not looking for anything fancy, just your basic bookstore-type shelves.  Nothing terribly ornamental.  To be clear: I'm not looking to create pretty, curated examples of interior design, just a place to put books.  I'm really loving open-backed shelves, too, if for no other reason than their much easier to dust, and much lighter to move.  Here are some other examples that have caught my eye:

If you can tear your gaze from Matt Bomer's chest, go ahead and check out those shelves.  I LOVE those shelves.  (Here is a Bomer-less shot.)

Greg Wooten's living room, as photographed by Todd Selby.  These are wall-mounted, obviously, which is an option that's a bit more permanent than I'd like at the moment, but I love the simplicity and the arrangement.

Ideally, I'd like something out of the Ikea box if possible, without breaking my very meager bank.  Very likely an impossible project, but I'll be giving it a try!

land's end's glory days

It's with no small amount of heartbreak that I've been following along with the story of the demise of Land's End, the Long Island estate which supposedly inspired Daisy Buchanan's East Egg home.  To be fair, though I have a soft spot in my heart for The Great Gatsby, I view the demise of just about any residential grand dame with heartbreak.  And as it was designed by Stanford White, who was arguably the most famous American architect at the turn of the 20th Century (certainly in New York), this lady has a serious grand dame pedigree.

Built in 1911, Land's End played host to parties in the 20s and 30s which saw the likes of Winston Churchill, Ethel Barrymore, the Marx Brothers, and, of course, F. Scott Fitzgerald himself as guests.  It was clearly once an estate to be envied, and having only the photos of its decay to recommend it has been tragic.  To add insult to injury, the property has been purchased by a developer who plans to populate it with multi-million dollar McMansions.  Just what the world needs more of.

I'd love to see photos of the place from its heyday, but honestly, these few, from a publication issued sometime in the 70s or early 80s, are infinitely preferable to those of its decay.  So look, and enjoy, and try not to imagine the look on poor Jay Gatsby's face on the day of its demolition, standing in West Egg, watching it crumble.

happy as an owl in a book tree

I love this sculpture by Colombian artist Federico Uribe, made of deconstructed books.  He has a whole forest of them in an exhibit at Now Contemporary Art in Miami.  See the photos here, or take a virtual tour.

Photos by Moris Moreno for the NYT.

delicious gorey covers

If you've hung around here any length of time, you know by now that I adore Edward Gorey.  There is no other word than adore.  His words and art, creepy as they might seem to some, make me want to crawl into them, curl up, and stay for awhile.

Gorey is well-known for many things, his books and animation among them, but often forgotten are the fantastic paperback covers he illustrated, frequently also creating the typography.  This Flickr collection shows many of those books, all of which belong to a single private library.  Oh, the jealousy, it burns!

ps: If you enjoy Gorey's covers and also laughing, you will probably also love Kate Beaton's series of comics based on Gorey covers (all four parts).

twi-why?

I live with two fellow VISTAs in my West Virginia house, and since one of them is a soccer nut and the other a self-professed "Twihard" (but only the films, thank you very much) I pretty much laughed my behind off when this showed up last week.  I shared the heck out of it on Google, and quoted it to many people, and thought that would be the end of it.  Little did I know.

Despite the fact that my Twihard roomie (we'll call her Kappa) has already seen Eclipse (and drove 2 hours through the mountains to do so), my other roomie (who we'll call Stitch) rented Twilight and New Moon so that she'd have some background before going with Kappa to see the new one.  I chose to read over watching Twilight, but tonight found myself at ground zero for the New Moon viewing.  Why not, I figured.  Aside from a few exploratory excerpts, I've stayed at least 10 feet from the books since the craze hit, but what harm could watching a movie do?  Perhaps I'd find myself swayed and decide to give the books another try.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  I mean, my God.  First of all, just to get it out of the way, I am Team Jacob all the way.  It's mostly Team Not-Edward (I've got nothing for respect for Robert Pattison, but MY GOD he plays a creepoid in these movies), but will freely admit to being rather fond of the Jacob character.  Fond enough that I wish he'd find himself a girl willing to kiss him on the goddamn mouth rather than just lead him on and flail her arms about like a brain-dead turkey.  I knew from the moment he entered the film that he would be getting his heart stomped on and that it would piss me off.*  And yes, I'm not going to lie, tt doesn't hurt that Taylor Lautner looks the way he does (as Kappa put it, she'd never before understood the guys who were thrilled when the Olsen twins turned 18).  But our (Stitch's and mine) real beef was with the girl herself, Bella Swan.

I met a brood of Bantam chicks on Saturday at the farmers market with a greater collective intellect than that girl, I swear.  She's the worst example of a potential role model character I have EVER seen from a young adult series.  She's reliant entirely on the men in her life, not only to keep her alive, but to keep her from killing herself.  I'm surprised she manages to stand in the rain without drowning.  I can see how a dude with a white knight complex the size of Canada would go for her, but what attracts female readers/viewers to the series?**  I spent half the movie wanting to smack her, and the other half wanting to smack Stephanie Meyer.  If it's an escapist thing, that's all well and good, but I can recommend a half-dozen romance novelists off the top of my head who can write circles around Meyer, and throw in some heroines with brain function greater than that of a pickle and, you know, SPINE, to boot.  Damsel in distress does not necessarily equal automatic moron.  Just sayin'.  Got a thing for vampires and/or werewolves?  That's cool, I can supply writers of those, as well.

Just...jeez.  How did we go from the craze over Harry Potter, which were intelligent, well-written books, to this?

*If you're interested, I recommend this highly intelligent article about how Jacob was doomed to lose in Stephanie Meyer's universe.  I read and loved it even before I watched the film.

**Aside from those there to see Taylor Lautner shirtless.  Which, by the by, is the second thing to pop up in the auto-complete when you start to type his name into Google.

out of print

How fantastic are these shirts by Out of Print?  Each one features a classic (and often out of print) cover image of a book, with lots of books to chose from!  The best part is that for every shirt sold, a book is donated to an African community in need through Books for Africa.  These are the sorts of shirts I wear until they are tatters.  Yes, please!

via the neotraditionalist

censorship

Hey y'all!  I hope you enjoyed the little diversion this morning.  I'm playing around with different blogging ideas for when I'm living in the boonies with an internet situation which is currently unknown.  We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I shared this on Twitter this morning, but loved it so much that I had to repeat it here.  Author Phillip Pullman on censorship, after being asked whether his new book was offensive:

"It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don't have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or bought, or sold or read. That's all I have to say on that subject."

Amen.

via Boing Boing

style idol: nancy drew

Nancy Drew in the Now

I know I've said this twice now, but here we go again: THIS WAS THE HARDEST ONE.  This time it wasn't because of cover art (clearly, I was working from naught but my own imagination), nor was it due to my own conflicting memories.  No, this difficulty was due to the fact that fashion terrifies me.  In the earlier posts, I was looking backwards and thinking like an historian, which I can do, since I am an historian.  However, when it comes to modern stuff, I am an infant.  I mean, I did it, but now I never want to see another pair of shoe for the rest of my life.

Anyway!  The biggest decision was whether to put Nancy in pants again or go back to skirts.  I went with trousers because that's the direction in which the cover art was moving when I last read new Nancy Drews.  I tried to class it up, however, and made a point to get Nancy back in some heels.  Return her to her roots, if you will.  I also updated her tech!  Considerably!  I knew I needed to get a smart phone in there, and I went with the Palm Pre because my techie friend Adam has one, and he swears by it.  All I know is that it can run multiple apps, and I betcha Nancy would dig that.  I decided to give her a snazzy Kate Spade necklace and matching earrings because I think we can all agree that Nancy is the type of gal who wears matching sets of jewelry.  And makes them work.

Speaking of returning to roots, I also decided to return Nancy to her roadster roots, and opted for a Mini-Cooper convertible.  Nancy always had a new car, so I built this baby over on the Mini website.  It was for Nancy, you understand, and not at all because those things are hella fun to build.

And that's that!  There you have it, Nancy's fashion through the ages.  I hope everyone has enjoyed reading these as much as I have making them.  If I've whetted your appetite for Nancy, there's a lot out there.  I for one am shamelessly addicted to the computer games--they are so well made and such fun.  The classic books in audio are now read by Laura Linney, who does a fantastic job (I'll be listening to The Hidden Staircase on my drive to South Carolina this Sunday).  I should note that I do a lot of laughing when I read or listen to classic Nancy Drew books, mainly because Nancy excels at EVERYTHING.  If you're at all interested in the story behind Nancy Drew, then I HIGHLY recommend Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak.  It's a fabulous book, and it reads a little like a mystery itself.

Sources:
New Feminine cotton blouse by DAY Berger et Mikkelsen, $220
Check Pants by Junya Watanabe, $680
Ringsend Heels by Anthropologie, $90
Javanica Tote by Anthropologie, $88
It Takes All Sorts Triple Necklace by Kate Spade, $125
It Takes All Sorts Stud by Kate Spade, $38
Palm Pre by Palm, $149.99
Magnifying Glass from Amazon, $9.95
A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Lilien for being the perfect style reference for my feeble brain.
(I went through a LOT of items making these sets.  You can browse the stuff that didn't make the cut here)

*this is the fifth and final post in a series on the fashion of Nancy Drew.  Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

style idol: nancy drew

Nancy in the 90s

If you're paying attention, then you'll notice that this is a bit of an outlier from the rest.  The easy explanation is that the Nancy Drew Mystery editions on which I based the first three posts in the series were no longer being made in the 90s.  Nancy lost her iconic yellow spine, hardcover, and internal illustrations and came issued in paperbacks by Minstral.  So there's that.  However, if the 70s post was informed by memories of the books from my youth, than this one is REALLY informed.  By the early 90s, I was tearing through these paperbacks like it was my job, plus I was wearing all of the things Nancy was depicted in on the covers.  This one was TOUGH.  If I could have found a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper to put in there, believe you me, there'd be one.

So here goes: can you believe that they're selling stirrup pants again?  They totally are!  It was hard going with pants after all those pretty dresses, but the simple truth was that Nancy's days of climbing through windows in heels were behind her.  I searched long and hard for the perfect bag for this one because it had to be a mini backpack.  EVERYONE had those stupid things, and I imagine Nancy would be no different.  Same goes for the wayfarers and calculator watch.  That was pretty cutting edge tech (I won mine in a school sale and treasured it for many weeks).

What with the changing of the times, Nancy might even have gone for a hardier blue convertible, like this 1990 Wrangler.  This was going to be the last post, but I feel I need to purge my system of all that 90s, so you'll get a modern Nancy tomorrow.  Yay!

Sources:
Stretch Velvet Sirrup Legging by American Apparel, $45
Lucy Low-Tops by Marais USA, $48
Britt Shirt by Abercrombie & Fitch, $68
Spring Cardigan by American Eagle Outfitters, $29.50
Deena & Ozzy Printed Backpack by Urban Outfitters, $58
Neon Retro Wayfarer Sunglasses from Amazon, $6.95
Unisex Datamat Calculator Watch by Vestal, $59.95
Oblong Reading Magnifying Glass from Amazon, $20.60
Flirty Florals Notebook by Mead, $3.29
book cover from here

*this is fourth in a series on Nancy Drew's fashion through the decades. Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

style idol: nancy drew

Nancy in the 70s

 

This one I actually had the most trouble with, since most of the original Nancy Drews I read were the 1970s reissues from the library, so I have a TON of memories of them.  Added to this is the fact that by the 70s the cover art was more about conveying ACTION and SUSPENSE (see above) than accurately portraying Nancy's outfits.  I HAD to put boots in this one, because I can clearly remember seeing an internal illustration in which Nancy is wearing go-go boots.  If anyone knows which book that came from, I would love to know!

Looking through the cover archives from the 70s, I noticed (when more than just Nancy's face is visible) that she's nearly always wearing a structured top.  This dress is a little old-fashioned for the 70s, but then Nancy has always been a little old-fashioned herself.  But not afraid of color, oh no, which is why I threw that fantastic pair of tights in there, too (also because I really want them). Nancy was always prepared, so you have to imagine that her bag would be stocked with notebook, sharpened pencils, and probably a flashlight, too.

By this time, she would totally have been driving one of these.

Resources:
Reed Shirtdress by Anthropologie, $120
From Every Bangle by Modcloth, $16
Edie Earrings by Modcloth, $12
Tonal Argyle Tight by Kate Spade, $19
Fiona Stitch Pull On Boot by Frye, $195
Perfectly Persimmon Bag by Modcloth, $160
Picnic Notebook by Curiosity Shoppe, $12
SE Glass Lens 5x Magnifier by Amazon, $2.85
Car is a 1970 Pontiac GTO
Cover art from here

*this is third in a series on Nancy Drew's fashion through the decades. Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

style idol: nancy drew

Nancy Drew in the 1950s

Meet 1950s Nancy.  There were lots of flouncy dresses, cardigans, and sensible heels.  Nancy's terrier Togo also played a role in many of her adventures, and here he's played by Ditto (who's a Jack Russel Terrier up for adoption in Maryland, if you're interested!).  Although Nancy was primarily portrayed as a blond in the early editions (her hair is described as "titian"), by the 50s and 60s, she was fully a redhead.

By the end of the 1940s, Nancy's blue "roadster" had become a convertible (like this 1958 Buick), and would remain as such in every book I read, anyway.

Sources:
Soda Fountain Dress in Ginger by Modcloth, $45
From-The-Green Cardi by Anthropologie, $130
Suite: Judy Black Shoes by Mod Cloth, $35
Windsor Palace Metallic Gwendolyn by Kate Spade, $595
Perri's Flat Leather Dog Leash by Big Dog Boutique, $10
Carson 5" BigEye Magnifyer, $8.90 
Nancy Drew book cover from here

*this is second in a series on Nancy Drew's fashion through the decades. Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

style idol: nancy drew

Nancy in the 1930s

 

In the early days, Nancy was perpetually in heels, regardless of the situation. She also understood the value of a put-together ensemble, and often included a jaunty scarf.  Oh, and her hats!  I couldn't include it in the polyvore above, but here's a hat Nancy would most certainly have had in her closet.

From book one, Nancy was never far from her blue "roadster."

Sources:

Slate Stripes Shift - Anthropologie, $130
No-Fault Cobalt Coat-Mod Cloth, $165
Foil-Wrapped Heels, $360
Pulsing Paisley Scarf - Anthropologie, $38
SE Necklace Magnifier on a Gold Chain, $3.23
Royal Wiht Cloche with Vintage Pearl Buttons, $350 (handmade by Behida Dolic)
Car is a 1930 Gardner Coupe

*this is first in a series on Nancy Drew's fashion through the decades. Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

style idol: nancy drew

Did you know that Nancy Drew turns 80 this year? Well, that's not quite right. She's actually 98. Or she would be, were she not eternally 18.  If you know me at all in real life, you know how rabid a Nancy Drew fan I am.  I read my way through the library shelves growing up, and have since begun to amass my own collection of the iconic yellow-spined books (to say nothing of my collection of the video games).

Nancy has always inspired me.  Her fearlessness, determination, resourcefulness, and ability to shake off head injuries which would have left me laid up for days made an impression on little me, and have stayed with me ever since.  One of the things I loved best reading the books were the illustrations (I have two of them framed on my wall).  As the books adapted to the changing times, so too did Nancy and the stylish clothing the illustrations always conveyed.  To celebrate Nancy, I am doing a little series of posts to honor her keen sense of style through the years.

I'll be doing four posts, each one covering a style era depicted in the illustrations of the editions I read: the 1930s, the 1950s, the 1970s, and the 1990s.  If I'm not sick of fashion after those, I might do a modern day Nancy, too!  The first post, 1930s Nancy, will go up later today.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I've enjoyed making them!

Cover found here.  For more information of the classic Nancy Drew series, click here.
Browse full series: 1930s-1950s-1970s-1990s-Now

polish books

I would very much like to know why they don't make 'em like this anymore.  In Poland or otherwise.

from a journey round my skull.  see his post for sources.

gimme, day 13

jamie oliver's food revolution

In my recent forays into cooking, I've used Jamie Oliver recipes a few times.  I've fumbled a lot (and made horrible messes), but the end results are always delicious.  I was wandering around in a bookstore when this caught my eye, and the next thing I knew I was sitting cross-legged on the ground, lost in the salad chapter.  Yum!

cloth-bound lovelies

Check out this interview that Anne did with Coralie Bickford-Smith over at Design*Sponge!  She's the illustrator behind all of these gorgeous cloth-bound books from Penguin.  I adore cloth-bound books, and I'm so glad that in this age of e-books (which I have nothing against, mind you), people haven't quite abandoned cloth.  And look at those covers!  The clocks, the waves, j'adore.  See a full title list here.

because there will be pie

This post is at the request of my best friend.  You will see why in a moment.

Neil Gaiman is my favourite author, so when his latest book won the Newbery Award, I was understandably thrilled.  I read it over the summer and loved it, which greatly increased the thrill.  Well, as of this week The Graveyard Book has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for a full year, an occasion which evidently merits pie.  Neil's editor promised him that she would bake him a pie if the book stayed on the bestseller list for 52 weeks, and apparently Neil feels that it is only fair to counter with pie for all:

"So now Merrilee and I are plotting ways to send pie to HarperChildrens (my initial plan of finding a bakery in New York that would enthusiastically make an amazing pie big enough to feed 125 people seems to have been sunk by real life)."

I read this, and my immediate reaction was to send it on to Laura, with the message "I think this means you get pie."  Laura, who I've known since preschool, hated in 7th grade (she was such a suck-up), and fell into gleeful best friendship with in 8th grade, is a publishing graduate student at NYU and works for HarperChildrens.  She is one of the most mature, composed, take-charge people I know, and her response to my e-mail was: "I GET PIE! I GET PIE!" followed by "Are you going to blog about me getting pie? 'Cause I seriously want you to. Pretty please? Pretty please with cherries on top?"

And so I have.  Just for her.  And for pie.

banned books week

I'm a bit late, but it's once again Banned Books Week!  This is something near and dear to my heart because, to be honest, if I'd gone to Hogwarts I would have been caught in the restricted book section constantly.

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece apparently finds the idea of a Banned Books Week rather silly.  Neil Gaiman sums in up thus:

"The editorial doesn't quite go as far as claiming that libraries are UnAmerican, but it strongly implies that all librarians and people who work in libraries are, along with people who support the First Amendment -- unless they're trying, reasonably, like Good Americans, to stop other people's children from reading things they don't like. There's a cartoon of Good Americans being intimidated by a Scary Librarian too, for anyone who missed the point."

I much prefer the response from the director of the National Coalition Against Censorship that the Huffington Post ran:

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-bertin/banned-books-week-still-n_b_302248.html

"In our diverse society, it is inevitable that people will be offended by something they see, read or hear, and that some will respond by advocating the suppression of what they dislike. Demands for censorship come from both ends of the political spectrum and all points in between.

"Nor should we expect this situation to change. It is a measure of the health of our democracy that people feel free to protest. But because the fight over books will continue, so must the battle against censorship. Banned Books Week offers everyone an opportunity to join the effort to save the books -- all of them."

And--maybe coolest of all--the ALA provides brightly colored graphs illustrating the number, reason, institution, and instigator of challenges to books over the past 18 years.  Like so:

Challenges by Reason

It is often easy to forget how fortunate we are in the US of A, with our ability to read what we like, or protest the reading, and have our rights so well protected.  Banned Books Week is (I think) a time to celebrate it.


top photo from the NY Public Library via Flickr Commons

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-bertin/banned-books-week-still-n_b_302248.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-bertin/banned-books-week-still-n_b_302248.html

good days to be a book lover

***

This week is a good one if you're a book lover in the DC Metro area.  Here's why:

1. Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University: This is a great event, and I'm not just saying that because it takes place at my alma mater.  They always succeed in getting wonderful guests, and this year is no different.  Click here for a list of events and ongoing exhibitions.

2. 2009 National Book Festival: The grand poobah of book fairs, this event, thrown by the Library of Congress, involves hordes of book lovers swarming over the Mall.  It's enough to warm the cockles of this local's heart.  Click here for a list of authors that includes more big names than you can shake a stick at.

3. Small Press Expo: This is the event I'll be attending on Saturday.  It's smaller in scale than the other two, but includes lots of artists and producers of art books.  I am super, super excited about it (as well as getting to hang out with two great dudes), and will hopefully come home with lots of stories (and loot!).

These are the events I know of.  If I've missed any, please let me know!