My Book Wishlist on Amazon

It was a long time ago that my default Amazon wish list was renamed ‘Book Wish List’ and colonized by- you guessed it- books.
But not just any books- the books that my library doesn’t carry.  I’m aware that I pretty frequently sings the praises of the Boston Public Library conglomerate/system, which allows you to check out any book in the Greater Boston area and have it shipped to your local library.  But that doesn’t mean they have every book I have ever wanted to read. Almost, but not quite.

I don’t usually buy books. I also don’t usually shop on Amazon anymore (given that they still advertise on Breitbart and I find it problematic). But Mom (who originated this politically-minded ethic) recently told me that we have a fair number of Amazon points. So maybe I’ll make an exception for some new used books around my birthday time…

And that inspired a visit to my list, and then, as per my usual compulsions, some much needed pruning.  The oldest book had been added to the list two years ago.  Which isn’t too bad, but still almost 1/10th of my life.  So some stuff was eliminated and some had been acquired by the library (!).

Here’s what remains:

• Mad About the House: A Decorating Handbook
  It hasn’t been published yet, so finding it used on Amazon is not an option, as of now.
• Paris in Stride: An Insider’s Walking Guide
  I recently started following this illustrator on Instagram and am always on the lookout for Paris recs.
• Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home
• Parisian Chic Lookbook: What Should I Wear Today?
  I enjoyed the original Parisian Chic by Ines de la Fressange. I’ve heard that this one isn’t nearly as good, but I’m still interested.
• My Little Paris
  I subscribe to the My Little Paris newsletter via email. They share lots of fun news about the city and favorite locations.
• Une Femme Francaise: The Seductive Style of French Women
  Clearly books about Paris, style, and the intersection of the two are one of my pets.
• Don’t Be a Tourist in Paris: the Messy Nessy Chic Guide
• The New Paris
• Impressions of Paris: An Artist’s Sketchbook
• Am I There Yet?: The Loop-de-loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood
  Mari Andrew, whose illustrations I sometimes share in links posts, published a book!
• Yours Always: Letters of Longing
• The Book Lovers’ Miscellany
• The Milk of Dreams
  Children’s stories by an excellent surrealist author.
• How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life
• The She-Devils
  So hard finding this one in English (Les Diaboliques in French).
• Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman
  Stefan Zweig.
• The Story Cure: An A-Z of Books to Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Wise
  I liked The Novel Cure, and as a big fan of children’s literature I feel like this one seems pretty promising.
• How to Live Like Your Cat
• What Flowers say: And Other Stories
  George Sand short stories.
• Book of My Mother
• A Book of Book Lists: A Bibliophile’s Compendium
• The Book of Forgotten Authors
• The Joy of the Snow
  Elizabeth Goudge, noted children’s author.
• Gio_Graphy: Fun in the World of Fashion
• The Place to Be
  The best destinations for different moods, according to Lonely Planet.
• Dress Scandinavian
• I’d Rather be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers
• The Art of Discarding: How to Get Rid of Clutter and Find Joy
  The original KonMari method.
• Siddhartha’s Brain: Unlocking the Ancient Science of Enlightenment
  Buddhism and neuroscience- pretty up my alley.
• Tryst
  A mid-20th century ghost story like The Uninvited and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.  hard to find.
• Ladurée Savoir Vivre: The Art of Fine Living
• Quiet Houses
  Intertwining yet distinct ghost stories.
• A Child Again
  Robert Coover cynically and nostalgically retells childhood fables and tales.
• The Name Therapist: How Growing Up with My Odd Name Taught Me Everything You Need to Know about Yours
• The Diary of Lady Murasaki
• The Library
  Zoran Zivkovic is an excellent name.
• The Blood of the Vampire
  Like Dracula, one of the original Gothic vampire novels. Also check out Sheridan’s Carmella.
• Perfume Legends: French Feminine Fragrances

It’s kind of funny because the books tend to fall on one of two extremes.  the library doesn’t carry them because they’re more obscure, but half are more light/frivolous obscure while the others are foreign/old/scholarly.

My Preteen Bedroom

Having shared a story recently about the hallmarks of ’90s and ’00s preteen bedrooms, I’ve been feeling a touch of nostalgia for my own (which I’ve since remade into the lovely and peaceful place it is today.)

In list form, the defining characteristics of my room, circa 2000-2008.

• The most noticeable thing about my ‘old’ room, and the one that feels the most personally relevant to me today, was the wall paint.  My room was light blue, lighter toward the floor and slightly darker toward the ceiling, with lifelike clouds that may Dad and I (but mostly my Dad) painted.  I’m pretty sure that this was his idea, but I loved it very much and hope I didn’t break his heart too much when I suggested repainting my room around the time I was going to start high school.
  Home improvement projects with my dad are some of my happiest memories, and just as I remember painting our kitchen cabinets with him 4 or 5 years ago, so I remember painting the clouds long before that.  In my worn out Tweety Bird slide on sandals, putting a touch of gray paint toward the bottom to give that three dimensional feeling.
  Bonus: When I first moved into my ‘grown up’ room from my ‘baby room’ (which is now Mom’s ‘sewing room’), My Dad painted stars on the ceiling with glow in the dark paint.  They’re only visible at night and look like the night sky during the summer, the season in which I was born.  My clouds may be gone but the constellations have hardly dimmed.  It’s something I want to do, if and when I have a child.  So that means maybe we have at least one more father-daughter project. And I hope many more than that.
• The inescapable bead curtains.  I credit my bead curtains with being my original instructor in the color spectrum.  The strands were each different colors of the rainbow with small beads and larger beads in the shape of stars, suns, and crescent moons.  The order of the colors- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, light blue, and purple.  I would sing them to myself ad can still list them in my head to the same tune- one that I unfortunately have no idea how to transmit via blog post.  And of course it’s only a short step from that to ROYGBIV, which we all know is of the utmost practical importance so far as preparation for life as an adult.
  Of course, the only problem is that sometimes the bead curtains fall down, especially if it’s in the doorway and a stampede of preteen girls are running through it during a birthday party, playing veterinarian (when time really is of the essence because those stuffed animals have to be SAVED, DAMN IT).
• Speaking of stuffed animals, I had a couch full of them.  It was an old couch that we eventually replaced, and when we did replace it, it came up to my room and was covered with a white throw blanket sort of thing.  I had a completely obscene number of stuffed animals- a number that kind of shames me when I think back on it now.  But I would love to spend time arranging them on that couch, frequently in a giant pyramid, with attention paid to relative size, comfort, and which stuffed animal friends would make the most serendipitous neighbors.
• Last but not least, I had a white gauze canopy over my bed (#IKEA) with a sensuously curved paper lantern (also #IKEA) hanging from the center. Also a bolster pillow which I believe was upholstered in a blue and black zebra fur cover.  I still have it but the cover is now white.

Honorable mentions: lava lamps, embroidered table runners on dressers, the tiny castle with battery powered fountain, the super annoying flower shaped electric doorbell, horse figurines all over the floor always, my framed Vincent Van Gogh sunflowers print, and one of those things where your name has been colorfully painted by a nice man in the street- I never see those anymore.

Friday Links: 1/26

I turned 22.5 yesterday and today I have an exam that threatens to destroy all that I hold most dear. I’ve been studying since I woke up at 5:30 am. (Approximately five hours ago). There are about three hours left. It’s panic time.

Here’s what’s happening online:

• Kate DiCamillo (author of Because of Winn-Dixie, and others) on why children’s books should be a little sad.
• You can smell when someone is sick. Here’s a case where a woman was able to identify Parkinson’s patients by body odor, some even before they were clinically diagnosed.
• NBA = ballet? Check out these beautiful unplanned synchronized moments.
• Hedi Slimane takes over at Celine, replacing Phoebe Philo. Not a fan of this development.
• An ode to the pre-teen bedroom, complete with bead curtain.
• Ann Curry may have a baby crush on Stephen Colbert but I have a baby crush on Ann Curry.
• First there was athleisure. Now there is bath-leisure.
• Screen Junkies casts the It sequel– the prestige, the popcorn, and the provocative versions (the latter featuring Jared Kushner).
• Full cast and vague plot details have been announced for The Incredibles II and I am salivating.
• This webcomic is my current (as of yesterday) obsession and I’m narrowly avoiding bingeing it instead of studying. It’s sold out but if you buy it in book form it comes with a plush. Here’s the author/illustrators tumblr for more info.
• Phantom Thread is the last big Oscar nominee that I haven’t seen. Here are some of the films from which director Paul Thomas Anderson drew inspiration (including Rebecca!) and an amazing short film featuring under-the-radar lead actress Vicky Krieps.
• One thing I really like about this capsule wardrobe article in particular (among the seeming billions out there, which get a bit very repetitive) is the recognition that, because everyone’s style is different, so will everyone’s capsule wardrobe be.
• What is Scandinavian style and why is it gaining so much traction globally?
• Living for Colbert’s imitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. It starts around 2 minutes in.
• In case you’re wondering what I’m doing here in France, here’s a video featuring some of my classmates.
• And to round out this rather fashion-focused week, Kate Spade succulent sandals.

In My Room and Close to My Heart

I don’t talk about my bedroom much. It’s my favorite room of the house (the kitchen being  close second) despite the fact that I don’t spend much time in there.  My bedroom is solely for sleeping, prepping for the day, prepping for the night, and more-frequent-than-I-would-like-to-admit private dance performances.

That’s really what it comes down to. My room feels very private to me- like my own inner sanctum. I don’t take pictures in it.  Even the cats aren’t allowed in (mostly because they think it’s their god-given purpose to knock shit over in my closet).

My room is also filled with my treasures- beyond my favorite books, my clothes, and the other things that carry me through daily existence, there are a few things that I can’t imagine I won’t be holding onto forever. Just because I’m attached to them.

Saturday Links July 22

It’s a Saturday edition of the regular Friday links post, which you could look at as a very exciting new development or just sad evidence of my disorganization.
Truthfully, it’s neither: I’m visiting Lily this weekend and we were very wrapped up in seeing each other again (it’s been two whole months, which is a lot when you’ve just been living with someone for four years!) and the rediscovery of the film, A Bug’s Life.

A Bug’s Life was the first movie I ever saw in a theater, but watching it as an adult (for the first time!) has had a lot of unanticipated results. 1) I can’t help but recognize how far computer animation has come. It’s much more detailed now. 2)A Bug’s Life is basically a mashup of Aesop’s Fable (The Ant and the Grasshopper) and the classic film The Seven Samurai. Who knew? (Not three year old me).

Links for January

I’ve so many interesting and exciting links (the wide world of the internet, what can you do?)- I haven’t done a links post in a while.  I hope everyone’s week is off to a good start. Mine would be better if it weren’t so chilly- I’m sitting on my radiator in my dorm room as I type this.  Actually, I’m going to the library.

Well, that’s a bit better.

Numbered Days; Pretty Calendars

I was bragging a few posts ago about how absolutely beautiful and lovely my paint chip wall calendar is, so I’ll lead off with that one.
Here it is! Very pretty, very bright, very beautiful. Even more perfect than the 2016 one.
In fact, I’m almost a bit sad that I didn’t switch over to it in August (because it goes from August 2016-December 2017) much as I love the version that is one my wall now (but the dreary December palate is really bumming me out).