SUMMER READING Part Two

Before we launch back into Part 2 of Leanne's Summer Reading Series...as promised...although much much much delayed...

A 2010 Cannes Fashion Retrospective

One of those useless Victoria's Secret models that thinks transitioning from laying around in your bra and underwear to having a two line speaking part as "random bitchy girl at the party" in Party Scene 12 in a teen movie makes you a "real actress." Humph. But I do like her pants suit.

I love Princess Cate. But, I dunno. It's the color I think. Because the cut of this is fantastic. But the color and the makeup and the hair...for me, it's "Designing Women."

Another terrible make-up job (is it make-up artists in France?). And more of this pale pink. But this I like more.

I LOVE Kirstin Dunst. I know. I know. You hate her. And that's completely understandable. But I love the Virgin Suicides, and I love her in it. And I love Little Women. And I hate Amy. And Kirstin makes you hate Amy even more. Which is good. It's how it should be. Amy's a little shit, after all. So try not to be too hard on poor Keeks. This is the best she's looked in a while. Beautiful.

On anyone else, this would be a disaster. No, it's not something I would choose, but she owns it. And that's what it's all about.

I have no fucking clue who this is. But I like her dress for about two seconds before I start realizing it's tacky and ugly...but it's shiny and colorful and, like a fish or a barracuda, I gravitate towards the blingy thingy before realizing I'm wrong and the situation suddenly sucks.

Okay enough of that low-brow fashion tripe. Onward, Upward into the Ivory Tower of Book-dom (Hey Shelbs...is that GOOP-y enough for ya!)

The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield

The other day, I wrote about wanting to fall in love. About once or twice a year, I fall head-over-heels, maddeningly, obsessively in love with a book. This is one of those books. It is my favorite summer book thus far. Probably favorite book this calendar year to be perfectly honest. I am in love with The Thirteenth Tale.

Which only makes sense. Because the book, while it is about a lot of things, is mainly a love letter to reading itself. It's a siren call to stories: the ones we read, the ones we tell each other, and the ones we tell ourselves. And, although there are infinite numbers of books that deal with this meta-fictive "reader as story teller as reader" Mobius strip, The Thirteenth Tale never feels trite.

That's probably because the writing is so beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. There are passages that will knock the wind out of your chest and make the tips of your fingers buzz.

And the story moves. It's engrossing. And gothic. And twisty-turn-y but not in the contrived Dan Brown way.

This is an elegant book.

(And...it's Setterfield's first novel. Her. First. Novel. sigh.)

The Historian Elizabeth Kostova

Unless I'm wrong, I think Kostova's The Historian is another Herculian "First Book." She has since written The Swan Thieves which just came out which I haven't read, but I'm pretty sure this is her only other book.

I bet Stephanie Myers finished this book and then went to Kroger and bought out their supply of Chunky Monkey ice-cream before going on a five day calorie bender. Because THIS is how you write a fucking vampire novel.

Before you click away, however, let me tell you this. It's not a Vampire novel with a capital "V." It's historical fiction. It's about Vlad the Impaler who was a very very real person. He was the son of Lord Dracule (which just basically means Dragon in Romanian) and is the man who inspired the fictive Dracula of Bram Stoker's imagination. See? No sparkle penis's, or naked boy wolves, or people referring to each other add nauseum as "my love" "my soul" or other Twi-speak barf.

It's thick as a brick and will take you forever to get through. Unless you can't put it down. It's a fun summer beach read. And it will make you look a lot more interesting than the woman in the beach chair next to you with her copy of "Shopoholics and the City Forever."

So there you have it. My Summer Reading List.

But, I'm curious...what are you reading? What are you liking? What are you Loving?

And thanks to E for her submissions in the comments section of Part One's post. David is actually reading Bonk right now. He really likes it. Except he keeps telling people he's reading this great book called Donk, which I think makes them feel weird inside.

Love!