Are you feeling thoughtful?
I'm taking part in the inaugural link-up of Thoughtful Third Thursday (T3), hosted by My Closet Catalogue and A Bibliophile's Style. It's all
about books and outfits inspired by them, so please go check out some of the
other participants, especially if you want some ideas for books to read.
I'm
not sure yet if I recommend my book.
Right now I'm reading Tomorrow
by Graham Swift. Swift is a contemporary British writer, and I've only read one
other book by him – Waterland, which
was excellent. Tomorrow is more
challenging.
The book is written in the first person by a mother of
sixteen-year-old twins. She's writing to them during the night before a big change
is about to happen: tomorrow their father will sit them down and tell them
something that will alter their lives completely. She writes about meeting her
husband, their marriage, and their lives together both before and after the
twins were born.
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She's an art dealer, in London no less, so kind of my
dream life if I'd had any ambition. I'm recreating an outfit she might wear – business-like but with
a little bit of flair, dahling.
This is the only suit I own, and I bought it around 1999.
The book is set in 1995, so the style is about right. See the sharp shoulder pads and deep-cut armholes? It's beautifully tailored and detailed, but I don't really have much occasion to wear it anymore (and I can't get the skirt zipped anyway). So for now it hangs in a garment bag, waiting for the day I have to make a good impression in front of a judge - haha!
Now, about the book – the writing jumps around A LOT, and it
gets kind of irritating! The narrator starts a story and then wanders off into
other details and the stories behind them – just when you're starting to follow
it and feel like you're getting somewhere – and then interrupts the sentence
like I've just done, but sometimes with longer phrases. Did that sentence irritate you? That's nothing. This is from the book:
“…and what with this and all the sharing of our earlier
years, I may even have had a fleeting picture of the long, rhythmic waves that
used to roll and spill, not onto Brighton beach, but onto the sandy crescent
bay at Craiginish in Scotland, where I’d spent summers as an unsuspecting girl
and where one day, yes, Kate—I certainly wouldn’t have suspected this on that
night in Osborne Street—your father would propose to me, actually if not
exactly formally propose to me, in the dunes.”
See what I mean?! It's kind of infuriating! I might have already given up on
this book and thrown it across the room except my curiosity won't allow me to. I must find out what the hell the
big secret is! I think it's going to be something a little weird, completely
unexpected. I just have to stick with it to find out.
Or I could just jump to the end…
Val
Jump to the end! LOL I've read books like that before where I figure I need to "stick it out" just to get to the end and then been hugely disappointed that I wasted all that time on it.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your scarf darh-ling! (air kiss kiss)
When I saw your photos I thought, "What is Val doing? Going to a fancy art opening?" So your outfit was perfect!
From the master of my own domain.
Suzanne ; )
It's so neat how you wore the scarf outside the jacket lapels! I normally tie mine and tuck it into my jacket or cardigan or whatnot, but the way you did it makes it look so breezy and effortless! I might have to try that sometime! Also, I'm stopping by from Thoughtful Third Thursday! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for linking up Val! I agree with Suzanne - skip to the end (and then spoil it for us, because you've got me curious, but I don't think I want to bother with this whole book). :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a reader's right:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/412431278347305701/
I love all the poses you did!
You guys are all awful! Don't do it, Val! Don't skip to the end! Persevere!
ReplyDeleteOkay, that was the English teacher talking. Now, let's hear from the bookworm:
Skip to the end. Or go to a review site and get spoilers. There are far too many books out there to waste time on one that frustrates you. That's why I gave up on the Divergent series. Don't care if they're making movies out of them and that all my students have gone ga-ga and beg me to read it with them. By the middle of book 2, I was DONE with the protagonist. ;p
Thanks for joining the fun with T3. I hope you liked it well enough to be a regular. You're a natural at this. I knew it when you posted about your Russian alter ego for Hat Attack.
Ugh! I can't stand books that I can't stand, but have to keep reading because I still want to know what, or better IF, something happens.
ReplyDeleteYou look great Val! Very art gallery ownerish!
I'm in the "jump to the end" camp. Life's too short, blah blah blah. But I do love that scarf!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool idea for a link up. You are looking oh so sophisticated and very art chic in the 90's. Hope you enjoy the ending of this book. I listen to books on tape so reading the ending doesn't happen for me!
ReplyDeleteblue hue wonderland
I have skipped to the end and I have pretended to read the pages too (only in work though! haha! I don't want anyone judging me!) especially when the main character has irritated me. Your business suit is divine dah-ling *mwah mwah* x x x
ReplyDeleteIs that my writing? I'm known for long and waffly sentences!! Love your take on both the book and the outfit! X
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm watching a bad movie I watch more, hoping it will get better (never does), and then, finding I've invested so much time, I have to stay to the end. I leave tired and pissed off. Same for books. I say put the book down NOW! Just as I shall from now on as well. And leave the theatre too.
ReplyDeleteI love your high-power art executive look, Val. I'd like to hear you give a high-falutin' talking-down to an artist with attitude or hear you schmooze a Big Collector. I hope your heels have a no-nonsense click to them as well.
This particular outfit is sexy to me. It really is!
ReplyDeleteHmm, you really aren't selling that book, you know! So did you peek at the ending?
ReplyDeleteBut you look very smart and sophisticated and intellectual in your suit. I have only ever owned one trouser suit, in the 1990s, I wore it to be Best Woman at my friend's wedding! xxxx