Books to Binge

Musique - "Reading Rainbow Theme" by Tina Fabrique

Last time, I gave some suggestions for my favorite movies and shows to binge during our isolation. Now it's time for my book suggestions:

Novels:

Ahab's Wife: or, The Star Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund

I read this on the recommendation of someone I used to be in a book club with many years ago (I actually dislike book clubs intensely, so I'm not planning on joining any in the future). I didn't think I'd like it because it's about the wife of Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. I've never even read Moby Dick. But DAMN was this a good book. Sena Jeter Naslund has a way with words. I couldn't put it down. I immediately went out and got another of her books, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette, which I also loved. Highly recommended!

Amends by Adriane M. Ziemer

You're goddamn right I'm plugging my own book. In these uncertain times, even the small royalties from purchases of my books are welcome. ;) This is a short novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2012 and self-published in 2015. I wrote it as if it were a 1930s film—cheeky and stylish, but not brimming with substance. I still love reading it, but then again, I wrote it for myself. However, you might also enjoy it, so here you go. It's about seven strangers invited to a house party and shit goes sideways. There may or may not be ghosts and witches involved. (You can also check out my collection of short stories and novelettes called Tales of Magnificence, Moxie, and Magic if you are so inclined.)

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

I have distinct memories of reading this book on my solo trip to Leavenworth, WA in the springtime years ago. It was sunny and I was sitting on a bench next to the gazebo, sipping on a chocolate coconut Frappucino and listening to the delightful German music in the background. All of this has nothing to do with the book other than to say it is a wonderful read in the spring. It's about four strangers in the 1920s who come to Italy to escape dreary England and stay in a medieval castle. Love it!! The 1991 film version is also delightful.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Yes, another book set in the 1920s—of course! This one is about typist Rose Baker, working for the NYPD. New typist, Odalie, comes along and rocks Rose's world. I found it riveting and the surprise ending still has me stunned. I read awhile back that they were going to make it into a movie with Keira Knightley as Odalie, and I must say that she is exactly who I pictured when I read this book. I hope it does happen one day!!

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

My favorite book ever—well, probably tied with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for "all time", but still a favorite. I bought this book solely based on the cover and this is one of those rare times when you can judge a book by its cover because this book is fucking amazing. It takes place in Barcelona in the 1950s and centers around Daniel Sempere, the son of a bookstore owner. Daniel's father takes him to a magical place known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he chooses a book written by a mysterious author named Julián Carax. Daniel becomes obsessed with learning more about Julián and epic stories ensue. The writing is so, so beautiful. Carlos Ruiz Zafón wrote this book in Spanish and it was translated into English by Lucia Graves. If the English version of this book is this fucking gorgeous, I can only imagine how exquisite it is in Spanish. Sigh. This is actually the first in a series of books about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and while the others are good, this is the only one that I truly fell in love with.


Authors You Should Read Everything By:

Jane Austen

Damn, she had a way with words. She made would-be boring life and interpersonal relationships in the 1800s enticing. These days I can now imagine a life where you sit at home all day and pretty much never see your neighbors and the big excitement is going for a walk or getting a letter, but before all this COVID-19 shit came down, I couldn't fathom how these people back then could live like that. These novels give you a glimpse into simpler times that are actually just as emotionally complex as our own time (although her characters don't need to socially distance themselves like we do). My personal favorites are Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice.

Agatha Christie

The master of murder and mystery! Author of like 80 something novels! These are usually easy, quick, charming reads. I love both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple equally, but Murder on the Orient Express is my all-time favorite.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

My favorite author of all time. This man is the king of descriptions—what a beautiful, evocative way with words! His novels usually get all the attention (especially The Great Gatsby), but I'm more of a fan of his short stories. My favorite collection of his is Flappers and Philosophers.

Susanna Kearsley

I was on the lookout for eerie, supernatural-ish kind of books awhile back and someone recommended Susanna Kearsley to me. I read The Shadowy Horses and fell in love! Her novels all center around a female protagonist who encounters or has connections to some sort of supernatural element, like ghosts, time travel, precognition, etc. I've really enjoyed every single book of hers that I've read.

Kate Morton

I read The House at Riverton for that book club I mentioned earlier and enjoyed it immensely. I've read most of Kate Morton's other books and loved them as well. They're all fairly similar in form—a female lead character, the narrative jumps from the past to the present back and forth. Because of this similarity, I don't recommend reading too many of these back to back—it might get irritating. And another heads up—my own novel involves flashbacks every other chapter (but I wrote mine before I ever read any of hers!).


Book Series:

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

These are truly fantastic reading. Witches, vampires, and daemons mixed with history, alchemy, and modern science. The research Deborah Harkness must have done to write these books blows my mind. Highly, highly recommended. I've read these at least three times each, I love them so.

Bridget Jones books by Helen Fielding

Full disclosure, I have only read the first two, but I love them so much I had to include them. I identify with so much of Bridget Jones's innermost thoughts and feelings and I feel embarrassed and excited for her as if this were all happening to me. I'm older and wiser now than I was when I first read these, but at the time, I totally identified with Bridget, including all the toxic diet culture bullshit she goes through. They are totally worth a read, even if you too are old and wise. ;)

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

I fucking love these books. That is all.

Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

These are some fucked up books here. Serious fucked up shit happens in Sweden, apparently. I remember how much reading these books made me want to smoke and eat Billy's Pan Pizza (whatever the fuck that is—we don't have that brand in the States). I also remember finishing The Girl Who Played with Fire and being so impatient to start on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest that instead of waiting to hit up the bookstore the next day when it opened, I placed an Amazon Fresh order that consisted solely of that book and six cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. Why the fuck not? Incredibly engrossing—and as aforementioned, fucked up—reads.

Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood

Kerry Greenwood writes other books with other heroines, but the Phryne Fisher series is the best! Phryne is a lady detective in 1920s Melbourne who sleeps with hot guys, carries a handgun in her purse, and dresses like a fashion model. I picked up Away with the Fairies at the library back in 2008 based solely on the cover (apparently I like to do that), and became obsessed with Phryne Fisher. I went back to the beginning and read all the books in order (although you don't technically need to). I was ecstatic when they made a TV series based on these books—and now there's a movie too!


Books about Show Business:

Complicated Women by Mick Lasalle

Pre-code films are my favorite. FAVORITE. If you're not familiar with the Motion Picture Production Code, it's basically a set of guidelines put in place in 1930 to make films meet moral standards. These guidelines were voluntary until 1934. If your film didn't meet the code from 1934 through the late 1950s, it wouldn't be shown in the vast majority of theaters. So "pre-code" films are ones made before the Production Code became the law of the land. This book focuses on some of the most famous pre-code actresses (and my personal favorites), such as Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Anna May Wong, Clara Bow, Mae Clarke, Jean Harlow, Barbara Stanwyck, and Miriam Hopkins. Old Hollywood at its best!

Fate Keeps on Happening: Adventures of Lorelei Lee and Other Writings by Anita Loos

First of all, if you haven't read Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, do so right away. Some of this book is written from the perspective of the heroine of those two novels, Lorelei Lee. The rest is other writings by Anita Loos, many about her time in Hollywood, writing movies. It is a fascinating glimpse into her magical life during that magical time.

Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks

A short memoir of sorts by talented film star and dancer, Louise Brooks. She had a complicated relationship with Hollywood and films in general, and this book is packed with her personal stories and plenty of pictures—many of which I'd never seen before! This is truly a gem.

Sin in Soft Focus by Mark A. Vieira

Why yes, this is another book about pre-code Hollywood. Weird. This is a big coffee table type book with lots of gorgeous pictures, but it also has a lot of great information about the Code and how these films tried to get around it. It is probably the most gorgeous book I own.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Hey look, a book about modern show business! I do like modern stuff too! I adore Amy Poehler and this memoir made me laugh so hard. I love the way she writes. I love that each piece is its own little thing. And I love the humorous photos of Amy sprinkled throughout. It's fucking fantastic!

"The Great Gatsby" Review

Musique - "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra

Well, I put on my replica 1920s knickers à la Zelda and saw The Great Gatsby today (in 2D, of course). After I read that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s granddaughter and Charles Scribner’s great-grandson enjoyed and approved of the film, I decided I was just being too picky, and so I went to check it out for myself.

I liked Charles Scribner III’s quote, “. . . it must be judged on its own plane as a distinct recreation in another medium, a parallel universe so to say.” And that is exactly what I decided to do. I decided to just push to the side my reservations about how it should have been made and see it for what it was—a new reimagining of a classic. If you look at The Great Gatsby as a story of obsession, excess, not knowing what you really want, and dangerous carelessness, then this movie really did do a great job of portraying that. Never mind the changes from the book or the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad soundtrack (nothing could possibly change my mind about that damn soundtrack—not even the argument that hip hop is the new jazz, which I totally agree with, and I loves me some hip hop, but it doesn’t belong in a movie set in the 1920s, neither do Florence and the Machine or Lana del Rey, etc.). I do realize what a hypocrite I must sound like since I freely admit to adoring Moulin Rouge and enjoying its soundtrack. While I do find that era fascinating and I have a great interest in Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, I totally wasn’t offended by the inclusion of Christina Aguilera, David Bowie, and Fatboy Slim songs in the soundtrack. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite author and the 1920s is my favorite decade, so I’m a little overly protective of them. Okay, rant over. Besides, there were a few snippets of real 20s music here and there (although they were later 20s music, not from 1922, in which year the book is set).

I will say this for the movie—the cast was simply amazing. Carey Mulligan was as beautiful, delicate, and flawed as you could possibly want in a Daisy and Leonardo di Caprio was probably my favorite Gatsby so far (and this is saying something coming from someone who used to despise him—all the way up until Inception). Elizabeth Debicki made a very pretty Jordan, although I wish her part had been bigger. Tobey Maguire was a great Nick—awkward in all the right places and a fine voice of reason. Joel Edgerton was an excellent Tom, very upper class and better-than-thou. I was really hoping to be impressed by Isla Fisher as Myrtle. And I was, certainly—I just wished there had been more of her. Of course, anything Jason Clarke does is fantastic. He really brought George’s grief and desperate revenge to life. The costumes, jewelry, sets, and cars were beyond brilliant. I hope when I die, there’s a part of Heaven that looks just like this movie.

Even with all that praise, I still maintain that the movie would have been eight million times better if a) they’d made Daisy a brunette and Jordan a blonde like they are in the book; b) they filled the film with era appropriate music (and yes, I admit this is coming from a person whose iPod contains over 350 songs from the 20s and 30s and clearly enjoys that kind of music) ; and c) 3D was not even an option (seriously, do you want to see Myrtle get viciously hit and mangled in 3D, you sick fuck?). I am vehemently, across-the-board anti-3D (except for Captain EO, which is excellent).

Alas, Baz Luhrmann didn’t consult me when making his film and so my vision and his vision had some distinct differences. I tried to look past those differences, but in the end, his film just left me feeling meh. I like films to transport me to another time and another place; I like to feel like I’m in the 1920s when I see a movie set in that time period. But this movie didn’t make feel like I was in the 20s; I felt like I was watching a very fake representation of the 20s. Which I so very obviously was—nothing about Baz Luhrmann’s movies are real, they are spectacles. But the spectacle he created in this movie in no way even compares to how I imagine the story when I read the book. My Great Gatsby is the cat’s fucking meow. ;)

Why I Will NOT Be Seeing "The Great Gatsby"

Musique - "Always" by Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra

Despite the great cast and the gorgeous art deco promos, I will not be seeing the upcoming The Great Gatsby movie. The main reason is because I cannot abide by what Baz Luhrmann has done with F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. I loved Moulin Rouge, but I hated Romeo + Juliet. I get it that his style involves taking something old and makes it his own, but when he fucks with my favorite works, I get pissed. And F. Scott Fitzgerald being my favorite writer and the 1920s being my favorite decade, I honestly can't bear to watch a Gatsby movie that features modern music and can be viewed in 3D. I can totally understand that people are pumped to see this stylized version of Gatsby and so I watched the trailer for this movie a couple of times (a couple of months apart), just to give it a fair chance. But each time, I just got so angry at Luhrmann's treatment of this wonderful story and the horrible, horrible music accompanying it. So, why on earth would I subject myself to two hours of being angry at another person's art? Not gonna do it.

One thing that irritates me about Gatsby movies in general (perhaps just the last three) is the insistence that Daisy is a blonde and Jordan is a brunette. Hello, did any of you read the book?? In the book, there are two clear descriptions that Daisy is a brunette:

• A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek . . .
• . . . and once he kissed her dark, shining hair.

And there is at least one clear description of Jordan being a blonde:

• The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair . . .

It's such a silly thing to be bothered by, but it's one of my pet peeves about movies based on books. Wigs and hair dye are not hard to come by. It is extremely easy to make actors and actresses look like the characters they're playing as described in the book.

Another reason I won't be seeing the movie is that nothing compares to the movies in my own head when I read Fitzgerald's stories. I mean, I've seen the 1974 Gatsby and I didn't hate it, but I didn't particularly care for it either. And I actually kinda liked the 2000 TV movie version. But yeah, none of these films do this book justice in my opinion. Perhaps if someone like Martin Scorsese did Gatsby, I'd see it, but for now, I've decided to avoid any and all movies based on Fitzgerald's work. I much prefer my own imagined movies.

But you never know, I might decide to check it out when it comes out on DVD. That way I won't bother a theater full of people with shouts of "This is horsehit!" or "That didn't happen!" And hey, maybe it won't be as bad as I think it will. It certainly looks pretty. Maybe I'll watch it on mute. ;)

Flappers and Philosophers

Musique - "She's Got It" by Harry Reaser

I recently almost got into an internet fight with someone who was incredibly misinformed about flappers. It all started with me ranting that a full-fringe boxy dress is the standard flapper costume for Halloween when that is incredibly historically inaccurate (which I'm basing on the fact that I've never seen any pictures of women from the 20s in that sort of dress; some fringe, yes, but never an all-fringe dress). Someone commented on that saying that "flapper" meant a dancer in a jazz club, that flappers definitely did wear all fringe, and that regular women weren't flappers, which is why I'd never seen a picture of a woman in an all-fringe dress. I got really, REALLY upset at this.

Not only is this a hideous costume, but look at her hair! No one in the 20s looked like that! Sacrilege!

First of all, I don't like to be challenged on a subject I am particularly passionate about. Secondly, this girl had it all wrong! I was very, very tempted to set her straight in a bitchy, know-it-all comment telling her exactly what flappers were and recommending she read some Fitzgerald (both Scott and Zelda) to get up to speed. However, I ended up deleting my original comment so as to end a potential internet fight. I don't need to get angry with absolute strangers over something as silly as the definition of flappers.

If you know me, you know my love affair with the 1920s and flappers started in 2005 when I myself decided to be a flapper for Halloween (because I had the perfect black bob and I usually pick my costumes based on what my hair looks like that year). Not being particularly versed in flapper fashion, I still somehow just knew that no one really wore those hideous fringe dresses. So I set out to make my own costume and found a pattern for a dress based on Velma Kelly's "All That Jazz" dress in Chicago (which, as you can see, has some fringe, but is NOT all fringe). And, never one to half-ass a Halloween costume, I started watching and reading more about the 1920s. And I fell in love with the era.

So, long story short, for the last seven years, I've been devouring countless silent films, early talkies, books written in and about the 1920s, music from the 1920s, and pictures of the 1920s. So, while I'm no 1920s historian, I'm more knowledgeable about this time period than your average person. And if I had to tell that misinformed girl my own definition of "flapper", I'd say: A flapper was a young woman in the 1920s who flouted previous generations' conventions by doing things like smoking, drinking alcohol, wearing shorter skirts and dresses, rolling her stockings, wearing a lot of makeup, bobbing her hair, dancing to jazz music, using slang, staying out late, and/or "petting" with boys. But, as Levar Burton says on "Reading Rainbow", you don't have to take my word for it:

• Flapper Fashion - 1920s Fashion History
• 1920s Flapper: Brash & Beautiful
• Flapper Fashion
• Eulogy on the Flapper
• Flappers in the Roaring Twenties
• Definition of Flapper

As you can see, flappers were everyday young women of the 1920s, not only dancers in jazz clubs (although, if a woman were a dancer in a jazz club, chances are she was a flapper). I know I shouldn't get so irritated with someone who was obviously given erroneous information, but something in me snapped and made me want to blog about flappers.

If you are interested in the 1920s (and learning more about flappers), I can personally vouch for the following books:

• Six Tales of the Jazz Age and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Best Early Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Romantic Egoists: A Pictorial Autobiography from the Scrapbooks and Albums of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
• Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes by Anita Loos
• Fate Keeps on Happening: Adventures of Lorelei Lee and Other Writings by Anita Loos
• The Technique of the Love Affair by Doris Langley-Levy Moore
• Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties by Marion Meade
• Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild by David Stenn
• Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz
• Chicago: With the Chicago Tribune Articles That Inspired It by Maurine Dallas Watkins
• Jazz Age Beauties: The Lost Collection of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston by Robert Hudovernik
• The Jazz Age: The 20s (Our American Century) by the editors of Time-Life Books
• Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
• Fashions of the Roaring '20s by Ellie Laubner
• Everyday Fashions of the Twenties as Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs by Stella Blum
• French Art Deco Fashions: In Pochoir Prints from the 1920s
• The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s by Paula S. Fass
• Flapper Era Fashions: From the Roaring 20s by Tina Skinner
• The Night Club Era by Stanley Walker
• The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
• The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry
• The Flapper Wife by Beatrice Burton
• Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen

And if you want to be a fancy flapper (or her sheik) for Halloween, may I suggest these sites for more historically accurate dresses, patterns, and accessories:

• Leluxe Clothing Co.
• Unique Vintage (this site does offer some all-fringe dresses—just ignore those)
• Vintage Style Clothing
• Ageless Patterns
• Past Patterns
• HBO (Boardwalk Empire inspired accessories)
• Vintage Dancer (men's 1920s attire)

I thank you for listening to me rant and I apologize if I sounded pretentious or bossy. I just really, really, REALLY love the 1920s and I get a little upset when people misrepresent this time period. Maybe one day I'll have a job where I can inform the masses about the awesomeness that was the 20s. ;)