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A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.

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What I’m reading: Vol 10.

What I'm reading

Nightstand: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

Coffee table: Lots of tissues. Cold season!

Kindle: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.

Audiobook: The Woman who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce.

Internets:

Reading The Twerkday Project today because it is my girl Leanne’s birthday this week and Twerkday is the fab fashion blog she runs with an equally fashionable friend.

This post on the “Uber effect” as it relates to other brands is pretty interesting.

I’m leading the discussion for the DC Ladies book club again this month! We’re reading Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, The Signature of All Things. Come join us! Female gender identity and DC location not required.

Hedwig!!!!!!!! I will take care of you. Come live with me.

It’s time for the Olympics! Let’s judge everyone’s uniforms.

A DC woman received 10 lbs of marijuana in the mail…by accident.

I enjoy makeup, but I rarely put enough effort into learning about it to be good at it. I’d like to branch out. Maybe 2014 will be the year I learn how to do my eye makeup in more than 2 ways. Anyone have a good resource for beauty tutorials?

 

The Elite by Kiera Cass

My review of The Elite by Kiera Cass, the second book in the author's well-received dystopian fantasy series. Via Diamonds in the Library.

The Elite by Kiera Cass.

This book is: meh.
Other elements: Reality tv, Princes, social strata, rebels, lies, beauty.
Read it: if you want to know what happened after the first book and don’t mind that it’s not going to be dazzlingly written.
Overall rating: 4/10

This book is a lot like its prequel, The Selection, but slightly worse.

It tries to be darker, but it can’t really manage it. The characters are just too dumb, especially the idiotic protagonist, America Singer. The political aspects of the universe the story takes place in are also too poorly defined for the reader to get a sense of the greater implications of the rebellion that begins to reach the castle where America is living. It’s unclear what the risks are. It’s also hard to get worked up over rebel forces if you don’t know where they’re coming from, what they’re rebelling about, or even who they are beyond “Northern rebels” or “Southern rebels.”

This second book also attempts to focus on the love triangle between America, the Prince, and America’s hometown love, but (at the risk of being overly harsh) America’s reactions to the situation are so simplistic that she comes off as simply indecisive, or perhaps not bright enough to fully understand the difference between her swains. Love triangles have been popular in recent YA fiction and they’re gloriously entertaining and painful when well written (like in Hunger Games, Mortal Instruments, etc.).

This love triangle barely deserves the name. America has two suitors, and she prefers whichever one of them has paid attention to her most recently. Sometimes she feels distressed about having two suitors, but the reader doesn’t need to care.

I’ll say this, though: this book has a pretty cover.

What I’m reading: Vol 9.

What I'm reading

Nightstand: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

Coffee table: Lots of tissues. Cold season!

Kindle: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Audiobook: The Woman who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce.

Internets:

I wrote a post for Book Riot about how to actually use the Library of Congress as a library. It’s an incredible place; I highly recommend going if you’re at all book nerd-inclined.

Apartment Therapy did a great post about which home/renter’s insurance companies cover jewelry. Ensure your pretties are insured, my dears. Bad things do happen, and you should be prepared.

This model was hired to be the face of a lingerie brand shortly before being diagnosed with cancer. She’s continued to model for them though chemo and surgery. She’s also insanely gorgeous.

I would like these earrings, please.

I made these smashed potatoes over the weekend and they were insanely delicious. (In case talking about models makes you hungry.)

Here’s an adorable picture of an adorably bespectacled little girl in a ballerina outfit. You’re welcome.

The Grammys brought us a some fun sparkle over the weekend, including a noticeable amount of finger bling. Check out some recaps here, here, here, and here; here’s a SAG Awards shot of the fab Sophia Vergara in an AMAZING necklace that I didn’t see until now.

 

 

 

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