What I’m reading: Vol. 28.

Nightstand: My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro. I picked this up again the other night when I couldn’t sleep. It’s an extremely cool anthology edited by the incomparable Jeffrey Eugenides.

Coffee table: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. This book is SO GOOD. Expect a review as soon as I can calm down enough to have coherent thoughts about it.

On the metro: The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes. I’ve heard some great reviews of this one, but it’s not doing anything for me so far.

Audiobook: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. I love hearing authors read their own work. This one is awesome to listen to.

Internets:

Geeking out over Gem Gossip’s feature on antique date rings!

At Book Riot, we just published our master list of the best books of 2014. This is a treasure trove.

Seriously beautiful photos in this Stay Gold post on the Denver Cartier exhibit.

Discovery wrote this “Gift List Circa 50,000 B.C.” and it’s really cool. Spoiler: pretty rocks and jewelry were valued even then!

Is anyone in the market for a cursed sword? An elderly lady says that one of her 100+ swords is cursed, and she’s had enough of its antics. It’s on Craigslist.

The Cost of Things in Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’ Music Video – this post is hilarious, but they don’t mention any of the jewelry. It’s all real, by Lorraine Schwartz and Ofira.

Are you following Monica on her #idazzletravels through the the African gemstone world? You should be.

Why We’re Sad That Chris Pratt Is “Done” With Being a Little Chubby – can you imagine an article like this ever being written about a lady celebrity? Neither can I (I do love me some Chris Pratt, though).

My girl at Spinsterhood Diaries did an amazing all-gold gift guide. Yes, I do think I need gold driving gloves and gold salad tongs.