Lost In Books

One of the best and most easy journeys you can make is to your neighborhood bookstore.  It's the perfect place to get lost in someone else's world, or inspire a new adventure.  Perhaps the less obvious map they offer though is the one to your own past.  Many of us find joy in reading because the stories leave such impressionable images and feelings in our minds.  We identify with them.  Any given page you flip through can resonate a memory from our bank.  They may not always be a happy memory.  As any decent reader knows though, if you just keep reading there's always an answer as to "why."

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Eat. Pray. Love. ~ A Review

I fell in love with reading at a very young age.  Too young for me to even remember because by age four I was already an experienced guest reader.  Such as with any love affair, there have been highs and lows with the relationship.  Some books you just want to slam the cover and walk away from.  Others become painfully slow, but you still find a need to nurture with some patience and tolerance.  Then there are those that remind you of why you fell in love with the craft to begin with.

After ignoring the hype, only to become intrigued by the magic of Hollywood persuasion (better known as trailers), I finally picked up Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat. Pray. Love.  While never wanting to put this story down, I know books well enough to know that they run out of pages at some point.  Perhaps the truest testament to a great book is that you become so absorbed in its words, settings, and characters that you give it your time.

As with all things I become fascinated by, research commenced on the author's thoughts on the soon-to-be released movie, as well as events that ensued after the book's publication.  It was quite satisfying to hear exactly what I had hoped she intended when writing this book.  The point of this book is not to hop flights and visit all the places she lived, and do the things she did.  As she says, "the point is to ask yourself the questions I did that lead me to this journey."  This book may not be for everyone, as often times literature, and especially memoirs are not.  If you've ever wished a story could be your own though, indulge yourself in this.  After all, it did happen.

Book cover from Amazon

Darn Darn

It's rare that I ever slack off, but every once in awhile it happens. For any big release I make sure to star it in my agenda. Every new Michael Buble album, is pre-ordered ready for download. Back in December I could not leave for Naples until I had (500) Days of Summer in my possession. Somehow, someway though I missed marking down the release date of Chelsea Handler's new book, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Tuesday night, the day of her latest book's release, everywhere I turned I was reminded of what was not on my bookshelf. Her nightly show mentioned it, the E! network ran commercials promoting it, and she even was the headliner on the Jimmy Fallon Late Show plugging it (YouTube video above featuring part of the spot). Her two previous books, My Horizontal Life and Are You There, Vodka? It's Me Chelsea share the dubious achievement of being the only two pieces of literature I've actually laughed out loud at. The anticipation of her third work has built to a crescendo after she shared on Jimmy Fallon that many of the book's memoirs revolve around her father's antics. Unfortunately, I also anticipate a steep personal entertainment expense report in my bank account this month from my St. Patrick's Day pilgrimage to Chicago this weekend. At least for the tight of wallet there's always Amazon.

How to Take Glamorous Advice

I'm not one to look for advice often. A lot of things in my sphere of the universe get chalked up to being part of the beat of my own drum. That is until after a recent trip to the Uptown Chicago Borders. Right in the niche "fashion & beauty" section, one particular title stared me right in the face: How to Walk in High Heels. It was a feminine skill I have never quite seemed to grasp. Needless to say, I was intrigued. The 448 page book is actually, as the subtitle suggests, a "girl's guide to everything," covering such subjects as walking in those frightening footwear to how to cope in a power outage. While the book is written by Vogue.com runway reporter, Camilla Morton, it includes many contributions from such fashion legends as Manolo Blahnik and Stella McCartney. So if you're having trouble getting everything into that one large suitcase for a short weekend once again, don't worry. It's okay to look for advice, and possibly pick up a few other tips as well.