All Lady July - Shopping post!

An excuse to faux shop for pretty & bookish and pretty bookish things? Yes, come to me.


Also should be notes that the Books and Beverages Shoppe is having a moving sale right now! Go get a book blogger planner or a cute keychain or magnetic bookmarks!

Can we talk about how beautiful and colorful this bouquet of flowers made from a copy of Where The Wild Things Are is? So beautiful. I seriously need a book page bouquet for my desk.From Etsy seller Fuschia Kitten.

 

I am deeply attracted to this tote. Even though it probably shouldn't count for an ALJ shopping post because the quote is by a man or whatever I love love love that the book pages and spine look like wings. Etsy seller Obvious State

If the lady with a life changing pair of shoes is your spirit animal, go to Gone Reading and pick this bad boy up!










This place has so many funny buttons I might have gone on a tear looking at them all. Etsy seller Bean Forest








 

All Lady July - Scary Women in Literature

There is no short of scary ladies in literature. Here's a couple!

Mrs Danvers - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

From an All Lady July #tbt - Rebecca -comes Mrs Danvers.  Mrs Danvers is kind of scary on the down low. At first she just seems kind of creepy and weird, but then she starts to be manipulative and embarassing, trying to undermine our narrarator and the new Mrs. I can't lie though, I think devilish Danvers is one of the best parts of Rebecca.

Annie Wilkes - Misery by Stephen King

Annie Wilkes is a super fan in the scariest way, from the King classic Misery. I can't even imagine what she would be like with internet access, God help us. Annie keeps her favorite author hostage, and there is some super graphic violence on some lower extremities. And that is all I will say about that.


via GIPHY

The 3 Weird Sisters - Macbeth by William Shakespeare

I am a big Shakespeare fan, and Macbeth is my favorite. These three weird sisters (aka witches) talk to Macbeth about his future and what it could be like if he could just kill that pesky Banquo friend of his.... Also, Lady Macbeth should get in on this too. Because yikes.





Every Stepmother in Every Story Ever - Every Story Ever

 Yep. All of them ever.



Who is your favorite scary lady in literature?

All Lady July: Tamara of Traveling with T talks about glamorous cover art!

You guys! Please welcome Tamara (T) of Traveling with T on the blog today! Two great guest posters this week, what a treat! T's taste in cover art always seems to run to the theme of "glamorous ladies in great outfits" and I tease her about it, so she wrote about great cover art today! Thanks T!


A few days ago, I was in my room listening to my old as Grandma Moses iPod (Full disclosure: I have 2- and both are pretty dated as far as modern technology goes- but this one is extremely dated as I’ve had it over 10 years). Anyway, as I was sitting around and listening to a variety of music- I was organizing my books. Putting them in piles and deciding who was going to get the best real estate ( the big bookshelf) and who would be subjugated over to the area by the literary landfill (hence the shelf I rarely visit.) In my house, bookshelf space is all about location, location, location ( if I’m speaking in real estate terms!)

Before I get much further in this story, I need to stop and explain that I have a love for covers like no other. Some people get excited about art (and sure- I love a Starry Night by Van Gogh and flowers by other artists) BUT book covers are my art. They are what I want to frame. If I had a wall in my room covered in book covers, I think that would be the coolest (note to self: Make this happen!) The second thing you must know is that while I like many covers- I have some certain types that speak to me over and over again. One is the beach theme type- the perfect sunny day, the water sparkling, the flowers blooming, happy people frolicking on my cover (Think Elin Hilderbrand, Nancy Thayer, Wendy Wax and Erika Marks). My second set of cover love, though, was recently defined by Wesley as “Glamorous Ladies” covers. What are glamorous ladies covers? They are gorgeous- usually a lady with her face slightly turned away, a shimmery/iridescent background, and colors that please the eye. Beatriz Williams is the master of the glamorous lady cover (or her book publishers are- I guess I should say!) In fact, my love for glamorous lady covers runs so deep that when Target did a special printing of The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams (with a completely new cover!) I ran out and purchased it- even though I had the hardback and the e-book already. #BookCoverLove

Back to the story, though. So, I’m organizing my shelf- trying to give equal love to my covers that please me so, that make me get a little short of breath at the story behind the cover. And then  Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) comes on the iPod. Except, when I heard it- I changed the words to All The Glamorous Lady Covers. I looked at my pile of books. I imagined them dancing jubilantly to Beyonce’s music. I wondered  who would lead the books in the All The Glamorous Lady Covers dance (my money is on The Secret Life of Violet Grant!) **It should be noted at this point that I have always had an overactive imagination.**

As I imagined my books dancing around, I began to appreciate the Glamorous Lady Covers on an even deeper level. Sure, they are eye-candy of the highest order; but even more...They are damn good books. Sometimes in the literary world they get sold a bit short, sometimes people don’t want to look behind the pretty face to see the book. But they are worth it. They are SO worth it.

*Do you have a book cover preference? What would be your fav Glamorous Lady Cover?*

**Thanks to Wesley for letting me take part in All Lady July! Feel free to share pictures of Glamorous Lady Covers with me on Twitter or Instagram- because I always need a new one to add to my collection!**

All Lady July - Book Review: "Leni Riefenstahl: A Life" by Jurgen Trimborn

There once was a female director and she revolutionized the way that we film documentaries. Directors STILL use the shots and techniques she used even though it has been a long time since she made any films, or since they were viewed at large. She was a, what I like to refer to as, a Nancy Drew. That once she set her mind on something she was impossible to stop, and somehow she was good at everything too. Why don't we talk about her all the time in film classes and hold her up on the "look at this lady who did something even better than her male counterparts and was totally ahead of her time" pedestal? Probably because of most of her films were made for, Adolf Hitler.


(I have so many little flags in the book about interesting things about her, but I'm just going to broad stroke it for you and if you're interested in finding out more about her I assure you there is so much more to hear about)


So Leni always wanted to be in the spotlight. She saw a ballet when she was 16 and was like "I want to do that" and despite being WAY too old to start training she actually got really good..until she pushed to hard and was plagued with injuries. Then she saw a mountaineering movie (which is a fad in film that kind of makes me laugh, how many movies about mountaineering adventures can you make?) and decided that she was going to be an actress and star in those films....and she was did. With no experience. And that's when she caught Hitler's eye....

So, she makes, most famously, Triumph of the Will which is basically a documentary party rally. There are clips on youtube, but basically if you've ever seen any History channel programs on Hitler you've seen pieces of it. (Though, re watch a couple minutes now thinking about it as a film making perspective and not as a Nazi propaganda show and see how it looks from that perspective). She also made a documentary on the Berlin Olympics.

After things went south for the Nazis she was hauled into court several times but never served any time. She was convinced of her innocence saying that she hadn't committed any crimes, she just made movies and that she did it under duress (not actually true). Also, there is proof of her filming at an execution site on the Eastern front. The film has been lost, but there is a picture of her there so...

Leni was a complicated woman. She did do some good things (she did help a couple of Jewish friends get out of the country or off certain lists that you wouldn't want to be on) but the damage that her films did (glorifying Hitler and the cause) was vast. I give this book a high 3 out of 5 stars because it was something that I knew nothing about and it was well written but it went a little long and Leni as singular subject matter was grating at my nerves by the end.

As a side note, there are a few biographies out there. From the reviews that I read from the others, this one is apparently the most evenhanded. At least one of them all the reviews started with something like "Well this author obviously hates her". And that doesn't really make for great reading.

Guest post from Heather of Capricious Reader about Dead Ladies

Everyone please welcome the wonderful Heather of Capricious Reader to the blog today. She's talking about a project on HER blog that I am super excited about and I think you will be too!

Last year, I read a book called The Dead Ladies Project by Jessa Crispin and it really spoke to me. Crispin's story has been stewing in my head and heart ever since. Who hasn't, at some point in their life, wanted to just burn it all down and start all over? Or, perhaps, end it all? What do you do? How do you survive that panic, that fear, that pain? If you're Jessa Crispin, you turn it all in and go off, in search of - something. Just go off and find something else to do with your life. And, you know, sometimes...just sometimes...I get that feeling. That if I wasn't tied down...if I wasn't tied down by family and job and bills and had just a modicum of gumption - it is exactly the type of thing I would want to do. This idea, of selling off my life, breaking all the ties, and roaming the world for awhile; in search of the places where expats go to work, to live, to find themselves; is fascinating. To do as Crispin did, and find them:

“It was the dead I wanted to talk to. The writers and the artists and composers who kept me company in the late hours of the night: I needed to know how they did it. I’d always been attracted to the unloosed, the wandering souls who were willing to scrape their lives clean and start again elsewhere.”

Some small part of me is attracted to this too. That is attracted and wonders, fleetingly, what it's like. To start all over.

I would never do it. But I'll never stop wondering either.

And this idea, of picking someone, immersing myself in his or her life and ideas, his or her struggles and successes.... It just sounds fascinating.

I really wanted to do it.

So I got started.

I decided to undertake a project of my own and read more about women who interest me. I have a pretty extensive list of ladies I want to learn from, and I have randomly picked ten to share for Wesley’s All Lady July. I want not only to learn about what they did, but what made them the way they were. What made them tick, so to speak.

Ida B. Wells - A few years ago, back when I first started listening to podcasts, I listened a fantastic one on Ida B. Wells (link to the cast) by The History Chicks and I was immediately interested in this great lady. She did many pioneering things for blacks and women, but she's probably best known for her work crusade against lynching.

Margaret Fuller - I first read about Margaret Fuller in American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever and it only made me want to learn more about this remarkable woman. She was Thoreau’s first editor, Emerson’s close friend,  the first female war correspondent, and did a great many things before dying tragically shortly after she reached the age of 40.

Margaret Knight - Whenever you go to the store and get a flat bottomed bag, you have Margaret Fuller to thank. She constructed a device to fold and glue the bottoms together. A man stole her design and got a patent on it. She successfully filed a patent interference lawsuit. She created her own company and received royalties for her work. She invented many other things AND I CANNOT FIND A BIOGRAPHY ON HER. Just kids books. I guess I have some searching to do.

Harriet Quimby - Harriet Quimby was one of the first women to fly a plane, was the first woman to fly the English Channel, and found success in Hollywood as a screenwriter. And all before she died at the age of 37.

Lillian Moller Gilbreth - You may or may not recognize her name, but she is the lady who wrote Cheaper by the Dozen, the book the movie was based on. What you may not know is, well, I'm going to let Wikipedia tell a bit here, because seriously, she did SO MUCH; she:  was an American psychologist and industrial engineer. One of the first working female engineers holding a Ph.D., she is held to be the first true industrial/organizational psychologist. She and her husband Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr. were efficiency experts who contributed to the study of industrial engineering in fields such as motion study and human factors. The books Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes (written by their children Ernestine and Frank Jr.) tell the story of their family life with their twelve children, and describe how they applied their interest in time and motion study to the organization and daily activities of such a large family.

Jeanette Rankin - I haven't found a book on this lady that I think will be comprehensive enough, but I have to find one. She was the first lady elected to Congress. How could I NOT want to learn about her?

Isabelle Eberhardt - From the book description: Eberhardt's journal chronicles the daring adventures of a late 19th- century European woman who traveled the Sahara desert disguised as an Arab man and adopted Islam. Wow, right?

Sofia Tolstoy - I hate to admit it (or maybe not?), but I've never found Leo Tolstoy very interesting. I tried to read War & Peace and, well, let's just say it didn't go well. Sofia on the other hand, she sounds interesting. How DID she put up with that man? I WANT TO KNOW.

Helen Pitts Douglass - Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color. She was the second wife of Frederick Douglass. There is little written about her, so I will look for her in her husband's writings.

Daisy and Violet Hilton - Conjoined Twins. Freak show notoriety. Vaudeville stardom. Crash landing. Good golly geeeeeez fascinating.

My list has grown and changed these last few months. I’ve learned many interesting things. Corrie ten Boom, in her book The Hiding Place,  was a Holocaust hero who survived concentration camps with strength, faith, and determination. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in her short work We Should All Be Feminists, brilliantly observed the blatant discrimination around her in the US and in her native Nigeria - and showed just how marginalized women continue to be. I learned from Jhumpa Lahiri (in her book In Other Words)  that, while it is possible to do something extremely hard - in her case, to learn another language - it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. And I learned from Nina MacLaughlin that, no matter how crazy it sounds - a girl CAN BE A CARPENTER if that’s what she wants.

Hard word. Dedication. Faith. Hope. I learned so many things from these ladies. And I can’t wait to learn more.


Wesley note: Are you guys so excited now? I'm so excited now.

All Lady July - Lists and Articles!

This post today is generally one of my favorites to do, just a list of lists and articles! Maybe you will find your next exciting read or interesting fact here!

(Also, second to last day to get in on the giveaway, HERE)

#RRSciFiMonth 5 Unexpected Homages to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale 

A List Of Things In Literature, Music and Art That Are Actually Metaphors For Women

9 Books To Read With Your Sister

8 New Memoirs by Jessica Valenti, Lindy West, and Other Funny Women

12 Maid Of Honor Readings From Literature That The Bride Will Absolutely Love

These 7 African Women Poets Will Keep You Calm, Cool, and Collected for the Summer

Horror: It’s Not All White Dudes

Does a Book Need Feminist Characters to be a Feminist Book?

  10 Books Mothers Should Share With Their Daughters

On the Invisibility of Middle-Aged Women: Dorthe Nors Writes Characters on the Verge of Disappearance

100 Must-Read Titles About Women's History

All Lady July - Book Review: "Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family" by Miep Gies, Allison Leslie Gold

Most people are familiar with the story of Anne Frank, and for good reason. But less people know about the people who helped hide Anne, her family, and others during those scary war years.

 Miep was born in Vienna, but was basically adopted by an Amsterdam-ian (Amsterdamish? Amsterdamiantie?) couple when she was very small. She strove to be independent and when she was old enough she found a job.

Miep Gies worked in an office where eventually Mr Frank became employed when his family fled Germany. He was smart and kind and Miep liked him right away. Miep and her husband Jan became close with him, and eventually the whole Frank family when they arrived from Germany. Miep and Jan were well aware of current events and knew that Amsterdam was becoming increasingly dangerous for their friends the Franks. They would have neighbors disappear (hopefully to a place that was safe for hiding and not taken away by the Nazis) and see things in the street. So when Miep was approached to help the Franks she said yes right away, despite the fact that it could be very dangerous. 

What I think makes this book the most interesting is the daily struggles of the people hiding the Franks and keeping them alive. Finding enough food for the whole group,  trying to bring them news of the outside world so they don't feel isolated  but not so much that they get scared, not attracting attention to themselves in any weird way (like when they thought something was wrong in the attic and they had to force themselves to walk slowly instead of sprinting to the building because that would look weird), and the list goes on and on. Also, the book reminded me how close the group was to making it to the end of the war. Heartbreakingly close.

If you like memoirs, or find stories like Anne's compelling I would highly recommend this read. It's less than 300 pages and reads pretty quickly. Though, as you might imagine, it's not a happy ending for the majority of people in the book.