Five Favorites

Today I'm stepping in for Heather and guest hosting Five Favorites. And my good friend Laura is stepping in for me with this guest post. If you've never visited her blog, get thyself over to This Felicitous Life. She covers topics profound and mundane, and it's always a great read. I promise.

So, without further ado, here's Laura.

Non-Conventional Book Club Picks

“Why have you put ‘Wine for Her?’” she asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that these are wines that women are more likely to enjoy,” said Bruce. . . .

“And why do you think women would want different wine from men? Do they have different taste buds?”

“Yes,” he said. “Women like sweeter wine. And they like bottles with more feminine labels. Everybody knows that.”

--Alexander McCall Smith, Espresso Tales

via

Books with "discussion questions" at the end strike me as the literary equivalent of a "Wines for Her" shelf. I feel condescended upon, stereotyped: Woman In A Book Club = chick who probably can't finish the book, much analyze it herself, and just shows up for the wine. Grrr.

That's not to say there aren't plenty of good books that have discussion questions at the end. Still, it's a strike against them to me.

In that spirit, here are five non-conventional book club picks that my book club and I have enjoyed over the years.

The Children of Men by P.D. James: Apocalyptic thriller, a real page turner. Chilling, yet completely non-religious, vision of a world that stops having children. Don't judge the book by the movie based on it, which is very different.

The Book of Judith (in the Catholic Bible): Many Bible verses used in honor of the Blessed Virgin are taken from this book. What you might not guess is that Judith was one badass chick, who uses questionable tactics to defend her people. This book raises some puzzling moral questions that are fascinating to discuss.

Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace In Israel by Elias Chacour: A short, autobiographical account of a Melkite Catholic Archbishop, whose community was uprooted from their homeland when he was a child, during the founding of Israel. He weaves his story in with reflections on the Beatitudes and his own quest for peace between Jews and Palestinians.

The Next Step In the Dance by Tim Gautreaux: This book has lots of conventional chick-lit ingredients- -a good-hearted, hard-headed woman and the man who loves her. But it's a beautifully written, clear- eyed look at marriage (my previous review is here), in the Southern literary tradition, with some tall- tale elements thrown in. Delicious.

Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry by Albert Bernstein: This is psychology/ self-help in a funny, helpful format. This should be required reading for everyone entering the workforce, but if you didn't read it then, read it in your book club!

Happy reading!

Thanks for joining us for Five Favorites again this week! Let's hear some of your favorites!

Five Favorites: Fall Style Concepts

This week I'm pleased to be guest hosting Five Favorites!

For those of you who are new to my little corner of the web... Welcome! The About Me blurb over on the right pretty much covers the basics of what I've got going on here.

And also, Mama Knows is my sister-in-law, which is much (much) less Oedipal than it sounds.

My Five Favorite posts tend to be a bit theme-y, because I like a good theme. Today I want to talk about five style concepts that I'm really digging as the season starts to change. And by change I'm not referring to our recent foray into perdition like heat (I know, I know, hyperbole and all that, living in Buffalo has made me a heat sissy), but the as yet theoretical crisp days of fall.

tank // blue jeans // shoes // turtleneck // skinny jeans // birks // blouse // black jeans // loafers // hat // hat // hat

Blue on Blue on Navy: It's no secret that navy blue is everywhere right now. I love mixing it with other shades of blue for a monochromatic look that's a little more unexpected.

White and Black: Again, black and white = everywhere. And this is one of those combinations that never really goes away, it just takes on different permutations. During the summer months, the ratio was weighted on the side of the white. Now I'm feeling heavy on the black with just a shot of white.

And following from the previous favorite - Black Jeans. I love black skinny and straight jeans. For some reason, I've never really been able to jump on the legging train. Yet, I do like to have a slim fitting and flattering bottom option beyond regular blue jeans. And black denim can be really pulled together, edgy, or casual, depending on how it is styled.

Chunky Knits: What says fall like chunky knits? Who doesn't like to be wrapped in the warm embrace of something soft and non constricting? To balance out the big, I prefer a slimmer silhouette on the bottom. Since I'm not much for leggings, I usually go for a pair of skinnies.

Hats: So I haven't been much of a hat girl in the past, except for those winter days when they are absolutely essential, and then only a hardcore stocking cap (aka tuque). But last fall I saw Anna rocking this look, and it got me thinking. I really want to get my hands on a ball cap in black and grey, maybe something with wool and a little [most likely faux] leather.