The Year of Gaiman: a Sunday Shoe Story

The return of the Sandman comic, 25 years after its inaugural issue, and a relatively well substantiated rumour that the first story arc will be made into a film.  

A new novel is published, the Ocean at the End of the Lane, which debuts at #1 on the NYT books list.

A new children’s book, adorable sneezing panda included.

Two different illustrated versions of Fortunately, the Milk.

Six fantastic episodes of the Neverwhere radio play aired on the BBC.

A last world signing tour (which I am still pouting about missing).

New York Public Library reading of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, in full costume.

A road named after the Ocean at the End of the Lane (I’m wondering when the bronze statue replica  - uncooperative hair and all – will be cast).

Keynote speech at Digital Minds conference.

 The 10 year anniversary of Coraline’s publication.

 Gaiman returns to writing for Dr. Who with Nightmare in Silver.

 A Calendar of Tales becomes a digital book.

Clearly it's the Year of Neil Gaiman!

(I'm reading Hanging with the Dream King, which collects interviews speaking about collaborating with Gaiman. Wearing jeans and tank top by Seductions, shoes by Le Chateau.)

A Literary Inspiration

I get my fashion inspiration from lots of places, and one of my favourite places to look for fresh ideas is from literature. Whether I channel a character, an author, a place, or the tone of a novel I've come up with some interesting combinations. The question is whether people get the allusions, or they just think I'm weird. So today I have a little challenge for you all: match up the titles of my five favourite books with the sets of clothing/accessories and challenge your literary wareness! If you think you know the answers comment below, or feel free to share which books have inspired your way of dressing!

Book Match by riella03 featuring kitchenaid small appliances

Hi, my Name is Jaimie, and I'm a Book Addict

I may be known to the wider world as a shopaholic & a shoe girl, but my first love was (and always will be) books. My idea of a perfect Friday night is spending it with a 2 foot stack of library books, and I often refer to my social life as “cutting into my reading time.” Clearly I have a problem. Then again, as addictions go, it’s a pretty tolerable one because my substance of choice is free (woohoo libraries), I’m kept out of trouble, and it increases brain cells instead of destroys them. If you want to see how deep my affection for books goes take a look at my Goodreads account (there’s a link under the socialize page), but I’ll start you off with an example of my 5 top books this year!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

No top 5 book list is complete without an entry from the ever-popular Neil Gaiman, and I was super glad that his latest adult publication stands up to his past reputation of awesomeness. The Ocean draws themes from a lot of his other novels, but the story still stands up well on its own. Many have called him a modern-day myth maker, and this book proves once again that his stories are ones for the ages.

Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown

I knew before I even picked up this book that it was going to be hilarious. Darth Vader with a teenage daughter is an alternate universe that really should have come to fruition in a sit com. Then again, the single page sketches perfectly contain Brown’s witty and satirical prose, so this format was perfect as a dose of laughs.

            Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible by Tim Gunn

I read a lot of fashion books this year (thanks to the inter-library loans at Dalhousie and the surprisingly robust fashion collection at the Regina Public Library), but the most amusing, well-written, and helpful of the lot was penned by style guru Tim Gunn. The pages may not be filled with beautiful fashion photography – I got my fix of that elsewhere – but Gunn’s knowledge of fashion history and the development of trends lends itself to extremely well placed advice. Plus it’s organized into easily referenced chapters for each kind of clothing – and you know I love me some organization!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobosky

I shall confess: I was badly behaved and watched the movie before I read the book. Thankfully Chobosky had a lot of influence on the film, so I found myself remembering parts of the film as I read the book because they were so similar. Even when the two formats differed (translating speech from books to film is tricky) I found that they both evoked similar feelings, whether they were laughter or tears, and was very glad for this synergy.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

There has been a lot of drivel published in the teen fantasy genre in recent years (I blame the advent of Twilight entirely), so I was utterly surprised when I found myself spellbound by this novel. Taylor’s lush mythlogy and well-written prose redeems the entire genre, and goes to prove that there are decent urban fantasy books out there – they’re just a little bit hidden. Considering how well this book seems to be faring on the ratings charts it would not surprise me if it was the beginning of a new supernatural being popularity change. Get on the band wagon now, or you’ll definitely regret it!

all images from Goodreads.

Of Ages Past: a Sunday Shoe Story

Considering the forward trajectory that my life took this year (what else do you call 3 provinces, 6 jobs, and 4 moves) I did a surprising amount of nostalgic thinking and backwards glancing. For some reason my brain wanted to dwell on the positive moments from my past and centred on everything from the epic parties that I used to throw in my Cook Street digs to the trio of amazing guys who were my Wendy’s boyfriends. There were definitely bad times that mirrored the good, but without the whole messy picture my life wouldn’t be what it is today.

Because that’s what life is: a mess. A glorious mess. And we wouldn’t be able to become the (mostly) functional adults that we are today without slogging through the mud to get there. Or in this case the Regina snow. (Haha, it’s not actually funny).

Along with the retroflection (I’m pretty sure that’s a word – whatever, it is now) I spent a good chunk of my summer revisiting the gloriousness of The Confessions of Georgia Nicholson (also known as Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging). When I was a teenager I read the entire series, and then I read it again when I was about 22, and then I read it again this summer. And then I watched the film and listened to the soundtrack. Over and over and over again.

Something about Georgia’s mess of a teenage life always strikes a chord with me, even though my high school experience was very very different. Well, lots of it was the same, but I had very little to do with boys in high school (and for good reason because a lot of them were so beyond the valley of pants), so maybe that’s why her story has always been one that I liked; it was the missing part of my adolescent experience, and largely still is a missing part of my life. Georgia always has such ridiculous experiences with the opposite sex, but when it comes down to it she knows that they are alien species who are pretty much incomprehensible.

Such is even more true in the real world, yet we all still put up with guys, even if it’s only to have crushes from afar. Because after all, boys may be strange, but they are infinitely entertaining.

shoes by Poetic Licence London, jeans by Makers, Pink Floyd in Australia shirt