one of two

1. I got a package of books in the mail from executrix! And two of them mention Ouida! I can't wait to get started reading them.

2. This was in the last batch of book executrix sent me.

The Matriarch by G.B. Stern

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this novel.

It's about a wealthy, cosmopolitan Jewish family in the late 19th and early 20th century, and it is full of house porn and clothes porn and food porn. It's a sumptuous book, full of luxury.

Mostly, though, it's about family and what it's like to be a part of this glorious, suffocating, strong, powerful, maddening dynasty.

The book employs a variety of stereotypes about Jewish people which I always struggle to know how interpret when the stereotypes are coming from inside the house (the author is Jewish).

It is a deeply feminist book (although I'm not sure the author would have described her project in that way); the most important characters are female.

Insofar as there is a plot (this is a delightfully plotless book for the most part), it is a romance plot, and I really like the unexpected way it plays out.



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3. Power Rangers has started up again, and ( spoilers )

4. A front is moving through, and it's going to be colder from this afternoon on! Yay! I haven't sat outside and watched the birds in a few days because it was too hot and humid. I'm headed out there right now to listen to the rain. :)

Two of Two

So, I know I am not the only person who is super interested in paper goods and writing paraphernalia around these parts.

Lately, my decompressing at night reading has been stationery blogs (like The Gentleman Stationer or The Well Appointed Desk), and I have been having so much fun learning about fountain pens and ink and excellent paper.

If you're into this stuff, talk to me about it. What's your favorite pen? What fountain pen do you covet? Do you also think way too many fountain pens look like a unicorn vomited confetti on the barrel? What's your favorite notebook? What stationery blogs do you read?

Talk to me about pens and pencils and markers and dot grids and leather notebook covers!