Makes the Mona Lisa look like a number painting
I like these old books with library bindings. Right now I'm flipping through Roald Dahl's 1960 collection, 'Kiss Kiss,' and the pages feel almost like cotton sheets, so soft and worn.
So that's another book to add to my summer reading list, which I have another couple weeks to complete.
I went to an estate sale last weekend, where I bought this amazingly elitist guide to health and beauty:
Princess Luciana interviews only her closest friends and family: Countess Consuelo Crespi, Princess Ira von Furstenberg, Veruschka, Sophia Loren, and a handful of Chanel models. And her tips are so practical and wise:
• Instead of going to the gym, ski and ride horses.
• Instead of visiting the beauty parlor, spend a day on an Italian beach.
• Smoke cigars instead of cigarettes -- you'll want fewer of them.
• Bathe in cold water to keep flesh perky.
• Have your nose done, then tour London. If anyone asks about the cast, explain that you fell on your face.
• Wash your hair with jhassoul, which you will find on a trip to Morocco. The author notes that, despite its appearance, jhassoul is actually not made of camel dung.
• To conquer split ends, singe the ends of your hair with a lit candle. (!)
• Decorate your bathroom as you wish, for it will become your beauty lab. Recommended are candy-striped prints, wood paneling, and anything rococo. The princess says that she had her bathroom carpeted, not just the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well. This type of carpeting is for her a must because she hates "the alternatives of scampering into slippers or gingerly toeing the cold tile floor."
Perfectly logical! Don't like wearing slippers? Then have every inch of your bathroom carpeted.
The previous owners of this book -- whoever died to make this estate sale possible -- were seriously wealthy. I can't begin to describe the house -- enormous stained glass windows, ornately carved staircases, servants' quarters! A set of china was selling for over $2,000.
I was more interested in the random garbage...
I brought home a stack of home videos from the mid-1980s, but since it's 8mm video (not film!), I can't watch them without some sort of adapter. Some of the tapes are labeled, for example, "Arizona Biltmore, 12/25/85." Fancy! And the curious "Not So Good Conversations, 1987."
I finished reading the Esther Williams autobiography -- it is truly amazing.
Yesterday I read the Tennessee Williams play, 'Sweet Bird of Youth.' Without even realizing it, I had cast mid-60s Jayne Mansfield as the Princess Kosmonopolis/Alexandra Del Lago, the aging celebrity.
And as for that thing, my mysterious opportunity? It was a job I kinda-sorta wanted, but there's not much use talking about it now. I decided not to apply. But if I can get myself together and driven, I might do some library volunteering this fall.
So that's another book to add to my summer reading list, which I have another couple weeks to complete.
I went to an estate sale last weekend, where I bought this amazingly elitist guide to health and beauty:
Princess Luciana interviews only her closest friends and family: Countess Consuelo Crespi, Princess Ira von Furstenberg, Veruschka, Sophia Loren, and a handful of Chanel models. And her tips are so practical and wise:
• Instead of going to the gym, ski and ride horses.
• Instead of visiting the beauty parlor, spend a day on an Italian beach.
• Smoke cigars instead of cigarettes -- you'll want fewer of them.
• Bathe in cold water to keep flesh perky.
• Have your nose done, then tour London. If anyone asks about the cast, explain that you fell on your face.
• Wash your hair with jhassoul, which you will find on a trip to Morocco. The author notes that, despite its appearance, jhassoul is actually not made of camel dung.
• To conquer split ends, singe the ends of your hair with a lit candle. (!)
• Decorate your bathroom as you wish, for it will become your beauty lab. Recommended are candy-striped prints, wood paneling, and anything rococo. The princess says that she had her bathroom carpeted, not just the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well. This type of carpeting is for her a must because she hates "the alternatives of scampering into slippers or gingerly toeing the cold tile floor."
Perfectly logical! Don't like wearing slippers? Then have every inch of your bathroom carpeted.
The previous owners of this book -- whoever died to make this estate sale possible -- were seriously wealthy. I can't begin to describe the house -- enormous stained glass windows, ornately carved staircases, servants' quarters! A set of china was selling for over $2,000.
I was more interested in the random garbage...
I brought home a stack of home videos from the mid-1980s, but since it's 8mm video (not film!), I can't watch them without some sort of adapter. Some of the tapes are labeled, for example, "Arizona Biltmore, 12/25/85." Fancy! And the curious "Not So Good Conversations, 1987."
I finished reading the Esther Williams autobiography -- it is truly amazing.
Yesterday I read the Tennessee Williams play, 'Sweet Bird of Youth.' Without even realizing it, I had cast mid-60s Jayne Mansfield as the Princess Kosmonopolis/Alexandra Del Lago, the aging celebrity.
And as for that thing, my mysterious opportunity? It was a job I kinda-sorta wanted, but there's not much use talking about it now. I decided not to apply. But if I can get myself together and driven, I might do some library volunteering this fall.