Stardust | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

Welcome to January's edition of the BBRBF Book Club. This month we read Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I was really excited about this month's choice because I absolutely adore the movie and Neil Gaiman is always a good time. If you haven't heard of Stardust the summary from GoodReads.com is below.

From GoodReads.com:

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a remarkable quest into the dark and miraculous—in pursuit of love and the utterly impossible.

The book had a lot of similar elements to the movie that I enjoyed. The world Neil Gaiman has built is this wonderful left of center fantasy world that uses iconic fairy tale elements mixed in with grown up wit and satire. It's a quirky combination which leads to a totally unique fairy tale experience and while I immensely enjoyed the world, the actually story was a bit flat for me. Tristan always just seemed like a bit of a childish fool who never develops much as a character and I never actually felt Tristan and Yvaine, the spirited and caring fallen star, fall in love. It was almost like Yvaine fell in love with him purely because he was in the proximity of her.  Problems like this don't seem to bother me in movies, but when reading a book I need to feel the love not just know of it's existence. That's what makes reading a book the better experience.

I do see a lot of merit in this book and I'm glad I read it. But, it's not a show stopper. It's just pleasant. 

Obviously I had to wear my star print dress in honor of Yvaine, but I have worn it several times on the blog and wanted to put a new spin on it. I chose to take inspiration from the witches and add some dark fairy tale vibes with my mesh corset from Orchard Corset. I love how drama it adds to wear a corset over any outfit and I always feel like a vampy villain when I'm rocking mine.

Make sure to check out all the BBRBF babes and their reveiws of Stardust.

Circle Skits & Petticoats

The Eyre Effect

In a Nutshell,

The Miss Information Blog

Frankenstein | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

Welcome to the October edition of BBRBF Book Club! This month we made a collaborative choice to read the classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

From GoodReads.com:

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.

The story begins with the captain of a ship writing to his sister about the extraordinary events that occur in the unlikely icy sea in which they are travelling. They spot a creature of giant proportions dashing along the ice on a sleigh and the next day they find a man almost dead from exposure. They pull him aboard and as he opens up to the captain about the circumstances that brought him here, the tale of Frankenstein unfolds.

I was immediately drawn in by the language. As a Gothic novel, I didn't expect anything less, but the cadence and the darkly haunting tone throughout set the stage well for the tragedy that was about to happen. I found myself unconsciously mimicking the old fashioned, poetic style while I was reading the book which is common for me. Does anyone else do that? It's really embarrassing when I'm reading Shakespeare and start trying to add "eth" to everything.

The story is fairly common knowledge. Frankenstein harnesses the power of science to reanimate a creature composed of pieces of corpses and when the creature is set upon the world he finds nothing but violence and hatred aimed at him. What I didn't know is that almost every iconic image I have in my mind, from the movie, does not exist in the source material. There's no Igor. There's no dramatic scene in the lab where Frankenstein hoists the monster to the heavens to shock life into him with lightening. The monster is no ungainly, lumbering beast who becomes a rage filled animal at the sight of fire. He is actually quite eloquent and sensitive and a very nuanced and moving character.

Throughout the book Frankenstein is described as a wonderful being who is all the goodness of man, but I often found him to have more flaws than the monster. His ambition drove him to extremes, but he was too weak to be responsible for the product of his fiendish drive and pays the price for his wrong doings accordingly. He actually brought the monster to life and was so repulsed by it that he just went to bed to wallow in his unhappiness. When he discovers that the creature is gone he doesn't even seem to question what has become of it.

There were so many times with Frankenstein that I had to just stop and say, "what did you think was going to happen there?" Especially when he refuses to comply to the monster's request and then seems shocked when the monster follows through on his revenge. I even had a few good chuckles at the sweeping, dramatic physical illnesses that he would succumb to over emotional turmoil. I didn't judge the book by this characteristic because it's not something that is relatable in modern times, but I couldn't help but saying, "that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works!"

But, oh my. The highlight of the whole book, for me, was the monster's story. I felt swept up in his simple tale of the poor family that he shadows and I felt all of his grief and shame as each attempt he makes to find friendship and companionship becomes an episode of violence and prejudice for the monster's countenance. I hurt for him.

I have been carrying the final scene with me since I read the last page. It was chilling and terrible and I lamented deeply the fall of such a good and innocent creature. I lamented the loss of so much life and potential in all of the characters that became victim to circumstances that had nothing to do with them. It's the kind of story that leaves a sad and hollow feeling in your soul for a long time.

My outfit was inspired by the dark and elegant tones used in the tale. The black and white is an homage to the classic movie and the beautiful lace detail reminds me of the era in which the book was written. And I won't lie. I felt some Bride of Frankenstein vibes with this for sure.

Be sure to check out all the other babes and their reviews of this Gothic pioneer of horror and science fiction.

Circle Skits & Petticoats

The Eyre Effect

In a Nutshell..,

The Miss Information Blog

We Are Pirates | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

Welcome to this month's edition of BBRBF Book Club. Let the fanfare ensue!

This month we are reading "We Are Pirates" by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and boy, do I have a feeling we're about to dive into some murky waters.

From GoodReads.com

A boat has gone missing. Goods have been stolen. There is blood in the water. It is the twenty-first century and a crew of pirates is terrorizing the San Francisco Bay.

Phil is a husband, a father, a struggling radio producer, and the owner of a large condo with a view of the water. But he’d like to be a rebel and a fortune hunter.

Gwen is his daughter. She’s fourteen. She’s a student, a swimmer, and a best friend. But she’d like to be an adventurer and an outlaw.

Phil teams up with his young, attractive assistant. They head for the open road, attending a conference to seal a deal.

Gwen teams up with a new, fierce friend and some restless souls. They head for the open sea, stealing a boat to hunt for treasure.

We Are Pirates is a novel about our desperate searches for happiness and freedom, about our wild journeys beyond the boundaries of our ordinary lives.

Also, it’s about a teenage girl who pulls together a ragtag crew to commit mayhem in the San Francisco Bay, while her hapless father tries to get her home.

The book begins with a flash forward to the end of our story and after the little trickery that is played with the reader in this first chapter, I had high hopes for the rest of the book. It was clear the author could write. His prose is dark and comical and reads almost like contemporary poetry - dealing out heavy meaning in the mundane. But, as the story unravels, and wow does it take forever to get there, there becomes a disconnect between the lyrical writing and the character development, plot, and heck, even the setting.

Gwen is a 14 year old girl being forced to visit Errol, an aging man with Alzheimer's and penchant for pirates, as a punishment for shoplifting. Gwen begins the story as an annoying and angst-y teen with a real grudge against her parents.

Phil Needle is her father. He's main mission through the book is to have his radio show picked up and produced. Phil Needle is also selfish, misogynistic, and annoying. Every bit of his story is just sour, serves no greater purpose to the (muddy) main themes, and could be entirely stricken from the book. At a point, it seems, that his entire purpose is to make the reader feel uncomfortable. Which he does. A lot. His hang up with his old receptionist who left because he wasn't "satisfying her needs" is just unpleasant. And not in a Walter White or Amy from Gone Girl kind of unpleasant that makes you feel hungry and guilty all at once. This is a kind of unpleasant that's similar to catching your grandparents doing it. Yeah. It's just something you do not need to know about. Ever.

After about 50% of the book is over, and you come to accept the book isn't actually about pirates, but a father-daughter tale of learning to understand each other, Gwen actually decides to become an actual pirate. In the San Francisco Bay. Yup. She employs her equally angst-y best friend, Errol, and two other tag-a-longs, who unbelievably jump on board to a life of crime with two young girls and a sick, old man with very little resistance.

From this point everything crumbles from vaguely uncomfortable and dull to utterly unbelievable and ridiculous. There is nothing evidenced in this book that could back up the actions taken by Gwen and her band of rascals and that pretty much blows the whole book. Well, that and Phil Needle and everything about him.

I was hoping a powerful ending could sweep in and save all this wonderful prose from the grips of a truly bad book, but, besides a few haunting and scenes with Phil Needle and Gwen accepting the depths of their consequences, it's pretty much the author taking the last few pages to cram the idea that people are emotional pirates pillaging happiness from each other in the readers face and our heroes learn nothing.

The author is just trying way too hard with this plot, not hard enough with his characters, and now we've got this weird, well-written, terrible book in our world to confuse readers for years to come. Hooray.

There's nothing masterfully inspired about this outfit except look how pretty! Frankly, I merely chose this dress for how perfect it looked next to the book cover. I just recently bought this dress off a BST and the seller described it as classy and autumnal as sh*t. Ad agencies need to take notes from this girl! I have never wanted to look more like wallpaper in my life and I promise you that this dress will be styled to death (which is not unlike being hacked a part by a meat cleaver) on this blog, but I wanted to debut it in its purest, autumnal AF form because it is perfection.

I did wear my pirate ship brooch though so some part of this outfit is swashbuckling! 

Be sure to check out all the other babes and their reviews of this dark comedy. Tallyho and what not!

Circle Skits & Petticoats

Dressed in Mascara

The Eyre Effect

In a Nutshell..,

The Miss Information Blog

Dress: BST Group (similar) | Shoes: Trifted (similar) | Brooch: Antique (similar) | Lips: Colourpop's Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick in Chilly Chili (similar)

Fangirl | BBRBF Bookclub + Outfit

This Month's BBRBF Bookclub choice was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell selected by Lyndsey. I want to preface this review by saying that this book didn't start on a fair playing field with me. Young Adult fiction is not my thing and the concept of this particular book never interested me. So, bear with me here.

Synopsis from GoodReads:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Despite the fact that I loved Landline by the same author, I could not get myself to enjoy this book. There was nothing egregious about it. I could feel snippets of Rainbow Rowell's humorously true-to-life style scattered throughout the book, but it fell flat with me. The story was too simple and I never felt challenged or excited about anything that happened to the characters. I will not say it was a bad book because I bet I would have really enjoyed it at 14. But, I'm not 14 anymore and I want to read books written for adults.

I will also admit that I am not into fan fiction and a bulk of this book exists in that curious world of fandom. There were fake excerpts at the beginning of every chapter and parts of the book where Cath read her fanfiction aloud and every single time it made me grit my teeth. I have zero investment in these fake books. I don't need to break from the story to read about a half imagined Harry Potter knock-off.

What I did enjoy about the book were a few lines that were the pure Rainbow Rowell observations that I fell in love with while reading Landline. My favorite was how she noted that the difference between nerds and other people is that nerds will always love a fictitious world more than the real one. My husband is definitely a nerd and while I enjoy much of the same media, I am decidedly not a nerd and reading that was a real moment of realization for me. I also connected with how she said love doesn't happen in the heart, it happens in the stomach because, yes, that's exactly how it feels!

And the one solid compliment I will give to the book is the mother's character. I was expecting to have that story line wrapped up in a nice little box, but it wasn't and that was so real. Often times books will give in to the fantasy of having an estranged parent return and all wrongs will be righted by their undying love. But, that's just not life. Most of the time parents who abandon their children do it because they are deeply flawed and a few years isn't going to change who they are as people. Allowing Cath and Wren to experience that difficult truth was a big gold star from me.

If you haven't noticed already, my outfit was inspired by Cath's outfit on the cover of the book. It was exactly the kind of outfit I would wear to read at the coffee shop so it was pretty much perfect. I added the killer heels and grey lipstick as a nod to the toughy, edgy Reagan, who, in my opinion, was the best character in the book. 

Make sure to check out the other BBRBF Bookclub babes for their reviews of Fangirl, including two brand new book-loving fashionistas and a brand new blog name for Kristina!

Circle Skits & Petticoats

Dressed in Mascara

The Eyre Effect

In a Nutshell..,

The Miss Information Blog

Next month we will be reading We are Pirates by Daniel Handler if you want to read along!

What Alice Forgot | BBRBF Book Club + Outfit

Hello and welcome to another edition of the BBRBF Book Club! This month we read "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty and we also recruited another awesome member, Lyndsey of Dressed in Mascara. Welcome, Lyndsey!

From GoodReads:

"Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.

So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes.

Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over."

Truthfully, I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I do enjoy contemporary family dramas, but I've been reading a lot of those lately and I could feel myself itching for something a little more scintillating. Something with mystery, or murder, or magic. Yet this book, with it's breezy writing style and emotional power plays, hit me right in the heart. With three kids of my own, I am well on my to becoming 39 year old Alice. My son is 6 years old and from those first moments of finding out I was pregnant to wrestling three kids into car seats while everyone is screaming and fighting and everyone is bored and hungry, the years have just been accelerating wildly. It's crazy, it's chaotic. It's moving way too fast and all I can think about is the stress and the exhaustion. It's entirely possible to lose the sparkle. You don't appreciate your spouse, you don't appreciate your kids, and all you can think about is getting to those moments when you feel like you are more than just a vending machine spitting out snacks for whiny kids. 

From the very beginning I knew exactly how Alice became the cold, hard person that had disconnected from everyone in her life. I knew it because I am living it. Children are the hardest thing on a marriage. They're the hardest thing on friendships. But, Alice allowed herself to become completely lost to any of the joy. It was so satisfying to watch as Alice saw her life anew without the haze of the monotony and the bone deep exhaustion to hide all the wonder of those three tiny lives.

The realization of her marriage falling apart, trying to figure out why, and how she can save it was the bulk of the book. It was painful to experience a 29 year old Alice coming face to face with the future of her marriage. The author did an excellent job of creating this reality where ten years of hardship and resentment had just fallen away from one spouse while the other was still filled with years of painful memories and hurt pride. Sometimes I didn't know if I should root for them or accept that the rift was beyond repair, but I certainly appreciated the way the resolution was handled.

There are several book covers for this book and I kind of cheated and picked the cover that matched my wardrobe. You'll forgive me, right? As well as picking up the theme and colors from the cover, I also wanted to a portray a more youthful look to pay homage to 29 year old Alice. The Alice that was still young and playful and wore her daughter's dress up scarf just because she liked it.

I also tried to accomplish a good twirling shot because this skirt was made for it. But, in a completely apropos turn of events my daughter decided to interject with her own twirling skills. That's motherhood though and I would much rather twirl with my baby than get the perfect picture.

On a scale of Total Pile to Masterpiece, I'd give this book a Heartbreaking yet Heartwarming Reminder to Enjoy Life.

If you've read "What Alice Forgot" let me know what you thought in the comments and make sure to pay a visit to Sara and Kristina for their outfits and reviews!

Dress: Kohl's (similar) | Shirt: Kohl's (similar in straight sizes, similar in plus) | Shoes: Payless (similar) | Lips: MAC lipstick in Vegas Volt