Archive for January, 2012
Top, Zero + Maria Cornejo; leather jacket, c/o AllSaints; 1980s Talbots skirt, thrifted; heels, Kokorokoko Vintage ; ring, H&M; necklace, J.Crew; sunglasses, c/o Tory Burch; nail polish, Boom Boom Pow by Deborah Lippmann
It’s the classic question all girls ask themselves before they leave the house: Does this make me look smart? Just kidding, we all know that when girls look at themselves in the mirror and ask this question sadly the word “smart” is not the adjective most use.
After lusting over the silk Zero + Maria Cornejo bookshelf print top for months it’s finally mine. How perfect for tricking people into thinking I’m an intellectual. Even Harper’s Bazaar credits Maria Cornejo with cultivating a brainy crowd. I can see the thought bubbles now.
“Hmmm… she has books on her shirt, so she must be intelligent…”
It’s ironic because I don’t read nearly as much as this top would suggest. It’s sad, because my favorite class I’ve ever taken – high school or college – was AP Literature taught by Mr. Burke at Fayetteville High School. Those of you who went to FHS know what I’m talking about. I took English classes at Michigan State but none of them compared, in scope or depth, to Burke’s. The man is a living legend.
When I was in high school I preferred to read classic Russian literature. Not only did it make me feel smarter, the palpable alienation in Nabokov, Tolstoy, and Dosteovsky’s novels resonated strongly with how I felt (because somehow overprivileged upper-middle class teenagers have so much in common with oppressed Russians). Now I look back and laugh at how seriously I took myself. I will fully admit that I was one of those pretentious adolescents who felt like no one understood me. I also spent a lot of time reading books by dystopian authors like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley.
The best book I’ve read recently is A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I bought it after I read an interview with her in Gentlewoman but was initially skeptical because of the hype. I tend to hate novels that make the New York Times Bestseller list (*cough* Dan Brown *cough*) but Egan is a thoughtful and innovative author. It takes tremendous skill to weave the story that she created using such unusual techniques. Read it and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Now that I have this library print top I have all the more reason to stay committed to my New Year’s Resolution to read more novels. Anyone care to recommend a favorite novel recently? I’m always looking for book recommendations.
