Copyright by Fashion156 | Photography Mark Shearwood | Styling Guy Hipwell | Hair & Makeup Nadine Ellas using Mac | Set Design Xavi Llarch Font | Styling Assistance Camilla Hunt & Taa Chakkaphak | Production Assistance Katie Tillyer & Lucinda Beeman | Models Lyden & Louis at Storm, Graham at Nevs, Sara at Next, Andrea & Lisa at Premier | Studio Angel Space

FASHION156

VIA Black Style

The 32-year-old star looked stunning in the Dolce & Gabbana dress, which she teamed with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels and a sexy side-swept hairstyle.
Red carpet style: Christine teamed her white Dolce & Gabbana dress with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels
Christine, who presented the National Movie Awards on ITV, spoke recently about her future with Lampard, admitting she wasn't sure if marriage was on the cards.
She said: 'People keep asking when he’s going to ask me to marry him. But I’m the last person who should know that.
'We went to Paris for two days a few weeks ago and suddenly it was, “Look, they’re ring shopping.” No, we weren’t and he certainly hasn’t asked.
Quick change: After her red carpet appearance, Christine changed into three more dresses for the show
'We’ve only been seeing each other a year and a half, which isn’t long enough for me.'
However, Christine added: 'I can’t imagine not being with Frank, and I’d like to enjoy being married to him for a while before having children. Frank would have more tomorrow, but he knows I’m not ready for it.’
Following her walk down the red carpet, Christine changed into a stunning figure-hugging red dress as she began presenting the ITV coverage.
Date night: Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton were another celebrity couple to attend the event
Relaxing: Nicole and Lewis looked as though they were enjoying themselves at the event
She then decided to showcase her sense of style in a further two dresses - a mint green pleated number and a tight knee-length dress.
Other couples to arrive at the ceremony included Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton, who made their first red carpet appearance in a while at the event, held at London's Wembley Arena.
Don't Hold Your Breath singer Nicole wowed in a pretty nude dress and matching sky-high heels, while Hamilton looked smart in his grey three-piece suit.
Screen stars: (Left to right) Jodie Whittaker, Mandy Moore and Georgie Henley all glammed up for the occasion
Nicole spoke recently about her figure, and while she looked stunning on the red carpet, she said she has 'gained a few pounds'.
She told Glamour magazine: 'I’ve grown as a woman to just accept myself. You’re not going to feel great all the time – so you’ve just not got to be hard on yourself.
'Right now I’ve probably gained a few pounds, but it’s OK because at the right time I’ll lose a couple of pounds. When I put my mind to it, I hit the gym.'
Take That opened the night's entertainment with a performance of their never-before-heard single Love, Love - taken from the upcoming X-Men: First Class.
Full-length glamour: Singers Dame Shirley Bassey and X Factor reject Katie Waissel went for all black outfits
Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald were joined on stage by a group of dancers as they performed the bass-thumping track.
But the song didn't go down too well with viewers, with many taking to Twitter to voice their disappointment over the record.
One viewers tweeted: 'Take that are massiveeeee let downs, what the hell is this? and robbie williams just ruins everything.'
Boys will be boys: JLS stars (left to right) Jonathan "JB" Gill, Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Aston Merrygold pose on the red carpet
Suited and booted: Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird look smart
While another added: 'What the chuff happened to Take That's songs when Robbie came back? Awful!'
The first award of the evening was for Best Comedy film, presented by The Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird.
After shamelessly plugging their own movie, the trio gave the award to Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's alien comedy.
Opening the show: Take That kicked the evening's events off with a performance of their new single Love Love

Men in black: The boys pose up for photographers ahead of their performance
Dame Shirley Bassey was next to take to the stage, ready to present the award for Best Drama.
And the winner was The King's Speech, with Geoffrey Rush accepting the award along with director Tom Hooper and the film's producers.
Explaining star Colin Firth's absence, Rush said: 'Colin Firth sends his apologies. He is off shooting a light comedy, which is a form of therapy I guess.'
And when Hooper took the microphone, he joked: 'I would like to thank the Queen and the Royal Family for thoughtfully arranging the Royal Wedding the Friday before the release of The King's Speech DVD.'
Winners: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg accept the Best Comedy Award for their alien movie Paul
Speech time: Mandy Moore accepts the Best Animation award for Tangled, while Dame Shirley Bassey presented the prize for Best Drama
After an exclusive clip of Cars 2, Lewis Hamilton, who makes a cameo in the movie, presented the award for Best Animation to Disney's Tangled.
Accepting the award was one of the film's main voice characters, Mandy Moore, who looked incredible in a long moss green dress.
But after the diminutive Hamilton had spoken into the microphone, statuesque Mandy had to stoop down to accept the prize.
Performers: JLS got one of the biggest screams of the night when they performed their new single Eyes Wide Shut
Victory: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I producers David Heyman, David Barron and actress Bonnie Wright
James McAvoy was up next, presenting the Best Fantasy prize to Bonnie Wright for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
JLS were the next performers of the evening, performing their new track Eyes Wide Shut.
Alice Eve took to the stage next to present the award for the L'Oreal Paris Performance of the Year award to Colin Firth for The King's Speech.
As Colin couldn't be there, he requested his two on-screen daughters from the film, Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez, to collect the award on his behalf.
Excited: Colin Firth's on-screen daughters from The King's Speech, Ramona Marquez (left) and Freya Wilson, accepted the Performance of the Year award on his behalf
Tribute: Keith Richards recorded a special video message to Screen Icon winner Johnny Depp
Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick presented the Must-See Movie of the Summer award to Bonnie Wright and the film's producers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Geoffrey Rush returned to the stage to present the Screen Icon award to Johnny Depp.
Talking about Depp, Rush said: 'Johnny Depp is so cool. He can come to rehearsal in a crazed blouse and a bit of mismatched jewellery and he can look hip - I would look like my mother.'
Success: Eliza Doolittle and Lloyd Wade performed their huge hit Pack Up
Here come the boys: James Corden and James McAvoy were among the guest presenters for the evening
And Depp's other Pirates co-star Keith Richards recorded a special tribute video message in honour of the actor.
In the message, which had been interspersed with footage of Johnny's most famous films, Richards said: 'There ain't another movie star who comes close to this guy. And to think that he didn't even start off as an actor first of all. That's my boy.'
And, as Depp was unable to attend, he recorded a message of thanks for viewers, calling the award a 'sublime honour'.
Eliza Doolittle was the third musical performance of the evening, having changed out of her Missoni dress into a pink crop top and blue pleated skirt.
James Corden was next up, treating viewers to a glimpse of which films to look forward to during the rest of the year.
Gwyneth Paltrow was next to take to the stage, presenting the Special Recognition Award to The King's Speech.
Accepting the award, director Tom Hooper said: 'This isn't the first award we have received for The King's Speech and of all those presenters, I have to say a special thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow for presenting this award.'

In honour: Geoffrey Rush collected the Screen Icon award on behalf of his Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Johnny Depp
Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

Harry Potter wins big at National Movie Awards,click
JLS - Eyes Wide Shut at 'The National Movie Awards'

Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up - National Movie Awards 2011 Live

Simon Pegg interview: Star Trek 2 and Tintin at the National Movie Awards 2011

Eliza Doolittle interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

source: dailymail

VIA Trying to drop a hint, Christine? Ms Bleakley arrives at National Movie Awards

Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old and has spent the past year trying to get over his last girlfriend. It looks like he is finally going to get over her when he starts dating a high school girl named Knives Chau. So... Scott is kind of a loser. The entire graphic novel is written in a video game style, with the specifics of characters listed as they appear on the pages. Scott is in a band and when they play the pages look eerily like the video game Rock Band. The entire book is basically Scott trying to progress to the next level, which includes finding out who this rollerblading, Amazon delivery girl Ramona Flowers is. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

is basically a celebration of all things twenty-something and the culture that surrounds that generation. The best character is definitely Wallace Wells, Scott's gay roommate, and even he kind of turns into a jerk at one point in the book (and he only gets a 7.5 rating at the beginning, so we know he isn't perfect). Bryan Lee O'Malley does a great job of summing up their relationship in two panels that show their apartment. Everything in the apartment has a label on it and we quickly find out that most of the stuff in there is Wallace's and Scott just uses it, including Wallace's socks.

Which is probably why I really, really loved it. The language was spot on and not gluttonous like the language in Juno. All of the characters are pretty unlikeable, Scott is a loser, Ramona is kind of an oddball, Knives is gullible teenager, and most of Scott's friends are mean, but as twenty-year-old you recognize that most of the people in your life fall into these categories too. It doesn't have anything to do with hipster culture, as many have said, because, let's face it, if Scott Pilgrim was a hipster he wouldn't have any friends and he would have much better taste in clothes. Bryan Lee O'Malley's drawing style is also not hipster enough to create a graphic novel about hipsters. It's not manga but it's not what we typically see from comic book artists today. It's almost more like a webcomic style--which I was totally on board with.

The book moves rather quickly and I suppose at time it might be a little too fast. If you didn't understand the language or world O'Malley assumes you understand the book would probably be difficult to get through. I can't speak to that, as I did understand it. If you're a college student I don't see how you wouldn't understand it, at least a little bit. I really can't speak more highly of the first volume in this series, so I will just end by review and hope you all give Scott Pilgrim a try.

I give Scott Pilgrim an A.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Deanna Fei's A Thread of Sky is the story of three generations of Chinese women going on a trip to China. For some it means returning home, for others it means learning about a history they've never experienced. Each woman has her own struggle, her own secret. These secrets keep them from understanding and knowing each other. Throughout the novel there is the question from the grandmother, "What kind of woman will you be?"-- but then there is the answering question, "Does planning what kind of woman I will be trap me?" This is truly the most underrated book I've read this year.

Fei has that slow writing style I've become such a fan of lately. It's not so much the story that kept me going, although the story has plenty of twists and turns, but the beautiful prose. Each chapter focuses on one woman and Fei's writing style has tiny changes to suit each woman's personality. For the bulimic Sophie the writing is a little quicker, more urgent. For Irene, the mother who planned it all after her husband died, the writing is desperate. For the grandmother the writing is somewhat stern as she looks at these women and wants to tell them exactly how to live their lives.

A Thread of Sky questions what Feminism means today from the perspective of an old Chinese immigrant, a former Feminist revolutionary, a middle-aged Chinese American, and a teenager. What is clear is that the answer is something different for each woman, and the answer is also a struggle. Does Feminism really mean having it all? Or does it mean choices? Or does it mean going against the grain? Maybe it means all three things.

This is just great fiction writing. I was truly impressed by the skill Fei exhibited in manipulating her writing style to fit the time, place, and person. It was one of the books where I occasionally had to set it down and just say out loud, "This book is so good."

I read this book as part of TLC Book Tours. Be sure to check out the other reviews posted about it.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Brooklyn, 12, was not so bashful however and braved the rainy weather with a bare face.
The comical scenes had shades of the days when the late Michael Jackson's children Prince, Paris and Blanket used to go out in public with scarves covering their faces.
Spidey style: Cruz Beckham was also wearing a face-covering hoodie as left the Volcom store with his mother and brothers this week
The jackets also have a full-face zip and mesh lining in the hood, allowing the wearer to see through them - so the boys weren't in danger of tripping down the steps of the Soho shop as they left.
And Cruz's top almost made him look like Spider Man, with its web-style detail on the side and Spidey-style eyes on the face.
It's a Volcom Boys 2-7 Action Team Slim Youth Jacket and sells for around £40.
The Californian clothing company is a huge favourite with celebrities and hip hop stars, including Ashlee Simpson, Black Eyed Pea singer Fergie, Megan Fox and Avril Lavigne - as well as little boys wanting to look like superheroes.
I'm a big kid now: Older brother Brooklyn was clearly too mature for those kind of shenanigans as he left the shop with his pregnant mother Victoria
Pregnant Victoria, 37, meanwhile covered her baby bump in a loose black top and a gigantic black handbag for the spree, while wearing killer black suede Louboutin ankle boots, black leggings and a black leather jacket.
In disguise: The late Michael Jackson with Paris, left, and Prince, right, in 2002 when they used to go out with scarves over their faces
source: dailymail

VIA Who goes there? Victoria Beckham's sons disguise themselves with face-covering hoodies

Rent Books Netflix-style with Online Book Rental - BookSwim.com

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After my last final on Friday I went to work for five and a half hours, so I didn't really feel like I was done with the semester. I figured once I got home it would start to feel like winter break, but I was overwhelmed by all the options. For once I could do whatever I wanted when I got home and be guilt free about it. It was such a change I think I was a bit in shock, and I still don't quite feel like it's winter break yet-- probably because I'm checking on my grades at least once an hour. I usually get myself a little something at the end of each semester to congratulate myself on a semester of hard work, and my package arrived on Friday, which was obviously perfect timing! I walked into my house and ripped it open as soon as the door was closed. So what did I get?

Lonely Avenue. 11 songs by Ben Folds and Nick Hornby. 4 stories by Nick Hornby. Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz. If someone wanted to create the absolute perfect gift for me, this would be it. It screams Ash on so many levels. I adore Ben Folds, I've seen him three times in concert and can't go a week without listening to his music. Nick Hornby is one of my all time favorite writers. Joel Meyerowitz's vintage style photographs fit my design style to perfection. This had to be the best thing ever, and I'm happy to say it basically is.

I've only read the first two stories by Hornby, but I really loved both of them. I've felt that Hornby has been a little hit and miss for me as of late but these short stories were fantastic and reminded me of all the things that made me love him when I was in high school. Each story is paired with a photograph, as are the song lyrics, and the photographs add a lot to the stories in my opinion.

The songs are also wonderful, and since this is kind of a concept album it's a little different from Ben Folds' other work. Although I think Ben Folds is one of the best musical storytellers ever. I've really enjoyed listening to these song while perusing the stories, but there are just so many stories happening I had to stop myself and try to really absorb each individual story. Which is why I love this! It's three totally different and effective methods of storytelling. You can listen to a story in a song, read a story by Hornby, or just look at the images and try to understand the story behind them. For a lover of music, books, and art this is an awesome find, and even more so for someone who loves Ben Folds and Nick Hornby.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

This week Care asked us to share our standard review formats. I contemplated this question for days before concluding that it's my goal not to have a standard review format. So, that's no help to anyone! As always, it was interesting to see various levels of organization, rating systems, inclusion of covers or lack thereof, and styles taken on by different bloggers

My favorite part of this task was seeing other Geekers favorite reviews, both their own and those of others.

More than one person lauded Emily Reads' fun haiku reviews.

Suey especially liked Melissa's review of Aurelia, because of her enthusiasm and descriptive language.

Susan relies on Eva's reviews, and points us to her review of The Beekeeper's Apprentice as an example of her style.

And Maree appreciates the way Joanne structures her reviews in general.

Last, but certainly not least, more than one person fondly remembers Dewey's reviews. Melissa is going to try to review a book in Dewey's style of asking readers for questions about the book, and Vasilly posted about Dewey's review of East of Eden.

I hope everyone else enjoyed this topic as much as I did!

The 21-year-old actress looked stunning in the monochrome dress, which she teamed with slicked back hair and a pair of sky-high heels while leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
Fashionista: Emma showed off her enviable figure in the flirty outfit, which she teamed with on-trend slicked back hair
Emma has worked hard to transform herself from innocent young actress into a world-famous fashionista, but her status was secured earlier this year when she won a job with cosmetics house
Lancôme.
In a statement released by Lancôme, Emma said: 'Being a Lancôme ambassadress today is an immense pleasure and a great honour.
'For me, Lancôme is an authentic brand. It reflects elegance, class and style.'
Who's your friend? Emma shared a joke with one of the hotel staff as she headed out for the evening
In February, she was handed the Elle Style Icon award by Vivienne Westwood, who admitted to having no idea who the actress was.
Watson also launched an eco-friendly collection with Italian designer Alberta Ferretti, a line called Pure Threads by Emma Watson.
source :dailymail

VIA Emma Watson shows why she was named world's best-dressed woman

I read The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder back in April and I loved it. Like, I really, really loved it. But for some reason, I kept putting the review off. It's now much closer to the review date and I spent a lot of time on Twitter yesterday convincing one of my Twitter friends to read this book. (who absolutely loved it, despite being very wary of the verse style) Because I've spent to much time recently thinking about this book, talking it up to people and convincing them to read it, I thought today would be an appropriate time to post my review.

I honestly don't know where to begin with this book. This book has so much going for it, so many great things about it that it's impossible to identify all of them within the space of one review.

This book is Amber's story and when the book starts, the only thing we know is that it is the day before something huge is to take place. We don't know what, we don't know why or how. All we know is that today is the last day before Amber's life changes forever and she has decided to make this day her own. She writes a note to her family, gets in her car and drives to the beach where she plans to spend the day being by herself and sorting through her emotions. But then she meets Cade. And Cade has a secret too. While reading about him, you just know that there is something more to his day at the beach. Something more that he's not ready to face. He's living today like it's his last.

Amber feels drawn to Cade and he feels the pull as well. They decide to spend the rest of the day together and they both decide that there are to be no questions. They are not to talk about what they are escaping from, and they will just take this day at the beach.

I really enjoy novels in verse and I seek them out. I've read a fair number and I believe I can say that Schroeder has got it going on! She is one of the most truly gifted writers in verse that I have ever read. She knows exactly how much information to give a reader to peak their interest while not giving too much away. She knows the exact balance between suspenseful interest and frustration because we don't know anything, and that scale never tips toward the negative. Her verses are stuffed full of emotion, loaded with feeling and the characters are no longer confined to the pages. They are real to me.

I refuse to give any spoilers away to this story, because part of the magic of this book is the discovery of what tomorrow will bring for both characters. But I will say that what Amber faces is worth the stress she's feeling and it is something that has refused to leave my mind in the two months since I read this book. I find myself constantly thinking about this book and the people in it. I've talked about it many times with family members and with friends, both in real life and online. It won't let go of me. This book has got such a hold on me that I don't think I'm ever going to forget it. This is a book I can easily see myself rereading time and time again.

Lisa Schroeder is an author who has definitely earned herself a place on my permanent I love you shelf. She is amazing and if you have yet to read a book by her, FIX IT!! Fix it NOW!

Oh, and if you are hesitant to read this one because of it's verse style? Just tweet me (@BasicallyBooks) or drop me an email. I'll convince you.:) Take a chance on this author, because I find it impossible to believe you will leave this book disappointed or unmoved.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Around the World ARC Tours.

VIA rachel zoe project 2011 best top news

So much so that battle plans would be drawn up to specifically give the castle at Zhangjiakou, in China's northern Hebei province, a wide berth.

Now archaeologists have begun a daunting project to restore the once-mighty site to something approaching it previous glory, in particular the dilapidated outer wall that repelled every attack which invading Mongolian armies could throw at it.

The restoration of the fortress - which was given the coveted title of 'Wucheng' or 'Martial City' after its construction in 1393 - will see building work completed in the original Ming Dynasty style of architecture, Cinese sources report.

The project will see the restoration of the Ming and Qing era commercial districts, the Great Wall Martial Museum, the Golden Harvest Academy and performance theatres as well as the opening of the Red Tourist Route, with all work planned to be complete in 2016. The restoration work will also include the ongoing protection of surviving structures.

The castle in Wanquan county - known in China as a 'living fossil of the Ming military system' - was built in 1393 but is relatively well-preserved, especially the interior city area which includes the residences of generals and wealthy merchants.

The fortress has huge historical, cultural and military significance and has key cultural relic status in China.

Author: Edward Chow | Source: Daily Mail Online [April 07, 2015]

VIA Rachel Zoe is Pregnant 3is selling her jewelry

Ashfall by Mike Mullin is a post-apocalyptic novel that takes us into what it might be like if the Yellowstone Supervolcano were to actually explode.

I like in SE Idaho, which means that Yellowstone National Park is only about an hour and a half drive from my house. I spent many summers playing in the park, and I loved it. Seriously. If you've never been to Yellowstone, put it on your bucket list. Growing up so close to Yellowstone is what interested me in Ashfall in the first place. I knew the book wouldn't be about the park, because if the volcano erupts, I promise — there is going to be no park left. But I vividly remember the first time I went to the park after learning that it was one of the world's largest volcanoes. I was terrified and had these vivid mental images of my dad driving the car up the side of a giant mountain and straight down into the frothing, bubbling magma of the TV volcanoes.

Let me tell you — this book has made me insanely glad that I live where I do. Why? Because if the Yellowstone Volcano does explode? I die. Living so close makes for a great summer vacation but my survival chances are like 1 in 100gazillion million, if every single condition is absolutely 100% perfectly perfect. And even then, it's most likely that I'll live for an hour, getting to watch the massive, roiling cloud of dark death coming for me, and then I die.

Death isn't something I welcome, but I tell you what — after reading about the likely future for survivors?! I'm okay with it. The apocalyptic world that Mullin describes here in this book is freaky. And, not in the way that zombies are scary, because as much as we like to plan for 'when zombies attack' it's never actually going to happen. But this, this could definitely happen. If Yellowstone explodes, it would be absolutely devastating. We are talking thick blankets of ash coating most, if not all of the United States and worldwide weather changes from the ash in the sky. Everyone will suffer. Global chaos man. Ash coating a majority of the midwest or hanging out in the sky, obscuring the sun means that nothing will grow. No growing things means that animals will die. And, since most people don't keep much more food in the house than will last them a week, food will be scarce, people will start to scavenge, and things are gonna get nasty.

I'm glad I'm just going to go out with a bang with the volcano, because the afterlife has got to be better than this. But Mullin's main character, Alex, does an admirable job of surviving on his own. (And, he does make me regret, yet again, that I never learned karate as a kid...) Alex is left alone for a weekend, while his parents and younger sister go to visit his uncle about 2 hours away. And then — disaster. Alex is terrified, but stays for a few days with some neighbors, long enough for the insanely loud and massive rumblings of the volcano to stop. When Alex is no longer comfortable staying where he is, he decides to set out and find his family. Grabbing a pair of skis and some food and supplies, Alex walks out into the ash.

But Alex doesn't really know what he's doing. He doesn't bring enough food or water and he drinks it way too fast, drinking whole bottles at a time with his meals. But, Alex is lucky, and somehow, always manages to find what he needs right before, or right as his situation becomes dire. To be honest, it happened a few too many times to be wholly believable. When the world is in as much turmoil and panic, the likelihood of finding just exactly what you need just exactly when you need it, is slim. Like, finding an abandoned car right when you feel as if you can go no farther, even though you haven't seen any cars all day. There were a few times in the story when I thought, How convenient (mild eye-roll). But, we can't have our main characters dying on us, so I accepted the luck as necessary to the progression of the story, and honestly, the resourcefulness of the characters was a big help.

The only major complaint that I had with this story was the narrative style, but that is something that is more my problem than a problem with the writing. I find that I personally have a hard time feeling the proper urgency of a story when the main character already knows how the tale ends. I don't know what the proper name for this tense it, but it's first person, past tense? or something like that. But there are comments like, if 'I knew then what I know now', or 'I didn't know at the time, but found out later'. I hope that makes sense... For me, the story loses a bit of its urgency when I know the main character already knows how the story will end. It's not a conscious thing initially but it's been there in every story I've read that uses this style of writing. There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't connect to it as well as I do to some other styles.

This is a book about a journey, and it's a hard one. Alex struggles to travel, struggles to find genuinely good places to find food and water or sleep and Mullin doesn't hide from that. In the beginning, after Alex sets out to find his family, he realizes that it took him 6 days of walking on the skis to travel the distance it takes 30 minutes in the car. And Alex learns hard lessons too, many of which make him grateful for what he had and rueful that he ever took it for granted. It's a struggle every day for Alex to survive, and even with the luck thing, I would never want to be in his position. He finds enough to sustain him, but it's not like it's easy, and there is definitely no luxury to be had.

I was also impressed with Mullin's capture of human nature. The reactions of various characters Alex meets along the way are so varied, but so believable. Some are cruel and vicious, looking to scavenge or rob anything they can. Other communities rally together to protect and preserve all they can, realizing their chances of survival are better in a team. Still others seize and take power where they can, abusing those beneath them. And even in the communities where people are working together, you have to barter and trade for items you need and they pull every grain of food from you they possibly can. When faced with death, we will do pretty much everything in our power to ensure we can stave it off as long as possible and I thought Mullin captured that perfectly.

This review is already long enough, so I'll end with that even though I'm sure I could talk for hours about Yellowstone (and the interesting vacation pictures of me in it) and what the effects of this supervolcano erupting. It would be an absolutely devastating event, the likes of which civilization has never seen. You think the natural disasters we've experienced are bad? Just you wait until that gargantuanly massive volcano hanging out underneath Wyoming decides the pressure is too much. The world will be doomed.

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review from the author in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Luxury yacht by Norman Foster

VIA «Design yacht»

I read American Born Chinese all today, which I've been trying not to do with graphic novels anymore but I just couldn't help it today. It was so nice outside and I just wanted nothing more than to take a break from the paper I've been writing, grab my bike and head out to the pond to read this outside. It was great break book too, I found myself laughing within the first few pages. This is kind of a multi-plot novel you might say. The main story is about Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy who is just starting at a new school. He is totally American, but when he gets introduced to his class everyone laughs at him because of his name, the way he looks, and his interests. He at least makes a friend when Wei-Chen comes to his school from Taiwan. Another story is happening with Danny, a white American teenager trying to fit in, but his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee visits him every year, resulting in mocking so horrible he has to transfer schools every year. And then the final storyline is about The Monkey King, who denies he is a monkey and wants nothing more than to be human. How these three stories intersect is really unexpected and something I think would be hard to carry out in a non graphic format. You'll have to read the book to figure out how that is though.

This is one of the few full color graphic novels I've read, and I personally think I really prefer black and white images. That being said, I really enjoy the American pop art feel this book has. It's very youthful and fun, which is fitting since the book is mostly about struggling Chinese-American youth. I thought this gave the book a nice fluidity and it also worked to put me in the mindset of a kid struggling with fitting in. Chinese-American or not, I think that every kid struggles with fitting in and there were moments in this book where I really felt that same feeling in my stomach I had when I was in third grade. The action of this novel, the escalation of emotions, the desire to punch someone in the face for being a jerk to you all was all easy to relate to and I found that Jin Wang was one of the easiest characters to like I have ever found. Even when he was kind of an ass, because you knew why he was acting that way. And that made him human.

While I really enjoyed the ending of this book, I think it all happened a little too fast. I wish Gene Yang would have drawn out the excitement and suspense a little longer, and there were plot strands I didn't think got tied up. Maybe they were less important parts of the novel, but they left me feeling a little unsatisfied. And I so wanted to be satisfied by this book! Especially on page 163 where Jin says the following: "My mother once explained to me why she chose to marry my father. 'Of all the Ph.D students at the university, he had the thickest glasses,' she said. 'Thick glasses meant long hours of studying. Long hours of studying meant a strong work ethic. A strong work ethic meant a high salary. A high salary meant a good husband. You concentrate on your studies now, Jin. Later, you can have any girl you want.' I was forbidden to date until I had at least a Master's degree." To me, these four panels say so much. They connect Jin's parents to us even though we never meet them, we can see how Jin feels about what his parents think is important, we can see the social tension between them, we can see Jin's desire to be different, to be independent. Moments like that were when his book really shined for me.

I wish I could show you all of the awesome parts of this book, but I can't. To get a sense of the style you should check out the video below in which Gene Yang talks about American Born Chinese and some images from the book are put together for you to enjoy!

This graphic novel earned a B.

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Elite a citadel of gentlemen

VIA «Winter garden in the Northern club»

I do like a nice book cover, but I don't give them nearly as much thought as Jana at the Broke and Bookish so my list won't be as in-depth or interesting as hers. Mine aren't in any order either because I'm just putting them in as I think of them basically.

There were times when I was reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova where I just couldn't help but stop reading and look at the cover. This is truly one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen. I love the darkness of the background and how the image changes for you as you read the book and find out more about the story. The text is great as well, kind of a mix between old and new, which is something the book plays with a lot. Also, I know this isn't part of the cover and I don't know what the books that have been released look like, but on my ARC the binding is gold and looks quite nice on my shelf.

One of the most effective ways to sell books is probably to have them cover out instead of binding out. If it wasn't for that, I never would have seen The Impostor's Daughter by Laurie Sandell this weekend. I was attracted to this cover because of the bright colors, fun font style, and the mystery about why she's covering her face with a picture of her dad. I picked up the book and read the back cover, thought it looked interesting so I opened it up to find it was a graphic novel! I was really excited to find a graphic novel in memoir form because I loved Persepolis so I bought it right away.

This cover is really simple and white, with a great brightly covered image that totally sums up the message of this book. It looks comicy, but still empowering. This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson is probably one of my favorite covers from books I've read this summer. Every time I see the librarian with her cape I smile and I realized something a little different about the picture every time I look at it. For instance, it took me awhile to realize that those were books she was flying out of.

I think part of the reason I read Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick was that every time I looked at it I said "Pretty!" I love Sunflowers and Vincent Van Gogh's art and I think it was really effective to do a close up of one painting rather than try to fill the cover with an entire painting. The white text allows the image to speak for itself, and those who know Van Gogh will be immediately attracted just by recognition. Plus I just love green and yellow.

I buy children's books all the time even though I have no children and I'm not a teacher nor do I want to be one. Part of it started when I was a reading tutor and it's just kind of carried on since then. One day I'll have kids to share some of these beautiful children's books with and one I can't wait to share is The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. This was a staff pick at a store once and the artwork is just beautiful. I was attracted by the little red haired boy who sticks out amongst the green and blue of the natural scene behind him.

I still haven't read Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman but every time I walk by the cover I get the urge to start it. It is so simple, most of his covers are, but it just looks interesting. The image reminds of a children's reference book about dinosaurs with all of the labels on it. I love dinosaurs so I'm attracted to that. And I like how the author's name and the title are the same size and sandwich the image.

I just had to add one more children's book to this list. Boris and Bella, authored by Carolyn Crimi and illustrated but Gris Grimly is just a great cover. It's Tim Burton-esque and creepy. Normally when you see a male and female name on a book you assume they are in love, but this is not the case with Boris and Bella. We can tell from the image that these ghouls obviously do not like each other. I also like the purple and black for a creepier story like this one, plus the text fits perfectly.

I haven't read Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart yet, but I intend to soon because the book sounds great to me. I love this cover because it combines and simple colorless photograph with a tiffany blue colored box for text, and then the box is topped with a bow like one from Tiffany would be. I just think that was a really cute idea and I love the simple color scheme of this book.

I read this book a week ago and I think it has a pretty neat cover. This cover of Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman really embodies Rita's personality. The orange and green are bright and fun, which is just like her attitude. I also like the map at the top of the cover that shows all the different places she goes to and how she's constantly traveling back and forth. Plus I like that they used a photograph for a travel narrative because it let's you feel like you're in on their trip a little bit.

My last cover is the 50th Anniversary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It's beautiful. The color scheme is really unique, you don't see that deep, wine red on books very often, and it let's the green of the tree really pop. I have the older lavender version right now and I have been lusting after this book ever since I saw it. I also love the text they use on this cover, a slanted print that looks almost like a child's handwriting.

I actually learned a lot about myself by doing this, I appears that I'm really attracted to colors or white covers with a single image on them. Who knew! What are you attracted to in covers?

A couple of week ago Ron stopped by to talk to us about what makes a good graphic novel. It seems like a lot of you out there agreed with Ron's thoughts and some of you were looking for a good place to start with graphic novels. Ron compiled a great list of some of his all time favorites. I've read about half of these and I can vouch to their greatness!

Boiling the medium down to just a few recommendations is…impossible, but I’ll do my best to provide an interesting and diverse list. Even so, superhero comics will comprise a healthy portion of the list because they are so integral to the medium. I’ll also try to mix ongoing series with singular, one-shot works. Away we go—

Watchmen/The Dark Knight Returns

These two works are closely linked despite being vastly different when it comes to content. Watchmen is the arch-comic, the comic of comics, not only because of its brilliance, but it’s also a comic about comics. This is something the movie didn’t adequately capture. Writer Alan Moore spins a “Golden Age” story out of control, warping it into a self-reflexive mirror to the superhero genre, and artist Dave Gibbons subverts classical style, yet doesn’t seem like a carbon copy of it. This is a perfect comic.

In The Dark Knight Returns, Writer/Artist Frank Miller redeems a laughable Batman by infusing him with eighties pop-culture sensibility. The story sees Bruce Wayne as an old man, forced to once again become Batman in order to stop a brutal crime wave in Gotham City. The work, while whitewashed in eighties action movie veneer (Miller’s Wayne owes more to Clint Eastwood than Adam West), also explores the enduring nature of the character and his relationship to other heroes in the DC universe. It’s a rip-roaring read, but it’s also Miller at his cleverest—there’s a density to the work that he rarely has been able to recapture.

(Further reading: [Moore] The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen I & II; From Hell; [Miller] Batman: Year One; Daredevil: Visionaries Volume 2; Sin City.)

Criminal

Ed Brubaker is one of my favorite writers, and this is the reason why. Criminal pulls on the pulp origins of early comics as well as film noir and blends it into one outstanding package: contemporary but timeless stories about the criminal underworld. The tropes may feel familiar, but a good story, especially a crime story, isn’t “predictable” so much as it is inevitable. If there’s one thing this series has in spades it’s that sinking feeling.

(Further reading: Captain America; Sleeper; The Immortal Iron Fist; Gotham Central.)

Asterios Polyp

This is one of the most formally experimental pieces that I’ve ever read. Writer/Artist David Mazzuchielli uses everything at his disposal to construct a fascinating character study of a dead-beat architect named Asterios. It’s a vibrant book, story-and-art-wise, with each character constructed in interesting colors and character-specific fonts. It’s simply a pleasure to behold.

(Further reading: City of Glass.)

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
This is an amazing work, something you’d lend to non-comics to get them hooked on the medium. It plays simply at first, but unfolds beautifully, each chapter adding a layer of complexity to the story. The art is outstanding, too, and lends to the credibility of the story itself, about a death in the family and so much more. The story will resonate with any reader, and that’s the highest praise I can give it.
(Further reading: Dykes to Watch Out For.)

Daredevil Volume 2 #16-19, 26-50, 56-81

This run of issues comprises Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s run on the book, a run that is simply outstanding. The most common phrase associated with the series is that, “Daredevil spends as much time out of his costume as he does in it,” which is a simple way of saying that the run is unusual within the genre. It’s more than that, though. Bendis’ characters speak in dialogue closer to David Mamet’s theater aesthetic than “word balloon banter,” and he fractures the timeline brilliantly to deal with heavy thematic concerns about the real power that a hero holds. Maleev’s art is also outstanding. He brings gritty realism to the book, and employs specifically cinematic techniques to convey the story. It’s a terrifically exciting body of work.

(Further reading: Powers; New Avengers; Ultimate Spider-Man.)

Scalped

This book is similar to Criminal (I could see them shelved together, yes), but offers a unique slant on the crime genre. Instead of portraying the underbelly of a city, Scalped digs into an Indian reservation in the Dakotas in which a sleazy FBI agent tries desperately to bring down the corrupt man who runs the rez, Lincoln Red Crow. The best part of the series is that it doesn’t pull any punches, everything writer Jason Aaron throws at the reader means something, and either pushes the plot forward dramatically or tells the reader something important about a character. The stakes in this book are incredibly high.

(Further reading: The Other Side; Wolverine: Weapon X.)

As I said, great list! Be sure to check out Ron's previous post and his blog Entertainment Etc.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Bonnie from A Backwards Story is with us again today, bringing us another fantastic interview — this time with Carolyn Turgeon!

Carolyn Turgeon is the author of three novels, Rain Village, Godmother, and Mermaid. Her next novel, The Next Full Moon, is scheduled to come out in August/September 2011. Based on Te Swan Maiden, this will be Turgeon’s debut novel for young readers. Her novels tend to be twisted versions of fairy tales you’ve never seen before, such as The Little Mermaid from the princess’ perspective in addition to the mermaid’s or a version of Cinderella where the godmother is banished from the fairy realm when something goes horribly wrong... For a review of Turgeon’s work, please visit the above links. Reviews of her other titles will come to A Backwards Story later this year. Godmother and Mermaid are also featured in a FTF guest post titled FRACTURED FAIRY TALES.

1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them?
I can recall loving all kinds of stories, such as Thumbelina and The Princess and the Pea, with all their strange and wonderful images—the tiny girl floating along in an acorn, the princess with her stack of mattresses. I think my favorite fairy tales were by Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose… but my favorite was The Selfish Giant. It’s very sad and strange and beautiful—the ghostly little boy, the lush garden, the endless snow and frost, the giant who gets struck down, covered in white blossoms… I’ve always tended to like stories that are very sad.

2) What made you decide to write alternative versions of fairytales from unique perspectives?
I didn’t really start out intending to write alternative versions of fairy tales. When I started Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, I just wanted to tell the Cinderella story straight, with lots of wonderful, lush detail and full, fleshed-out characters and all kinds of weirdness and darkness, etc. That’s what I love about fairytales, by the way—that strange combination of beauty and darkness you find in all of them. After my first book, Rain Village, which took forever to write, I wanted to do something that I thought would be a lot of fun, something that I would really love writing. I only decided to tell the story through the perspective of the fairy godmother when I realized how limited Cinderella’s perspective was—back then I only ever wrote in first person—so I figured that if the fairy godmother was narrating she could be pretty omniscient, tell you what was going on with Cinderella and the other characters. Plus, she could tell you her own story, too, which I thought might be interesting. Later, I decided to set the book in contemporary New York City and only have the godmother remembering everything that had happened in the other world. The book is set half in New York and half in the fairy tale world (in flashbacks). I only decided to do that after joining a writing workshop and seeing that the people in the workshop didn’t seem to be responding to the straight-out fairy tale I was writing. I wanted to win them over and I thought maybe I could lure them in with a present-day story set in the city, win them over that way, and then plunge them into the fairy tale.
So the book only slowly evolved into this alternative version. Once I put the fairy tale in via flashbacks, I knew something had to have gone terribly wrong. Why else would the fairy godmother be an old woman in New York?
After writing the book, though, I felt there was something really powerful in taking a story as well known as Cinderella, a story that’s in our blood and bones, and telling the “real” story from a perspective you never think or care about.

3) Can you tell us more about your upcoming book, The Next Full Moon?
The Next Full Moon is my first children’s book, a middle-grade novel about a 12-year-old girl who’s being raised alone by her father in Pennsylvania and who starts growing feathers, which is totally mortifying and confusing for her of course. She then comes to discover that her mother, whom she thought died when she was an infant, was (and is) a swan maiden. The story’s based on the old tales in which a man steals a swan maiden’s feathered robe when she’s in her human form, takes her home, marries her and has children with her. One day she discovers the robe and flies away—there are various reasons for this, depending on the version you read. I wondered: what happens when those kids she leaves behind hit puberty? In my book, the man and woman had only one child, and now here’s the kid ten years later with feathers appearing on her arms and back, having no idea that her mother is still alive and, of course, no idea that she’s a swan maiden.
I like the idea of a 12-year-old girl, full of shame and embarrassment, slowly discovering that she’s magical and amazing.

4) What other ideas are you working on right now?
Well, I’m working on a few things right now. Because of Mermaid, I started this blog, I Am a Mermaid, where I talk to all kinds of people about mermaids. I’ve realized that there’s this whole mermaid culture out there that’s really fascinating and lovely. So I’m writing my first non-fiction (but still quite fantastical!) book. And I’m working on a new novel that has to do with Weeki Wachee and a YA novel about a drowning pool, and I have this half-done thriller that I hope to finish this year…

5) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building? How did you bring everything together?
It was challenging for me to write about magical worlds, I think, in that I was afraid of making them too Disney-ish or corny. So with Godmother, at first I was very vague when talking about the fairy world; in fact in the first draft, the flashbacks start with the godmother meeting Cinderella and we don’t really see her in her own world at all. It was only after the book sold that my editors pushed me to make the fairy world more defined and vivid, to explain the rules of that world and the landscape of it and so on. So I added in the first couple of flashback chapters that are in the book now, and they were probably the hardest chapters for me to write, even though they’re probably the lightest ones in the whole book.
With Mermaid, I mainly had to explain the rules we see in the original Hans Christian Andersen story… like why the mermaids can only visit the human world once, on their birthdays, and so on. It was more like putting together a puzzle than anything else, trying to create the worlds in that book and make them adhere to specific points from the original story.

6) Which of the books you've written is your favorite so far? What makes it the most special to you?
Hmmm. I think that would always tend to be the latest one. Right now I’m very excited about The Next Full Moon and writing for this younger age group. I found it surprisingly easy to write as a twelve-year-old, which is possibly a little worrisome, and was able to draw on my own memories and experiences more than I have for any other book. Like the characters all go to the lake in their town, where there’s an old carousel and people sell lemonade and they can all go swimming or lie out on the beach. And I was just directly describing the lake my friends and I used to go to in East Lansing, Michigan, where I lived from when I was twelve to fourteen, and I hadn’t thought about that lake in years. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, and so I’m really distanced from some of those memories and places. It was kind of nostalgic and wonderful, writing that book and slipping into those memories and this old self. Also, I have to say, I think the trauma and awkwardness of being twelve mixes really well with the fairy tale elements in the book, and I like the idea that something magical is happening to you as you hit puberty and you just have to figure that out.

7) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors?
I love Angela Carter and her weird, gorgeous visions. I love Alice Hoffman, Francesca Lia Block, Joanne Harris, Isabel Allende, Jeanette Winterson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Italo Calvino... They’re not all fairy tale writers and I don’t know to what extent they’ve all been inspired by fairy tales, but they all write in that vein I think, lush and magical. I really enjoyed Erzebet Yellowboy’s Sleeping Helena. And I also, by the way, really loved the way the Pied Piper story is used in the movie The Sweet Hereafter. It’s pretty brilliant.

8) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why?
Oh, I think maybe Thumbelina. I mean, who wouldn’t want to ride around in an acorn? For the most part, I think fairy tales are not the stories I would like to live out. Though I wouldn’t mind being the little mermaid for a day, before she goes and sees the sea witch and ruins her life…

9) What's your favorite Disney rendition of a fairy tale? What makes it so special?
I’m going to have to defer to my childhood self, who loved all those movies quite passionately. As an adult, I could barely even get through The Little Mermaid, which I was totally swept away by as a teenager. Probably my favorite, though, is Snow White. The old versions of that tale are really very shockingly weird and violent, and even the Disney version is incredibly creepy, with our semi-dead heroine lying gorgeously in a glass coffin in the forest and our hot prince having a thing for dead chicks.

FUN AND CRAZY ROUND!

~Best fairy tale villain and why?
Oh, the stepmother from Snow White. She’s a gorgeous witch with a magic mirror who has her stepdaughter murdered in the forest and then eats her heart (or lungs or what have you). Even though she’s betrayed by her huntsman and actually eats a stag’s heart, she believes she’s eating Snow White’s. It’s hard to think of a more perverse female villain! And I love the image of her skulking through the forest with her cloak and her basket full of poisoned apples.

~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Oh, I love Rapunzel and the lettuce that is so delicious and addictive that Rapunzel’s mother craves it above all else and even makes her husband climb into a witch’s garden to get more for her. I mean, who pines for lettuce? Now I totally want some lettuce, now that I’m thinking about it...
I’d like to be something equally un-chocolate-y, if you know what I mean, some other pedestrian, unsexy vegetable with hidden powers of seduction. Like a rutabaga or a turnip. Turnip is kind of a cute word, not too far off from the delightful “tulip.” I’d like some fairytale character to be sitting in a room wasting away from a mad desire for turnips.

~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale:
She stared out the window at the impossibly lush turnips growing outside just beyond reach, their leaves shooting into the air like hands, their bodies dense and purple, as round as breasts. Her mouth watered as she watched the turnip leaves undulating in the breeze. As if they were bellydancing, she thought.

Meanwhile, Turnip was enjoying a large slice of chocolate cake at Jean Georges.

~Would you rather:

- — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden eggs. Don’t those sound delectable? A magic bean is just wrong.

- — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers? I think polishing the glass slippers would be much more manageable. And I love things made out of glass, especially slippers and dresses. Are you aware of Karen LaMonte’s glass dresses? Look:

- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? Oh, a fairy godmother. Who wouldn’t want an endless supply of dresses and carriages? And let’s face it: Prince Charming isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.
Come to think of it, though… if we’re talking about the fairy godmother from my own book, then I’d really have to go for the hot prince, or even one of the coachman or mice. Anyone but the godmother, please!

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Okay, okay, here’s the part you’re all waiting for: The giveaway! Carolyn has generously agreed to give away three—yes, THREE—autographed copies of Mermaid as well as some fun mermaid tattoos! You know you want to win this contest and read this fantastic book.

To enter,. In addition, please leave a comment answering this question: What would you do if you could be a mermaid for a day? Also, what would you be willing to sacrifice in order to become a mermaid?

Entries must be received by MAY 5th. May 8th This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!
Good luck and I can’t wait to see your responses!

PS from Misty: I love this picture! ----->