Winter Mornings

How was your weekend? Did you watch the Olympics? I watched a little of the skiing and ice skating, but mostly I read. This weekend was cold in Los Angeles, though mild compared to the rest of the country. And yesterday was one of those mornings a little too chilly to take a walk. With the fireplace lit, staying home sounded awfully good. That walk could wait for later. I pulled out the newspapers, magazines, and books I have been meaning to get to and settled in for a nice day at home. The plan was to catch up with all my reading. Don't you love it when you have all day to read? Here are a few things that caught my eye...

From the February, 2014 issue of "Town and Country:" Starting on March 1 Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Delaware is hosting Costumes of Downton Abbey, an exhibition of 40 looks from the show. It includes the dress Lady Mary wore when Matthew proposed. I have never been to Winterthur and would would love to plan a visit to coincide with this exhibition!

And speaking of "Downton," there is a fashion spread in the January issue of "Vogue" featuring Laura Carmichael who plays Lady Edith. Up until this season her clothes were not very remarkable, but she is now wearing some fabulous costumes from the twenties. In real life, she loves fashion and looks beautiful in this photo shoot.

And in the same issue of "Vogue" there is an article on the three very handsome actors who play new characters this season on "Downton." It was fascinating to learn that Julian Ovenden who plays Charlie Blake (on the left), the man who seems to be falling in love with Lady Mary (see last night's episode), is an acclaimed tenor and will be performing at Carnegie Hall with Michael Feinstein on Valentine's Day!

And what about a real-life Dowager Duchess of Grantham? In the March issue of "Town and Country" there is a gorgeous 12-page spread on Deborah Mitford, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire and her granddaughter Stella Tennant. There are some stunning shots of the Dowager's home Chatsworth (a 1000-acre estate in the English countryside) as well as some great shots of her when she was simply Deborah Mitford and of her famous sisters. Have you read her memoir Wait for Me ? It is wonderful.

I love this photo of Stella at Chatsworth. I am pretty sure that is Nancy Mitford in the background.

Several magazines have articles on the new book My Life in Middlemarch. The author Rebecca Mead has written about her lifelong relationship with the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot. It is getting very good reviews and I can't wait to read it. I understand the idea of returning to favorite books over the years. "Howards End," "Mrs. Dalloway" and "Excellent Women" are books I always seem to take down from the bookshelf and revisit. I get something new from them each time. Hmm...I wonder if I can convince my book club to read "Middlemarch"?

Jude Law in "Henry V"

Photo via here

In the "New York Times" Ben Brantley has written a fabulous article about several Shakespeare plays that are on in London right now, all starring leading film actors: Jude Law in "Henry V", David Tennant in "Richard II," and Tom Hiddleston in "Coriolanus." Oh, to be in England...

Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul

Photo via here

In the same issue of the NY Times there is a fascinating article about Istanbul, the home of Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk gave Joshua Hammer, the writer of this article, a personal tour of his beloved city. The text and photos are excellent. Many years ago I read Snow by Pamuk and considered it an accomplishment since the book is a challenging read but very worth it. This travel piece is a keeper...

And from a visit to one of my favorite websites...

My copy of this classic

Persephone Books is issuing a new edition of The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield. The beautiful endpapers (which Persephone Books is famous for) will be based on the original Harper & Brothers New York cover of the book from 1931. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Persephone is making the book available prior to its official April release for two weeks only and is offering it at a discount. Go here to learn more and see the lovely endpapers. And go here to read more about this book.

And, finally, staying home can yield all kinds of discoveries...

A Valentine card I gave my husband years ago. Isn't that quote perfect?

I hope you stayed snug and warm this weekend.

What Are You Reading?

Photo via here

Fall is here and it is my favorite time of the year.  It is a great time to read and I am making a list of the books I want to enjoy this season.  This is the time of the year when I go into nesting mode and spend a lot of time at home, especially in my kitchen --  cooking, baking, and anticipating the holidays.  But the other rooms draw me in as well, especially the ones with a comfortable chair and ottoman.  Now that the weather is cooler and the days are shorter, I love to read and have fantasies of sitting with a great book, a cup of tea at my side, and a fire in the fireplace.  I have always loved 19th-century British novels and want a book that will take me away to a place where the fog is rolling over the English moors and chimney smoke is coming out of thatched cottages.  And so this is the time of the year that I like to pick a classic book to read.  Right now a long, sprawling Victorian novel sounds perfect for those afternoons in front of the fire and the one I have decided to read is Middlemarch by George Eliot.

Have you read it?  I have always been intrigued with "Middlemarch" because so many writers have loved it.

Virginia Woolf wrote that George Eliot's power "is at its highest in the mature Middlemarch, the magnificent book which with all its imperfections is one of the few English novels written for grown-up people."

When Emily Dickinson was asked what she thought of "Middlemarch" she answered "What do I think of glory?"

Zadie Smith wrote that "Middlemarch" is one of the books that had the greatest impact on her, calling it "A work of genius.  But more important...a woman wrote it...Eliot was the first woman I read who could go toe-to-toe with, say, Tolstoy."

A.S. Byatt wrote "It is possible to argue that Middlemarch is the greatest English novel."

And recently "The Guardian" published an article listing the ten best closing lines of novels.  "Middlemarch" was one of the chosen along with 'The Great Gatsby," "Ulysses," "Heart of Darkness," "Wuthering Heights," and "To the Lighthouse."

There are also some very exciting new books that have just come out or are coming out this fall that I can't wait to read.  Here are the ones on my list:

Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth
Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue
Zadie Smith's NW
Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies


What are you reading?  And are you attracted to the classics at this time of the year?  I would love to hear what you are reading right now and what is on your list for the fall and winter.

By the way, speaking of fantasies, here is the place where I would love to do all this reading.

Photo via here

Happy Fall!