Reading for Pleasure

Well, dear readers, a very happy '07 to you all (which, by the by, reminds me that I think Daniel Craig did an excellent job as the new 007 in "Casino Royale." I took my little sister to see it at the Mann Chinese Theater when she visited this fair city a few days ago, and boy howdy, I was captivated. I wanted to be the next Bond girl just so I could hang out with Bond.). I had an unexpectedly great holiday, realized that there's a reason people drink champagne out of narrow flutes instead of large, capacious mugs, and (thanks to Santa) acquired a whole stack of glorious things to read. They include:

"In Vogue."I was thrilled to tear the wrapping paper off and discover this gorgeous, exhaustive tome. Not only is it chock full of eye candy (reprints of early issues, beautiful fashion spreads, fashion icons galore), but it's a great history of the magazine since its start 100 years ago as a little society rag. It really has been an incredibly influential publication since the 1930s, not only reporting on but also determining style and social trends, and I think the book will be awesome to both dip into and read straight through.

"Shoes: A History..." This book is really much more historical than it looks. Why do they always put the punky, ridiculous garments on the cover of these things? Anyway, it starts hundreds of years back and is fun to flip through (no shortage of eye candy here either).

I'm thrilled that one of my hard-working parents tracked down the out-of-print Are Clothes Modern? by Bernard Rudofsky. It's "an essay on contemporary apparel," and is considered a classic in sociology.

I also have on the top of my stack "Toast," a book that I inteded to give as a gift, but ended up keeping when the recipient had it already. Usually that would be annoying, but in this case it works out perfectly: after I bought it, I started reading and immediately wished for my own copy. Now I'm a few chapters in and his writing--about the associations he has with foods from his childhood--is marvelous. It's neat to see the foods he had as a little boy growing up in England--all so different from typical American stuff--and I'm waiting eagerly for the more "dark" sections of the story to come.

Okay, I'm audi (time for some more "Toast"), but before I go: may the new year bring about fabulous fashion and food for you and your loved ones (or flings), and may it bring about new resolutions that benefit us all (e.g., "Wear a bra" for Britney, "Say no to Uggs" for all girls in Southern California, "I'm so over the popped collar thing" for all those foolish frat dudes, and "Wear panties, ALWAYS" for, well, everyone).

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