Project: Bookshelves Revamp

Today, I have been thinking a lot about my bookshelves. We have four Billy Bookcases in the bedroom and office that hold a mix of novels, reference, music and religion books, and owl bookends. But they need some freshening up. Since a rolling ladder is currently out of the question (space, expense and lack of a stable built-in on which to attach it), I have been toying with color-cordinating my shelves. It's not a novel idea, but might give me a fun, cheap project and a new look. Everything is currently organized by subject matter and height, which makes it easy to find, but not the most aesthetically-pleasing. (For example, classic writers like Virgil and Homer are together, while the Parisian 20s expats like Fitzgerald and Hemingway are on another shelf.) Above are my Coralie Bickford-Smith Penguin Classics and some other favorites. Anyway, here is some of the inspiration I found today on the interweb.

Baseball Inspiration

My husband is a lifelong Yankees fan, and though my loyalty still belongs to the Royals, I am learning to root for the boys in pinstripes.

Things I like about the Yankees:

1. They win. A lot. Which is fun, I'll admit.
2. The team has such incredible history.
3. The stadium is a quick train away.
4. We can get cheap seats and make it a fun date.
5. They wear pinstripes.
6. Justin loves them.

Things I do not like about the Yankees:

1. Their massive payroll.
2. They steal players from the Royals, who have a teeny payroll.
3. The food is expensive (albeit delicious.)
4. My extended family despises them.

Closet Craving: Briefcases

(Photo via NYTimes)

I confess, this T Magazine piece gave me a serious case of briefcase envy. In a city of schlepping as much as possible in a shapeless, massive tote bag, these sturdy, well-defined cases would be refreshing. We used to go to the Hartmann outlet every few years and buy an attaché case for my father. I remember the smell of new leather and the feeling that very, very important documents went inside that case—that's why it had a combination lock, right? I rounded up some favorites and these are all super-duper expensive, but it gives me some inspiration to look for one at a thrift store.

My roundup of attaché cases on Polyvore:

Berluti Le Laureat Briefcase, $3,090

Slim Attache with Fan File
Brooks Brothers | Alligator Billfold Briefcase, $6,500 
Saddler's Union Double Gusset Briefcase at Barneys New York, $2,225

Italianspiration: Postcards from Verona

Today is one of those days, so in my mind, I am in Italy. I'm exploring the streets of Verona, learning all about the arena and the various squares, churches, bridges, etc. The Library of Congress has archived thousands of images on Flickr, and I found this collection of postcards from Verona, between 1890-1900.

Piazza delle Erbe (the Square of Herbs) where the market is held and the chariots used to race

Bookshelf: Daughters of the River Huong

I've been waiting to read Daughters of the River Huong, by Uyen Nicole Duong, for awhile. I have two adopted sisters who were born in Vietnam, and it's a place I admit I have a lot of curiosity about and little real knowledge. A novel might not usually be the best place to gain historical knowledge, but Vietnam's most recent conquests, from the French to VietCong to the Americans, were gracefully woven into the narrative.

During the process of adopting my first sister from Vietnam, my mother ended up staying in the country for several months. My mother and Anny were in a tiny hotel room in Hanoi, where she'd do laundry in the sink and could lie down on the floor and touch both walls. I remember when they finally came home, she told stories of French architecture and incredible food cooked on the sidewalk, of vivid silks and wide-eyed street children, of zipping motorbikes and lazy heat. Everyone in our family got their own ao dai to wear to Anny's christening. Vietnam seemed to my middle-school self like a land of richness and wonder.

But I'd also read enough about the ongoing struggle, the pain and disruption and brutality of the Vietnam War (and seen Forrest Gump, which I confess informed the other half of my impressions) to not only imagine a lush jungle paradise.

No novel truly encompasses a country or a culture, unless the writer was Michener. ;) But the story of Vietnam (a story of conquest and subjugation but also beauty and resilience) was told through the generations of women in one family. It's a melancholy tale that follows the life of a royal concubine, then her daughters—the revolutionist and the princess, then her granddaughter—a plain woman who loved to create gardens in the midst of drab realities, and finally, the great-granddaughter who was rescued at the fall of Saigon, lived in America, who loved, lost and sang. It's a glimpse at a culture, told through the perspective of admittedly aristocratic characters. If nothing else, the book gave me an even deeper desire to learn about Vietnam, to travel there someday, to learn about the ancient and beautiful country where my sisters were born.