I just read two books back to back that made me realize there is this whole genre of books with a similar form. I have read many of them over the years, but never realized what they were. I decided to call this genre Brilliant Friends books after Elena Ferrante’s magical Neapolitan Quartet and its first book My Brilliant Friend. The stories are all told by an adult woman looking back on an intense high school friendship that was formative, changing their lives in some way or another. The narrator is the more subdued friend, the quiet one, the follower who is remembering the brilliant, defiant, bold, brave and ultimately tragic friend. Tragedy can take many forms, not just death, but always, the narrator ends in a better place than the brilliant friend. Thinking about it, both the books I just read (Marlena and Please Proceed to the Exit) fit that model but not just them. There’s The Girls by Emma Cline, The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel, even All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, a mystery has the brilliant friend disappear, runaway or murder victim.
Tag Archives: adorkable
Here and Gone
I am usually ambivalent about jumpsuits. In my first life, I think they are annoying. They are not particularly flattering and seriously, who wants to almost completely undress every time they go to the restroom? But we don’t pee in SL, so bodysuits are not so ridiculous here.
And when the body suit is this beautifully architectural, then all of a sudden I am down with bodysuits.
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One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
Narcissi has released a perfect summer outfit at Vintage Fair. These shorts and tops come in two sets, pastels and brights. The pastel shorts set also has several gorgeous prints, fun vintage prints.
I took to the trees because I was doing a book review of a book called The Solace of Trees that I reviewed on my book blog and on YouTube. It’s about refugees and it is timely, important, and not terribly well done. Continue reading
The Arcade brings sunshine and flowers
I was looking for a quote for my pictures and came across “Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.” It was attributed to Walt Whitman which struck me as bizarre. It does not sound the least bit like Whitman. Whitman wrote things like “Give me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling!” The internet is good for many things, but it’s been a disaster to those who want proper attribution for quotes. Thankfully there are those who are combatting error like The Quote Investigator.
The Arcade has arrived and with June comes sunshine and flowers, not just outdoors, but even on the wall.
I shot these pictures in the small attic bedroom at the top of Scarlet Creative’s romantic Daisy Weathered House at The Arcade. With ivy and moss on the walls and roofs, delicate floral wallpaper and so many gables it would make Nathaniel Hawthorne jealous, this house is everything.
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If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
In Riding a Horse, We Borrow Freedom
I thought I blogged this a week ago. Oops! First, I have to deal with the quote I used for the title. The internet is a disaster for quote lovers and this is an example of why. Which Helen Thompson? My guess this quote may have come from the wife of the race horse trainer, David Thompson. I am pretty darn sure it did not come from this Helen Thompson and by the way, I am even more sure that fifth quote is also one that belongs to the woman whose life was in racing, not the psychologist studying gender differences who was born in 1874.
Rescued
My great-niece recently rescued a couple horses from a kill pen, the third generation of horse rescuers in my family. Kill pen horses are usually sold for pet food because they are considered problematic, untrainable, vicious and dangerous. They usually require a level of training most people just will not invest. In time, though, they can learn to trust and be trusted. If you want to see the evidence, see my great-grand niece cleaning this rescued horse’s hooves just two weeks into training…and the foundations for a fourth generation of rescuers begins. It was thinking about them, the work they are doing, and that two other nieces are doing, that I thought I might take this month’s house from Barnesworth for Collabor88 and set up a farm. I tinted it, one of the things I love about Barnesworth homes.
Pink Makes Everything Pretty
Lazy Days with Collabor88 and The Arcade
It’s a good think I got this gorgeous rare bed from the DRD gacha at The Arcade because it’s perfect for lazing about and so are some of the new releases from Collabor88
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If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.
Henny Youngman once said, “If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.” It makes me sort of want to see one of his routines. I kind of think this little romper might lead to doing things tonight…so I will sleep late. You can find your own in Birdy’s gacha at The Arcade. Be sure to sleep late.