Four Fun Things
Usually, in the dead of winter, I feel tired and washed out, but lately I rediscovered my favorite blush, which gives cheeks the nicest flush and wakes up your whole face. I feel alive again! Do you have any makeup you swear by? I’d love to hear.
Have you ever read multiple books by the same author, all in a row? I’ve never done that — I usually like to bounce around — but I loved Long Island so much that I’ve been craving more from Colm Tóibín. Yesterday my mom texted me about his 2014 novel Nora Webster — “his masterpiece, in my opinion,” wrote A.O. Scott in the New York Times — and I picked up a copy right away. Tóibín, like my long-time favorite author Elizabeth Strout, shares his reserved characters’ intense inner lives, as they go about their days with their families, children, friends and lovers. You get to see what it feels like to be them, and it’s riveting.
My friends Maddy and Erin made chocolate mousse for my birthday, and many readers requested the recipe. They made this New York Times version, which was very rich and airy.
Eleven-year-old Anton has been asking to redo his bedroom. We’ll likely just do a “fakeover” by moving furniture around, but it might be fun to update the paint color, too. I’m hoping to ask: what color is your bedroom? Do you like it? Any strong recommendations?
P.S. Our Brooklyn house tour, and 12 readers share what they like about their looks.
(Joanna photo by Malia Gross. Chocolate mousse party photo by Weddings by Nato. Anton’s bedroom photo by Alpha Smoot.)
Tags: fun things
Comments
115 commentsI’ve seen all the “house burping” stuff going around, and I feel like I’m going crazy. Hasn’t everyone always known you should occasionally air out your house? Isn’t “airing out” a better way to put it than HOUSE BURPING? I’m sticking with that one, anyway.
How did you end up liking Nora Webster? I’d love an update! :)
Our master bedroom is painted North Sea by Benjamin Moore. It’s a deep blue, without being as inky as navy, and it makes the room feel cozy and enveloping but sophisticated. It is also the colour we used for our four year old son’s room, and it is a great backdrop against the brighter colours (and homemade art) in there.
One of the bedrooms in our house is Sherwin Williams’ Island Time and it’s my favorite room in the house. The color is so rich and lovely and perfect for a sunny space!
Rhode pocket blushes! The formula is incredible if you have dry skin. It’s also super buildable so you can adjust to how flushed you want to look. Love the colors freckled and toasted teddy.
My go to makeup…Lancome Skin Feels Good Titnted moisturizer…..I’ve tried others, but none go on as smoothly, provide the right coverage and look so natural. I also love Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide On Eyeliner pencils…they go on smoothly, last and last, and so many cool colors! As for authors, Alice Hoffman has been my favorite for years…She’s best known for her Practical Magic series, which I love…….rich characters that unfold and grow over the years. But she’s written many more…Illumination Night, Turtle Moon, Faithful, Blackbird House……so much mystic realism goodness!
I really like E.L.F.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter because you can use it so many ways and gives my face a nice glow. There’s also a wide range of shades.
My first thought was also this product! I really like it — not too expensive, holds up pretty well, and makes me feel glowy but not cakey.
My teenage son chose his colors. He chose a beach theme. Nautical navy blue on the bottom half of the walls. Beige/sand on the top half. We added a white chair rail around the room at the point where the two colors meet. The white chair rail tied in the ceiling and the trim and the baseboards. It looked pretty good!!
To bogart my Dad’s favorite gag — does that chocolate mousse come with a diving board? I would like to jump right in. That’s my kind of gift!
LOL! Thanks for the laugh! :)
After more than a year of no make up (my little protest against “the man”), have discovered and fallen in love with Aleph. The products are simple and can be used in multiple places on the face. I love that they’re light and bring out the best in my features rather than make me look like someone else.
I think Anton’s room needs a cheerful yellow or green. I once painted my entire apartment light gray and it was the most depressing space I have ever lived in! Hated it. I will never use gray on the walls again. As a teenager, I painted my room a purpley periwinkle and it was SO lovely. I agree with the comments to stick to uplifting colors for teenagers, not moody ones.
I agree! When I’m scrolling/strolling through homes on Zillow to hopefully find a home away from all the gunshots we hear at night, when a home I click on has gray walls, I can’t even imagine it as a cheery, not dreary, space.
I was just thinking a light, buttery yellow would look wonderful with what is already there.
15 years ago, I started reading Ian McEwan, one book after another. At this moment, I can’t say exactly how many of his books I read back then, but it was many. :)
When I was in undergrad I painted my room a deep yellow and it was the loveliest cheeriest thing. I had lots of plants and a bookcase that I’d built myself and I loved it. Don’t make a cave! Kids spend so much time in their rooms. Make it happy :)
Recently painted my bedroom walls AND ceiling a sage green. Maybe cliché but I do find it calming. A light grey (F&B elephant’s breath) is also lovely and changes a lot with the light. Good luck!
I will put my 2 cents in on color. A lot of people are suggesting super dark colors like charcoal and navy. My brother had a very dark room color growing up and he eventually changed it to a light off white – he said he felt depressed like he was in a cave his whole tween-teen years. He had never expressed that until way later. So just a word of warning!! A lot of adults suggest this kind of color and say it helps them sleep but many adults don’t hardly spend time in their rooms the way kids do.
We have recently re-painted our bedroom, from a very light grey color to a dark, moody grey. We looove it! Later on I’ve seen a recommendation from an enterior designer, that dark wall colors in the bedroom actually help relaxation and to wind down. It is so true! its cozy and feels like a big hug around you :-)
I recently decided it was time to go clean with all of my makeup and I made a concerted effort to find BIPOC owned brands where possible. I’ve fallen in love with Lys Triple Fix Serum Foundation (and setting powder and setting spray). I’m also thrilled to have discovered Cheekbone Beauty. I now use their mascara, illuminating primer stick and several of their lip products. And on days when I’m feeling a little extra fancy or fun, their gold shimmer duo.
Have you read A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchy? A similar vein, another Irish author, but quite cozy and domestic. Opening a hotel for tourist retreats, and everyone involved. My bedroom rec is dark grey, even the ceiling! My husband and I painted our bedroom a warm dark grey a few apartments ago. I loved the way it changed in the light. We had hand me down furniture but we’d picked the paint color and it threw everything into new relief! I think it does well with lamplight. Another fakeover tip: change lampshades, or try a bare Edison or frosted bulb. I had one on a dimmer that made me feel like a mad scientist as a teen. My brother had a classic lava lamp! Though of course those get hot
With that beautiful blue bed, I’d paint the walls Sherwin Williams Napery. Yellows can be hard, but Napery is yellow, but not an in-your-face yellow.
I read three books by Jean Hanff Korelitz over winter break. The Plot, The Sequel, and You Should Have Known. Loved them all, especially The Plot.
oops, not sure how that photo posted but I meant to just post a link, sorry!
My bedroom is a deliberately dusty shade of blue, like a dusty robins egg. I don’t know what brand it is but it is like this one: Farrow and Ball No. 307 Kittiwake For Anton’s room, see if he will consider a wallpaper accent wall in a fun print! Or a handpainted feature wall is very fun too, and employs a local artist – always a good thing : ). A trend where I am in Seattle is graphically designed color walls, like this: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/murals-matt-evans–823244006914264774/ Or maybe a stone veneer wall like this – for teen boy, very cool!:
We’re doing kid room makeovers here, also largely focused on cleaning. We did a very dark green on the accent wall and im liking it. Also painted the dresser the same color. 4 fun things: Rifle paper strawberry fields. This is the new duvet cover for my 15 yo daughter The New York encounter. Happening this weekend and free. In Manhattan Getting the real paper. I resubscribed and am limiting my news readings to the Sunday paper, which is saving my sanity Of Gods and Men: not really fun, but such a good movie about responding to tyranny with integrity
Brooklyn is one of my favorite books so I couldn’t wait for Long Island which was amazing. Then I listened to the audible version and it is the best audible book I have heard. Jessie Buckley had me at the edge of my seat!
When I was 12 I wanted to repaint my room with blue walls and sponge painted white clouds, which my parents were weirdly on board with. My Dad and I spent a weekend just totally free-handing the clouds in a way that only a child and a man with zero artistic inclination could do. This was around the time that Survivor had just had its first season, and somewhere along the way we started naming each of our clouds after one of the cast members based on their “personalities.” What’s wild to me is that I don’t think there exists one single photo of those clouds. Digital cameras weren’t popular yet and I wasn’t wasting precious film on the inside of my small bedroom. I’m sure they were crazy looking but in my memory they are perfect. I often think about the hyper-documentation of our lives these days (and our children’s lives) and how so little gets to exist purely in memory and it makes me a little sad. Anyway, tell Anton I 10/10 recommend some unhinged sponge painting on his walls!
When we were in highschool, my friend painted her bedroom walls a beautiful sky blue and then hand painted fluffy white clouds on top. Her entire ceiling was bright yellow,.to represent the sun. It was such a happy room and I’ve never forgotten about it.
On bedroom paint: several years ago we got it right the third try and have loved BM’s Thundercloud Gray ever since.
When I first heard an interview with author Annie Ernaux shortly after she won the Nobel prize for literature a few years back- I read 4 or 5 of her brilliant short books in a row and felt immersed in her life- it was SO enjoyable!
Here’s a fun thing! We got a puppy!! This is soooooooo far from what our family would normally do but for lots of reasons (and a long campaign from our daughters) now is the absolute right time and boy oh boy she has brought sunshine, delight, fun, peacefulness and a silly kind of chaos to our lives that we really needed. Now we sit on the floor playing with or staring at her and then at each other in a sparkly kind of happiness that is new and lovely x
Soo fun! A friend of mine recently got a dog too after considering for a while and it’s bringing everyone so much joy and comfort!
I used to love rearranging my room as a kid. Sometimes my brother and I switched rooms, moving all the furniture back and forth. It is so invigorating to sleep in your bed in a new location.
My superpower is puttering around my house, and I am a chronic re-arranger… plants, furniture, book cases, nothing is safe! I swear it’s genetic, my grandma did the same thing.
I have just gone on a holds-placing library-website bender. Thank you all for so many recommendations!
I’ve read several books by Val McDermid [tartan noir]. I just finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon – historical fiction based on a real midwife from 1700s Maine, and plan to read more by her. Also, just starting Long Island per above!
LOVED Frozen River!
When I’m home in Ireland I make sure to purchase books by Irish authors at local indie bookstores and this year one of my Christmas purchases was Long Island by Colm Tóibín. I devoured it over the hols, then passed it on to my 90 year old father who also loves CT’s writing. I’ve enjoyed several of his books, also Claire Keegan and Emma Donoghue. I’m so grateful for authors who keep writing and creating during these challenging times. Stories heal, entertain and motivate us in the best ways.
I know charcoal walls may be past their style prime, but I’ll tell you what, I painted my bedroom walls Cyberspace by Sherwin-Williams six years ago and have slept so much better since.
I loved Nora Webster so much. By the end, I had tears steaming down my face. So powerful yet simple
I dunno why, but for some reason, what I know of Anton from reading this blog forever, and that last image of his bedroom- my brain is screaming BURNT ORANGE. It would compliment the current bed/bedding really nicely, but is more grown up and sophisticated in some way? His current furniture, artwork, and guitar would look great with a good burnt orange back drop.
Like this…but less floral LOL https://www.google.com/search?q=burnt+orange+paint+with+navy+bed
Love this idea of burnt orange!!
Years ago I had the impulse – completely out of the blue – to paint my teeny tiny orange bedroom the same color as Circus Peanut candy. It was surprising because I would never consider it one of my top colors. But you know what? It was incredible and I LOVED it. Orange ftw!
i’m partial to hale navy – a deep sophisticated blue that is also boyish enough to still feel youthful. looks great with so many accessories, especially gold mirrors, white dressers and endless kids treasures
Our bedroom is a light, sandy, neutral gold because I had to pick something quickly after we had a plumbing disaster and our management company sent over a painter. Today I’d pick BM 925, Ivory White, the soft warm white that I think is the one everyone wants but rarely gets right. Our bedroom is full of art, books, antiques, and color, and our ceiling is pale blue so neutral is best for us. For Anton, who has big, wonderful personality, I would choose a deep, warm gold, maybe from Ben Moore’s Historical Colors or Farrow & Ball. Or a leafy green, terracotta, or a pumpkin shade would also look great with that bed. I don’t see him having some boring shade of gray!
After reading “Small Things like These” I went out and bought the rest of Claire Keegan’s works and read them back to back, those hours are a gift to myself. I am now midway through the last one, Antartica. I have had white interiors for several years now and may finally bite the bullet and do a dark, moody color in one of the bedrooms. My house exterior, however, is this soothing sage green, I always love seeing it as I get closer to home.
I loved The Rachel Incident so much that I went looking for other books by Caroline O’Donoghue. She wrote a YA trilogy about queer witches!! And it’s so good! Storygraph has definitely noticed and is now feeding me supernatural Irish books. I’m not mad about it.
Oh I loved all of those books! So good. And they’re turning the Rachel incident into a TV series now too!
We love our room in Indigo Batik. The navy is such a good sleeping color. Our boys room is one of the largest rooms in the house and I have been a hold out on painting it because it is hard to balance their choice with long-term feasibility. However, my room was quite a bright green when I was 12, so YOLO.
Omg, the contrast of the posters and guitar with the giraffe lovie just breaks my heart open. The sweetness!! I have just recently had the biggest make-up transformation for me. I used to be very “all or nothing”–if I was doing my make-up it was all of it (foundation, blush, mascara, lip) which I genuinely love and enjoy but sometimes it’s a bit much so I’ll often go fully bare-faced on the weekend. Sometimes that feels drab and I look sleepy so I’ve just been doing mascara and it feels so good to have found that middle ground. Also, run don’t walk to purchase this life-changer from Thrive Cosmetics: https://thrivecausemetics.com/products/liquid-lash-extensions-mascara?variant=39096501196&nbt=nb%3Aadwords%3Ag%3A19742366372%3A147006721112%3A649444719039&nb_adtype=pla&nb_ti=pla-299521013256&nb_mi=112461866&nb_pc=online&nb_pi=39096501196&nb_ppi=299521013256&utm_content=brandedshopping&utm_campaign=MKT_US_Sh%20-%20MT_Shopping_Brand_Thrive&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzba9BhBhEiwA7glbaknDowPFWNj4KfTqkfsUg5k1-gITU0-BAZqoSkkLyeQLImMolmFBBBoC0bMQAvD_BwE
our bedroom and an accent wall in our living room are oasis blue. it’s a gorgeous, deep teal. we loved it so much in our condo that when we bought our house, we stuck with it and added to our living room. my bff used it in her new house too!
When my son was about that age we painted 2 walls dark grey , looks great!
Our bedroom is a true forest green and we love it and it’s perfect. I will say that I subscribe to the belief that dark colors work best in rooms with lower natural light, but YMMV.
I also love dark colours in lower light rooms! Especially with warm woods, lighter textiles, etc. it’s like cozy hug. Our small, cave-like bedroom is Benjamin Moore Hidden Sapphire, which is a very nice dark blue, but my absolute favourite is our library/playroom/eventual dining room, which is Benjamin Moore Bavarian Forest – if anyone is looking for a deep, rich green, that is somehow both warm and refreshing at the same time. It brings me so much joy!
You could go dark and moody for soon-to-be teen Anton’s room!! Would be an easy way to change up the whole feel with a paint refresh!
When she was 8, my daughter asked for her room to be painted Mystic Turquoise from Behr. I was so nervous painting her low-ceiling attic room such a saturated, bold color but she stuck to her choice. I’m really glad I went with it! The color made it a cozy space that’s 100% her.
If you enjoy Tobin, try Niall Williamson.
You meant Niall Williams, right? He is so wonderful. One of my favorite books of all time is This is Happiness.
Leif Enger writes in a similar way. You get to deeply experience his characters’ lives in a simple, lovely way. I love Peace Like a River the most!
So, so good. I loved it!
Agreed!!! I just finished Peace Like a River and thought it was wonderful. Read his Virgil Wander last year and similarly loved it. Next up is Cheerfully I Refuse, which I scored at a thrift store last week! Other “I’ll read anything they write” author favorites include Lily King, Amor Towles, Annie Hartnett, and Sarah Winman.
Peace Like a River is my forever book! If I ever see it at a thrift store I buy it and give it away. The best book ever!
I almost said Annie Hartnett as well! Wow, you must be my people. Peace Like a River is definitely a forever book for me and I can’t quite explain it.
Everything written by Colm Toibin is amazing. I finished Nora Webster yesterday and it’s a thoughtful portrait of love, motherhood, grief and finding oneself.
My bedroom is Benjamin Moore’s Mexican tile, which I learned about here in Porter Hovey’s house tour and it is magnificent. We live in an odd country house: our bedroom has 6 walls, a vaulted ceiling with three wooden-paneled sections, a pair of big dark crossbeams, and the large closet doesn’t go up to the vaulted ceiling; it’s got a flat top. Oh, and an interior window that faces a 2-story sunroom. It is really magnificently weird. Painting the whole thing, walls and ceiling, with Mexican Tile was heavenly. It’s such a soothing color, and the contrast with the deep greens of the forest in the big bay windows is wonderful. We loved the color so much that we also painted our main inner hallway that way! It already had brick red tile, and there’s a mustard yellow chair for sitting in to put your shoes off or on. It’s… kind of unhinged, and we adore it. That house tour (https://cupofjo.com/2022/12/06/porter-hovey-home-immersive-paint/) came out right after we bought our house and I immediately asked my husband if he’d be up for it. Being married to a designer means we collaborate intensively on making home. He loved the idea and doing it in the hallway was his suggestion! So grateful. Thanks, CoJ!
This color would be perfect for his room!!!
I literally couldn’t stop thinking about the chocolate mousse after your party post, so I went straight out and bought the ingredients and made it for a SuperBowl party last weekend. I didn’t know what recipe had been used, so I found an easy one from Barefoot Contessa. It was good and got a lot of compliments from my friends, but it more dense than I wanted it to be. I’m so glad you shared the recipe! I feel like I must try again! Moral of the story, though, let’s all eat more chocolate mousse.
I’m also a huge fan of Elizabeth Strout (and I’m a bookseller) so I wanted to recommend “The Heart of Winter” by Jonathan Evison, which is very similar to Strout’s in style and subject matter. If you like audio books, as a bonus the same narrator (Kimberly Farr) of Strout’s books is used!
I just finished Heart of Winter, and can second this endorsement. Wry and well-narrated.
Thank you for the recommendation,Tracy! Bookseller recs are always spot on.
I adore the It Cosmetics CC-Cream. Yes, it‘s expensive, but a small amount goes a long way and I just love the finish. I purchase it over and over again. Dreaming of a linen coloured, very chic and simple bedroom. Still on the flat to do list. Greetings from Denmark x
Posters of Santana and the Ramones on the wall plus a stuffed cow and a guitar on the bed? Anton, you’re already a very cool dude!!!
My thoughts exactly! For an 11 year old, this is elevated taste! :)
I mean, he’s growing up in Brooklyn 2025…he is going to have elevated taste.
I painted my east-facing (very bright) room F&B Moles Breath with a Calke Green ceiling. Surely not for everyone, but for me it’s romantic and cozy, esp with mixed textiles in greens, grays, and pinks.
I love Colm Toibin, and have read most of his books! His fictionalized biographies (the magician!) are also wonderful! And because I only recently learned this, and everyone I have since told was surprised to hear it: his name is pronounced “Collum Toe-Bean.” My friends and I had been pronouncing his name a variety of ways, none of them correct! Also, talking about painting a room in the same post as Nora Webster feels particularly apt :)
I had no idea how to pronounce his name until right now! Thank you for sharing that. Brooklyn will forever be my most favorite book.
When my daughter wanted to redo her room we ended up looking at stock vector art (think shapes, blobs, etc.) and sketched out blobs and shapes on one wall. We chose a few tins of paint and went to town. She loved it. We also ended up buying emoji eyes, noses and mouths and turned some of the blobs into emojis. It makes us laugh every time we look at them and when she gets bored, we can just peel the stickers off.
I devoured Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. Still think about it weekly. So I read her other two books Astonish Me and Seating Arrangement and they did not disappoint! Joanna, I think you’d love Astonish Me if you haven’t read it – ballet.
Oh my goodness! Astonish me is one of my favorites of all time!
+1 for Great Circle, that novel blew me away!
I’ve read everything by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Is my fav (so far). Looking forward to more and some characters from each novel connect in some interesting ways. There are 14 diff shades of green throughout my house, I like a color flow room to room. Makes moving pieces and rearranging so easy. Green hues compliment dozens of accent colors. Back in the day, our son picked the colors and painted the room. When I crave chocolate, homemade old fashioned pudding is my go to, no eggs.
I loved rearranging my room as a tween!! I remember bargaining with my older brother to help me move heavy furniture. Does he have a fav photo or two to blow up? Drugstores often run deals on the mounted photos, and a large pic is fun. And I agree that a corkboard/place to hang precious things is fun for that age. I painted our boys’ room a deep teal. I love it for calm but didn’t realize how dark it would feel in the evenings. In additional to the weak overhead light, there are now 4 lamps in the space. Both boys fail to turn them on, however, so I’m always popping in to ensure adequate light for reading & homework.
My fun thing is I went to a sock darning workshop yesterday! I’m fortunate that my work is pretty flexible, so I took an hour off in the afternoon to go to the senior center in town. Hanging out with 6 retired women, learning how to mend socks was the perfect balm for the dumpster fire that is our country and world right now. It felt a bit like giving a middle finger to capitalism.
This is so cool – and you’ve got me even more excited about the mending workshop I’m going to this weekend. Thank you!
I love the middle finger to capitalism! How great to take something that’s just a little busted and try to repair/mend it instead of purchasing another one, which is so wasteful
Love this.
I’ve heard in a podcast that mending clothes can be described as a very good eco-feminist activity, as it allows to extend the life of used clothes and as the same time it redeems sewing that has often been disdained over the ages. I LOVE that you did this instead of being at work, and a with a group of old ladies!!!
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Even better than chocolate mousse ist Toblerone mousse. Same process just swap the chocolate. There is no eggflation where I live (Europe) but I have made my first mousse with aquafaba (the water from chickpea tins) and it’s definitely worth looking into.
My hearty recommendation is don’t use Farrow and Ball! The colours are beautiful but the paint quality is shocking. I’m still traumatised from trying to paint my daughter’s room. It’s a disgraceful waste of money! If you do your own painting or you want to stay on good terms with your decorator, steer clear! If you can get it in the U.S. Dulux Heritage has just as nice a colour range and is much better quality for much less cash. I painted my son’s room in their Boathouse Blue and it’s a gorgeous happy colour.
I needed to hear this. My budget needed to hear this. Thank you!
I would STRONGLY disagree. I have F&B paint in most rooms of my house and the entire interior of our farmhouse. The colors are gorgeous. You just have to select the correct finish for durability.
I agree. I used it too and even with a professional painter, he had trouble getting the paint to apply evenly. And from the get go, it was so hard to get samples for the colors I wanted because so many are “archived”—a hassle, all around. The things we do for hype!
PSA that it’s pretty easy to match the Farrow and Ball colors or find close ones by Googling matching colors or taking it to the store if you have a good paint person (our guy at Ace was great at this). I did this because I couldn’t physically get to a place that sold Farrow, and I can’t speak to the quality of it at all, just that it was not in the budget and the Benjamin Moore match was awesome! Farrow does a great job showing what the colors look like in actual rooms though, beyond a swatch on your computer, which I find so helpful.
Just a second voice of disagreement! I painted my whole house myself using F&B colors and I’ve been genuinely delighted by everything about the experience (except maybe the price, but doing it myself helped lol)
I’ve had great luck color matching Farrow and Ball in several houses. Pigeon, Card Room Green, and one other I can’t remember just now! They all look great, and have been some of my favorite and most popular colors with house guests. That being said, I also love SW Wordly Gray (perfectly warm and cozy without being too light or too dark) and BM Knoxville Grey (which is more like a grayish, greenish, blueish perfect ish color!
I had no problem with Farrow and Ball I find their quality and color ranges excellent.
F&B wallpaper, also not great. The wallpaper has started to disintegrate after only a few months. Steer clear!
I painted my entire house different colors of Behr paint from Home Depot and I have been really happy with the colors and the quality and how well everything has held up (eleven years later!).
I could not disagree more!! I have used it in every room in my house in multiple sheens, we did all the work ourselves, and it does NOT disappoint!!!!
I am doing the exact same thing BUT Nora Webster is the first book I read by Toibin. He has a few short story books too. Nora is my favorite of his characters and even shows up in Long Island!
Love the sign Books are Magic.
It may be merch from the Brooklyn bookstore, Books ars Magic, owned by the author Emma Straub. It also may be a sign they just bought. Just my two cents. I like it too.
yes it’s here! https://rayoandhoney.com/blogs/collaborations/books-are-magic
Blue is such a calming color for a bedroom.
Last year I found a hard cover copy of Nora Webster in the neighborhood little free library and it was signed by the author!! Needless to say, I will be keeping it forever.
I have found several author-signed books at local thrift stores, including Elizabeth Strout and David Sedaris!
Colm Tóibín – read Brooklyn, too! Watch the movie. Try audio books, too. I love the Irish accents!
Brown pants = winter denim skirt 😘
I’m so in love with Colm Toibin’s Long Island, and it feels like such a treat to read about it here too. I just texted my mom to see if she has a copy of Nora Webster I can borrow! A few years ago I went down a rabbit hole and read nearly every Elena Ferrante book. I couldn’t bare to part with her writing after finishing the Neopolitain novels. Isn’t it the best to be hungry for more?!
Yes! There is something so special about finding a new author who you love and wanting to read every book written by them.
I’ve just discovered Mieko Kawakami, who to me is very Ferrante-esque. I’m reading Breasts and Eggs right now, and have Heaven waiting on my shelf.