I want to start sharing a little bit about more about myself and what I am currently excited about on this blog, so I've decided that starting this month, I will have a monthly feature about some of my current favorite things. And since I could monologue forever about things I love - and because one of the things I love is alliteration - I am limiting it to five favorites per post. Now, in no particular order, my first Favorite Five:

1. Oreo by Fran Ross

This book is almost indescribable. I have never read anything like it and I read a lot (and have for my entire life). The basic outline is that it's a satire about racism told from the point of view of a scrappy, genius black Jewish girl in the seventies and it's simultaneously a modern retelling of the story of Theseus. And it's hilarious. Sadly, this is the only book Fran Ross ever wrote, but it was a doozy. To paraphrase a marvelous film teacher I once knew, people make fun of one hit wonders, but how many people can say they created a masterpiece? And if you made one book and itwas a masterpiece, how can that ever be seen as a failure? 

 

2. Peau D’Ane (Donkey Skin)

I recently rediscovered my love for this movie when flying to Germany via a French airline. They had tons of classic French films available on the in-seat entertainment center, and I was delighted to see Pea D'Ane among them. I rewatched the movie and was enchanted all over again. It's a movie from 1970 based on the fairy tale Donkey Skin by Charles Perrault. It stars a young Catherine Deneuve as a princess whose fairy godmother helps escape her father, the king, who is determined to take his daughter as his new bride after the death of her mother. It's fantastic in every sense of the world. The costumes are strange and wonderful. The king sits on a cat throne (!) that looks like it was designed by someone who had never seen an actual cat before. There's a talking rose. Honestly, I could go on forever about the wonder that is this movie, but I'll just leave it to you to go see it for yourself. 

 

3. White Boots

I've been on a sixties fashion kick lately. I have been sewing mod inspired dresses and shirts and now to complete my Nancy Sinatra fantasy, I have been spending some time trying to find the perfect white ankle boots. These Urban Outfitter ones pictured below may do the trick. 

 

 

 

 

4. Miss Ladybug

My other fashion crush right now is the California brand Miss Ladybug. They specialize in cardigans, sweaters and tee shirts that have a fifties to sixties feel style-wise, but are embellished with pulp fiction graphics, like sea creatures, space ships and spiderwebs. I have a Miss Ladybug cardigan with tigers embroidered on the front and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. Now I want to add to my collection...

 

 

 

 

5. Morvern Callar

Morvern Callar is probably my favorite movie ever. It was released in 2002 and was directed by Lynne Ramsay, who also directed Ratcatcher and We Need to Talk About Kevin. The movie stars Samantha Morton as a aimless Glaswegian girl who wakes up next to her boyfriend, who has apparently just killed himself. She reads his suicide note which includes a request to have send his completed manuscript to publishers. Instead of following his instructions precisely, she impulsively changes the author's name to her own and sends it out with that small change. The movie is a powerful story of a person trying to figure out what she's doing, who she is and how to deal with grief. It's a powerful film that I watched for the first time when trying to come to terms with a painful breakup, but it is a film that seems to have grown with me and every time I have watched it, it means something a little different. Emotionally resonant, beautifully acted and as a bonus, it has an incredible soundtrack.