Splurge!

It's been quite a while since I have taken a trip around The Book Depository website and had a little splurge so today I did just that! Here is what I will be keeping an eye out for at my front door:


Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (translation by Lydia Davis) - this book looks just divine and I will hopefully have it in time to read along with Frances and others.

Coco Chanel - Justine Picardie - I have been waiting for the release of this one for what feels like the longest time!

The Fashion File - Janie Bryant - One of my most beloved obsessions at the moment (apart from reading) is the TV show Mad Men and everything associated with it - especially the fashion.

Mad Men - Series Two

I have written about my obsession with the show Mad Men before. The third series of the show has recently started on Australian pay tv but I am a little behind the times as I have just finished watching series two on DVD - I binged on the whole series over three nights while my partner was in Sydney for work last week so that I could start to catch up.
The show oozes charm and style, the costumes and sets are gorgeous and refined and the characters and the script are sharp. New York in the 1960's is definitely a time I would like to visit (if I'm truly honest just for the clothes and the cocktails!) but I am realistic enough to know that my role as a woman in that society would most likely have been restricted to the role of housewife or secretary - neither of them roles I would enjoy or excel at I fear.
My favourite character and actress in the series is Christina Hendricks who plays feisty Joan - a woman with definite power in series one but I have found it interesting the direction in which her character has been taken in this second series - I feel some of the power has been lost - to a man none the less. It will be interesting to see where this heads in series three.

When I Haven't Been Reading...

I have been obsessed by the TV show Damages starring Glenn Close and gorgeous Australian actress, Rose Byrne.

My partner and I have just finished watching series 1 on DVD and the next day we went straight out to buy series 2 - we're hooked!

The show is set in New York and follows the high flying law firm of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her up and coming young lawyer, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). As in my reading I am not normally drawn to legal thriller/mystery type shows. I work in the medical legal field and these types of shows make me feel like I haven't left work. I'm not sure if this one is a little different because it is set in the USA and the legal system there is quite different in many ways to Australia - or maybe this show is just so good I could see past everything else that normally keeps me away!

It's also been a good hobby to enjoy with my partner so onto to series 2! Has anyone else been watching this show - or any other good ones they would recommend?

When I Am Not Reading...

These days I am becoming a little obsessed with the TV show Mad Men and it is taking up a bit of my non reading time.

For those of you who don't know the show is set in New York in the 1960's and the main focus is an elite advertising agency where the men make the ads and the women support the men - at work and at home. Despite the era that the show is set in (or maybe because of it) the strength of the women characters comes through in so many ways - and the fashion is gorgeous! I can actually watch this show and imagine myself in these outfits. I'm only mid way through series one at the moment so I'm looking forward to more to come!

I am loving watching a show set in the 1960's so I am wondering if anyone can suggest some great books set in this era??