VICTORIAN SECRETS

I was so amazed to read about the Mary Elizabeth Braddon portrait painted by W.P. Frith! There it is on the Braddon biography cover, and as a picture inside. Braddon is a prolific Victorian writer, with Lady Audley's Secret her most famous novel. Given the mysterious Lucy Audley portrait in the book, it is so exciting to see that Braddon had an intriguing portrait of her own!

Apart from writing novels, Braddon was the editor of the successful Belgravia magazine. It exists in digital form in British Periodicals online, and I'm going through it now. I am in the February 1867 issue.

Braddon was unconventional for her time and place. She worked as an actress and had five children. She cohabited with a married man, whose wife was in the mental asylum. Madness was not a ground for divorce back then (and it still isn't now). Braddon and her partner did not marry until the ill wife died. Still, the guy had six children of his own, and Braddon helped him raise them.

Victorian literature is full of portraits, from Lady Dedlock's in Bleak House, to Rosamonde Oliver's in Jane Eyre, to the most famous portrait of them all, Dorian's in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I will tell you more about Mary Elizabeth Braddon's biography when I read it! Xxx 💖💝❤️💄💋
P.S. Her diaries have been digitized & are available online by the University of Austin, Texas. There is no edited collection of the letters and diaries though.
#thelipstickpapers #beauty #Cyprus #Victorians #MaryElizabethBraddon#ThePictureofDorianGray #Texas #Victorians #Belgravia

AN EXTRA KISS

A special day @ The Lipstick Papers: national dog day!!! If you have a dog, give him or her an extra kiss! If your dog has died, remember, like I do, that beauty (and there is nothing more beautiful than the love of a dog), remember that beauty never dies! In the Odyssey, the hunting dog Argos is the only one in the household who recognizes Odysseus after the 20 year absence. As soon as he sees his dog parent come back, Argos lets go of his last breath. It was the thought of Odysseus that kept the poor dog alive all those years.

In the one picture I feature my Lady tattoo on the leg, in the other the Lady tattoo on the arm. Lady was my collie dog that died in 2008. She was my girl, I raised and loved her more than anything. Lady looked exactly like Lassie and she was just as clever! She was a stubborn, loyal, faithful, irascible, loving and amazing dog. Words cannot describe her strong personality. All in all, my collie and my two cats (also dead now) have loved me more than any human ever has.

Dogs are fantastic in literature too, from the Homeric Argos to Lassie herself and Jack in Little House on the Prairie. Another brilliant dog is the retriever Einstein in Dean Koontz's Watchers!

Have a lovely national dog day! Xxx ❤️💋💄
#nationaldogday #thelipstickpapers #cyprus #beauty #collie #collies #Lassie#Homer #Odyssey

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (Christian Grey, Al Pacino, and Winnie the Pooh)

A fantastic new addition to my library at home! (Ignore the clock, which is broken and always shows 9:20. Makes me feel a little like Winnie the Pooh). The book is a guide on How to Be a Lady! "We aim to please, Miss Steele," says Christian Grey, always the perfect gentleman. At the Lipstick Papers, we aim to be ladylike!!!

The word "lady" means "bread-maker" or "kneader of dough" from the old English hlaefdide (The Cook's Companion, Ed. Jo Swinnerton).

For the Victorians, to be a true lady and act ladylike was everything. One of the worst things that could be said about a woman was that she was "unladylike". Sadly, the term lady was locked to class, and you could only be a lady if you were middle- or upper class. At The Lipstick Papers we reject all class prejudice!

Personally, I try to follow the rules. Once I had a look at a checklist in a paper (a checklist on being a lady). It turned out I was quite OK. I know that it is not always possible to keep the rules, of course. Sometimes rules must be bent or broken. Yet, it is important to keep your head high, be polite, honest and courteous, even when others are not. This is, as Al Pacino said in Scent of a Woman, integrity. It leads to character.

Lady was also the name of my beloved collie. I raised and loved her more than I have ever loved anyone or anything. She died in 2008 when she was 12 and a half. I have tattooed her name twice, one on the leg, the other on the arm.

Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! Xxx
#christiangrey #alpacino #winniethepooh #scentofawoman #lady #victorians#thelipstickpapers #cyprus #books

TEAM ROSAMONDE (LEARNING TO POSE)

Though I am not a natural poser, I have been practicing and gathering tips - here you can see my Rosamunde Pike pose, which I picked from World Fashion TV! I watch fashion TV all day. Ignore the garbage bags on the right, though I must admit they give a sort of grunge feeling to the pic.

A literary character that can tell you all about the importance of pose is Rosamonde Vincy from George Eliot's Middlemarch. (Another Rosamonde :-). Rosamonde Vincy went to Miss Lemon's, a high class girls' school, where they learnt everything feminine, including perfect comportment. How I wish I had attended this school!

Rosamonde is among my favorite literary characters ever. You know I always side with the coquette in a film or book. I hate saintly characters. Victorian critics, however, hated Rosamonde for refusing to be a silent and obedient wife. Personally, I think it was her husband Lydgate who was to blame. He never values Rosamonde, and refuses to consult her about anything. The only character who understands Rosamonde in the book is the protagonist Dorothea. For me, though, Dorothea is saintly and insufferable. I am definitely team Rosamonde.

So, thanks to Fashion TV and actress Rosamunde Pike for valuable pose lessons! Other sources include WikiHow and my beauty manuals.

Enjoy your Sunday! Xxx 

P.S. Don't read Middlemarch unless you have to, or are into huge novels that resemble essays. Yawn. 💋💄❤️💖💝
‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬ ‪ ‪#‎cyprus‬ #‎laceskirt‬ ‪#‎tedbaker‬ ‪#‎handbags‬ ‪#‎Middlemarch‬‪#‎GeorgeEliot‬ ‪#‎fashion‬ ‪#‎Victorians‬ ‪#‎RosamundePike‬ ‪#‎RosamondeVincy‬

ARE YOU GOING TO SCARBOROUGH FAIR: EDWARD CULLEN AND THE MYSTERY HOUR

Where would you find lipstick, freshly cooked donuts and candy floss in the same spot? In a village fair, of course! It was twilight - the mysterious hour between day and night, which our beloved Edward Cullen enjoys so much. Here I am at the Liopetri Ferragosto (Δεκαπενταύγουστος) fair on Monday. It was such fun!!!

Having always associated fairs with fairy tales and magic, I decided to figure out why. I came up with the following:
1. The traditional English ballad Scarborough Fair, which has its origins in elfish lore and the distant past.
2. The origins of the fair, which go back to antiquity, when there were still fortune tellers and story tellers and much mystery!
3. The film Big, where Tom Hanks is granted a very peculiar wish by a machine wizard at a fair. And, last but not least,
4. My own imagination, which has registered the fair as a fantastical and magic event, perhaps for no reason at all 😀

I rarely go to fairs nowadays, because I get claustrophobic and nauseous in crowds. When we went at Liopetri the other day, it was the perfect hour - dusk, with few people around.

Tonight we have the beautiful August full moon. Enjoy, it comes only once a year! Xxx 🌚🌑🌏
‪#‎ferragosto‬ ‪#‎Twilight‬ ‪#‎EdwardCullen‬ ‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬ ‪#‎ScarboroughFair‬‪#‎donuts‬

ARE YOU GOING TO SCARBOROUGH FAIR: THE ENGLISH PATIENT MEETS SIMON & GARFUNKEL

Okay, this is not Scarborough Fair, immortalized by Simon and Garfunkel, but it sure is the Ferragosto fair at Liopetri village in Cyprus!

You can see, in the pics, the lovely Madonna church at the village, with magnificent religious art. (It was crowded inside, so I couldn't take more pics). Then, you can see the counters with fresh local produce and goodies, such as the amazing soutzioukkos (σουτζιούκκος), a special Cypriot sweet made with almonds and grapes. Now they make it with carob honey instead of grapes, too.

I love fairs, which remind me of fairy tales and witches. The most beautiful description of a fair in literature is, for me, in The English Patient. This is where Kip, the Sikh Sapper, describes the Ferragosto fair in a village in Italy. Though not a Christian, Kip finds solace in the Virgin Mary church. In Ferragosto, the Italians carry a statue of the Madonna on a truck loaded with grapes all through the village. The statue is rowed in from the sea. This way, Mary will bless both the waters and the vineyards.

There is a beauty and a tragedy in this passage which I find unique. The whole book is both beautiful and tragic.

More about the fair in the next post! Xxx ❤️💖💋💝💄
‪#‎ferragosto‬ ‪#‎fair‬ ‪#‎simonandgarfunkel‬ ‪#‎cyprus‬ ‪#‎liopetri‬ ‪#‎theenglishpatient‬‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬ ‪#‎englishliterature‬

KNOW A SECRET

Charles Dickens has not written any travel books, says Hugh Grant to a psycho customer in the classic film Notting Hill. Hugh Grant plays an independent bookseller specializing in travel books. In one scene, he has to confront an obsessive customer who wants travel books from Charles Dickens. Hugh Grant's character manages to get rid of the customer, telling him there are no such books.

At the Lipstick Papers, however, we know a secret: Dickens did write a travel book, and here it is! It's the travelogue Pictures from Italy! Hugh Grant would be amazed.

In Pictures from Italy Dickens recounts his time in Italy. He writes in 1844, about a journey which took up nearly a year.

Dickens loved Italy and its unbelievable beauty, but he also castigated the poverty, oppression and corruption which he saw everywhere. He was greatly impressed by Pompeii and the power of the mount Vesuvius. He was enchanted by Florence and Tuscany. I think I will give the book a second read!

I picture the copy of my book and the receipt I got from the store in Oxford street. I think the receipt is valuable, too. Dillons no longer exists. Looking at it, I go straight back to that sunny afternoon in London, when I left the store with two books from my beloved Dickens safely in my bag 😀

Have a good night and be well! 💋💖💝❤️
‪#‎charlesdickens‬ ‪#‎englishliterature‬ ‪#‎nottinghill‬ ‪#‎hughgrant‬ ‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬‪#‎cyprus‬ ‪#‎books‬ ‪#‎italy‬ ‪#‎picturesfromitaly‬

NATIONAL BOOKSHOP DAY

National bookshop day, this Saturday-- a special day @ the Lipstick Papers! Here I am inside my flat which looks like a cross between bookshop and a beauty salon. All very appropriate, since books and beauty are two of the things I love most. (The list of the things I love of course also includes dogs, cats and tattoos).

Others who come to visit think I am a photographer, because of the framed pics. I think this is a bit naive. As you can see, the pictures include Bar Refaeli, Justin Bieber and Sergio Carvajal. How is it possible that I have photographed all of them????? Unless I happen to be Mario Testino????

If you can't visit a bookstore today, make sure you enjoy a good book! Xxx

‪#‎nationalbookshopday‬ ‪#‎justinbieber‬ ‪#‎barreafaeli‬ ‪#‎mariotestino‬ ‪#‎books‬‪#‎sergiocarvajal‬ ‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬ ‪#‎cyprus‬

BOOK BOYFRIENDS

I totally understand Ivy Westfall for falling in love with Bishop Lattimer, although she has been given clear instructions to assassinate him! The guy is perfect in every aspect! Strong, determined, dignified, kind -- did I mention that he is also a hottie? Yum, yum, yummm!

Such men exist only in stories, of course, and this is The Book of Ivy, by Amy Engels! (Question: who is your favorite book boyfriend? Mine is Christian Grey). The Book of Ivy belongs to the dystopian young adult fiction genre of which the Hunger Games, Divergent and Maze Runner are more famous examples. You know I don't read too much fiction anymore, apart from exceptional cases like this one. I loved the book from the minute I read the blurb at the back, and it lived up to my expectations!

Not only that, I find that the book contains excellent messages for women and girls. Unlike other fiction, it says that marriage is not an end in itself : it's good only if your partner loves, respects you and you love him and respect him/her back. Violent men are condemned throughout, violent husbands especially. Having a career can be better than marriage. Not everybody has to marry and have kids. Not all families are good. Marry only for true love. Jennifer Aniston would approve!

These are fantastic messages, all in a fantastic story of love. I totally recommend The Book of Ivy!

Xxx
💖💄💝❤️💋

‪#‎thebookofivy‬ ‪#‎amyengels‬ ‪#‎thelipstickpapers‬ ‪#‎youngadultfiction‬‪#‎jenniferaniston‬ ‪#‎books‬ ‪#‎reading‬ ‪#‎christiangrey‬ ‪#‎bookboyfriends‬

READ EVERY PAGE TWICE (JASON BOURNE MEETS CHRISTIAN GREY)

THIS is my very old, and possibly rare, copy of The Bourne Identity. I don't think it's expensive, but the specific edition must be out of print and certainly belongs to Jason Bourne/ Robert Ludlum memorabilia. 

I saw the fourth Matt Damon as Jason Bourne film this weekend, and very much enjoyed it! I think it's good in terms of gender too. Women are portrayed well. There are no jokes about women and sex. Though Bourne is a tough guy, there is interiority and feeling about him. This makes him stand out.

I bought this copy of Identity many years ago (I won't say how many). It was one of the first books I had read in English! Up to then, I would read only Greek translations. To my untrained mind, Identity seemed complicated. When I got The Parsifal Mosaic, another Ludlum thriller, I would read every page twice!

Now I don't read too much fiction. I went crazy for Fifty Shades of Grey, but amazing books like that are not written every day. Now I prefer non-fiction: history, art, culture, history of writing. But I will still read a fiction book, if it seems good enough. 

What else for the weekend? The world beach volley games happened in Larnaca and here I am:

Have a good evening and be well! xxx
‪#‎jasonbourne‬ ‪#‎robertludlum‬ ‪#‎fiftyshadesofgrey‬ ‪#‎worldbeachvolleygames‬‪#‎larnaca‬ ‪#‎mattdamon‬ ‪#‎thebourneidentity‬ ‪#‎christiangrey‬