A DISCOVERY OF SECRET LETTERS

LETTER-WRITING and literature go so well together that they become one in epistolary literature! Great novels comprised entirely of letters are Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and Pamela, and Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre de Laclos.

A discovery of secret letters forms the plot of A.S. Byatt's Possession, while letters make momentous appearance in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cousin Phillis, Alcott's Little Women and so on and so forth into novel-writing eternity!

Emails help to build Christian and Ana's relationship in Fifty Shades of Grey! What I wouldn't give to get a love-stricken email from Mr Grey, CEO!

I have to say that, in real life, among the most talented letter writers must be, for me, Lord Byron and John Keats. Reading their letters is like reading a lovely and exciting novel. Both Byron and Keats were Romantic poets, both were beautiful and both died young (Keats <3 had just turned 25). Yet their personal beauty was equalled by the beauty of their prose, the beauty of their language and the power of their words!

BEST OF THE BEST

AMONG the most memorable portrayals of red hair in popular literature must be Mistral's Daughter and Till we Meet Again, both novels by Judith Krantz.

Both novels were very popular in the 1980s. Red hair is the magic thread that runs through the Maggie-Teddy-Fauve triad in Mistral's Daughter: the three women are grandmother-daughter-granddaughter and the novel tells us the story of all three. Maggie and Teddy are models, but Fauve, though she could have been a model, prefers to work for grandma Maggie, who opens a model agency.

Eve in Till We Meet Again also has magic red hair. The red is woven with gold for Judith Krantz, and it means shine, passion, feeling and absolute beauty!

Another memorable Judith Krantz red-haired girl is Valentine O'Neill from Scruples. Valentine is not beautiful, just pretty, but she is so clever and capable that she threatens to overtake the novel from protagonist Billie! No wonder [MAJOR SPOILER] Judith Krantz killed Valentine off in the second book, Scruples II.

These novels were not without faults, especially in their depiction of the male hero. Krantz's male protagonists are not that good, in my view. I think the one male protagonist I could stomach was the good-looking American colonel who marries Eve in Till We Meet Again!

I prefer today's book boyfriends/ husbands, e.g. Jace Wayland (Mortal Instruments), Edward Cullen (Twilight saga), Gideon Cross (Crossfire trilogy) and, best among the best, Christian Grey from Fifty Shades!!!!!! Yes!

MERMAID MEETS BALLET

THIS picture is so beautiful, I just had to share! Mermaid meets ballet! It's a fashion photo-shoot from 2012, I think for Australian Vogue. And the boy is beautiful too ;-)

START THE WEEK

THIS wonderful collage is for anyone going back to work tomorrow -- for those still on holiday, this is just a wonderful collage ;-)

Here is what the pictures have to say!
The illustration: Work can be fun!
The painting: The sea os for all seasons, not just the summer.
The photograph: Beauty is always with you!
The frame for the wall: On a bad day, there is always lipstick!

Have a great start to the week! xxx

Work and the desk can be great fun!

Clouds don't stop fun at the sea!

Beauty is everywhere!

No words necessary!

THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

TODAY I would like to talk about not one book but three, all of them on housekeeping!

They are Mrs Beeton's Book on Household Management, Clare Coulson's House Rules and Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook!

Mrs Beeton's Book on Household Management comes from the Victorian era. It was written by Isabella Beeton, writer and journalist. Published in parts at first, Household Management got out in a single volume in 1861. Sadly, Mrs Beeton died four years later, at the age of 28, immediately after the birth of her fourth child.

For the Victorians, housekeeping was a skill and an art. It was the Victorians who elevated the orderly home to an article of faith. Cleanliness, thrift, taste in decoration, were all essential virtues. Household Management was a 19th century housekeeping bible!

Clare Coulson's House Rules is a lovely volume, full of useful advice for the modern woman and household manager. Advice is divided per room (e.g. kitchen, bedroom) but also per activity (entertaining, etiquette). There are pretty illustrations and it is well-written and easy to read. Coulson is fashion editor at the Daily Telegraph. I love her book!

Finally, Martha Stewart's Handbook is the absolute bible of housekeeping. The advice is amazing, it helps you to organize and it is very pleasant to read. It taught me many things I didn't know. It's a wonderful book! The only thing, it is quite large in size, and therefore not very easy to handle.

Have a good weekend, always with beauty and a good book! xxx

END THE FRIDAY NIGHT

I WASN'T going to write again in the blog before the weekend book review, but I saw this amazing painting and I just had to share! Beauty, roses, fashion, mirrors -- perfect for The Lipstick Papers! And what a lovely way to end the Friday night! xxx

A BLOG FOR YOU

HI ALL, thanks for reading and visiting this blog! A blog for fashion, beauty, books -- blog for you! ;-) P.S. The Lipstick Papers Weekend Review coming soon!

BEAUTY FRIDAY PART 2

BEAUTY is everywhere, as summer reaches its peak! In the agricultural diary, August is the month of produce (grapes, nuts, figs) and a "boundary" month, leading from one season to another. It was a custom in some parts of Greece to jump over a fire on the eve of August the first!

BEAUTY FRIDAY FOR 15 AUGUST

THE VIRGIN MARY was renowned for her beauty, and that is why she is also called The Rose of Paradise and the Queen of Heaven!

The 15th August marks the assumption of Mary to Heaven; it can be called Feast Day of the assumption of Our Lady, Dekapentavgoustos (Δεκαπενταύγουστος) in Greek, Ferragosto in Italian.

In Patmos and Cassiope, Greece, the day is marked with an epitaph, or funereal procession, for Mary. In seaside Italy, a statue of Mary is brought from the sea to town, and then loaded on a truck full of grapes and carried around town. This way, Mary blesses the town, the sea and the fields and produce of the land.

Have a beautiful 15 August, wherever you are!

LESSON LEARNT

WHEN I was in my late teens, I read Danielle Steele novels by the truckload. I guess these were the equivalent of young adult novels today, which did not exist in my time, or were few.

A favorite theme for Danielle Steele is the journey. Often the young lady protagonist would go on a journey, either for a holiday, a purpose or a quest, and there meet love and adventure!

The journey is an old theme in literature, starting from Odysseus in the Odyssey, then Aeneas in the Aeneid and Dante in Divine Comedy.

Personally, I loved young Edward Waverley's journey in Sir Walter Scott's lovely novel, Waverley. Like with every journey in a book, Edward travels both outwardly, across Britain and through battle and war, and inwardly from childhood to young adulthood.

Those Danielle Steele novels were not without faults. Yet, you know what? I wish I had learnt something from those novels too: taking control of your life, believing in love, not waste time, get rid of all things negative at once. Better learn from a novel than learn the hard way.

More on Sir Walter Scott and Danielle Steele in later posts!