THE literature genre with the most amazing pedigree must be the romantic comedy! It was created by none other than William Shakespeare! In plays like As you Like it and Twelfth Night.
Romantic comedy is the "boy-meets-girl" story, where we know who the romantic couple is, we just don't know how they will end up together. The romantic comedy usually has a happy ending, and emphasizes, apart from love, community, unity and continuation through marriage (or its modern equivalent, the permanent relationship).
Romantic comedy films are often very good, though sometimes they are considered of interest "only" to young women, or overtly romantic women of any age.
I say, any film which appeals "only" to women is a successful film, since women make up 51% of the world's population. Inasmuch as I would, one day, love my books to be read by men as well as women, I will be happy if they are read "only" by women!
Also, when someone speaks against romantic comedies, I tell them that they were invented by Shakespeare! Ha!
Of course, there are romantic comedies which are not that good. For example, those which present women desperate for a ring, for a proposal, for a guy, for anything. Or which emphasize the idea of marriage more than the idea of love. Or which insist that marriage solves everything.
An excellent romantic comedy was, for me, While you were sleeping with Sandra Bullock. Though Sandra Bullock was truly sad and alone at the start of the film, she wasn't desperate, nor spoke of marriage all the time. She went to her work, had friends and, most important of all, she had dignity.
Though marriage is the ultimate goal in While you were sleeping, it is presented as the natural ending to true love, not as a subject for hysteria.
Let's enjoy romance and the romantic comedy! It is one of the most honored literary genres ever invented!
HELLO and welcome to The Lipstick Papers Weekend Review! Today we got a novel, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I bought this novel a few years ago from WH Smith at Heathrow airport, as I was boarding a flight. I read it during the long flight for Christmas at my hometown.
WH Smith is the bookstore which got a commission in the 19th century to open in railway stations, and they have since kept the tradition of providing travelers with books. In the UK, there is a WH Smith in all airports, train stations and all the large coach stations!
As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I have a fear of heights and planes. It is a totally irrational fear, which is making my life extremely difficult. Don't ask how I got it, coz I can't tell you. All I know is that I was fine until a few years ago, and then I got this fear.
So what I buy to read on the plane is vital for me, because it can help me go through with the flight. I need something interesting and well-written, nothing nonsensical, annoying or stereotyped, nothing too cultish, or nothing too complex and philosophical.
The Thirteenth Tale was perfect! It's a gothic and weird novel, but very well-written: not too easy, and not too complicated. It's full of secrets and twists. Family secrets, mystery, obsessive love, discoveries, enigmas... If you love this sort of thing, you are going to love The Thirteenth Tale!
You are not going to like it if you are only into conventional and comforting fiction. I too am into comfort (though not convention). The Thirteenth Tale is only slightly discomforting but it is quite unconventional.
By the time I had finished The Thirteenth Tale, the long flight was over and we were ready to land! I closed the book feeling satisfied and happy with my choice.
Have a great weekend, always with beauty and a good book! xxx
THE power of beauty is such, that even the memory of beauty can help us through a tough day. As my darling John Keats has said <3, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never fade into nothingness". John Keats's poetry is mysterious, sexy and beautiful! I totally recommend him anytime! ;-)
I AM reading a novel with an archaeologist who is led into a discovery about the Amazons; it seems interesting so far, and I like the fact that the protagonist archaeologist is a beautiful woman, tall and blonde and very clever too!
I like this, because it goes against the stereotype of the beautiful yet not clever woman. This stereotype is misogynistic and dangerous because what is the most important part is, of course, the opposite side: girls, if you are going to be clever, you will be ugly! Beauty and sexuality do not go with brains, traditional attitudes tell us. If you are beautiful, we will ridicule you, but we will be attracted to you.
So, I love fiction where this stereotype is shattered; in my own novels (I will publish them soon on Amazon Kindle self-publishing platform) the protagonist is always pretty and sexy and also clever!
One thing which I don't like about the novel I am reading now is the way it deals with men. The beautiful man will turn out to be all wrong, and the not so beautiful man will be the good guy. You will say, "but is this not so in real life? Beauty is no judge of character, either for men or for women". I totally agree.
Yet the novel is fiction, and not real life. The woman, in this book, and in many other books, is a knock-out in beauty, but she too must learn that for a man, beauty is not important. This is another traditional attitude stereotype. The woman must learn NOT to judge the man by appearance. The woman must learn to look at character. However, the woman must always be beautiful.
I support beauty equality for all in fiction! If fictional women protagonists will be judged by appearance then so must the men!
LIPSTICK is a star in this blog, and here's our lipstick dictionary with useful lipstick terms:
On the happy side--
Lipstick Bliss: when you have your favorite lipstick with you!
Lipstick Fun: when you try on different colors!
Lipstick Amazing: when you discover a new color!
On the unhappy side--
Lipstick heartbreak: when your favorite color goes out of production. Nothing is irreplaceable, EXCEPT lipstick. Even lovers/partners are not irreplaceable, but lipstick IS. A few days ago, I learnt that Pink Lolita is gone out of production. Heartbreak was the only feeling suitable to describe the experience.
Lipstick Desolation: when, after a while,you realize that, sadly, it's true; your favorite lipstick is not available anymore.
On the philosophical side:
Lipstick Nirvana: when you have all the lipsticks you can ever want. Consequently, lipstick nirvana is something which is nice to think about, but doesn't exist. You can never have enough lipstick!
If you know any other terms, please tell me. Have a great time for mid-week and see you again soon! xxx
DO I wake or sleep? wonders John Keats in his famous and lovely mystical poem, Ode to a Nightingale. The Romantics made extensive use of the dream, but the dream as a theme has always been popular in literature.
In Homer's Iliad dreams can be deceptive and untrue, and have implications for the development of the plot. In the Victorian era, who can forget Catherine's frightening and cryptic dreams in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights? Or Lockwood's sequence of three dreams during his first night at the Heights? I think the secret to the novel is there inside the dreams.
Jane Eyre also has symbolic and meaningful dreams, while Pip, protagonist of Dickens's Great Expectations, suffers and is tortured even in his dreams. The same goes for Lucy Snowe, from Charlotte Bronte's Villette.
Enough though with pain in dreams! Or, rather, enough with pleasureless pain. Anastasia has an amazing dream with Christian and a riding crop in Fifty Shades! This is a dream I would like to have too.
I wish you a great start to the new week. Keep calm and dream on! xxx
HELLO and welcome to The Lipstick Papers Weekend Review! This week we have Secondhand Chic (1999), by fashion writer Christa Weil!
Christa Weil is also the author of It's Vintage, Darling!, another book which was reviewed for The Lipstick Papers a couple of months ago. Secondhand Chic is just as good, and includes not only vintage, but also clothing you can find at consignment and thrift shops.
Personally, I am not into secondhand clothing, and the truth is that, because I have a really tiny budget, my wardrobe is far from perfect or complete.
However, this book is a treasure trove for clothes shopping in general, it's not only for secondhand shopping.
This is because it has excellent practical advice on quality indicators and plenty of guidance on personal style. For personal style, there is a section for every part of the body (e.g. Legs, general) with subsections (lower leg, upper leg, short legs, thick calves). Also, you can find ideas on what to wear at work, for going out and for casual style. And I love the caring for your clothes section!
The only negative thing I can find with this book are the illustrations. They are not pretty, just functional. Not unpleasant, but they don't contribute to the overall aesthetic appearance of the book!
Have a lovely weekend, always with beauty and a good book! xxx
A stroll in the countryside or the park with a dog! This must surely be one of the most beautiful ways to end the Friday, sliding into the weekend. The Lipstick Papers Weekend Review coming soon! :-)
WHAT IS the best thing after discovering a new lipstick? Re-discovering an old one, of course!!!!!!!!!
For me, this lipstick is Pink Lolita by Estee Lauder. I bought it a couple of years ago, and it was a huge hit. Everybody loved Pink Lolita, and so did I. The color is sexy and innocent at the same time, pretty and modern, but also romantic. You can't go wrong with a Pink Lolita!
Later, I stopped wearing it and actually quite ignored it. I bought newer lipsticks, fuchsias, pinks and reds, some pale, some loud, all of them nice and all of them special.
A couple of days ago, my eye chanced to catch the Pink Lolita lying into my lipstick drawer. There she was, in her luxury gold case, with her unique pink shade, and seeming to ask, "why not wear me today"?
So I did, and it felt so good! The old lipstick seemed so brand new! The pink was so amazing! I will never ignore the Pink Lolita again!
Trying again an old lipstick is great fun and also rewarding. I highly recommend this lovely experience to everyone! ;-)
OCTOBER was the eighth month of the Roman calendar and that is why the name is derived from the Greek (and later Latin) octo, which means eight. It is the month when, according to the Chambers Book of Days in 1864, the woods are at their most beautiful!
I wish you all a great start to the month, with new colors, new ideas, fashions, books and, hopefully, also a new lipstick! The guys who read this page may buy it for their partners or girlfriends -- and as for the girls, we may just enjoy one of the privileges of our gender, which is to use lipsticks, make up, cosmetics, and all pretty things! xxx
P.S. As you know, I never go for the idea that we have to use lipstick and cosmetics, though I am crazy about lipstick! We do something only if it makes us feel good. There is make up for all budgets, plus numerous recipes to make our own. Especially 19th century beauty books, like Woman Beautiful, they have recipes for nearly everything!
