Beautiful Books

Having waxed lyrical about Persephone Books, I decided to treat myself to one of their beautiful books after work yesterday. I chose To Bed With Grand Music by Marghanita Laski - a novel first published in 1946 about sex and promiscuity in London during wartime.

I haven't started it yet but look how marvellously made this book is? Check out the stylish gun metal grey sleeve, and the printed inner cover. The high-quality paper and free bookmark that comes with every book. Beautiful craftsmanship to make your bookcase smile.

Festival nails

I was speaking to the people at Orly last week about my busy festival schedule this summer and they surprised me with a little package to keep my nails in good nick while I'm drinking too much cider in a mucky field. They sent me three colours (from left to right) - School Orange, Luxe and Retro Red. While the gold will be perfect for Bestival and Sonar, the coral and orange will fit right in at Green Man and Latitude.
PS: First festival of 2010 was All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) last week in Minehead. It was curated by Pavement who were amazing as were The Walkmen, The Fall and Camera Obscura. A new band to check out are The 3Ds. For the first musical weekend of the year, I opted for Rumples Wiggin' from OPI's Shrek collection. Nails were not looking so hot by the time we were driving home - surely the sign of a good weekend...

Improvised philosophy and wine with Robert Rowland Smith

Last night I learned three things at a night of improvised philosophy, led by Breakfast With Socrates writer Robert Rowland Smith:

1. We're all mad
2. Colour is a myth
3. There's no such thing as reality

Held in Clerkenwell Tales bookshop, the night resulted in discussion about psycho-analysis vs philosophy, David Cameron, Margaret Thatchter, Sigmund Freud and Immanuel Kant. It sounds like an odd way to spend a Wednesday night, but it was actually surprisingly fun.
And afterwards, I got to spend five minutes with Rowland Smith. At present he is reading David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet because he has been asked to speak about it on BBC2's Review Show tonight.
He is also reading Solar by Ian McEwan and said: "I'm enjoying it, but I like McEwan as a writer anyway. I read his first book when it came out and have continued to follow him."
Speaking about why he wrote Breakfast at Socrates, he said: "I'd written academic books - heavy weight academic book - but I wanted to write something more accessible that anyone could enjoy."
To write he revealed he needs music on in the background and it needs to be loud: "I usually go for Led Zepellin or Bach. I know it sounds like quite a contrast but they both made music that's actually very structured."

In defence of The Driver's Seat

Reading book reviews has never instigated personal fury in me. Even when critics pan a text I love dearly, I can still concede everyone deserves to voice their opinion and often, they make a good point.
However, reading Sam Jordison’s review of The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark posted on The Guardian’s books blog made me throw the previous assertion in the bin. Some people should perhaps keep their opinions to themselves.

Guaranteed, the novella – shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker prize this year – will not suit everyone. The protagonist Lise is mentally ill and out to die in a painful and perverse way. She’s lost all regard for social graces and is scarily erratic – not to shock, but because she doesn’t care. In a sense, she’s went mad with boredom and loneliness.
Now one of Jordison’s main gripes is Lise’s presence is “frequently excruciating”. It is. All of that hysterical laughter, sobbing and self-destruction is a bit of a pain in the neck. But unlike, Jordison, I don’t believe it would stop Spark gaining new fans – a huge percentage of literature’s much-loved characters are equally intolerable.  And surely such characters are the solution to the bland raft of books dominating popular modern literature?
Virginia Woolf’s war veteran Septimus Smith in Mrs Dalloway is frightening, mad and cruel in equal measures but this does not halt sales of Orlando or To The Lighthouse.
Gordon Comstock in George Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying is incomprehensibly self-pitying, but as he decides to sink down into the sewers of London’s sub-class and live in squalor, do readers abandon Orwell? Of course not.

Jordison goes on to comment that The Driver’s Seat’s other characters are “not much easier”. If you want so-called “easy” characters, read chicklit. Or Danny Wallace. Otherwise, why should a character be easy? Literature should be a challenge and throw up questions and narratives that step outside of the mainstream box of “he said she said – isn’t that character just like my best friend/boss/mother/ex-boyfriend”.
The critic says the events in the book are not convincing and I can admit the situation is quite absurd. But I doubt Spark set out to write an everyday scenario. It is a disturbing tale of isolation, empowerment and ultimately self-destruction. Very few will recognise themselves in the protagonist or secondary characters.
Jordison makes a point, but I’m just not sure how much he grasps the content of text and his argument is poor.  “She's just too daft” he says of Lise, in his concluding paragraph. I rest my case.

Bat your lashes

Eyelashes are big news in beauty right now and are going to be a growing trend as the summer continues. However, if the thought of extensions makes you squeamish, but you still want Twiggy-style lashes that last, I was given the best top tip at an event last week that works for everyone. Prior to curling your lovely lashes, heat up your lash-curlers with a hairdryer. Curl those eye-enhancers and voila! Eye-opening lashes, curled to lasting perfection. For optimum results, Ruby and Millie's eyelash curlers are the best I've used.

Tried and tested: Elemis Modern Skin Facial

Today I went on a jaunt to the cosy little nook in central London that is the Elemis Dayspa. Off New Bond Street, tucked away in Lancashire Court, the beauty haven is relaxing enough to make you forget you're in a busy city and I was invited to try out their latest facial, the Modern Skin.
It aims to tackle and repair the damage caused by stress, pollution and too many late nights. I had high hopes the promised results weren't just optimistic PR-speak.
Arriving at the spa, the staff were lovely as always and let me relax in one of the much-cushioned chairs before starting the treatment.

To begin with, this is not a facial for those who like to keep their imperfections at arms' length. The facial starts with a complexion analysis report in which you stick your head in a white machine and it takes a picture. This is replicated six times and shows where on your face you have: spots, wrinkles, texture problems, large pores, UV spots and porphyrins. Terrifying. It turns out I've got imperfections EVERYWHERE (see above).

Anyway, the therapist took me to one of the sleep-inducing treatment rooms and explained the facial process. Then with me wrapped in a couple of cosy blankets she started the treatment with a cleanse and tone. This was followed by an exfoliation, two mineral-based masks and a stimulating face, head and neck massage. One hour later, my skin was smoother and balanced and I'd even had a 20-minute nap. If, like me, you've got a pre-summer beauty regime or you just fancy treating yourself, I highly recommend this treatment. It's relaxing and gets results. The perfect combination if you ask me.

Constantly sick writer seeks beauty quick fix

Having had two nasty viruses in the space of one month, looking in the mirror is not much of a joy at present. I have tired eyes, pasty skin and dark circles - the three worst accessories a person could possibly be saddled with.
Recognising this and knowing it's going to take weeks of clean living before my appearance is up to scratch again, I decided I needed a quick fix - also known as a spray tan.
And lucky for me the people at The Beauty Lounge in Kingly Court were happy to help. I left the salon looking lightly tanned and healthy thanks to their fantastic therapists and Fake Bake.

Things began to look up the moment I left. To begin with, I encountered for the first time cake and coffee shop C'est Moi.
Dazzled by the colourful confectionary like a sugar-addicted magpie, I went into a daze and somehow left with the biggest berry muffin anyone has ever had the joy of stuffing their face with.

And then, strolling down Carnaby Street, there was a band playing in the window of the Lee store. My, what a pleasant-sounding racket they were making! Sort of indie-country-rockabilly, the quartet were fun to watch and nice enough to treat us Saturday observers to some interesting music.

Arriving home for a Saturday night with flatmates, films and cough syrup, I felt better than I have since March. And plan Make Me Pretty Again Despite Continued Illness (MMPADCI, if you will) has only just begun...

The charming Persephone Books

Going to Kensington is a bit of a necessary evil for me. I hate it like George Osborne probably hates council estates, but like him, my job requires that I go anyway. And every week after my Saturday shift moonlighting at a newspaper off the high street, I feel intense annoyance as I try to make my way to where ever I'm going.
I don't know whether it's the organic food, or maybe the languid attitude towards life only the exceptionally rich can afford, but the people literally lounge up the street. Perhaps this is what happens when you don't get enough E-numbers, because I literally cannot move that slowly - especially as a person perpetually running late.
Anyway, off the high street on Kensington Church Street where one can charge up the road at a speedy pace, there is a literary delight.

Persephone Books is a dream of a book shop. A tiny labyrinth of a library, the texts go from floor to ceiling and are all printed by the company.
They specialise in neglected 20th century female-penned literature and produce books that are absolute treasures. The staff are super-friendly and you can browse their 88 titles listening to classical music.
They also produce a seasonal magazine, organise events and still find time to run an awesome book shop.
Forsake Waterstones and best-seller lists, fellow booklovers. Go to Persephone.

David Mitchell talks about his new book (and compliments my nail varnish)

The very charming David Mitchell took the time to have a Q and A session last night in Foyles on Charing Cross Road ahead of the release of his new book, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (out on May 13).
The author, whose best known works include Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green, was self-deprecating, engaging and even posed for a picture. As he patiently waited for my camera to work, he said he really liked my nail varnish which I was obviously and transparently overjoyed about. “I’ve never seen one in that colour before,” he said. “It matches your jacket perfectly.”

Anyway, enough about nails. Talking about writing the book, he discussed two of the central characters. Title character Jacob and the villain of the novel Lord Abbott Enomoto. About the former he said: “He’s very noble. I wanted to write an uncool protagonist which is quite rare by the standards of modern literature today."
About writing the latter, he said: “Evil is very difficult to write. You have to be careful not to fall into that Dr Evil character of ‘I’m evil because I’m evil’.”
He spoke at length about the writing process, and said he thought it is easier to write in your twenties because you tend to have less responsibility. He also talked about when he started writing in his “monastic” twenties. At the time, he worked as a tutor in a Japanese university. “It was slowly closing down and I had next to no students. I had a little office with a tiny window and no distractions so for three or four years I just taught myself how to write.”

Attendees were also interested in his musical tastes but he confessed he doesn’t follow popular music too closely. “I’m one of those people who didn’t get into The Smiths until the 1990s,” he said, apologetically.
“Music is important to me,” he added. “I listen to it less now because I have two noisy kids but I do listen when I work. It’s usually either instrumental or verbal, in a language I don’t understand.”
And speaking about the writers he reads, he listed Anton Chekhov as his favourite saying, "he's the only writer I'd eagerly run into a burning building to save."
He also said books by Michel Faber and Joseph Conrad were the most-treasured on his shelf. “Heart of Darkness is like The Turn of The Screw, there’s not one duff sentence.”

Drink yourself beautiful

"The beauty-nutrition revolution is here!" screams Functionalab's website. Now, I'll be honest - I didn't realise we were waiting for one, but at the same time, this supplement brand are quite an interesting one for beauty geeks.
My editor went to its Harvey Nichols launch last week and even she was impressed (that's quite a feat). Basically, Functionalab creates drinkable supplements to boost and optimise EVERYTHING. Want to make your tan last longer? They have a supplement to do this. Feeling like it's time to turn back the clock? Bottoms up comrade. Eaten too much of late? I'll have mine on ice. Seriously, whatever your aesthetic gripe is, Functionalab have created a supplement to sort it out.

 The concoctions are made with natural ingredients and selected actives such as blackberries, white tea and vitamin E. Although nutri-cosmetics have been kicking about the industry for years, Functionalab may be the brand that sticks - the packaging is inspired (old-skool test-tube-esque bottles) and the descriptions of the products are not scarily sciencey.
My editor saved me one of their potions to sample from the launch and it didn't even taste too bad. A little bit sweet with blueberry and pomegranate, it was palatable and supposed to be anti-ageing. At 26, I'm hoping any difference won't be too dramatic...

PS. On a self-enforced detox for the next month abstaining from wheat and alcohol and without hangovers to contend with, I have too much energy not to paint my nails every night. This week's shade of choice is Orly's Country Club Khaki from last year's Prepster collection. Picture taken by my friend Kate, on our lunchbreak in the tea aisle of Sainsbury's in Camden.