In Training for a Heroine: Latest purchases

It's this time of month again! I bought more than usual because of the summer holidays. Also, the CDs were on sale and I've just received my free iPod Nano (16gb, it's pink and I named it Tonks! It was free because I bought a MacBook called Hermione, which accounts for my lack of updates recently, getting used to using a Mac after 11 years of using Windows takes a while) so I really feel the need to own as many of my favourite CDs as possible to listen to them everywhere.

BOOKS

Angels in America - Tony Kushner

The miniseries is one of my favourites so this was just a matter of time.

Temeraire - Naomi Novik

"A reimagining of the epic events of the Napoleonic Wars with an air force—an air force of dragons, manned by crews of aviators." It sure sounds really cool! It's a series of books, there are 5 books so far (the sixth one is being written as we speak) so if I really like this one, at least there's more to keep me satisfied. Peter Jackson optioned it for a movie. I've decided that one of my goals for this year will be to finish the series I've started, so here's hoping.

Revolutionary Road, The Easter Parade, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness - Richard Yates

I loved Revolutionary Road so obviously I want to read more by Richard Yates. I bought them in this anthology edition published by Everyman Library because it was cheaper but if I ever want more Yates, I'll buy them in the Vintage edition, check out the covers, they're stunning.

The Spell - Alan Hollinghurst

The last book by Hollinghurst I haven't read! I'll miss him so much, he's definitely one of my favourite new authors this year (that is, new to me).

Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After the First World War - Virginia Nicholson

I've always been interested in women's history. I find the product description to be delightful: "Tracing their fates, Nicholson shows that these women did indeed harbor secret sadness, and many of them yearned for the comforts forever denied them--physical intimacy, the closeness of a loving relationship, and children. Some just endured, but others challenged the conventions, fought the system, and found fulfillment outside of marriage. From the mill-girl turned activist to the debutante turned archeologist, from the first woman stockbroker to the "business girls" and the Miss Jean Brodies, this book memorializes a generation of young women who were forced, by four of the bloodiest years in human history, to stop depending on men for their income, their identity, and their future happiness. Indeed, Singled Out pays homage to this remarkable generation of women who, changed by war, in turn would change society."

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity and the Women Who Made America Modern - Joshua Zeitz

The 20's, women, sexuality redefined, jazz music in the background. Enough said!

The Brontës Went to Woolworths - Rachel Ferguson

This book has been out of print for ages, a used copy used to go for hundreds of pounds so saying that I'm happy I won't have to spend that much to read it is an understatement. This is part of a Bloomsbury release (nothing to do with the Bloomsbury group) "a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers," according to the website. I also want to buy a copy of Henrietta's War and Miss Hargreaves, which will be published soon. Brontës is "a charming novel from the early 1900s that revels in young innocence prior to the First World War and celebrates the fantasies of childhood". There's a more complete, but spoilery summary here.

Suite Scarlett - Maureen Johnson

I've been trying to read more YA this year, with mixed results. This one's another try: Maureen Johnson is part of this group of New-York-based YA writers (along with John Green whom I must read, Scott Westerfeld who wrote a book I really liked, Peeps, but I have to give his other books a second chance, Justine Larbalestier whom I'd really like to read too, her journal is excellent and some dreadful writers I won't name here). Scarlett lives in a hotel suite in New-York, which has been my secret wish for quite some time. Johnson's blog is really funny, and I hope it's an indication as to the quality of the book.

DVD

The Line of Beauty

I've seen it earlier this year and can't wait to see it again now that I've read the book. Beautiful miniseries, different from the book but I like them both equally. Buy them both please.

The Awful Truth/Born Yesterday/His Girl Friday

I've never seen Born Yesterday but the other two pictures are absolute marvels. I don't know if I'll ever understand each line of His Girl Friday completely one day, it's the fastest-talking movie I've ever seen, and one of the best. The Awful Truth is great physical comedy and the actors are impeccable.

Forbidden Hollywood Collection - Volume 2: The Divorcee/A Free Soul/Three on a Match/Female/Night Nurse

I've only seen two of them so I'm happy I still have 3 to discover. There's also a documentary called Thou Shalt Not: Sex and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood which sounds like the perfect introduction to this very interesting era and the perfect introduction to the series of books I want to read on the topic this year.

CD

The Beach Boys - no introduction needed! It's summer and I need my Boys.