To celebrate Canada’s national day, why not pay tribute to her greatest features by touring the west coast beaches of Vancouver Island?

I feel like I have been reading a lot less since I came back from Lousiana. Maybe it’s because I’m finishing up the Mayfair Witches trilogy by Anne Rice and have been immersed in nothing but flowery, gothic, weird, incestual plotlines for the last two months?

I read A Confederacy of Dunces as “homework” for my trip. I actually enjoyed the book quite a bit, it really reminded me of Youth in Revolt. Book smart, street stupid protagonist (if you can even call Ignatius that), an intelligent love interest whose motives are often questionable and everyone else existing solely to give the protagonist proof of his own (false) superiority.

The Witching Hour was my saviour when our flight was delayed, resulting in an extended layover in Houston and another night in Seattle. It’s well written tawdriness and Anne Rice’s descriptions of New Orleans are absolute perfection. She really captures the decaying beauty and southern gothic spirit of the city. There are about a billion characters in this book but luckily I love a good dynasty and I found the Mayfair family history utterly absorbing. I immediately recommended it to Jessica (that means I loved it).

Lasher verged on being a bit too “sci-fi” for my tastes. I’m really more of a ghost person than weird what evers. It was still a fast read for me though, even if I had to be Jessica’s “sponsor” for some of the more… ahem, challenging scenes. Now I’m reading Taltos and after that I think I am due for another ten year Anne Rice break.

Book-to-reads: Ka’iulani: Crown Princess of Hawai’i by Nancy Webb and Jean Francis Webb, Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Sussan, Barney’s Version by Mordechai Richler (I owe it to Jordan, even if I doubt he’ll ever read MY favourite book, Kushiel’s Dart).

The Plant Room is a mysterious space on the top floor of my apartment building.

I bought a new camera so I’ve been taking lots of photos of just STUFF. I want to start a Fancy Girl Photo Shoot Society though.

Always remarked upon by guests: the righteous plaid carpet in our stairwell.

Whether you surreptitiously hid the cover of Flowers in the Attic in public back when it was controversial or if you’ve read enough books to know the love interest is always the brother she didn’t know existed, there’s no denying the draw of the front of a V.C. Andrews novel. In particular, the early series, with their “keyholes” revealing stepbacks of frightened looking girls and their leering adversaries, are eerily beautiful. I’ve always loved the cover of Ruby and I’m convinced it would look amazing blown up and framed on my wall (I’ve never found someone who agrees with me, but I know I could make it work).

More covers, new and old, can be found at The Complete V.C. Andrews Library.

I’ve been reading a lot lately in anticipation of my trip to New Orleans in just a few weeks! To prepare myself I printed out a few reading lists of books that take place in the city, only to discover that the Greater Victoria Public Library does not exactly have an extensive selection of Louisiana based literature.

Oh yes, I finished Ysabel. I don’t wanna talk about it. I didn’t even care in the end.

The first New Orleans book I read was The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I hope I’m not spoiling it for anyone but the “awakening” in question was sexual in nature. The best kind! I really enjoyed it and my head has been filled with all sorts of fin de siecle scenes starring handsome women in white dresses and sexy 1899 dinner parties ever since.

Next I read A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Also very sexy! I’m sensing a typical New Orleans forecast is humid with patches of sweaty sexual tension and hate-fucking.

I took a brief respite to read the first two books in The Vampire Diaries to see if they could capture my attention like they did in high school. Didn’t really live up to my expectations but they’re still better than Twilight.

I eagerly tore though Ruby by V.C. Andrews next, as this was, embarrassingly enough, the book that always made me dream of bayous and the French Quarter. Reading this book lead to a self-deprecating moment at a breakfast with friends when V.C. Andrews somehow came up in conversation and I sheepishly pulled my copy out of my bag. Needless to say, Ruby was just as great as I remembered, I learned more about what to see as a tourist in New Orleans from Ruby’s tour with her long lost wealthy Creole father than I did from all the guidebooks I’ve read. I’m debating whether I should just jump right in and read the whole Landry series.

Now I’m almost done the fourth Vampire Diaries book, cause that stuff is like candy. I’m going to start A Confederacy of Dunces next and hope I can get through most of it in the next two weeks so I can time finishing it with my plane ride on May 8th, on which I am going to read The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. Perfect plane material! Unless of course, there are some good plane movies available… maybe that one with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler…

Things keeping my attention these days include:

The colour peach: Hence the new shirt.
Minnetonka moccasins: I wore grey tights with moccasins five out of seven days last week.
The new Blitzen Trapper album: “Laughing Lover” is the new summer jam. I told Jessica it made me want to run through a sun baked field of grass, gather wildflowers in the skirt of my sun dress and tumble down a hill.
This remix by The Twelves: Thanks to Jordy for always having the best beats on hand.
The mirror function on Photobooth: See above.
These shoes: Cursedly unaffordable
The Vampire Diaries (the books in addition to the show): I like the show way better. I find Elena to be so unlikeable in the book, unlike the spunky version on the show, played with good natured Canadian sensibilities by Nina Dobrev.
On a related note: Ian Somerhalder.
Picking every song I know on the guitar: It started with Landslide, moved onto Blitzen Trapper and Sufjan Stevens and now it’s just anything I get my hands on.
Melissa’s birthday dance recitals: I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. She punched a light fixutre on the ceiling!!
Life: As narrated by David Attenborough of course! Every episode made me yell “WHAT THE FUCK!” multiple times.
My “Armor Jeans” denim jacket: I bought this jacket right after I graduated from high school and it’s STILL AMAZING.

I had a nice weekend, James and Alana came over to the Island and we went shopping on trendy LoJo (I bought a dress for N’aaaawlins and a belt) and had lots of drinks with Dougie and Brooke and Leslie. Unfortunately I am committed to being a good neighbour, so I had to end the Weezer sing-a-long that was erupting at 11:30pm, even if our harmonies on “Going Surfing” were pretty great. On Sunday I spent most of the day on blankets with Kevin and Jordan in various locations in Beacon Hill Park cause dang, it was nice out. Also this weekend I had the extreme pleasure of watching “Roadhouse” starring Patrick Swayze. The lady fashion in that movie was pretty bang on.

The lady in the above photo is a relation of Jordan’s. I love an old timey guitar gal.

I spent so much time playing with Anja’s camera when I went to Portland, I think this is the only photo of me from the whole trip.

Good thing I picked a cool focus.

Photo from Clever Nettle.