Weekend Reading List

While I'm hiding from the Lunar New Year mayhem that's happening all around me in the darkened, air-conned sanity of my room, I'm dippin into the lucid and acerbic musings in The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. Sei Shonagon is like the Jane Austen of Medieval Japan, a Heian court lady-in-waiting. I can totally feel her: When things get a little bit crazy and a trip to Hermes isn't on the cards, I read The Pillow Book and the world is suddenly creaseless. I'm also dipping into George Plimpton's calssic bio of Truman Capote, delicious with my mommy's pineapple tarts and a lemonade. I'm flipping December issue of Elle Decor that Jo passed to me at the office. Matthew Williamson may not be a fashion designer of distinction but his eye for decor charms and surprises.