Weekend Reading List

I went around the office asking if anyone had the Kinokuniya discount card yesterday, just before lunch at Imperial Treasure. I wanted to dash in after lunch and before my shoot to buy Chandler Burr's debut novel You Or Someone Like You, for the weekend. Can you believe it? No one in the office has a Kinokuniya card! None of the editors had it, nor the writers. S at the reception, who adores Jane Austen just as much as me, didn't have it. In desperation, as I stopped to talk to A from sales about an advertiser, I decided to ask her as a by-the-way, not expecting her to have it, but she did. She's from sales.
Chandler Burr is the New Y0rk Times perfume critic and has written a couple of books on perfume. I liked The Perfect Scent alot; He writes well. You Or Someone Like You is a book about books, and seems promising so far (chapter 2). I also bought some magazines - Vogue Paris is finally out and I devoured it. I think it's fantastic that the whole issue is themed (Ameircan icons) and the theme is carried through consistently. Also that the spreads all have a fashion point that is carried through whatever the reference for the photography may be. For instance, the spread based on Gloria Vanderbilt is also about lace, and the 'Diane Keaton' spread is about menswear inspired clothes. What I hate about a lot of fashion spreads is that they have no fashion angle, and seem to be a lot of random clothes thrown together to illustrate just how incompetent the editor is, and how self-indulgent the photographer. These useless glossies function like wank sheds for photographers with bloated conceptions of self.
Inspired by K from my paintng class, who is studying to be a tattoo artist, I dusted off my Tahiti Tattoos, by Gian Paolo Barbieri (1999) to have another look. It's a gorgeous book, and so really sexy.