The Bookworm's Closet

Au revoir!

Posted on May 22, 2013

Guess who’s off to Paris in a few hours? ME! I’ve never been to Paris and I’m very excited! I’m looking forward to the beautiful city, the wine, food, vintage shops, markets, the architecture and a whole week with no one but me and Mr. Boyfriend! Wilcox, however, tried to join us by sneaking into my suitcase …

Naturally there won’t be any blog updates for the next week or so. But if you can’t wait, I will post some of my pictures on Instagram along the way – you can follow me here: instagram.com/bookwormscloset. Asides from the pictures from my blog, you can also see some detail-pics from my apartment and some pictures of my cats (I just can’t help myself). I’ve posted my latest Instagram-pics below to give you a taste – enjoy!

Apartment detail: The cup in the picture below is actually a candlestick that I’m now using as a holder for some of my necklaces.

I’ve bought 3 new bottles of nail polish last week:

When I was hungover, I took a nap with my cat:

Apartment detail: one of my many frames with fashion pictures:

I visited some friends, and their daughter decided my shoes were perfect for her toys:

Another apartment-detail picture: I love this little ballerina! I inherited her from Mr. Boyfriend’s grandmother.

My cat Wilcox watching my friends and I watching Eurovision:

Wilcox – again – with my feet dressed in Lola Ramona (my feet, not Wilcox)

See you in a week – or keep in touch on Instagram! Au revoir!

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

Posted on May 21, 2013

Title: The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
First Published: 1998
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars (average rating on Goodreads: 3.68)
Format: Paperback, 233 pages
The Beginning: Mma. Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter.

The book tells the story of Mma. Ramotswe, the no. 1 lady detective in Botswana – a plus-sized lady with a big heart and a strong mind who opens a detective agency. We follow Mma. Ramotswe in her quests to solve her cases through a number of stories, all connected to form a larger picture of Mma. Ramotswe and Botswana.

I liked the stories and the characters, and the book was well-crafted and original. But to be honest, this genre is not really for me. I don’t care that much for detective stories and I prefer books with a strong plot over books that consist of shorter stories. That being said, this one was really good within its genre. It entertains and touches your heart. It’s cute. Perhaps too cute … I can’t decide. Decide for yourself from the quote below:

I told him to go in peace
and he said that I should stay in peace.
So we left one another and I never saw my friend again,
although he is always there, in my heart.

You get a pretty good idea of the atmosphere in the book from this quote. It’s a life-affirming quote, it’s very sweet, but just way too much … It’s an attitude that I like in life, but I don’t want it in my literature. So this will probably be the end of the line for me and the lady detective. It’s just not my thing.

Oh, and the bag in the picture is my second hand Joop! from the lovely Marbles Vintage in Amsterdam. It seems lately I can’t write anything without mentioning that shop

Posted in Books | Tagged joop!, second-hand | Leave a comment

You’re my Playground Love

Posted on May 20, 2013

Mondays should always be sunny bank holidays. After some breakfast, Mr. Boyfriend and I went for a walk in the hood and came by this fun playground. My inner child couldn’t resist having a go …

I sported one of the dresses I bought at Marbles Vintage in Amsterdam and the shoes are my beloved Molly Holly (Lola Ramona) brogues. The title of this post is of course a reference to Air’s Playground Love from the Virgin Suicides soundtrack.

Slightly less elegant …

That moment when you remember your fear of heights:

Some details of the outfit – I love how the dress almost matches the shoelaces!

It’s not a real holiday without a bit of reading. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been having a bit of a book crisis lately, but I think Isherwood finally snapped me out of it!

Posted in Look of the Day | Tagged Lola Ramona, Molly Holly | 4 Comments

Modern Classics

Posted on May 19, 2013

As much as I love my dresses (all 48 of them), sometimes there’s nothing better than a great pair of pants, a top and some killer heels. That’s what I opted for yesterday when the heat seemed unbearable and my hangover even worse. I had some friends over for dinner, drinks and Eurovision and wanted to dress up a bit. Being a true supporter of the Danish song (i.e. the WINNER!), I obviously had to wear red and white. The top is from Mondo Kaos, the leggings are my red Funky Fever Highwaist leggings from Pieces and the shoes are Lola Ramona. It’s been a long time since I wore an outfit that made me feel this good about myself! I really am a sucker for bright colors.

I’ve got a couple of days off now because of the Whitsun holiday and on Wednesday I’m going to Paris (YES! PARIS!) which means I will have so much more time to read. I’ve been a bit off lately when it comes to books. Sometimes you know what to wear but not what to read. I haven’t read anything really good in a while. They’ve all just been so-so – not bad, but not really good either. There’ll probably be a lot of 3-star book reviews in the weeks to come – consider yourself warned! Today I sat staring at my to-read shelves and just didn’t know what to choose. The classics can sometimes be too much on a holiday and the “new” books have let me down a lot lately. Suddenly I had this urge for modern classics. Isherwood, Capote, Yates … I wish I could read them all at once, the urge is that strong! I need something brilliant, yet edgy … I need admirable writing that touches my heart, stories that entertain me and strong characters who’ll rock my world. I hope these lads won’t let my hungering reading-heart down!

Posted in Books, Look of the Day | Tagged Lola Ramona, Mondo Kaos, pieces | Leave a comment

To Catch a Thief

Posted on May 16, 2013

Yesterday I visited some film-enthusiastic friends of mine. They’ve bought an actual projector for watching movies! It’s so brilliant! So we decided to watch Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, which I’ve never seen before. It was wonderful watching it on a big screen while sitting in a comfy sofa. The movie was very good with some great one-liners. But I must confess that what I enjoyed the most was Frances Stevens’ (Grace Kelly) wardrobe. Just look at this stunning black and white thing she wore for a trip to the beach! So elegant!

But the outfit that completely stole my heart was this pink dream she wore for her second date with John Robie (Cary Grant):

I love the print on the top and the light-as-a-feather skirt. And look at her gloves!

Another beach-outfit – and our first glimpse of Grace Kelly in the movie. I would love to have that dress and make it an almost even 49!

And a costume ball! If only we had space and money to throw a real costume ball … *sigh*

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the movie:

John Robie: You’re here in Europe to buy a husband.
Frances Stevens: The man I want doesn’t have a price.
John Robie: That eliminates me.

Posted in Looks I Like, Random Thoughts | 2 Comments

Flowers in the Rain

Posted on May 12, 2013

After yesterday’s wardrobe crisis, I decided to ignore the grey weather and put on a summer dress – with some woolen tights and a cardigan to keep out the cold of course. Mr. Boyfriend and I wanted to go out for cake at Savoir where they have the most amazing cakes. How disappointed were we to see the “Sorry, we are closed” sign on the door! Even if the sign is pretty …

And just to rub it in, it started to rain! But there can be something nice about wearing flowery prints and bright colors in the rain. I have no idea where the dress (see picture below) is from but it’s one of my summer classics. The shoes are Hush Puppies and the vintage bag is my new favorite from Marbles Vintage in Amsterdam. Lately this bag follows me wherever I go!

Yes, I’m wearing flowers on flowers … I figured I might as well go all the way …

But back to our quest for cake: Gavlen is our safe place: it’s cozy, feels like home and there’s always some good cake and coffee. Check out the picture below and then look at the picture above. My dress almost matches the dress on the book! I didn’t plan it! But it’s so cool …

Look at this guy we saw in a car! Creepy!

Posted in Look of the Day, Random Thoughts | Tagged Hush Puppies, second-hand | Leave a comment

48 dresses and nothing to wear

Posted on May 11, 2013

Today I had one of those mornings: what to wear? I have 48 dresses and today it felt like I had none. No matter what I put on, it either looked or felt weird. Maybe it’s the in-between weather. It’s not warm and sunny, so the summer dresses are out, but it’s not cold either, so sweaters and layers are too much. I don’t have that much in-between clothes I guess. Or else, I just lacked imagination and inspiration this morning. After 45 minutes of trying this and that while my cat was staring at me, I gave up putting together something nice and new. Maybe this cloudy day just wasn’t meant for dressing up. I think I’m more in the mood to curl up on the couch with a book or The Walking Dead.

So there will be no outfit photo taken today. But I can show yesterday’s outfit which I managed to snap a few shots of. I wore a shirt from Monki, a skirt from somewhere in Tokyo and Molly Holly / Lola Ramona shoes. The quality of the outfit picture unfortunately isn’t that good – hence the small scale.

Posted in Look of the Day, Random Thoughts | Tagged Lola Ramona, Molly Holly, Monki | 5 Comments

Going Vintage

Posted on May 8, 2013

It’s been a grey day with rain and thunder. Work was so crazy, I felt I couldn’t think straight at the end of the day. So how proud was I, when I dragged myself off to the gym after work? And it turned out it was just what I needed! I completely forgot about work and felt so relaxed. When I got home, I put on my pyjamas and crawled into bed with tea, food, chocolate, books and my laptop. With the occasional interruption of my cats demanding affection and while listening to David Bowie’s new album The Next Day, I’ve managed to put together a review of the novel Going Vintage, which I read in Amsterdam. The pictures below were taken on our second day where we sat in the sun drinking coffee and reading books. Enjoy the review!

Title: Going Vintage
Author: Lindsay Leavitt
First Published: 2013
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars (average rating on Goodreads: 3.75)
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
First line: Things I say to distract Jeremy so I can take a break from making out:

I read this very first sentence on the flight to Amsterdam. It made me laugh. And the book continued to amuse me throughout. It’s about a girl, Mallory, who discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her – online! He has an online girlfriend. Devastated, she blames not only her cheating boyfriend, but also technology. She then finds an old list written by her grandmother as a teenager, and Mallory starts to long for a time when things were much more simple:

I bet she wore really cute cat-eye glasses
and giggled over milkshakes on Friday nights
with her quarterback boyfriend who never cheated on her with someone named BubbleYum.

So Mallory decides to go vintage. No more smart phones, no more GPS, no more social networks. And a lot of vintage clothing …

I’m a sucker for all things vintage, so naturally I had to pre-order a copy of this one as soon as I heard of it. I was surprised to find that our heroine was only sixteen years old. When I bought it, I thought she would be somewhere in her twenties. But laughter on the very first page made up for it.

It was a cute and fun read, light and entertaining – perfect for a holiday. But it was nothing special, and I would never have read it if it wasn’t for the vintage theme.

How I would love to have the dress on the cover of the book! And it would go really well with the Molly Holly brogues I’m wearing in the picture …

Posted in Books | Tagged Lola, Lola Ramona, Molly Holly | 4 Comments

A Parking Lot Oasis

Posted on May 7, 2013

It’s been a beautiful spring day in Copenhagen. It makes it almost unbearable to think that the next days will be grey and cloudy. I’ve gotten used to the gorgeous spring days and wanted to make the most of this day. Today I sported the second-hand cat-print shirt I bought at a flea-market last Saturday. I wore it with two old favourites in my wardrobe: my second-hand Burberry skirt and Lola Ramona brogues.

I really love Copenhagen and all the wonderful oases you can find. This one is just five minutes from my apartment – right next to a parking lot! I really like these contrast in a city.

Speaking of contrasts … now I’ll leave the pretty flowers behind and watch an episode of The Walking Dead before going to sleep. Goodnight out there – GRRR ARRRRG!

Posted in Look of the Day | Tagged Burberry, Lola Ramona, second-hand | Leave a comment

Woman’s Ghetto

Posted on May 5, 2013

It’s a lazy Sunday in my hood. I’ve finished a paperback AND the Harry Potter series in audio (reviews of both will follow in a week or two) while editing the photos for this post. Now I’m listening to my new discovery, Phyllis Dillon. I’ve listened to her songs over and over again for the past week. Mr. Boyfriend introduced me to the song Woman’s Ghetto (or Woman of the Ghetto, as it’s sometimes called) and I loved it immediately. I think all her songs are covers done in reggae style but with a twist of soul. I’m not really a fan of either genre, but the combination is brilliant! Especially with Dillon’s powerful voice. Her career was very short and I couldn’t find that many tracks on Spotify. But there’s a Selected Hits album – go check it out! I think that every single song, except Close to You, is really good. Woman’s Ghetto is my favourite, though. But her cover of The Beatles’ Something is also quite beautiful.

These pictures are from last week where I wore my Kontatto shirt with a skirt I bought somewhere in Tokyo and my Molly Holly (a Lola Ramona sub brand) brogues. The bag is from Marbles Vintage in Amsterdam and the gloves are from Episode here in Copenhagen.
Ii’s great having someone to pose with me, and Wilcox the Cat is always eager to step into the frame.

I adore the details at the back of this shirt – so pretty! And I think the light pink colour of the shirt makes the look a bit more romantic and soft, than had it been white.

Posted in Look of the Day | Tagged kontatto, Lola Ramona, Molly Holly, second-hand | Leave a comment