Gypsy weddings, Tokyo and The Help - Brief Book Reviews

So far I've surprised myself with the amount of reading that I have done since June- I thought I'd share with you my summer reads so far because some have been great and some others... not so great!

 Firstly I read Tales of the Gypsy Dressmaker which is essentially the autobiography of the big star of one of my favorite shows ever 'Gypsy Weddings' It was a brilliantly easy and entertaining read from start to finish. Sometimes my jaw was literally on the floor at the hilarity and outrageousness that Thelma comes across in her line of work, but equally it was very insightful and quite a fair representation, I thought, of traveler culture too. This is going to sound really immature, but it had photo pages too- and I just love books with pictures in! It really added to the whole story and I have a new appreciation for how much work goes into one of those insane dresses.

The next book that I read was Tokyo which I must say, was the worst of the bunch. I thoroughly enjoyed that for the most part it was set in Tokyo which is somewhere that I'm desperate to go! But the actual story was hugely anticlimactic, and a little unrealistic, about a girl who goes missing on her travels. I'm still glad I read it for the fact that it felt like I was taking a guided tour around Tokyo but besides that the actual story was on the dull side.

The final book I read was The Help and it was absolutely brilliant! I read it in about 4 days even though it was the thickest book of the bunch. It's a non-fiction book but it's one of those stories that 'could' be real, it's set in the 1960s South America, Post-Rosa Parks but Pre-Martin Luther Kings death. It's written from the perspective of two black maids and one white female writer. At times it really had me laughing out loud as well as making me feel outright ashamed of the segregation that existed not so long ago. While definately having it's sad moments, by the end I felt uplifted. I bought two copies for friends as soon as I'd finished because I want everyone to read this!

A little addition to this list is that last night around 6pm I picked up 'Mummy Knew' by Lisa James, I stopped to eat dinner but then couldn't put it down until 2am when I'd turned the last page, it has over 200 pages. Without wanting to end this post on a downer it's without a doubt the most horrific account of child abuse I've read about in the UK, afterwards I had to watch funny videos on YouTube before I could fall asleep, my head was just swimming!

What I am reading (or trying to) for Summer 2012

The only time that I really get a chance to read properly and consistently at all but I'm looking foward to getting my teeth stuck in, so here is my ambitious list!
If you've read any of these and you think they're a waste of reading time or were the best thing you ever read then let me know
or.. If you think something is truly lacking from my list- tell me tell me!

The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom, people have told me great things about it!

Can we still be friends by Alexandra Shulman (editor of British Vogue) It sounds a little autbiographal in terms of story but I'm looking foward to it

They Gypsy Dressmaker by Thelma Madine (dress maker from the tv show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) That show is my guilty pleasure, so reading an autobiography based on the show is just an extension of that!

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman - This was made into the most incredible movie, I didn't put it on my 'Saturday night Movies' blog post because it's pretty bleak, and I don't want anyone to be put off by me saying that it is a war movie, because we all immediately think that war movies must mean khaki coloured dust. This is much more a personal account of a Jewish man set in World War II and how he's treated and how the tables turn.

The Sea on Our Skin by Madeleine Tobert- Unfortauntely this is a classic case of judging a book buy it's cover, the cover is so fun and tropical, and I wanted something a little light hearted!

 So there you have it, maybe this isn't an ambitious list for you, but for 3 months-ish it's quite ambitious for me but I can't wait to get started! If any of them are close to life changing you bet your bottom dollar I'll do a post on it at a leter date!

Miles and miles and miles of ruffles!

There's nothing I love more than lots of bright colours, and ruffles but I never could have dreamt up wedding dresses like these...



It all comes from the television show 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' Which I heard is going to be or already is airing in the US.
The dresses are out of this world, and unlike anything I have ever seen in my life! They are true Disney princess dresses that I never knew existed for people like you and me to own and wear!

The dress that might just be the most memorable is the famous 'cat dress' yes, this lady had an actual cat on her wedding dress! Inspired by the brand Baby Phatt- and the theme spread across to the cake too to make a 'cat cake'

The dress maker of lots of the dresses is situated in Liverpool UK and called Thelma Madine, her shop is called Nico.
For the dresses she makes she uses literally miles and miles of fabric and hundreds of thousands of crystals.
The process sounds so time consuming however I would love to be a fly on the wall in the work room just for a day! To oversee the extraordinary sight of having to pin and manage all that fabric under the single needle of a sewing machine.

Every show is not always so lighthearted and fun and lavishly scattered with crystals and rainbow coloured dresses; there's a serious side to the show in regards to the culture and lifestyle of travellers.

But it's the dresses and dress making that I love best! It makes me want to switch my life ambitions to become a dress maker for travellers! How fun would it be to make the kinds of things that you never even thought of into existance!

So perhaps the 'ruffle yourself mad' look wasn't on the catwalks of London Fashion week- but it was on our television screens at least and since it was never classified as 'in style' it can never go 'out of style!' Right!??