The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

A friend had recommended Georgette Heyer to me a while ago, and when I saw this book on the shelves at my local library I decided that it was now or never. Besides it promised to be a light and fun read, and the link to http://www.austenfans.com/ on the back cover promised Austenian fun and wit.

Well, that link was misleading. I was severely disappointed from the very first page because Heyer was clearly no Austen. However, once I got over my disappointment, and decided to enjoy the book solely on its own merits, I discovered that this was a light and funny read (laugh out loud in many parts).

I think the main difference for me was that Austen traded more in satire and wit, while Heyer traded more in the absurd/caricature. Horry Winwood was also not a very engaging heroine. Despite her youth (which was often emphasised), she still comes across as a spoilt brat. One wonders why/how she enchanted the Earl of Rule. While the book tries to make a case for her charm lying chiefly in her naive frankness and honesty, it sometimes comes across as a childish lack of maturity. Luckily for Horry then she is quickly married off to a rich (hence negating the need to earn her keep) protective (allowing her her escapades, from which she escapes with nary a hurt except for a couple of anxious moments) older (who will sometimes train her like a child, using laws of reverse psychology and the like) husband.

The Earl of Rule, on the other hand, is painted as an attractive man of the world, happily sowing his wild oats until Horry came along. He is prone to settling arguments with violence or threats of violence. He wouldn't be an attractive man in real life - except of course what woman can resist the charms of the domesticated wild oat sower?

Overall, this book read very quickly, and was laugh out loud funny in many parts. Be prepared for plenty of the absurd, and some wit, and some very interestingly caricatured minor characters. I was later informed that this was not one of Heyer's best. Since I really did enjoy this thoroughly after (1) getting over my annoyance at it not being more like Austen, and (2) indulging in the fantasy that I am Horry and can do what I want and not suffer any consequences, and not have to work, and can buy jewel-encrusted shoes on a whim. This would make awesome airport/airplane reading material.

Stars for The Convenient Marriage: ***** for being a jolly good read, despite not being Austen. And the detailed descriptions of clothes and fashion and hair!

An interesting thought: When Austen wrote her books, they were contemporary romances. When Heyer wrote hers, they were historical romances. Makes one wonder who is the Austen of today? 

Empress Orchid and The Last Empress, by Anchee Min

I had actually read "The Last Empress" before I read "Empress Orchid". I found "The Last Empress", by itself, to be tough going. It dealt with a time when China was faced with invaders on all fronts, and too weak to defend itself. I felt like much of the book dealt with politicking, foreign negotiations, etc and too little with the human dimension. Nevertheless, I was intrigued enough to pick up the "Empress Orchid", since the summary presented in the prologue hinted at a more human story - or at least a more personal story less tempered with the realities of holding power at the head of a dying dynasty.

Initially I found the writing in "Empress Orchid" to be clunky, with much overuse and abuse of both adjectives and adverbs. However the story itself was so compelling that it drew me in anyway. I suppose I should be honest enough to admit that I was looking, at least partly, for titillation - this lady after all was the only one of three thousand concubines of the emperor to bear a son, and only one of two to bear him a child (the other child being a princess whose mother later hanged herself).

Having read "Empress Orchid" did give me me new appreciation for "The Last Empress". Reading about the time when China was merely weak, not unsalvageable, put a new perspective on the challenges outlined in "The Last Empress", and also added context to Orchid's desperation that she was unable to raise a competent Emperor.

Towards the end of "Empress Orchid", and throughout my re-reading (ok, skimming) of "The Last Empress" afterwards, however, I was disturbed by an undercurrent of racism. While the title character, the man she loved, and some of her most trusted advisors were Manchu, the writer frequently interjects with comments of how gracious, how tolerant the Chinese were as a whole, and how loyal and capable the Empress' Chinese advisors were, even excusing their fence sitting during the power struggle after the Emperor's death. In contrast, the Manchu were portrayed as decadent weaklings, their blood running thin. If I had to venture a guess, I'd guess that Anchee Min was Han Chinese.

Overall, this was an interesting book, but I'd class it closer to the fictional side of historical fiction than the historical side. Parts of the books seem to be laboring to provide excuses for the Empress inability to hold the country together, or to provide new interpretations of historical events that show the Empress in a nobler light. For example, after the attempted assasination attempt on her life, the Emperor was moved to a palace on an island on a lake - in the book, this was for his health and by his request, while according to various websites (which obviously are not reliable sources :)  ) the Emperor was literally in house prison.

These books were interesting enough however that they made me want to pick up a biography of Cixi - to learn about the woman in history - not a romanticized fictional account of her. Whether I will indeed do so though, who knows.

Stars for Empress Orchid and The Last Empress: A Novel: ** 1/2 for the undercurrent of racism I felt balanced against the interest sustained in the story, especially in the first installment, although how much of this is due to the credit of the author, and how much to the credit of the Empress, I do not know.

Book Review: Asian Faces: The Essential Beauty and Makeup Guide for Asian Women by Taylor Chang-Babaian

This is an excellent book for beginners (to which group I belong). I do not know if it will be helpful to non-beginners.

It does start from the very very beginning - with pictures of mascara, blush, gloss etc followed by six pages of brushes (with descriptions). It then goes on define the terminnology for various parts of the face. This may sound anal, but turned out really useful when trying to duplicate the looks in the book (where's the apple of the cheek?) (Remember, beginner here :)  )

Next there are sections on skincare, makeup removers and base makeup. This is followed by sections about the basic techniques for making up the eyes, lips, cheeks, how to apply foundation etc.

The looks are divided into day, night, cities, decades and costumes. Each look takes up two pages - a full page picture of the model on the left hand page, and brief step by step instructions on the right with swatches of the products used (useful when one is not quite sure what is the difference between peach and apricot). Most of the looks also include detailed instructions for the eyes and lips.

Generally the looks all seem to utilize the same basic techniques laid out in the "eyes" "lips" "cheeks" etc section. Nevertheless I still found the many looks helpful as guides to which shade of eyeshadow goes with which shade of lip color etc. The pictures also served as a guide to what color clothes would match the look.

Overall this is a good book for beginners - it provides an overview of basic techniques and inspiration for matching colors. Given the dearth of makeup books specifically targeted at Asians, I'd heartily recommend to anybody who has Asian features. However, this book does seem to be skewed more towards East Asians (although there are a couple of South Indian models) so South Indians may be better served just checking this book out from the library as opposed to buying it (unless they look East Asian of course).

Taylor Chang-Babaian will also have a book specifically on making up the eyes coming out in August 2010 (Style Eyes) and I can't wait for it to come out (where else on the face can I play with outrageous colors? :) )

Stars for Asian Faces
***** because I'm a newbie

Book review: Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor by Linda Wells

, Beauty
Trick of the Trade

Cutting off cherished long hair can be traumatic, so consider easing yourself in step-by-step. First, take a picture of yourself against a dark background, and use a Sharpie to black out your hair to the desired length to see how it might look.

I was fairly happy with this book until I came to this tiny throwaway section on page 123. After a moment of confusion, I realized that the author was assuming that all her readers had light-colored hair. Oh, I'll say it. She was assuming that all her readers were blonde like her.

Well, hello!!! (invisible woman waving).

I'd gone until page 123 before noticing that almost all the models were white.

And young. But of course models have to be young, else they won't be models, and would have no place in a beauty book.

Alright, now that I have gotten that out of my system, on to the book itself. It is fairly basic and perfect for the absolute newbie. I did find the section on salon etiquette (i.e. tipping) to be very enlightening since this has always been an area of confusion for me. The section on hair I also found interesting. The other sections I felt were very basic. However in all honesty I think all the sections were equally basic. It just so happens that I've been more interested in skincare and makeup and so have read up more on those topics as opposed to haircare.

For the average Allure (or magazine) reader, I'd say skip this book. It seems to be rehashing much of what you can get in Allure anyway (wear sunscreen! test foundation on your jawline!). For the newbie or almost-newbie though, there are plenty of interesting nuggets in this book. For example (and here I'm exposing how little I knew before):

To find the (perfect lipstick shade), test shades by covering half your mouth with lipstick and leaving the other half bare. If the lipstick side is the same tone as the naked side but slightly deeper and glossier, then you've nailed it.
Stars for Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor
None for diversity, ***** if you're a newbie, * if you're not, and none for the misleading title (there's no titillation to be had from this book, unless you count the naked body slathered in body scrub, said scrub artfully placed strategically so that it looked natural and yet no naughty bits showed).