books I'm reading! (Yay, books!)

Been reading Irene Castle's autobiography. Hugely fascinating. I knew about as much about the Castles as any self-respecting history geek, and I always thought they were terribly glamorous, since you always see pictures of her in books on historical fashion, and of course there was the movie with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but I never imagined just how huge of celebrities Vernon and Irene Castle were. Their life was even more rich with glamor and adventure than any fiction story you could find. They knew practically every famous name you can think of from the early twentieth century, and their dancing career encompassed theater, nightclubs, teaching, vaudeville, movies, society parties and benefits. It's just amazing. I'm so amazed no one else has ever thought to make a movie out of their story, since the reality was so much more exciting than what 1930's Hollywood decided to change it into. I've got to dig up more stuff about them. I'd absolutely kill to see the silent movie they made; I wonder if it still exists somewhere! Further research is definitely called for. :)

Also broke down and am reading Wuthering Heights. There's no danger of my falling in love with it, but I have to say there is a sort of train wreck quality to the whole saga. You sit there thinking "God, these people are awful!" but then it's like, "Well, I gotta see what wild and crazy thing they'll do next!" It may not be nice, but it's never boring. It really is the ultimate guilty pleasure read. I'm convinced that if Emily Bronte lived today, she could have a fabulous career writing for soap operas! ;-D

Considering how many books I'm currently reading (and there's several more besides those!), Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is unfortunatley going to have to wait a while. But I actually got as far as checking it out from the library! I really will read it this time, really!