I have just made a couple updates to the site. First is that I set up an email address specifically for Gingham Rose so you may direct any comments, questions, or concerns to ginghamroseblog@gmail.com. (For convenience’s sake, I have also included a link to this address in the sidebar, just click the cute pixel under “Write Me a Letter”.)
Secondly, I have included a BlogLovin button so users can easily receive email notifications for new Gingham Rose posts.
Happy Halloween! The end of October feels bittersweet this year. It was such an inspirational month for me, and a huge reason for that is because I decided to take part in my first-ever readathon, Victober. Victober is a readathon taking place over the month of October where participants read Victorian literature. There are specific challenges and books chosen each year by the hosts, but the general idea is just to read as much Victorian literature as you can. For the readathon, I read 2 plays (The Importance of Being Earnest and A Woman of No Importance) and 3 books (Cranford, Villette, and Wuthering Heights). Read on for my spoiler-free thoughts and feelings.
I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant to read the group readalong choices for this year’s Victober. I don’t really like watching plays, let alone reading them. But The Importance of Being Earnest ended up being such a delightful surprise for me. I loved how even though it’s a savage satire of the Victorian upper classes, it isn’t dry at all—absolutely the opposite. It’s very silly, but consistently silly throughout. It’s hilarious, too, and overall it was just such a joy to read. It’s quite a short play, and I found the language to be quite accessible for a Victorian piece, so if you are new to Victorian literature (as am I) it is a great place to start.
Rating: 5/5 stars
After finishing the first group readalong, I was quite looking forward to the second one, another Oscar Wilde play. Unfortunately, A Woman of No Importance was a bit of a let-down for me. Like The Importance of Being Earnest, it is a social satire, but it is very different in 2 main ways. Firstly, rather than satirizing the upper classes in more broad terms, it is more specifically a criticism of the hypocritical, and often ridiculous standards women were subjected to. Secondly, it is much more serious in tone.
Being a feminist, I really wanted to like this more than I did. I do think it was ahead of its time, and I think if I were a lady in the Victorian era I would have appreciated it much more, but as someone familiar with modern feminist ideas, I just didn’t feel like it had anything new to offer to me. The plot was interesting enough to keep me sustained for 90-some pages, but the wit and nuance I loved so much in Earnest wasn’t really there. I also didn’t really care for how melodramatic it was in the final act. Perhaps this is one that is better to watch than to read. This read was interesting to me from a historical perspective, but outside of a historical context I felt like I didn’t get anything special out of it.
Rating: 3/5 stars
This is probably an odd Gaskell for one to start with (to be fair, I wanted to read North and South, but it is perpetually checked out at my library). It is a bit of an unusual novel for the era, being that it is more of a slice-of-life collection of vignettes, rather than having a main, sweeping storyline.
I first heard of this novel in a video for Victorian lit recommendations for Jane Austen fans. I love Jane Austen, and I agree that this is a good pick if you are a fan of her writing. It takes place in the fictional village of Cranford, where the population is mainly women — particularly older, unmarried women. Most of the book is about the everyday antics these women get into, kind of like a Victorian sitcom. It’s a really, really charming and hilarious book. I loved how the women were obsessed with seeming “genteel”, despite being quite poor themselves, and this often leads them to become hilariously flustered. It’s a really sweet book, not a romance, but a sweet story of female friendship. My only gripe is that in the last few chapters it seemed like Gaskell suddenly decided there wasn’t enough plot and added some rather dramatic events. The ending was predictable and felt kind of tacked-on and a touch moralistic to me. I much preferred the slice-of-life feeling of the rest of the book.
Overall, this was a really cozy, light and enjoyable read, and I have plans to watch the TV miniseries after this!
Rating: 4/5 stars
Some have said Villette is a darker, more mature version of Jane Eyre. I absolutely loved Jane Eyre, and I love Charlotte Brontë’s highly descriptive, Gothic writing style. I also was drawn to this book because it is supposed to be Charlotte’s most autobiographical novel, as it takes place in the fictional city of Villette, based on Brussels, where Charlotte spent many dark and lonely years of her life teaching English, and where she fell into unrequited love with her fellow professor.
This is such an incredibly beautiful book. It has possibly the most beautiful writing I have ever read in my life. I actually kept a pencil with me when reading it because I often felt compelled to underline entire paragraphs—something I very rarely do. Besides the prose, my other favorite part of this book is how it explores themes of loneliness and depression. The protagonist, Lucy Snowe, falls into a severe depression midway through the book, and the description is the most effective, yet beautiful description of depression I have ever read in my life. I loved how real Lucy felt as a character. She is a strong character, but still very damaged from the tragic events that have happened in her life. I found the descriptions of her constant internal struggle between reason and passion really profound and relatable.
I’ve only been gushing about the writing and the themes, but the plot is also really solid. There are a few twists and turns that completely took me by surprise. The ending was really powerful, too, and about a week after finishing the book I’m still sorting out my feelings about it. I could write several more paragraphs about this book, but this post is already far too long!
(By the way, if you plan to read this book and you aren’t fluent in French, it is imperative that you find an annotated copy. There is tons of French in this book, from random phrases to entire paragraphs of dialogue, and you will need a translation handy. I recommend the Penguin Classics edition myself.)
Rating: 5/5 stars
Wow. This. Book. I was really nervous to read Wuthering Heights, because from what I have seen, most people either love it or despise it, and even those who love it say they understand why some people hate it. I’m happy to say that I ended up loving this book.
If Villette is about the internal struggle between passion and reason, then Wuthering Heights is about extreme, intense passion in the absence of any reason whatsoever. And I loved it for that. I loved how intense, passionate, and despicable the main characters were. Yes, you will probably hate the main characters, and that is the main reason so many people dislike this book. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Even though I disliked the characters, as human beings, I was absolutely fascinated by them in a literary sense. I was fascinated and terrified by Heathcliff, I felt sick to my stomach whenever he appeared, his intense passion and drive for revenge was so disturbing, yet interesting, that this book was un-putdownable for me.
This is a difficult book to review, especially because the things that so many people hate about the book are the very things that caused me to love it—in fact, I will say no more, for fear my lack of eloquence will turn more people away from reading it. This book is amazing. If you like psychological horror stories, then it’s a must-read.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Overall, this was a really satisfying Victober for me. I got to go out of my comfort zone reading Oscar Wilde’s plays, and I’m really glad I did that. And I found new all-time favorites in Villette and Wuthering Heights. I didn’t complete all the challenges, but I got a decent amount of reading done and there wasn’t anything I felt like was a waste of time. After all this, I’m still craving to read more Vic-lit, which I wasn’t expecting. (By the way, if you are interested in what else I’m reading, I’ve included a link to my Goodreads account in the sidebar of my blog).
We’re in the last week of October now and I’ve been listening to lots of Hatsuki Yura. Her music is just so appropriate for the season, and the album artwork is really beautiful, too. Here are a few favorites of mine.
Recently, I’ve started playing my old copy of Animal Crossing: Population Growing, in preparation for the upcoming Animal Crossing 2019 release. It was one of my favorite games growing up and I still remember how magical it felt back then. I’ve actually been keeping a little diary of my day-to-day life in KongHong (my town) and I decided to upload it here. I’ve made a separate page for it so as not to disrupt to flow of my blog; you can access it here or by clicking “animal crossing” on the navigation bar at the top of the page. There’s already about ten entries, so go check it out!
I have a confession: I love Christmastime. I love candles and hot chocolate, I love cinnamon-scented pinecones and poinsettias, I love music-boxes and nutcrackers, and yes, I love Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. There is just one little problem this year—-no snow. We have had maybe two snowfalls, and each time the flakes melted like sugar in water as soon as they touched the ground. It’s really quite strange. Last year I complained quite a bit of the snow, and this winter I cannot rid myself of the feeling that something is amiss.
Like last winter, I will be spending Christmas this year overseas. I’ve been trying to ignore my snow-related grievances and indulge in as many festive luxuries as possible before our departure on Saturday. My favorite Christmas album I’ve been listening to is Kalafina’s Winter Acoustic: Kalafina with Strings. It features both covers of traditional Christmas songs and some very enchanting original pieces, as well. My favorites from the album are “In Dulci Jublio” and “Fairytale”. I also have a very soft spot for the Sailor Moon Christmas album.
Speaking of Sailor Moon, on Sunday morning I slept in and watched Sailor Moon S: The Movie, which is kind of like the magical-girl version of a Christmas movie. I think I might make a separate post about it. It’s a very strange, very entertaining mixture of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, the traditional Japanese fairytale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and obviously Sailor Moon. After that, I went with my boyfriend downtown to the Christmas market to buy some candles, as the French lavender one we bought at the beginning of the season had long expired. Last night, we also went to my city’s pop-up Christmas bar, which is where this post’s featured image is from. Imagine a cozy (perhaps even slightly claustrophobic) hole-in-the-wall decorated floor-to-ceiling with lights, ornaments, tinsel, angels, and all other manners of Christmas paraphernalia. I tried a mug of alcoholic hot cocoa. I think I actually much prefer the non-alcoholic variety, and in terms of Christmas-y alcoholic beverages my favorite choice would be mulled wine.
~Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas movie/song/beverages/sweets~
Yesterday my boyfriend and I made a little trip to Squirrel Hill to the Taiwanese bakery there to pick up some custard buns. On a whim, we decided to stop by this curious-looking tea shoppe across the street.
Right away I noticed the amiable and comfortable atmosphere of this establishment. While most “tea shoppes” I have been to in the US are English-inspired, this one had an unmistakable Eastern feel, with Turkish reds and jade greens, beaded curtains, and clay teaware. My favorite thing was that in addition to the usual dining chairs and sofas, there were also some wooden steps leading up to a raised, plush platform with floor cushions and low tables, so you could take off your shoes and sit in one of these cozy nooks if you wished.
Another interesting note was that each table had a tiny engraved handbell on it, so if you required service you could summon an employee by tinkling the little bell. It’s a simple enough idea, but I just thought it was so cute. I was rather impressed with their tea selection, too. The menu came in a thick book with a paragraph for each and every tea detailing what region the tea was harvested, down to a vivid taste profile. They had a lot of interesting tea snacks as well. We were still digesting from our breakfast that morning so we had a simple order of a hummus plate with a light green tea (Tian Mu Long Zhu). Next time we visit I would like to try a pot of Morrocan mint along with some Russian tea-cakes.
I have always been drawn to rose motifs. There is no more iconic symbol of romance and feminine beauty than the rose—-plus, they just have the most delicate, yet intoxicating scent. In this post, I will describe my top favorite 3 rose-infused products and where you can buy them. 
I have long been on the hunt for a good fragrance. I knew I wanted something unmistakably girly, but as much as I want to like them, I can’t stand sweet-smelling perfumes with notes like vanilla or amber. Finally, I found L’Occitane en Province’s Roses et Reines (French for Roses and Queens), and I fell in love.
Roses et Reines Eau de Toilette is a fresh and velvety fragrance, a floral tale that celebrates the flower of the queens.
The muses behind this fragrance, the four daughters of the Count of Forcalquier, all cherished roses, the flowers that were said to have made them queens.
Their favorite roses, the Grasse rose, Bulgarian rose, Moroccan rose and Turkish rose are brought together in this precious scent, enhanced by a unique rose extract from Haute-Provence with delicate fruity notes, obtained by enfleurage.
First of all, I absolutely love the packaging for this product. The fragrance is contained within a thick glass bottle with ridges running through it lengthwise, and the L’Occitane logo engraved along the bottom rim. My favorite part, of course, is that the perfume itself is tinted a lovely subdued pink color.
As for the fragrance itself, it’s a fairly simple rose scent with a slight hint of sweetness–just enough to be young and fresh but not so sweet that it gives me a headache. I think it stands out from most other rose fragrances in that it has more of a genuine, fresh rose scent, rather than smelling powdery or cloying.
Where to buy: L’Occitane En Provence website for $59
Hand creams are an inexpensive way to add a little luxury into your everyday life. I like to use The Face Shop’s Perfumed Hand Cream in #1 – Rose Water after washing my hands, particularly after using that foaming soap that is in so many public bathrooms as I feel it makes my hands feel very dry. I love the smell of this cream. It might be a little weird to say, but the smell of it makes me kind of hungry; the scent, color, and texture remind me a lot of the filling in high-quality rose-flavored macarons. Another great thing about this product is that a little goes a long way—-I’ve had this tube for about a year now and I think there is enough product in it to last me about another month.
Where to buy: YesStyle for $6
I have used a lot of different face masks in the past, and the ones by My Beauty Diary (我的美丽日记) are some of my favorites. I was a bit worried before trying their Damask Rose masks, as I expected a more artificial perfumed scent that might irritate my sensitive skin, but the masks are actually very subtly scented. Best of all, they’re really hydrating. The sheets are soaked in so much essence that I like to save the pouch while I’m wearing the mask, then at the end I squeeze out a quarter-sized amount of essence leftover in the pouch and apply it to my negligee area. It’s a luxurious and affordable way to treat myself at the end of a long day~
Where to buy: I bought a pack of 8 masks at a nearby Chinese grocery store for about $12, but you can also buy them on Amazon for $14
The past two days have been full of rain–not the grey drizzles that we got so much of in winter, but the fresh sort of rain that brings lush, dark grass and honeysuckle-scented fog. I woke up at sunrise today with my sister for an early breakfast and tea at her house. I had this Edgar Allen Poe-inspired tea blended with lapsang souchong and beetroot. It was my first time trying a lapsang and I was surprised that it smelled like a campfire when brewing; however, the taste had a much more subtle smokey flavor compared to the scent. I am looking forward to having another cup of this tea the next time it rains. 
With the warmer weather and spring showers I have been noticing more and more critters about. I counted six slugs on my morning walk today, and I spotted this lily-of-the-valley plant growing behind my house. 
Let me know in the comments your favorite spring creatures, whether they be plants or birds or bugs~
This past weekend I had the utmost pleasure of attending a lolita meet-up at the local Chanticleer Gardens. These gardens are lesser-known compared to the nearby Longwood Gardens, and although they are significantly smaller than the latter, they are magically beautiful in their own right.
For the first part of the meet-up we had a potluck picnic in the garden greenhouse. I have learned that along with our mutual love for lolita fashion, one thing that ties my local lolita community together is our love for really good food! Each girl brought their own lovely treats, both sweet and savory: there were onigiri, spring salads, finger sandwiches, macarons, checkerboard-cookies, sliced fruits, and much more. One girl made her own violet syrup to share, which we mixed with seltzer water to make violet soda. 
In addition to all the food, the hostesses provided materials for us to blend our own tea! They set up a table with jars of various tea leaves and dried flowers, as well as tins and tea-satchets. I made myself a black tea blend with lavender and a touch of peppermint.
After a few hours of drinking tea and socializing, we explored the rest of the gardens. It really was the perfect weather: crisp and sunny with a slight room-temperature breeze. I still have a lot yet to learn about flowers and their names, but I recognized many early-spring blooms like snowdrops, tulips, daffodils, lilacs, and bleeding-hearts. It wasn’t quite hot enough to be parasol-weather, but I toted my BABY, The Stars Shine Bright one anyway, for the novelty of carrying a frilly parasol in a field of spring flowers.
Oh, my Diary, my sweet, sweet Diary, I apologize for my absence, but do not think I have forgotten about you. I’ve just been very busy with school-work and other such things the past month; none of it is very interesting, but you may be happy to know that I have just about finished with the last stretch of my academic life: my senior thesis is completed, I found a full-time job for after graduation, and within the next month I will be moving out of college and into an apartment of my own. With this newly-found spare time, I will be resuming to a more consistent posting schedule. 
Today I attended my last lecture—ever—and I celebrated quietly with a train ride into the city. I am to go to a lolita potluck-picnic this weekend (look for a future post on that!), and I decided to splurge on an assortment of macarons for everyone to enjoy. 
I bought a very floral assortment of flavors: honey lavender, fleur, rose, and earl grey. I thought it appropriate considering we will be picnicking in a flower garden.
The pictures included in this post are of today’s coordinate; I opted for a more comfortable casual style, with Oxfords and no petticoat. The skirt is currently the oldest piece in my wardrobe: Baby the Star’s Shine Bright’s Gingham Rose Ribbon from 2007. Clever readers may recognize the name from somewhere else, as well.
I do wish that you are all having a sweet day—and I am very much looking forward to posting here again!
