To Each His Dulcinea

"‘Versatility is one of the few human traits which are universally intolerable. You may be good at Greek and good at painting and be popular. You may be good at Greek and good at sport, and be wildly popular. But try all three and you’re a mountebank. Nothing arouses suspicion quicker than genuine, all-round proficiency.’"

Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings, Vintage Books 1st ed.

(Source: fuckyeahlymond)

"You cannot love any one person adequately until you have made friends with the rest of the human race also. Adult love demands qualities which cannot be learned living in a vacuum of resentment."

Dorothy Dunnett (via seeminglysweet)

(via fuckyeahlymond)

star-cunning:

A Polyvore set for Philippa’s time in the Topkapi Harem in Pawn in Frankincense!

This is wonderful. I am researching Islamic architecture for a paper right now and I can’t stop thinking about Philippa’s time in the Topkapi Palace. I miss Pawn in Frankincense.

Aww shucks, y’all are the best for your outfit approval (Note: this does not include my sister). I stole a long vintage navy blue jacket from my friend once I was downtown DC, and that way I was mixing all the neutrals and it actually kinda worked. Library of Congress-ing was successful and fun, I shall return tomorrow for an actual day of work. I got my researcher-ID, though, which is a helpful government-issued photo ID to have & it will make researching in the Jefferson reading room possible. 

In other news, I poetically finished Checkmate, the last book in the Lymond Chronicles, in the apartment of the friend who gifted them to me. I read the last twenty pages while she was off at a lawyer-dinner-thing, and under her instructions I continued to read even when I wanted to throw the book across the room and give up on life. I made it through, and it was so worth the heartache. What a beautiful series! It feels weird to be done — like I don’t know what to do next. Do I wake up and eat breakfast in the morning? What will my day look like?

Walking to Union Station this morning and watching the sun hit the Capitol Building was cold, but lovely. I want so badly to live in a city. 

"A lie is a broad and spacious and glittering thing, sweeping belief before it from its very grandeur. But the truth fits, like an old man cutting cloth in an attic."

Dorothy Dunnett, Checkmate

"Because subterranean schemes and deception are central to Lymond’s modus operandi, it is revealed only long afterward that the inexcusable had its excuses. ”I have no pretty faults,” as he remarks, ”only, sometimes, a purpose.” The constant interplay between the contradictory sides of his character, and the consequent realignments of our understanding of both him and the story, give ”The Lymond Chronicles” their unusual fascination."

 ANNE MALCOLM in the NY Times

bookporn:by grocap

"There is no land uninhabitable or sea unnavigable.
They made the whole world to hang in the air."

Dorothy Dunnett, from The Ringed Castle (via aubade)

Must. Stop. Researching Lymond-y things on the internet. Only end up discovering things I haven’t read yet.

Today was the first time I spoiled something for myself. && it’s only pages away!

saltspray:

“I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.”