Femme Fatale

I have been very unwell lately. Between a migraine that ended up sending me to the ER and lasted a week, migraines that have completely wiped out whole days, and trying to get out there and do modeling/work with new photographers... Its been trying for me. So i'm catching up on reading and posting when I can. If I manage to read more than one book in a night i'm trying to fill in back space where I missed days. I'm hoping to read at least 365 books/stories this year.

Title: Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the unknown life of Mata Hari
Author: Pat Shipman

Mata Hari is someone that is kind of unavoidable when reading about burlesque, strippers, and the like.  I'd often wondered about her, as i'd seen pics but never had actually read anything about her other than that she was popular. 

I found out due to this book, that I do not care for her as anything but a visual.

The woman was insufferable.

Shes basically Scarlett O'hara from the Gone withe the Wind movie (i've never read the book) as a real person.

She cared really almost nothing about anyone but herself, and anything of real value except for her own personal gain/money. She was highly promiscuous, a cheater, and most definitely a liar. She was counted as a spy for germany, france, and russia though it seems like she cheated them as well (for a paycheck without following through with orders) which finally caught up to her in the end.

She (and anyone she was with) was constantly in HUGE amounts of debt due to her spending habits, and it seems as though she suffered from syphilis from her first husband (which in the end led to the demise of her two children.). 

Basically the short of it is that she was spoiled rotten for her whole life.

((Weird side note: her head appears to have been stolen from its place in a museum a long while back after her execution.))

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatale-Love-Lies-Life/dp/0060817313

ISBN: 978-0060817312

KIKI de montparnasse

Title: KIKI de Montparnasse
Author: Catel & Bocquet

This book is based on the life of a real person. (As you can see in the above image, the photo to the right is the REAL Kiki, also known as Alice Prin. She was a lively woman, who happened to live a life full of art, prostitution, cocaine, and DADA. She seemed to enjoy herself thoroughly and to have lived at the edge of her seat in an "I do what I want" fashion. 

There are no real words to describe how she was, though this comic does an excellent job of portraying her in a proper timeline. She had not the best of morals, but she isn't painted in a bad light. More of that she had a joy of life that let her go seamlessly about her way.

I was surprised at the end of the book to find that she was a real person. (Though the artists mentioned throughout I already knew to be real.)

Find it here:  https://www.amazon.com/Kiki-Montparnasse-Catel-Muller/dp/1906838259

ISBN: 978-1-906838-25-6