Translations always stiffen a story — local settings blur into blank spots on a foreign map, characters are stripped of their cultural context, and a narrator’s conversation with a reader is distilled of comfortable connotations.

While I felt compelled to finish Haruki Murakami’s hyped novel, I skipped pages without missing much, and wondered why, if 1Q84 gets Nobel Prize buzz, Stephen King hasn’t won plenty of Pulitzers. (Murakami’s device of name-dropping obscure symphonies and Russian lit would mean more if one was trying to get laid in a Brooklyn cafe, and the last Pirates of the Caribbean was harshly criticized, not high-fived, for having characters without clear motivation.)

Maybe I would have enjoyed 1Q84 more in its original Japanese.

Mostly because I can’t read Japanese…

Stiletto Jungle

Allie is Wired has a first look at Nicole Richie’s gorgeous wedding.

Bag Snob has a super cute clutch for New Years and will be useful for weddings and special events for years to come.

Beauty Snob has found one of the richest and most protective lip balms around.

Coquette loves the ethereal beauty of Natalie Portman on the cover of Vogue.

Fashion Pulse Daily shares top fashionable and tech picks for the holidays

KRISTOPHER DUKES is wanting Jean-Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco Period .

Manolo recommends shoes for the non-retro girl to wear with the retro dress.

Second City Style shows you how to Step It Up On New Year’s Eve wearing Finds on a Dime.

Shopping and Info loves a white puffer down coat with a fur hood for that après ski look in the winter.

StyleBakery.com is keeping warm with faux fur jackets and accessories this winter.

The Beauty Stop suggests beauty inspired illustrations as a gift for the cosmetics lover.

The Fashion Bomb takes you shopping at TJ Maxx and Marshalls to find holiday looks for less!

If you like makeup and shoes, then The Shoe Goddess has the pump for you!

There are few reasons why I’d want a bajillion dollars.  Ditching the flying bus for a private jet, living at every Aman resort, and having French interior designer Christian Liaigre decorate my home are the few.

Christian Liaigre’s work in Liaigre is tortuously beautiful; it’s too much of a tease to see such perfection then have to wander through a reality that includes German Shepherd hair on a carpet I need to rip up…

Prada’s Waist Down Exhibit heads to Seoul, Korea launching at the Prada Transformer at the end of April!

It seems there’s no end to Stella McCartney‘s creativity. An animal lover, Stella has often used the silhouette of a horse in her textiles and fashion design. Now she’s reprised Lucky Spot, a gorgeous crystal “chandelier” installation at Belsay Castle in the UK.

A new book, The History of America’s Upper Class, celebrates American high society from the Vanderbilts to Paris Hilton.

Estatejobs.com discusses the ethics of cutting household help. The lifestyle of the privileged also comes with some pitfalls…

Watching.

I watched this twice; the story is brilliant. I’ve decided the director should leave his wife for me…

Reading.

Atlas Shrugged is a bible, but this is the best book by Rand. The characters are alive. And the sex is violent…

Hearing.

A smart blend of art and entertainment; like brain and body, the two should never really be divided…

Listening To.

Smooth as a green tea soy latte. But not as gay…

Reading.

The author beats The Donald with her adoration for ego…

Watching.

“The world is yours.” Classical story styled in disco duds…

You know, really naughty stuff.

Like a couple pages from the Bible, or jewelry from when you were engaged.

Those were dark days and overly light nights, no?