It’s been a while since I read an art book but I decided I had to have Artist Unique when I heard about it. One of the things I struggle with is finding my own voice in art. And I thought this book might help.

And it has. Not a huge amount but it did help me think about what makes someone’s art unique and gave me a lot of ideas about different techniques and types of art to try. It also helped me discover some artists I didn’t know.

And finally it encouraged me to seek my own path. To not worry. And it’s a journey I am happy to take. This one is recommended.

I wanted to read Friendship Bread as soon as I saw it on the Goodreads newsletter as well. It took me a while to get to it and, as you know, I haven’t read a grown-up book in a while. I must admit that this book took longer to read than usual but that’s mostly because it came right in the middle of many of my mixed media classes and I spent most of my treadmill time watching videos instead of reading.

However, it was a wonderful book. I liked the characters and enjoyed reading the story even if I found it a bit predictable. It wasn’t a super-clean ending but it was one of those “everything’s going to be alright so you can stop reading and be happy.” kinds of books which I must admit I much prefer these days. Enough with the sad books already.

It also made me want to bake and if I weren’t seriously watching what I ate, I totally might have done this bread just to see how it tasted. Sweet novel and worth my time.

Two friends recommended Wake and the premise sounded fascinating. And it was fascinating (the premise that is.)

But the book was written in a style that just did not speak to me. It’s obvious that it was a specific choice by the author and it might have worked for some people but it kept distracting me.

And, for me, it got in the way of the story. The story was ok. Also not as interesting as the premise. I know this is a series and I might be tempted to read the rest because I did like the characters but I am hoping that the others are written in a less choppy style.

Or at least written better.

Since I am on a Young Adult kick, I decided to pick up Just Listen by Sara Dessen. She’s a well-loved author and this was supposed to be a good book.

Parts of this story seemed so familiar as I read it that I kept wondering if I’d read it before and just didn’t remember. I think I must have just read an excerpt in a magazine or something because the rest of the book wasn’t as familiar. All in all, I enjoyed this but didn’t think it was as deep or character (or plot) driven as some of the other novels I’ve read recently.

Not a waste of time but not a total favorite either.

After reading and loving Looking for Alaska, I wanted more of the same author so I picked up Paper Towns. I wasn’t sure if I liked the book or the author.

As it turns out, I love both.

The author did not disappoint at all. I loved this book as well. Now I have to go find more book by this author. It’s always fun for me to discover new authors I love. Even though it’s a young adult novel and I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, if you like well-written books with interesting characters, this is recommended by me.

Yey for new-to-me authors!

I will not lie. I picked Real Life and Liars because I liked the cover. I wanted to pick up something that was not Young Adult. This story seemed interesting but not extremely depressing and I wanted to see if I liked it so I decided to give it a chance.

Even though it’s been a while since I finished it and I read it relatively quickly and enjoyed it for the most part, I still don’t really know what I think of it. I can’t say I disliked it. It was interesting. It was worth reading.

But I also can’t say it was the best read this year. Not even in my top ten likely.

I still don’t regret reading it. And that’s as good as it’s going to get for now.

Not much of an endorsement, eh?