A decent amount of reading this week. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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Disappearing Earth (4 stars): 4 stars just for the beautiful, beautiful writing in this story. There are many reviews that outline what happened so I won’t repeat more than just to say two girls suddenly disappear from a town and the novel follows the year after. Each chapter is a month into the disappearance and it’s centered around a different character. Each chapter could easily be a standalone chapter of its own and each chapter will both give you a bit of hope and break your heart into pieces. The atmosphere, the characters, the misogyny are all alive in this novel but nothing is as extraordinary as the author’s incredible writing. The descriptions and the use of language are unlike any other and will stay with you long after you finish this book. So will the ending.

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Painting Masterclass (5 stars):  When I was in high school, Art History was my favorite elective, so it was with great excitement that I requested this book in netgalley. It easily managed to surpass my expectations. This book is broken down to sections by the subject of painting (nudes, figures, still life, etc.) and for each subject, it presents a wide array of masters using many different styles. Regardless of what your favorite style is, you are likely to find something you love here.

Each page has four sections: the art, a short background of the artist (often with interesting additional tidbits), the story and details of the art including the symbolism, and then a callout section with different techniques the artist used. This isn’t really teaching you the technique or breaking it out in enough detail for you to copy. It’s mostly calling attention to it and explaining it in a handful of sentences.

If you buy this book thinking it’s an art book to learn the masters’ techniques, I think you will be disappointed. If you buy it as a book to learn more about each amazing art piece and to dive into each maters use of different techniques, all the while getting a fantastic art history class, you will love this book.

huge thanks to netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Ever After (4 stars): I have taken several of Tamara Laporte’s classes (in fact, I am taking a class from her right now) and I have always loved her kind, thoughtful and generous approach to both doing and teaching art. I have not taken the Ever After class, mostly because Fairy Tales do not interest me. But since she’s an excellent teacher, and I’m always working on developing my own personal style I wanted to see how much I’d like the book. 

This book has three main types of content: 
– examples of art she and some contributors have made where they share their thinking and how they made a fairy tale their own. These come with step by step instructions to recreate the art. Not in a lot of detail but I’d say more than average. You can likely copy them using the steps.
– advice on things like how to work around your negative self-talk, find inspiration, develop your own symbolism, etc. on the way to finding how to work on listening to things that speak to you.
– and finally ways to make the art your own, i think this content is a bit thinner than i’d like. but in the end, there’s no magic to developing your style, it’s hard work and consistent work just like everything else in life, so I wasn’t super surprised by the type of advice around this.

I can always use more Tam in my life. Her kind and supportive message is always just right for me. Her art, while different than mine, is always loving and kind and I learn a lot from her each time. When I am stuck or just want to feel encouraged and supported, all I have to do is pull out a Tam book and I know I will feel the warmth of her support.

with gratitude to netgalley and quarto publishing group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This is How You Lose the Time War (5 stars): “Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.”

When I first started reading this novel, I was wildly confused. I didn’t understand the characters, the world building, or even what was going on. Had I not read about the time travel in the blurb, I am not sure I would have picked up on that at first either. 

As I started pondering what I had gotten myself into with this novel, I slowly found myself falling in love. After a few chapters, I didn’t even care a bit about any of those things. I wasn’t trying to figure out the plot or the world anymore. Not even the characters all that much.

“Blue sees her chosen name reflected everywhere around her: moon-slicked floes, ocean thick with drift ice, glass churned to liquid”

I completely fell in love with the writing of this story. With the imagery, the colors, the incredible choices of words. It was like reading poetry in prose format. It was like reading a painting. I can’t even describe how beautiful this story felt to read. 

“…every evening I see a red sky bleed over blue water and think of us.”

I fell in love with the characters and how they fall for each other. I fell in love with the ways they expressed their love and the creativity in the way they shared their letters with each other. The creativity in the way they solve the conundrums they find themselves in. The juxtaposition of the beauty of the world they create for each other vs the violent one they actually live in.

“But when I think of you, I want to be alone together. I want to strive agains and for. I want to live in contact. I want to be a context for you, and you for me.”

I can tell you that this story is weird and confusing and I am not sure I understood many of the things that happened in it. The world building was still blurry for me by the end. The plot, outside of their love for each other, had too many parts that left me unclear, too. But, alas, none of that mattered for me. The way this book made me feel surpassed anything else that mattered about the book. 

I fell in love with it hook, line and sinker.

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Red, White, and Royal Blue (3 stars): Really enjoyed this sweet, cute, and funny story. It’s wonderful to see more and better representation in novels and this was my first m/m romance story to read. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. The pace was fast and uplifting and yet still covered some serious topics. I hope this book’s success encourages even more and wider representation!

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A Nearly Normal Family (3.5 stars): I found this novel very readable, especially considering how much I disliked most of the characters. I liked the pivoting from character to character in three sections instead of every chapter like most novels seem to do these days. I liked how each went back and forth in time but not in a systemic way as much as in a way that built up suspense. I also liked some of the moral questions posed by the story even if I didn’t necessarily like the way the novel resolves them. I think books that make you think are good. I don’t mind when I dislike the characters and I appreciated that while there was some sort of a twist here, it wasn’t one of those “i fundamentally think of this story differently” twists that assume the reader is stupid. It was windy but all within the range of plausible and interesting, to me. I also liked some of the content that was left open ended especially to emphasize that it wasn’t the point of the story. In the end, none of these characters will stay with me, I didn’t find myself empathizing with any of them even if I did empathize with the situation as a parent. Net, net it wasn’t one of my favorite reads but it was interesting and will stay with me a while.

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Tea and Cake with Demons (4 stars): “Ambition that’s born from shame and self-loathing is powerful, but unfortunately it’s a fuel that doesn’t burn clean.”

This book is a great combination of Buddhist tenants laced with the perspective of self worth and practical exercises to try out some of the concepts and incorporate the ideas into your daily life. Some of these concepts weren’t new to me but others were. In some parts, I found myself getting confused about different titles and systems but the concepts underlying them were always interesting and valuable and she did a fantastic job tying them to tangible examples.

“We are all deeply significant, and not at all special. We are all profoundly valuable, whole, complete, and sufficient, and there is nothing unique about this. This distinction can bring us back down to earth and to a sense of steady humility that doesn’t diminish our worth.”

If you’re struggling with self-worth, or even just trying to build out more awareness and intentionality in your life, there is so much gold in this book.

Thank you to Sounds True and Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

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And there we go, an okay week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

A lot of reading this week! Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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Fix Her Up (3 stars): This is a fast and cute read. If romance is your cup of tea and you can overlook some of the shortcuts the author takes on behalf of the characters, you will enjoy this sweet novel. Fair warning that this is much steamier than the many of the similar looking romance novels that are popping up. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character being a clown, it just seemed unnecessary and distracted from the story in my opinion but otherwise, I was perfectly happy reading this one. Light, easy and fun.

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One Strategy (3.5 stars):  I read this book at the recommendation of someone at work and I knew it wouldn’t be a light read but, for some reason, the first part felt exceptionally dry to me. I didn’t connect with the content until the second part where the ideas were laid out more clearly with a combination of idea and then application (blog post) example. When he started talking about planning specifically, I finally connected with the book and was fascinated. I with it had been sooner than 36% into the book. The last 60+% went fast, was enjoyable and interesting and thought provoking. In fact, I likely could have just started there and still gotten most of the value out of this book. 

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This is Home (3 stars): This story managed to both be light and still cover some serious topics. I enjoyed the variety of characters in the story even though I felt like there wasn’t enough depth in any of them. I still liked seeing them come together, form a community of their own and help each other. It’s not a story that will likely stay with me for a long time, but I still enjoyed reading it.

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The Ruin (4 stars): Loved this book. This author is new to me but the reviews indicated that this would be a character-driven mystery novel which was spot on. I really enjoyed reading it despite some of the dark content. The story and character development was rich, the pacing was fantastic and unwinding all the lies and deceit and the flawed characters in this story made it a fascinating read. 

I really enjoyed that every single character was flawed in some way, which made them all so 3-dimensional and real to me. The dialogue and writing were also fantastic. I look forward to reading more of this series and author.

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Celestial Watercolor (3 stars): This book has beautiful paintings and a lot of information on each of the zodiac signs. It is a light and quick read, and worthwhile if you’re interested in zodiac constellations. While it has a lot of paintings and some quick steps, I would say it’s pretty light on the instructions on how to paint so if you’re looking for step by steps, this is not the ideal book for you. If you’re mostly looking for inspiration, this is your cup of tea.

Thank you to netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

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How Not to Die Alone (3 stars): I think the cover of this book led me to think it was different than it was. Not in a good or bad way just somehow I thought it would either be much more serious or much much lighter. Instead, it was somewhat in the middle. The story was relatively light with serious undertones and it was sweet. I enjoyed reading it but I am not sure any of the characters or the plot will stick with me for a long time, which is perfectly fine.

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Own Your Everyday (3 stars): I had never heard of this author. Apparently she has quite the following online and she’s a Christian author. I picked this book randomly from the library and liked the title and the cover. Once I started reading it, I liked the author’s voice and her down to earth style. Much of this book is not amazing new findings or a completely different perspective. I’ve read a lot on subjects like these so I wasn’t expecting it to blow my mind but it was touching and honest and open. It reinforced many of the ideas I am working on and I really appreciated reading it. 

The part that will stick with me the most is this one quote: “one can’t be 99% free and call it freedom.” This really rang true for me and made me think about all the areas of my life where I am still not choosing freedom over other possibilities.

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The Friend Zone (3 stars): Hmm ok, let’s talk about this one. On the surface, this is another cute romance story like many others that have come out for the summer of 2019. In some ways, it’s more than that. The characters are more complex and there are serious issues being discussed and addressed in this book. They are not addressed deeply but they are there and make the lives of the characters more 3-dimensional and less like a glossy magazine. Some really sad things happen in the story. I liked the characters, I loved their chemistry, I enjoyed reading about their stories, their interactions and especially the main female character being both a little fragile and a lot sassy.

And. It had all that and, it also had a few trite tropes I wish weren’t there. I am trying to not give away any spoilers so I will say it has a few literary devices that are common to how people shift their thinking and make change in their lives. More significantly there are some serious issues in this book that are then handled as if by magic they are less serious. This, to me, is a big no no. I don’t want to say too much but I am absolutely not ok when a writer takes a serious subject and swings a magic wand all over it. You do not have to handle serious topics in your book, but if you choose to, please give them the respect they deserve.

Other than that, I really enjoyed my time with this novel and I am looking forward to her next book, hoping is has a little less of what I didn’t love and more of what I did.

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For the Love of Books (3.5 stars): As a person who loves reading and books, I knew there was no chance this book would not be enjoyable for me. In my family, we have books that we like to keep in the car because they are perfect books for reading in snippets and it gives us the joy of having an option in case we find ourselves stuck somewhere and with nothing to read. This is a perfect car book. 

This book is organized by themes and each theme has lots and lots of snippets of stories about different books or authors. Each story is about a paragraph or a page. It’s not an essay collection, it’s not the author’s feelings or thoughts about these stories, it’s the stories themselves. For me, this was perfect. 

I was reading my book over 4th of July and had family visiting. There were so many fascinating bits in here that I couldn’t stop quoting them out loud to my family. If you’re a book nerd and like reading about authors, the stories behind the books or the characters, I have no doubt that you’ll find something to treasure in this book.

Thank you to netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

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Dawn (3.5 stars): I don’t usually read short story collections. Since my preference lies in character-driven plots, I generally don’t find short stories as satisfying. But I wanted to make an exception here because of my own roots even though I knew nothing about this author except what I found out from the blurbs. I knew the collection was short and decided to give it a try.

I really liked the first story, the symbolism, the strength and the writing. But then the second story was so over the top that I worried I made a mistake. Not sure why I kept going, maybe it’s because the stories are very short and compelling enough that I was willing to continue even if I didn’t care for one or two of them. There’s a good mix of optimism and tragedy in the stories. 

I listened to the audio version which was narrated by two Turkish narrators because they clearly knew how to pronounce all the names and places properly which was great. However, there were also many, many turns of phrase in the book that were clearly transliterated instead of being translated properly. For example, in Turkish we have something called bird language which a lot of kids use to talk to each other. It’s made up by adding an extra syllable between syllables of a word so it sounds like gibberish but is not. The author refers to this in the first story as how he can still remember it and understand the birds in the story. This concept doesn’t really exist in America. Kids here have something similar in called pig latin which does a similar play on words by “transferring the initial consonant or consonant cluster of each word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable.” Even though the concept is similar, clearly what they call it here has nothing to do with birds. A proper translation would have referred to it as pig latin so it makes sense to the local audience but then the whole correlation to the birds would have fallen apart. Hence the conundrum I assume.

This is one example but there are many examples in the book where I could clearly tell that the translation was a turn of phrase that makes sense in Turkish but doesn’t really translate and thus its power is lost in translation. 

For me, this didn’t take away much from the powerful stories since I could switch back to Turkish in my head. Many of these stories are thought-provoking and profound and enjoyable. Despite the handful that I really didn’t connect with, I am glad I read this collection. 

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And there we go, an okay week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.