The Mapmaker's War; A Review

The Mapmaker's War by Ronlyn Domingue
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I found the plot of this book to be mesmerizing, I found it hard to get "in" to the narrative and really submerse myself in the story. The characters felt distant and at times dull to me. I felt as if I never really knew any of them. And perhaps this distance was on purpose, but it made it hard for me to feel the strong emotions and sense of peace and understanding that this book spends so much time describing.

I also found the story to at times feel pointless. I understand it was written as if it were an autobiography, but it also didn't quite feel like that; I got the impression that the story within the life was more important than the life which told the story, but this separation was muddled and confusing at times.

I would like to read the sequel, and see if I still have the same feelings - I suppose we'll find out.

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Booklikes/Goodreads Tag

I have just discovered Booklikes, and I am currently trying to figure it out (we'll see) but I found this fun tag from Bookwormblurbs so I thought I'd give it a go.

1. What was the last book you marked as 'Read'?

 The Tenth City by Patrick Carman

2. What are you 'Currently Reading'?

 I am reading both Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman as well as Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

3. What was the last book you marked as 'To-Read'?

 Into the Mist by Patrick Carman, it's a sort of prequel to the Land of Elyon series (of which is The Tenth City)

4. What book do you plan to read next?

 Uff. Good question. I've sort of started 1Q48 by Haruki Murakami, but it may be the Book Your Brains Out book of the month to read, so I'm holding off to see what we pick (and if it is indeed that book, it'll be that I read next)

5. Do you use the star rating system?

 I try to, as well as actually writing out a review (although sometimes it's a rather short review that I write)

6. Are you doing a 2014 reading challenge?

 I am! I picked a modest number of 20, which isn't really a challenge at all, but mostly because as of this spring I graduated with my BA and so I was quite busy and did not have time for pleasure reading. At one point I read about 100 books a year, and I'd like to get back to that again.

7. Do you have a wishlist?

I have some books on my amazon wishlist, but I would like to get all the books on my "to read" list (which is already quite long but is also ever-growing)

8. What book do you want to buy next?

Good question. Probably the last book in the Across the Universe trilogy, which is Shades of Earth. I somehow ended up with one pretty cover for Across the Universe and an ugly one for A Million Suns, so I'd also like to get a copy with a nice cover (and then I'd bookcross the one that I currently have)

9. Do you have any favorite quotes? Would you like to share a few?

 “I remember wishing the moment would hold forever; that we could be fixed there, laughing and iridescent... Then I got panicky because I knew it would pass; that it was passing already.” Tina Howe, Painting Churches

10. Who are your favorite authors?

 J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, to name a few

11. Have you joined any groups?

Not on goodreads/booklikes, but on leafnotes, yes. 

12. Are there any questions you'd like to add to this tag?

No (: 

I tag:

Anyone and everyone!

Summer Steam Sale

Well, the summer steam sale got me. Literally EVERY SINGLE GAME on my wishlist was on sale. And since I have a new cord for my desktop computer's monitor, it's time to play some games, I think. I picked three to get right now since I'm a little low on funds, but they've all gotten great reviews (and I've wanted to play Fable since I saw my friend playing it on the xbox when we were kids) so there ya go. I'll (maybe?) do reviews after some playtime. 

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

A Million Suns by Beth Revis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book, and it's a good followup to the first book in the trilogy. It's not a particularly hard book to read, so I sped right through it, but the story is captivating and it left me excited to read the next book.

View all my reviews

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a lot going on in this book.

From court intrigue to murder to torture to love, this book has a lot of everything and then even more after that.

I would say the biggest downfall of this book, and the series, is how emotionally draining they are. You learn to either not invest in any of the characters, or to brace yourself for a world of sadness and grief. I find that even being numb to the characters can be draining, however.

Then there's also the length of the book - my copy was 1128 pages long (not including the appendix). That makes for some dedicated reading, and it's because of that that I always need to take a break between books.

While it is initially hard to keep track of all the characters in the series, by this point it's fairly easy A) because about 1/3 of the characters are dead and B) the same names keep popping up over and over (the only people this does not apply to are the Freys. Fuck the Freys, there are far too many of them and they're basically all awful).

I think this book has a good mix of POV characters, so there's sure to be a favorite or two in there for everyone. I do wish we could branch out and see some different POV characters, as we basically have the usual her save for Jaime and Sam (was Sam a POV character in the second book? It's been so long I can't remember now). Especially people not from/on Westeros, but maybe that's just me who would like that.

The plot has both simmered down and started to stir up again with this book, as some kings die, new kings are made, and we finally being to approach "the Others" in this book (although not as much as I would have liked).

It's a good book part of a good series, but you really need to dedicate yourself to the task. You cannot half-ass this series. If you can't give it your all... Well, there's the TV show and easily a million other books to read. But if you have the time, it's well worth it.

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Book Crossing

Hello everyone!

Bookcrossing is something I've always loved, but I haven't really had time for it lately. This is mostly due to the fact that I have a huge stack of books at my dad's house I've been meaning to release, but the Little Free Library nearby can only hold so many books. As you can see, I had to resort to stacking my books on top of other books or in the front to get them to fit.

My goal is to release 200 books before the end of 2014, and I'm not too far away as I've registered 176. So now I just need to let them go! I highly recommend bookcrossing to anyone, and if there are books I've registered and not released yet you'd like to read, let me know and I'll send the book your way!

Cheers.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful book and quite the quick read. It reads to me like a fairytale for adults, with mystery and wonder. This book will leave you wanting more stories like this, but feeling satisfied with the end and with the story itself.

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not my favorite John Green book.

While I liked the characters as individuals, and the premise of the story, it just didn't come together at the end.

Also, I hated the tones of "girls are prettier when they don't wear makeup!" because I am seriously sick of hearing that shit and I expected more from John Green.

I'm not even sure that I would recommend this.

View all my reviews

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An easy read, this book is quick and hard to put down.

I will admit that the book starts off rather slow, and there's a lot of telling instead of showing, as it were, but there are moments where the author really captures how certain emotions feel (which is hard to do with only words).

I'm eager to read the next book!

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Easter Pictures

Hey everyone!

My niece is probably the cutest thing ever. Easter (well, I guess this is Saturday, but it's when we did Easter) was nice and relaxed - my SO is the one in the blue in the background. I really miss getting to see her every other Sunday. She's growing up too fast.

Good night my friends.

River Lakes 2014 Beer & Wine Expo, Some Thoughts

Good evening everyone! 

A few days ago I went to this Beer & Wine expo thing with my dad and some of my family, and I didn't really have much to reflect on alcohol-wise (other than my notes from Bell's Brewery being, "Whatever the fuck that seasonal one was with the sun is pretty damn tasty" and a star next to Cider Boys' Mad Bark and the notes "dis some good shit yo") but it was an interesting social experience.

Firstly, young folk (like myself) were not the primary demographic; no, most of the people were at least fifty and happily getting drunk off wine and beer since it was a fundraiser for the local hockey team. Mind you, this was out in bumfuck Minnesota, so perhaps this shouldn't have surprised me.

Secondly, I had forgotten how much the folk up north love country music. That's all they blared the entire time, except when some middle-aged white guys stumbled up on stage to sing some country song or another (in their defense I have no idea if they were good singers or not, since their instruments were much louder than they were). 

Thirdly, (and this was my favorite) there was not a single person present who was not white. Not even one token minority. It took me a while, and my cousin to point it out, but I scanned the crowds for the last two hours desperately looking for someone who was even a quarter not white, and I had no luck (although there were some pretty bad tans present). 

See what I mean? I'll give you five bucks if you can spot someone who isn't white.

Other than the fact that I was a hipster/democrat/chick with bright red hair and sorely not part of the target demographic for this event, it was nice to try some different beers, ciders, and wine (I even got myself to try some IPAs, and those were fairly tasty). 

There's something called The Winefest on May 9th & 10th here in the cities and I would love to go if it didn't cost an arm and a leg to attend (to be fair I believe the proceeds are going to children's health or something, so that's nice I guess). My SO and I decided we're going to go to a brewery or a winery in the near future, so we'll see what comes of that.

Sleep tight Minneapolis.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Good evening everyone!

Man, I have to say, it's been a long time since I read such a complex work of literature that really got me to think, but also left me feeling like there was so much I didn't understand yet. It's a book I read for pleasure that I plan to do a lot more research on because I think this book is utterly fascinating.

As soon as I finished I began looking online for reviews from other bibliophiles, and I found this wonderful review from I Read Odd Books. I really enjoyed her review and her take on the character Johnny Truant, but honestly for me the most fascinating aspects of the book were A) the layout/the text as a work of art and B) the Navidson Record. I completely understand that the book is really about Johnny more so than it is anything else, and he was a very compelling character and I enjoyed reading about him, but there was something alluring about the house and all its secrets.

Anyway, there are some spoilers below the line, so if you don't want to have details shown to you before reading, here might be a good place to stop. (To make some sort of a page break, here I'll insert some pictures from select pages that show off why I think of this book as a work of art as much as a piece of interesting literature.)

One of my favorite things about this book are little passages with nuggets of thought or clever writing that made me stop and think. One such passage shows up fairly early on in the book, on page 73. There's just been a discussion about echoes and how they work, and it's before there have been any explorations of the hallway. Navy is with his daughter, Daisy.

"Come play with me Daddy."

Navidson lifts his daughter onto his lap.

"Okay. What do you want to play?"

"I don't know," she shrugs. "Always."

"What's always?"

...

Then again, "always" slightly mispronounces "hallways".

It also echoes it.

  I was pretty taken aback when I read this for the first time. It was just a very interesting point to make, and shows the intricacies of the people who live in the house and how they are being affected by it.

Here's another good quotation from the book:

Strangely, then, the best argument for fact is the absolute unaffordability of fiction. Thus it would appear the ghost haunting The Navidson Record, continually bashing against the door, is none other than the recurring threat of its own reality (found on page 149). 

Something I agree with the author of I Read Odd Books is that I marked up my copy with little flags for everything I found interesting and wanted to write about, and found, when I went back, that I couldn't remember why  had marked half the things I did in the first place. I started to take notes in a little notebook of mine, but I still found myself rather lost at the end.

Here are some resources if you too are interested in this book:

• A Guide to the Book
• The Weirdness in House of Leaves, a review
• 21 C Magazine Review of HoL
• An explanation of ergodic literature 
• Another explanation of ergodic literature (from the U of M, my school! :D)

I can't really think of this review as an ending, for me - rather this is just the beginning. I feel there is still so much I have yet to understand and that I need to go over to fully understand this text. Maybe I'll report back once I've done some more digging.

If you want to see what else I've been reading lately, or to see how far I am on the 2014 reading challenge, check out my goodreads here.

Throw Back Thursday: Aamodt's Apple Orchard, Fall 2012

Hey everyone!

Recently my SO shared with me some pictures he found on his point and shoot camera, one I used for awhile before getting my Nikon. I had kinda forgotten about these pictures, to be honest.

He sent me one in particular of us at the Apple Orchard, one of the first "real big dates" we went on (we were already "together", I suppose, but we hadn't done anything that special over the summer). We were a pretty new couple then too. We spent the day at the Orchard, ate apple salsa, drank cold cider, picked apples, and had a pretty damn good time.

Last year we went to the same orchard, but with his parents/brother/niece. My favorite is when Natalie went up to the goats and asked, "Puppies?" I replied, "No Natalie, those are gooooats" (the "o" being drawn out in the typical Minnesotan fashion) and she repeated after me, "gooooats".

What I like about this picture is that we're both pretty darn happy. I'm not worried about looking silly - I'm actually, genuinely smiling, which is so rare in pictures for me (I'm usually too self conscious to do so). I still have a stud instead of a ring (those were some dark days). It's funny because his hair is much longer now and he now wears glasses like I do, but he's still pretty darn handsome in his flannel shirt and smiling as well.

Anyway, here's the picture:

A Trip to the Moon

Source

A Trip to the Moon (or Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a strange, but fantastical film by Georges Méliès, and it was first seen by audiences in 1902. So that makes it a pretty damn old film. It was shot in black and white film, and then hand colored in. For a very long time it was thought that there wasn't a surviving, original copy of the film in color, but then one was found (oddly enough, since it is a French movie) in Spain. It was in pretty poor condition, and it was very fragmented, so it sort of sat untouched for a bit (it was found in the 90's and not restored until 2010). Some very ambitious folk decided to try their hand at restoring it, and we now can view this interesting, short little piece of art in color as well as in black and white.

Here is an example of the B&W vs Color:

Black and White

Hand-Colored

And here's another one for good measure (and because it's one of my favorite parts of the film):

Ahhh, my face! My beautiful face!

Ahhh, my face! My beautiful face! (Now in color!)

I took some notes while I watched the movie, and I think what really struck me is how fantastical this story is. It's about a group of old white guys who take a trip to the moon, crash land on the planet, and when one of the native folk pop up he/she/it is promptly whacked on the head by one of the old guys with a stick, and disappears in a POOF of smoke. When the old guys get to what I believe in the palace of the ruler of these folk, they start whacking all sorts of people, get chased back to their rocket-thing, and then fall off a cliff and therefore fall back to earth.

Basically they're huge jerks to the native people of the moon (who are a little strange, I'll admit, but c'mon, they didn't even try to talk to them). And they MURDER THE MOON KING. Rude. Wikipedia fleshes out the story a little more than I have, but that's basically it. I'm somehow reminded of the great conquerors of the Western world and how they weren't always nice to the native population. It's like the opposite of the Enterprise's mission (while it might not explicetly state "and do not explode the native people of foreign planets, I think the idea was discovery, not being a bunch of rude assholes).

I still find it captivating and beautiful, especially when the planets are personified (you'll see if you watch it yourself). If you do want to see it, click here for a link to the movie on youtube.

The image I've shared of the moon is one of the most iconic images in film history, as well as being "punny" (Wikipedia explains it pretty well).

If you want to read someone else's opinion, here's a link to a review/where I got the images from by Gary W. Tooze.

Welcome Home!

Hey everyone!

As you might have noticed, this is sort of (and I'll explain why) a sister blog to Good Morning Minneapolis. This one is also by me, and I found that I really missed blogging about artistic ventures and my writing. I want to grow as an artist and as an individual, and makeup/skincare/beauty is only one part of that, and frankly it's rather small.

So here I will post about art, art projects, writing, poetry, snail mail (hey, I consider snail mail a form of art!), book reviews, etc. It's sort of like a personal blog, but not really (I guess? You'll have to listen to a lot of me rambling, I'm sorry to say). My thoughts, my blog. 

All are welcome here. If you like art, books, snail mail, photography, maybe even just me! You can certainly tag along for the ride. 

I can't promise any consistent posting (at least now), but I will try my hardest to be as frequent and interesting as possible, but what interests me may not interest you. 

It's funny, because I think the names of my blogs are rather fitting. Two sides to me, two sorts of blogs; maybe I'm being a little silly, but I'm glad it worked out this way. 

Current video games may or may not show up here (I haven't decided if that's something I want to blog about yet or not, we'll see).

Anyway, this is me:

A slightly pretentious shot, but I haven't done any self portraiture (showing my face, anyway) as of late. I'm twenty-two, almost done with my degree (Classical Civilization with minors in French and Classical & Near Eastern Archaeology). I'm passionate about archaeology, the past, and analyzing text. I enjoy reading, knitting, writing, photography, cats, rabbits, vegetarianism, makeup, good food, good friends, wine, sake, sleeping, sleeping, and more sleeping. 

Basically I'm just a person with a blog.

Ask if there's anything you're curious about, otherwise... Enjoy the ride.