Books 1

[walleye]

Here's some books that are more in the overarching category of "Books I have read ages ago that have stuck with me since". I've been trying to read a lot more lately (hit my reading goal in 2020 with 31 books read, while I aimed for 24! nice!) and it feels nice. Like when I was a kid and could just get lost in things. No need to feel angry/passive aggressive while browsing twitter during meetings. Instead I can just read! Well, here we go.

Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

This book is so beautiful, it took me a while to finish because I was intimidated by it and thought it was too good for me. When I get more involved in miniatures, I would love to do some sets inspired by the cities from this book. My favorite one is Thin Cities 3, full of pipes and taps and showers and occupied by nymphs. It's very dreamy, I love the ideas of nature/mythological reclaiming the sterile/machine like. I need to reread this some time. Fantasy slice of life!

Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier

Ok (SPOILER ALERT, rot13) V xabj fur zneevrf ure pbhfva. Naq gung ernyyl fhpxf. BUT OTHER THAN THAT! This book has really perfectly crafted the image of a supernatural getaway and loving big family with lots of sisters that I didn’t otherwise have access to in real life. Romantic boat rides. Vampires. Talking frog. And the cover is gorgeous! It reminds me of this tin can forest painting called Jezabel that I really love (post about art I love incoming). Thank you Kinuko Y. Craft. And thanks KCLS Read 3 Get 1 Free for the book <3

Spinning, Tillie Walden

 

WAH...TILLIE WALDEN...Read this last summer and it left me gutted. Really gorgeous art style, incredibly poignant memoir. Tillie Walden ...graphic novelist goals. It was so emotional and I was so obsessed with this (and her other works...did go on a Walden Comic Binge over the summer). Teaches me that there’s much to learn about a. Art b. Storytelling.

 

I’ve been really into mysteries/thrillers these days. Trying to widen my genres a bit, though (and a lot of mysteries can get very tedious/formulaic easily. Though I have read Sadie by Courtney Summers which I think jessica recommended to me a LONG time ago and it was very good). I’m starting to be intrigued by scifi these days as well (kevin’s impact no doubt). Normally I thought it was kind of...boring as a genre; even though there’s so much room for creative thinking and new ideas, all scifi fiction I’ve heard of is much the same. Doesn’t help that it’s written by men either! But I think that means I just need to broaden my horizons...look for the few gems that do it well. Topics that go beyond “Oh gotta shoot the aliens :/ Damn.” Going -> speculative fiction/sci fi section of Good Reads. Thanks for reading!