Kid Artists: True Tales of Childhood from Creative Legends by David Stabler

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"Kid Artists" tells the tales of childhood from the artists we know best. What were they like as kids? What happened to them in order for them to become the great artists we know today?

The book is divided into 3 parts: It's a hard-knock life, practice makes perfect, and call of the wild.

The first section focuses on artists who grew up poor or experienced severe hardships from war to death. Yoko Ono was fascinating. She started off as pretty much royalty and then through World War II became destitute. She wanted to work it all out through poetry and created a style called Conceptual Art.

Part two focuses on kids who had some amazing mentors to help them on their way to their greatness. Frida Kahlo was a fascinating kid. Loved her father, loved nature, overcame illness.

Part three are kids who were greatly influenced by nature and the great outdoors. Vincent Van Gogh was a big nature lover. He pretty much spent his whole childhood out there. Nature was truly the only thing that made him happy. He poured all of his sadness into his art. At least he had that.

All the stories featured art. They all had interesting facts and anecdotes. It's a small and diverse introduction, one that gives kids a taste and a desire for more information.

My son and I really enjoyed reading about these artists together.

*I received an advanced copy from the publisher in return for an honest and fair review.

R.I.P. XI: Book Review: The Ritual by Adam Nevill

How often do we feel fear when we head off into the woods? How many horror movies have been about well, horror in the woods! Lots. There are reasons why. Nature is scary. Nature doesn't care about us. It just is. It exists. The woods hide things. We can get lost.

Nevill does a fantastic job building up the horrors his characters face. Four friends head out on a camping/backpacking trip through the northern woods of Sweden. Soon one suggests a shortcut through some unknown woods since one of them has damaged his knee. Then they come upon a dead and horrifying slaughtered animal...it's fresh. How did it get up there?

They come upon an old cabin. They find a sewn together animal of goat and man and who knows what else...then the nightmares begin. It's a race for their lives as they try to outrun an ancient creature that wants to slaughter them.

It was creepy. The end took a different turn and that was creepy too. Overall, Nevill keeps us scared, guessing, and afraid of the woods. Perfect horror.

I read this for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI challenge hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.

2/4

R.I.P. XI: Book Review: Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

The book was so much creepier than the movie. But the movie kept the same feel of the book, which was nice. Overall, it's a coming of age story for both Eli, the vampire, and Oskar, the boy she lives next door to.

Oskar's parents are divorced. He lives alone with his mom. He's picked on brutally at school by three bullies. He wants a new life. Then he meets Eli, the girl next door. She's not like other girls. She stinks, for one, but she's really smart at the Rubik's cube. Plus she never judges him. Ever. They even start using Morse Code to talk to each other through the walls.

But then a boy is murdered in the woods. It looks like a ritual killing. More murders and more questions. Is Eli involved and her caretaker?

The pace is surprisingly quick. The author introduces all the characters that become entangled in Eli's web. We start to empathize and we're not quite sure who to root for....

I loved it. I loved the dark and cold feel of the book with a hint of warmth in how he writes both Eli and Oskar. Everyone seems human, even the monsters. It's a classic. I will read again.

There are two adaptations of this book. The original Swedish and the American one "Let Me In" with Chloe Grace Moretz. I saw the Swedish version a few years ago and plan on rewatching it soon and I just picked up the American version from the library so I'm excited to compare and contrast all three.

I read this for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings.

1/4 read

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

I had never heard of Gloria Steinem until very recently...like the last 5 years. I grew up very religious and feminism was not something I was supposed to connect with. Her name was never mentioned in my home or in school, even college. It wasn't until I decided to leave my religion and open up my eyes to different ways of thinking that I became familiar with her name.

I've read things about her since then. I've seen her face online and in magazines. I've watched a documentary about her. But I had never actually read one of her books. So when her new memoir came out last year, I picked it up on a whim while on vacation.

It only took me a few more months to actually sit down and read it. I loved it. Ms. Steinem describes how her literal life on the road has changed her. She shares with us her lessons learned from the people she's met and the places she's stayed.

My favorite stories are how she connects with people one-on-one. Her stories center on talking and communicating and coming together as equals rather than in hierarchies. Traveling and getting out and meeting people and hearing their stories is what can bring us together.

Each chapter focuses on people she met and the stories they shared with her. The good and the bad and in between all come out. A very enlightening memoir and one I'll read again.

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

What can I say? The Dark Days Club was supposed to provide a nice historical fiction feel from the vein of Jane Austen along with a fun supernatural fantasy and of course, a kick-ass female....

I did not get that. Goodman was very very proud of the fact that she did so much research into the Regency era that she had to let us know throughout the book about all the details! All the words like hoyden and by jove! She took me out of her world fast with her blatant snippets of historical minutiae. The story refused to flow for me. And because she focused so much on the Regency details her supernatural world-building completely fell apart. Her mythology is confusing. Demon-like energy beings from who knows where sucking out the lifeforces of all humans via nasty energy tentacles and whips only seen by our heroine and her fellow reclaimers and only via some weird crystal apparatus.

She tries really hard to combine supernatural Christian and Eastern philosophies along with natural philosophies. It just ends up a mess. Lady Helen says how well-read she is but the author doesn't show how well-read she is. Her thoughts and views and inner musings are really not well-read. She's your typical selfish rich upper class Regency Lady. All about duty and the balls and social graces. After she gains her powers she only plays with them once dancing alone in her room. That's it. No tests on how far she can go to read her uncle or aunt or anyone else unless she's told to. No tests of strength unless she's told to.

Also the love triangle? Was so weak. Both are boring and of course both hate each other and are in love with her because author said so....

I also didn't like the literal demonization of all of humanity. Yes we have sex and we lust and we're greedy but lets not say it's only the lower classes that take it too far and basically all the demons have control of the lower classes...just not my cup of tea. Lady Helen has to go down to the horrible parts of town, aka where all the poor people are. The stench and filth are terrible and she has the gall to ask how people can live like this? Really? The fate of the world rests on such caring and humane people as Lady Helen....oh boy. And let's not forget how she discovers Lord Carlston's humanity when he deigns to bow low to a lower class mother whose son's soul has just been redeemed....Really? What a super guy to bow to a lowly woman.

I know my modern sensibilities are getting in the way. And I'm not denying that that would be a sign of humanity back in those days. But it's not a story I'm really interested in. The characters are just blah. The secondary characters are worse. Poor things. Her lady's maid Darby only exists for serving Helen. She has no mind of her own at all. She couldn't be happier than to be a lowly servant in a rich upper class home. I'm sure she's grateful but that's all she wants to be or achieve in life? Don't think so. Servants are human beings with lives and wants and needs. She was so bland I didn't even realize she was only twenty until the author said so 3/4 through the book.

I can also appreciate that Helen may have a hard time with gaining all these new powers and finding out about demons and the Dark Days Club. I can accept all those things. But the author did not make me care one whit about Helen or any of that Regency World. I'm kind of rooting for the demons. At least they know how to have fun....

Maybe the second book gets better? I hope so.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

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I didn't know much about Malcolm X before I decided to read his book. The book by Ta-Nahisi Coates Between the World and Me convinced me to finally pick up the Pulitzer-winning biography. I knew he was a controversial figure. I knew Spike Lee made a movie based on his autobiography starring Denzel Washington. That's it.

Let's just say I learned not only what an interesting and complex person he was but I learned so much more about history during that time.

Manning Marable does not sugar coat anything about Malcolm X. He let's us decide how to interpret it all together in the end. But he does not paint to be a hero not a villain. He calls him out on his prejudices and sexism when he sees it. It's a beautiful portrayal and one I want to have permanently in my collection.

Malcolm X did not want to write his own history; he was approached by Alex Haley and reluctantly agreed to do so after he got the OK from his leader Muhammad Elijah. But it was an opportunity to rewrite and advance some of his history and tell it like he wanted it. Thus the main theme and angle of this biography is how Malcolm X continued to reinvent himself from his challenging criminal days in Harlem as a teenager to his conversion and salvation in prison to Islam and specifically that of the Nation of Islam.

And even from there he could not help his changes. He visited Africa and the Middle East twice and both times left him a different person. He truly set out to embody his wisdom and seek that for his people.

This is a large book and I can't even begin to summarize everything but I'll end with the final paragraph of the book which sums up what Malcolm X did and what he should become in our collective consciousness .

"A deep respect for, and a belief in, black humanity was at the heart of this revolutionary visionary's faith. And as his social vision expanded to include people of divergent nationalities and racial identities, his gentle humanism and antiracism could have become a platform for a new kind of radical, global ethnic politics. Instead of the fiery symbol of ethnic violence and religious hatred...Malcolm X should become a representative for hope and human dignity. At least for the African-American people, he has already come to embody those loftier aspirations."

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

From Goodreads:

She's a stunner.Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.
She's a liar.But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense thesìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.
She's a murderer.Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.
She's a Falconer.The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.

I always enjoy a good fantasy story with elements of myths and legends and throw in a kick-ass female and I'm pretty happy. It doesn't always work out that way but this time it did.

I still had some hesitations like the fact that her world-building was a little shoddy. I almost felt a little bad for the fae folk. She paints them as horrible monsters with no redemption and yet her trainer is one and her tailor is also one, though tiny.

Our entrance into her life is one of murder and mayhem. She's a lady and has a hard time keeping up her lady-like duties---like not tearing dresses and corsets while killing fae and saving lords.

She wants revenge for her mother's murder a year ago and only her trainer knows what killed her mother. She's bloodthirsty for the hunt and it's almost all-consuming. The author tries to show her humane side by sharing her feelings of shame and guilt over wanting to hunt and kill the fae but it kind of comes off clunky.

The romance starts off a bit like a love triangle but you soon know where it's all going. Not a lot of chemistry between her and Kiaran. You could also substitute vampires for the fae and not be the wiser....

Overall, it's an interesting and fast-paced story. I like Aileanna. She tries to keep her humanity under horrid conditions. But the world fell flat for me. The steampunk was only there to serve as a way to bring her modern-type weapons in the mid-1850s of Scotland.

It would also be nice to have an ugly protagonist just once. Someone who can get the job done but is not physically pretty. Oh well.

The story gets a bit convoluted towards the end with ancient seals and portals and wandering fae lands. So I'm hoping she delves a bit more into the world and creates some nuance. So many fantasy worlds in YA fiction just need a little more nuance.

Strong and capable female character with some fun fantasy elements. Overall a win. I just hope the next book is better.

Reading With My Son--Spidermania

Gabe has gotten really good at reading and it's been very enjoyable to read to him and him back to me. We've been able to have some great discussions this way. Even just to see him get excited about certain things in a book or a topic or what doesn't, is fun to see.

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At the library a few weeks ago he picked out a really cool book on spiders to bring home. Spidermania: Friends on the Web by Alexandra Siy. It has all sorts of electron micrography photos, zoomed in pictures of the spiders' parts. It explains various types of spiders, where they live, how they eat, and why they're important to our planet.

So don't squish a spider!