Category Archives: Reviewettes

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity’s seen snow falling twice in the past eight days, but maybe it’s finally spring…

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Bookity

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Reading Update
Half Magic (Tales of Magic #1) by Edward Eager. Over the weekend, I read a lovely feature in Rain Taxi on Edward Eager’s Magic series, which inspired me to start rereading them in ebook from my local library system. I’m finding ebook to be an excellent format for these, because it means I’ll actually look up definitions – and Eager wasn’t afraid of flexing his vocabulary.
Knight’s Castle (Tales of Magic #2) by Edward Eager. This one jumps ahead 30 years from the previous book – it’s good, but definitely not my favorite of the series.

“Oh no, did I forget to turn off the stove?!” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity haz a mad at the Minnesota weather right now

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Bookity

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Reading Update
The Art and Craft of Handmade Books by Shereen LaPlantz. This book was originally published in 2001 and it’s amazing to me how far book arts have progressed since then, based on LaPlantz’s descriptions of how things were at the time. Her “recessed skewer” binding is really interesting and I’ll definitely be trying that technique – it involves a hole punch, bamboo skewers, and ribbon.
Stamp It!: DIY Printing with Handmade Stamps by Jenny Doh. Exactly what it says on the tin! 🙂
Hand-Printing Studio: 15 Projects to Color Your Life a Visual Guide to Printing on Almost Anything by Betty Olmsted. Ok hands-on look at stamping (block printing), screenprinting, and transfer printing. I did like the watercolor effects of her transfer printing, which I hadn’t seen before.
His Father’s Eyes (Justis Fearsson #2) by David B Coe. Solid addition to this series about private investigator and weremyste (wizard with moon cycle problems) Justin Fearsson.
Shadow’s Blade (Justis Fearsson #3) by David B. Coe. Another good addition to this series… Except now I have concerns, because Justis has leveled up way too much by the end, which often means things are going to be pretty ho-hum going forward. Here’s hoping that isn’t the case for this series.

“Wait, my name isn’t Chaos NO?!” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity wonders why there’s always one out-of-control linkity category

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Reading Update
Make Your Own Ideabook with Arne & Carlos: Create Handmade Art Journals and Bound Keepsakes to Store Inspiration and Memories by Arne Nerjordet & Carlos Zachrison. If you’re looking for a completely different take on art journals… Arne and Carlos make their own journals (involving a sewing machine) and collage pretty much everything into them.
The Complete Book of Bookbinding by Josep Cambras. Good indepth information on binding and repairing books, with an emphasis on using leather. Very traditional book structures.
Spell Blind (Justis Fearsson #1) by David B Coe. Good urban fantasy about a former cop turned PI whose magical abilities come with a price – a price that cost him his job as a cop.

“feedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedmefeedme” -Chaos

Chaos gets a little wild-eyed in the hour(s) before his dinner…

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

On Friday, linkity has Friday on its mind

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Reading Update
McLuhan for Beginners by W. Terrance Gordon & Susan Willmarth. A relatively easy-to-digest visual introduction to Marshall McLuhan’s work in media studies.
The Victoria Vanished (Bryant & May #6) by Christopher Fowler. DNF. I think I’ve just run out of steam on this series. Tapping out.
The Artist’s Library: A Field Guide by Laura Damon-Moore & Erinn Batykefer. Pretty good look at ways artists (visual artists, performing artists, musicians, etc) can use public libraries as resources and inspiration. The first half was the most interesting for me and had some great journaling/creativity prompts that I’ll be trying.
How to Be Human: Diary of an Autistic Girl by Florida Frenz. What is says in the title. It’s good, but pretty short. My favorite part was the forward, in which Frenz really nailed how it feels to be autistic.

*derp* -Chaos

Knitting, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity needs help with a dilemma

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From Thursday, May 11, through Thursday, June 1, I will be taking a bookbinding class that’s required for my Book Arts Certificate (and which is always offered on Thursday evenings for some reason). Since Thursday evenings are my time for putting linkity together, I have a dilemma. A month without linkity seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?! How would y’all feel about maybe two Saturday linkities during that time?

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Reading Update
White Corridor (Bryant & May #5) by Christopher Fowler. I gave it a couple of chapters, but it wasn’t working for me at all. It felt different from the other books in the series somehow. DNF.
Battle Street Bolero (Bone Street Rumba #3) by Daniel Jose Older. Very satisfying conclusion to this trilogy.
Improbable Libraries: A Visual Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Libraries by Alex Johnson. Very cool look at the many, many different ways that libraries reach people and people reach libraries around the world.

“What socks?” -Mayhem

Oh, these socks? 😉 These were for my SIL’s birthday… her March 2016 birthday. I finished them the day before her March 2017 birthday. Yay?!

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity would like you to remember that’s 2 weeks worth of reading

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Reading Update
Ten Second Staircase (Bryant & May #4) by Christopher Fowler. Pretty good addition to the series, as Bryant and May struggle to close both a current case and one of their cold cases while the Home Office looks for ways to shut down the Peculiar Crimes Unit.
Half-Resurrection Blues (Bone Street Rumba #1) by Daniel Jose Older. Half-alive, half-dead, Carlos works for the NYC Council of the Dead, dealing with problems between the living and the dead. I was a lot happier with this before the tragic love interest showed up. :sigh:
Midnight Taxi Tango (Bone Street Rumba #2) by Daniel Jose Older. Good continuation of the series – this adds several other points of view, which was good, as Carlos definitely wasn’t my favorite of the book.
Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary’s #1) by Jodi Taylor. I have really mixed feelings about this one. While it was a pretty enjoyable read, every similarity to Connie Willis’ time-traveling historians of Oxford annoyed the heck out of me. Plus the first-person POV character, Lucy, is one of my least favorite types of characters – she’s the type that has nearly everyone half in love with her and her natural charisma and leadership qualities shine through, blah blah blah. (See Anita Blake for reference.)
Handmade Books by Ray Hemachandra. It’s a coffee table book for a very, very tiny coffee table. Lovely to look at, but one you should get from the library instead of buying (unless you find it used, as I did). The materials used on the included books range from egg cartons to bird spines to acrylic sheets to copper.
The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects by Marshall McLuhan. For a book published 5o years ago, this short book has aged very well (beyond a few references to the technology of the times). Still can’t believe that we didn’t read this in my graduate program, since so many authors name dropped McLuhan.
Sidney Crosby: The Inspirational Story of Hockey Superstar Sidney Crosby by Bill Redban. Awful. Wikipedia is probably more informative and the writing is definitely better. Plus 66 pages is only achieved with a large font and lots of empty pages between chapters, etc.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

Chaotic stealth tabby!

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which there’s an awful lot of linkity and reading

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Pace yourselves, people – no linkity next week because I’ll be at another book binding class during my linkity making time.

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Reading Update
The Water Room (Bryant & May #2) by Christopher Fowler. Solid addition to this series about a pair of 80-something detectives in London’s Peculiar Crimes Unit. Again, not necessarily a fast-paced read, but very engaging.
Seventy-Seven Clocks (Bryant & May #3) by Christopher Fowler. This one’s about a Bryant and May case from the early 1970s. If anyone guesses whodunnit on this one, I will be beyond surprised!
Child of Fire (Twenty Palaces #1) by Harry Connolly. Dark urban fantasy about a guy, freshly out of prison, who’s working for a powerful spellcaster as she tries to find the source of a magic that’s killing kids in a small Oregon town.
Game of Cages (Twenty Palaces #2) by Harry Connolly. Good continuation of this series in which Ray starts out assisting an investigator for Twenty Palaces who’s trying to get information about a predator being auctioned off. Things fall apart really fast…
Circle of Enemies (Twenty Palaces #3) by Harry Connolly. I didn’t realize this paranormal/urban fantasy series wasn’t continued past this book. D’oh. The ending does leave things in an ok place, I guess. But still. Hmph.
What We Found in the Sofa and How It Changed the World by Henry Clark. Cute ya scifi book about three friends who discover a mysterious sofa sitting near their school bus stop and then their lives get really, really weird.
The Book That Proves That Time Travel Happens by Henry Clark. Good ya tale about two middle-school boys helping a girl who works at the circus find a mysterious item – and then things get weird. Fun read, with unexpected social commentary.
The Last Dragonslayer (The Chronicles of Kazam #1) by Jasper Fforde. Delightful ya tale of an indentured foundling trying to keep a magical talent agency running in a world rapidly losing its magic.
Salsa Nocturna: Stories by Daniel Jose Older. Very good collection of interconnected stories about a half-dead guy who works for the NYC Council of the Dead, solving problems when the living and the dead intersect. Apparently, if you’re planning to read Half-Resurrection Blues, it’s helpful to read this collection first.
Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Map Making by Jill K. Berry. Highly recommended if you’re intrigued by the idea of making creative, artistic maps of yourself, where you live, where you travel, and where you dream.
Unf*ck Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Mess by Rachel Hoffman. Very good take on cleaning and organization – much more realistic than some! 🙂 I liked the focus on preventing those exhausting marathon cleaning sessions, which I am prone to. Plus the author actually acknowledges that if you have a chronic illness (be it of body or brain), you’re probably going to need to modify things a bit. As you might surmise from the title, if you can’t handle a lot of cussing, this isn’t the book for you.

*SCHLURP* -Chaos

*purring* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which there’s lots of linkity

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But you might want to ration it, since I have a bookbinding class next Thursday evening – which means no linkity next Friday.

Bookity

Do, Think, Make, Learn

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Artsy Crafty

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Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

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Reading Update
The Hanging Tree (Peter Grant #6) by Ben Aaronovitch. reread. Definitely read Rivers of London: Body Work and Rivers of London: Night Witch before you read this! I hadn’t, so I spent a certain amount of the book being annoyed about the graphic novels sneaking into the series. Update upon reread: There were even more references to the graphic novels than I realized…
Shadowshaper (Shadowshaper #1) by Daniel Jose Older. Good young adult urban fantasy about a teenager who’s been asked paint a new mural on a building and discovers that there’s an awful lot more going on around her than she realized.
Revisionary (Magic Ex Libris #4) by Jim C Hines. It was ok. I started to get annoyed about how all of Isaac’s powers made everything so very convenient. Not sure that makes sense – but I definitely didn’t get sucked into this one.
Full Dark House (Bryant & May #1) by Christopher Fowler. You’re either going to love or loathe this book about a British detective in his 80s who finds himself revisiting the first case he worked on (60 years ago) with his partner in the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Be warned that this is not a fast-paced book and it is, unsurprisingly, filled with flashbacks. Flashbacks usually drive me crazy, but I was ok with them in this book.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

Reading, Reviewettes

In which there’s no linkity because cranky

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No particular reason for my crankiness, either. I must’ve been radiating it, because everyone at work gave me space and didn’t pester me today. So! Have a bunch of half-assed reviewettes and a very cute cat picture instead. 🙂

Reading Update
The Home Crowd Advantage (Peter Grant #1.5) by Ben Aaronovitch. free ebook. Good short story, set during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, that ties back an incident during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer (Peter Grant #4-5) by Ben Aaronovitch. rereads. Linking back to the series page on Goodreads – you can get to my reviewettes from there if interested.
The Hanging Tree (Peter Grant #6) by Ben Aaronovitch. Definitely read Body Work and Night Witch before you read this! I hadn’t, so I spent a certain amount of the book being annoyed about the graphic novels sneaking into the series.
Body Work (Rivers of London #1, Peter Grant #5.1) by Ben Aaronovitch. Good graphic novel addition to the series. I just wish I’d known about the graphic novels before I read The Hanging Tree – guess I’ll just have to reread it with the proper context. 🙂
Night Witch (Rivers of London #2, Peter Grant #5.2) by Ben Aaronvitch. Another good graphic novel addition to the series. This makes sense of the “Maksim” references in The Hanging Tree…

“I’m cranky, too!! Maybe I need another nap…” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity from a 64F day in Minneapolis, MN, in mid-February

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Bookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

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Artsy Crafty

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Reading Update
Alien Taste, Tainted Trail, Bitter Waters, and Dog Warrior (Ukiah Oregon #1-4) by Wen Spencer. Not her best work (it’s pretty old), but at least the writing improved as the series went on. Unfortunately, this is the entire series and it doesn’t feel finished to me.
The Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, and Whispers Underground (Peter Grant #1-3) by Ben Aaronovitch. Rereading this excellent series again. Just as good (if not better) the second time around.

“That’s enough out of you, Mayhem!” -Chaos

“Mom!!!! The big kitty is being mean to me again!!!!!” -Mayhem