Anh Do delivers yet another fun story in the fourth book of his Hot Dog! series. We get to hang out with best friends Hotdog, Kev (the cat) and Lizzie (the lizard) as Hotdog and Lizzie try to cheer up Kev. Kev is missing his mum. She lives on Rainbow Island and Kev hasn’t got enough money to visit her.
When the best friends find out about Game Day, where teams of three compete to win a trip to Rainbow Island (wow, that was convenient!), they decide to enter. Between them they’re sure they have the skills, speed and strength they’ll need to win.
I loved the teamwork shown in this book, the emphasis on helping people rather than winning at all costs and the message that being a good sport is important regardless of the outcome.
I always love Anh’s writing style and I adore the humour in the illustrations. In this book I chuckled at so many pictures, including the sloth riding a jet ski, Hotdog dressed in a hot dog 🌭 costume, Owlbert Einstein, and the brilliance of the measuring snake.
My favourite part was Kev (the foodie) explaining how food helps him focus on gymnastics:
‘When I’m on the bars I imagine I’m a kebab getting roasted on the grill.’
‘And when I twirl the ribbons, I imagine I’m decorating cupcakes with icing!’
Inspired and yummy!
Each book in this series has wonderful greyscale illustrations with splashes of one colour. This book’s colour is orange. It may seem as though I’m shouting at you but it’s a very loud orange (sorry, couldn’t help myself 😊). Imagine fluorescent, don’t look at this with a hangover bright and you’re close to the atomic ferocity I’m talking about. The orange not only highlights the wonderful illustrations but it also makes some of the words in the text pop. Kids will love it!
I can’t wait for my next Anh fix!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Hotdog, Lizzie and Kev are training for GAME DAY! They want to win the big prize – an awesome trip to Rainbow Island! That’s where Kev’s mum lives!
They’ll need skill, speed and strength. Do they have what it takes to win?
This is one of those super quick (about five minutes) and quirky reads. John Atkinson summarises classic novels in a few words, with each entry accompanied by an illustration or two.
I found I enjoyed the summaries if I’d read the book referenced already or at least knew the basics of the story. For those classics included where I wasn’t already familiar with the plot I found myself thinking some variation of ‘Oh, okay’ or ‘I don’t get it’.
My favourites summaries are:
The Handmaid’s Tale – An oppressive patriarchy controls women’s bodies. This book is also about that.
Charlotte’s Web – Clever web designer saves a pig.
I borrowed this book from my library (I love my library). I can imagine people buying this as a gift book. I’d already read many of the entries online though and while I’m glad I read the book I won’t be buying it.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A collection of irreverent summations of more than 100 well-known works of literature, from Anna Karenina to Wuthering Heights, cleverly described in the fewest words possible and accompanied with funny color illustrations.
Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read but Probably Didn’t is packed with dozens of humorous super-condensed summations of some of the most famous works of literature from many of the world’s most revered authors, including William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Emily Brontë, Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, J.R.R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, James Joyce, Plato, Ernest Hemingway, Dan Brown, Ayn Rand, and Herman Melville.
From “Old ladies convince a guy to ruin Scotland” (Macbeth) to “Everyone is sad. It snows.” (War and Peace), these clever, humorous synopses are sure to make book lovers smile.
… there were monsters in the world, and their greatest advantage was the unwillingness of rational people to believe.
Whenever I start a Stephen King novel I tend to flip through the first couple of pages searching for a list of characters. If I find one I panic a little, wondering how I’ll ever figure out who’s who in the King Zoo if he had to write a list of its inhabitants. If there’s no list I panic a little, wondering how I’ll remember who lives in the Zoo without a guide. There’s no list of characters at the beginning of The Outsider and it’s a testament to Mr King’s ongoing awesomeness that even though I totally sucked at reading this book (it took me over five weeks to finish it!) I was able to pick it up and get drawn back into his world immediately each time. And I knew who everyone was!
People are blind to explanations that lie outside their perception of reality.
You don’t need me to tell you the synopsis for this book. There are so many wonderful reviews already written by people who seem to have read every King book in existence. What I can tell you about is my very drawn out reading experience. When I started this book I had no idea that I would be meeting anyone from Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch or that at some point between starting to read and passing the point of no return parentheses would appear after the book’s name on Goodreads to inform me I was reading the fourth book of the Finders Keepers series. I own some of the responsibility for this ignorance as I have been a disgrace to the Kingdom by not having already read the first three books. Boo! Hiss! I suck! I know!
Strange, the things you noticed when your day – your life – suddenly went over a cliff you hadn’t even known was there.
Had I realised though I still would have read this book but after I’d read the first three. If you’re not planning on ever reading the first three books (no judgement here but I am quietly wondering what is wrong with you 😜) you can get away with reading this book as a standalone. If you venture into The Outsider without having already read the others then I need to warn you that you will prematurely learn how previous cases wrapped up, who died and most likely other bits and pieces that I don’t even know are spoilers yet.
‘How weird can this get?’ ‘Weirder,’ she said. Another thing of which she had no doubt.
Despite my own already stated failures in reading this book I would recommend it. Like many others before me I really enjoyed hanging out with Ralph and Holly. I also had quite a soft spot for Ralph’s wife, Jeannie, and would enjoy catching up with her over a coffee.
The more you find, the wronger it gets.
I’ve previously avoided the other books in the Finders Keepers series as my favourite King books have involved such fun as telekinesis, diners that belong in Back to the Future, super fans who understandably need their next read yesterday and the infamous dome surrounding Springfield. I usually get my crime fix through authors like Tess Gerritsen and haven’t wanted to really go there with Mr King before. Having read The Outsider now I do plan on reading Mr. Mercedes, etc, and will most likely reread this one once I’ve finished the first three, but I think I want to remedy some of my glaring omissions in early King lore first.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
When an eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town’s popular Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit. DNA evidence and fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man.
Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitland, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. And further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day.
As Anderson and the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. And as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King’s propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear.
Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he?
I went on a bit of a journey through Opposite Land while reading this book. I love that this book exists. I hate that it has to.
The title was what initially grabbed my attention: Not That Bad. How many times have I and countless others said that?! Was it because it wasn’t that bad? No. It was that bad but we still live in a world that, on the whole, doesn’t want to know about sexual assault.
It doesn’t quite feel right to say I have a favourite anything where rape culture is concerned so instead I’ll say that the best definition of rape culture I’ve read to date is by Clem Ford:
“A state of existence in which the impact and reality of sexual violence is minimised while the perpetrators of it are supported by a complex system built on flawed human beliefs, mythologies about gender, and good old fashioned misogyny.”
Usually I’d give each contributor in a book of essays an individual star rating and comment on their writing style or whether I connected with their story or not, but I won’t be doing that here. I’m so proud of everyone that contributed to this book and while some essays impacted me more than others, I’m not comfortable critiquing anyone’s experience of rape culture.
Instead I’ll be sharing a quote from each contributor. I highlighted so much of this book and found it difficult in most cases to choose just one for this review. In the end I decided to share the one that stood out the most when I reread my highlighted passages. As such, both the book and my review need to come with a trigger warning. Stop reading now if you need to. 💜
Introduction – Roxane Gay
It was comforting, perhaps, to tell myself that what I went through “wasn’t that bad.” Allowing myself to believe that being gang-raped wasn’t “that bad” allowed me to break down my trauma into something more manageable, into something I could carry with me instead of allowing the magnitude of it to destroy me.
But, in the long run, diminishing my experience hurt me far more than it helped.
Fragments – Aubrey Hirsch
If rape culture had a national sport, it would be … well … something with balls, for sure.
Slaughterhouse Island – Jill Christman
If nothing changes – and in thirty years, not nearly enough has changed – next year, there will be one hundred thousand more assaults on our campuses.
One is too many. One hundred thousand.
& the Truth Is, I Have No Story – Claire Schwartz
This is not about that. This is about everything after.
This is about how, all of a sudden, there was only one after.
The Luckiest MILF in Brooklyn – Lynn Melnick
I know that saying please stop made it no more likely that these things would stop.
Spectator: My Family, My Rapist, and Mourning Online – Brandon Taylor
The only way through all of it was to promise that I would remember it and that at some point, I would make it known what happened there.
I am a hard person because hardness is what comes from a life lived underground.
The Sun – Emma Smith-Stevens
So many times my mind left my body only to return to find it soiled
Sixty-Three Days – AJ McKenna
I resent having to face up to it. I resent having to be a survivor.
“Survivor” is the “special needs” of victimhood. If I say I have survived, I’m fooling nobody. I didn’t.
Only the Lonely – Lisa Mecham
And my hands, my hands. I wrapped them around my shins and pulled in tight and cried and thought about how when you’re hurt, way before you say it, you have to feel it.
What I Told Myself – Vanessa Mártir
I looked over at my daughter, who had moved on to the swings, and that’s when it hit me: I’d been blaming myself for thirty years for what happened to me when I was six.
Stasis – Ally Sheedy
I didn’t go on auditions for films that I felt glorified sex work, that depicted women being sexually abused in a gratuitous way, or that required me to leave my sense of self on the doorstep. (All of these films became huge hits.)
The Ways We Are Taught to Be a Girl – xTx
We learn not to tell everything. We know telling everything will make them see the bad in us. How it is our fault. How we contributed. We fear repercussions, albeit lighter than the ones we will administer to ourselves; slut, bad, ugly, weak, whore, trash, shame, hate. We tell just enough, if we tell at all.
Floccinaucinihilipilification – So Mayer
It’s a conundrum: if you survive, then it – that, the trauma – can’t have been that bad. Being dead is the only way to prove it was. It really was bad. It was terrible. It was so awful there was no way I could survive.
What did this child die of? Shame, mainly. And narrative necessity.
If you survive, you have to prove it was that bad; or else, they think you are.
Surviving is some kind of sin, like floating up off the dunking stool like a witch. You have to be permanently écorchée, heart-on-sleeve, offering up organs and body parts like a medieval saint.
The Life Ruiner – Nora Salem
Perhaps the most horrifying thing about nonconsensual sex is that, in an instant, it erases you. Your own desires, your safety and well-being, your ownership of the body that may very well have been the only thing you ever felt sure you owned – all of it becomes irrelevant, even nonexistent.
All the Angry Women – Lyz Lenz
Anger is the privilege of the truly broken, and yet, I’ve never met a woman who was broken enough that she allowed herself to be angry.
Good Girls – Amy Jo Burns
Much of the furor spread not because a crime occurred, but because these girls had the nerve to say that it had.
A good girl is a quick study, and this is what you, always a good girl, learned: It doesn’t matter how good you are, because a man will always be better.
Utmost Resistance: Law and the Queer Woman or How I Sat in a Classroom and Listened to My Male Classmates Debate How to Define Force and Consent – V.L. Seek
When your truth is so inherently questioned, it is easier to say nothing than anything at all.
Bodies Against Borders – Michelle Chen
The flip side of treating “victims” or “survivors” as subjects of a narrative is that the process of intellectualizing the issue also requires neatly transmuting the subject into the object. And objectifying people who have lived through sexual violence is not a good place to begin, or end, any story – not our own, and not theirs.
Wiping the Stain Clean – Gabrielle Union
Rape is a wound that throbs long after it heals. And for some of us the throbbing gets too loud. Post-traumatic stress syndrome is very real and chips away at the soul and sanity of so many of us who have survived sexual violence.
What We Didn’t Say – Liz Rosema
I don’t even remember his name but I remember what he said – the corner of that page is folded in my memory. I turn right to it.
I Said Yes – Anthony Frame
“It’s your eyes. They’re so … Was that the year it happened?”
Knowing Better – Samhita Mukhopadhyay
She had learned, somewhere in the interim, to do more than simply reveal what had happened to her; she had learned to tell the story of it so that it didn’t become her only story.
Not That Loud: Quiet Encounters with Rape Culture – Miriam Zoila Pérez
Sexual assault is no longer an undercurrent in political life: it shouts at us from news headlines, colors the electoral debates, shapes rally slogans and protest chants. But something doesn’t have to be loud to be deafening, to suck up all the oxygen in the room, to shroud the windows and dim the lights.
Why I Stopped – Zoë Medeiros
Sometimes I see ghosts. The worst ghosts for me are not usually the flashbacks, although those can be pretty bad, but the ones who show me what I might have been if it never happened. It’s like suddenly feeling what it would be like to run on a leg that had never been broken, just for a second, and then it’s gone and the old bone-deep pain is with me again.
Picture Perfect – Sharisse Tracey
For once, I was glad I didn’t have a little sister.
To Get Out from Under It – Stacey May Fowles
What I need is what most women need when they talk about the sexual violence they have endured. I need someone to listen. I need someone to believe me.
Reaping What Rape Culture Sows: Live from the Killing Fields of Growing Up Female in America – Elisabeth Fairfield Stokes
the world, I had learned, was a place that didn’t condemn sexual violence; it accepted and excused it.
Invisible Light Waves – Meredith Talusan
I stayed to prove that he could not affect me
Getting Home – Nicole Boyce
There’s something so naive about insisting that daylight makes a difference. Why do I imagine that violence wears a wristwatch?
Why I Didn’t Say No – Elissa Bassist
Because when a woman challenges a man, then the facts are automatically in dispute, as is the speaker, and the speaker’s license to speak.
Early this week I had my latest experience with rape culture. At a time when I had already read about half of this book I found myself in a room with a man in a position of authority who, while telling me that it wasn’t a matter of whether he believed me or not, also told me numerous times that my story was “unbelievable”, along with an incredulous “How is that even possible?!”
Feeling disempowered by his lack of belief and judgement, and vulnerable after being given no choice over the location of our meeting, I found myself minimising my experience by telling him that the sexual assault I’d experienced in that building (a few offices to my right) wasn’t as bad as the sexual assault I’d experienced across the street from where we were meeting.
“Not as bad.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth the title of this book flashed in my mind and I internally chastised myself. While I couldn’t take back those words I made sure I wasn’t silent when this man went on to talk about the “gains” people achieve by making up false allegations against “poor” men. I (we) have a long way to go but I believe that by refusing to be silent about the “unbelievable” we (I) can be catalysts for change.
If you have read this review and have experienced any form of sexual assault please know that you are not alone and it was not your fault. I believe you. Your story matters. You matter!
If you need support or information you can contact:
Cultural critic and bestselling author Roxane Gay has edited a collection of essays that explore what it means to live in a world where women are frequently belittled and harassed due to their gender, and offers a call to arms insisting that “not that bad” must no longer be good enough.
I enjoyed There’s a Dragon in Your Book more than this one, probably in part because I discovered it first and, well, she was a cute baby dragon! The monster in this book is cute too and I loved that this book was also interactive. I’m partial to monsters though so I wasn’t overly clear on why we didn’t want him in our book. I would prefer to help a baby dragon than scare a monster.
Nevertheless, I tried to shake him out, tickle his feet and blow him away. I admit I felt bad for the little guy when he became dizzy and scared, but it all works out in the end. Kids will enjoy the funny expressions on the monster’s face as he’s spun, wiggled and tilted all over the pages.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Bestselling author of The Christmasuarus, Tom Fletcher, has written a brand new picture book perfect for bedtime, where a mischievous monster has invaded the pages of your child’s book!
This read-aloud, interactive picture book treat invites children to make magic happen page by page, tilting, spinning and shaking the book, and then seeing the funny results when each page is turned. A fantastic celebration of all the fun that can be had with a book, with a wonderful wind-down bedtime ending!
There really is a dragon in this book and she’s adorable! This interactive book is so cute that you your kids will love doing everything possible to help out this newly hatched dragon. The illustrations are so endearing and her expressions are so delightful that I couldn’t help myself. I tickled her nose and that made her sneeze, which started a fire that I had to help blow out. Whether you’re flapping the book to help her fly or imagining yummy treats to feed her, this little sweetie is going to make her way into your heart. I need to borrow someone’s kid so I can read this to someone who’ll appreciate it as much as I do.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
OH LOOK, there’s an EGG in your book!
But this isn’t any old egg – there’s a dragon in it … And pretty soon she has set your book ON FIRE. OH NO!
Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott have created a fantastically interactive sequel to their bestselling There’s a Monster in Your Book. Children will love stroking, poking and flapping the book to make magic happen as they turn the pages. Can they help Little Dragon find a way to stop the fire and fly off on her own adventure?
I’d never heard of forest bathing prior to being drawn to the photography on the front cover of this book. In the introduction Robin Wall Kimmerer simplifies the ethereal sounding concept, calling it what it really is, “daydreaming in the woods”. Personally I prefer the daydreaming description but the translation from the Japanese term shinrin-yoku is ‘forest bathing’ so my vote doesn’t count.
I assumed (wrongly) that shinrin-yoku would have its origins centuries ago and would be rich in eastern tradition. The term was first used in the 1980’s so it turns out that I’ve been practicing forest bathing since its inception. Growing up there was a fire trail behind our back fence that was kept clear by the locals and then there was the bush. For those of you outside of Australia, please pretend I’m saying either forest or woods whenever I refer to the bush.
I spent a good portion of my childhood going on bush walks with family and friends. I knew all the trails and even though a portion of it is now a concrete path (ew!) I still know it inside and out. My friends and I would go for walks or bike rides and we’d be gone all day; investigating, having a chat by the edge of the stream we found one day, going off-trail to see what new birds or trees we could find, using getting caught in a surprise storm as an excuse to waltz in the middle of a muddy path under a canopy of trees that were dripping a substantial amount of water on us.
I will be the first to admit I’d prefer to actually do forest bathing than read about it. I did wonder about the need for a book like this to encourage people to spend time hanging out in nature, then got sad as I remembered that peoples’ lives are so busy and screen based these days. Maybe it’s no longer a given that being in nature is something you do without a manual.
There are four sections in this book:
Breathe – a meditative noticing of your body and your surroundings, relaxing your muscles and paying attention to your breathing. Composer Oliver Caplan’s quote (abridged here) about krummholz really spoke to me:
“They remind me of the human spirit and our great capacity for resilience, a new possibility in every breath.”
Connect – connecting to your surroundings through your senses; basically grounding yourself.
Heal – forest bathing as medicine. You won’t find a big list of scientific studies spouting the health benefits associated with “daydreaming in the woods” but if you Google shinrin-yoku it won’t take you long to find them if you really need to know.
Give Thanks – you can figure this one out yourself. 😊
I’m not quite sure who to say this book is for. There will be the people who are totally into mindfulness that will most likely adore this book, with its mindfulness exercises, poetry and wisdom. I will forever be grateful to the person who, when I looked puzzled at the apparent complexity of the whole mindfulness thing, dumbed it down for me and said, “You do realise mindfulness is essentially just about being in the present, don’t you?”
There will be people like myself who have apparently been forest bathers their whole lives who’ll probably look at this book and think that it’s pretty and has some nice quotes and reminders. However, at the end of the day we’d rather be out doing the forest bathing than reading about it.
Initially I thought this could be a nice book for when you’re bogged down in the office and need a mental wander through the woods to centre yourself. Some sections would be helpful for this but the others where you’re basically given instructions on how to appreciate nature have the potential to fall kind of flat when you’re surrounded by concrete.
For those who need a how-to I can see this working if you read a section before you go for your wander and then apply the principles you’ve read about. However some of it reads like step by step instructions and I got this mental picture of someone taking this book with them, standing on the edge of a forest and paging through the book … noticing the edge of the forest … turning the page then pausing … turning the page and scanning their body and mind … trying to find the beginning of the next sentence on the page so they can find their next instruction. Kind of like how landscape photography can be wonderful but if you’re spending the whole time taking photos you don’t get the chance to appreciate the view.
I hope some people will pick up this book who have never forest bathed before because of factors like location or busyness. If this book gets them interested enough to discover how wonderful forest bathing is, then it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks of it as it will have done its job.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
People have been retreating to the woods for quiet, meditation, and inspiration for centuries, and recent research finds that time spent in the forest doesn’t just feel good but is, in fact, good for you. Inspired by the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, poet Hannah Fries invites readers to bask in the company of trees, whether in a city park or a rural nature preserve.
Fries combines her own reflections and guided mindfulness exercises with a curated selection of inspirational writing from poets, naturalists, artists, scientists, and thinkers throughout the centuries and across cultures, including Japanese haiku masters, 19th century European Romantics, American Transcendentalists, and contemporary environmentalists. Accompanied by beautiful forest photography, Forest Bathing Retreat is a distinctive gift that invites frequent revisiting for fresh insights and inspiration.
I’m sure you’re already familiar with rockabilly. You’ve got plenty of men in suits or leather biker jackets and jeans, hair greased, admiring their cars, bikes and/or women. You’ve got the sexy, sassy bombshells, where oftentimes the only thing bigger than their butts are their breasts. The women are decked out in poodle skirts, short shorts and various combinations of not much, with plenty of Bettie Page inspiration and beehives competing to make it to heaven first. The beer’s flowing and the cigarettes are lit.
Are you as familiar with psychobilly? I hadn’t heard of the word before this book but once I started that section I realised I did know it after all. I love the way psychobilly is described in the introduction:
“I like to think of psychobilly as what happens to the rockabilly crowd once midnight strikes.”
Besides all of the gorgeous artwork, there’s also a playlist running through the book, with each new song flagged by a jukebox for rockabilly or vinyl record for psychobilly.
There are quotes scattered throughout the book by the artists and I think Leon Ryan nailed it with
“I’d rather draw something to be hung and enjoyed in dorms and filthy garages than ignored in a respectable gallery.”
I like an eclectic mix of bits and pieces people call art, including some that reside in respectable galleries. Rockabilly/psychobilly artists, though, these are my people! There’s an honesty to this artwork that I love. These are people inspired by such awesomeness as cartoons, video games, movies, and music.
I’m no art critic, thank goodness, but the gaggle of butts and breasts aside (I’m not going to whinge because it’s part of the style) I really enjoyed this art. There’s something immediately appealing to me about a style that doesn’t care what you think because it’s just doing its thing, whether you’re paying attention or not.
There was a lot to like in this book and so many artists to appreciate. If you’re in the market for a rockabilly/ psychobilly tattoo, you’ll find plenty of inspiration here. There’s even an artist index at the end of the book where the artists’ websites are found so you can find even more awesomeness.
I don’t have a specific rockabilly favourite but some of the ones that drew my attention included:
🎙 Candy’s cat eyed woman with the orange beehive that is practically exploding with odds and sods, including three cars, some bats, a skeleton, fluffy dice with teeth, balloons and this green guy of some species holding a checkered flag. Candy’s website is here.
🎙 Mark Rehkopf’s ‘I don’t know what the hell is going on here but I love it’ piece that I’ve discovered is the cover art for Nick Johnston’s Public Display of Infection. It’s got UFO’s, eyeballs in trench coats overlooking the scene from the top of buildings, and there’s too much else to describe but it’s awesome!
In the psychobilly section I really liked:
🧟♀️ Miss Cherry Martini’s style but couldn’t choose a favourite so you can find her art here.
🧟♂️ Zach Bellissimo’s art, which is here. I wandered around for a while and didn’t find the illustration I was looking for (yet), although I found so much else to love.
🧟♀️ Kimberly Poizon’s pages, so of course I looked her up too! Her art can be found here.
🧟♂️ Marcus Jones’ Zombie Pin-Up Anatomy. (I was going to leave it at that, with three artists in each category, but then I found this image and my coffee almost escaped through my nose in a very attractive snort.) Here’s the black and white version; the full colour one in the book is so much better. Marcus’ art can be found here.
It may seem I’ve already shown you all of the Woohoo! moments in this book but I haven’t even come close. I’ve shown you about the equivalent of a dollop of cream on top of a mountainous ice cream sundae. Sure, you can enjoy that dollop but if you don’t stay long enough to try the various flavours of ice cream, sprinkles and hot chocolate fudge sauce 🤤 you won’t realise what you’re missing out on. It’s highly likely your biggest Woohoo! moments are still inside the book waiting for you to discover them.
Going into this I expected to find maybe one or two pictures I’d love and a whole pile of ‘yeah, it was okay’. I’m leaving it trying to figure out if I can afford to buy myself a copy because this is a serious contender to be added to my coffee table for future Woohoo! moments.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for introducing me to so many extraordinarily talented artists I may not have come across otherwise.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A visual road trip from Route 66 to Route 666, this rockin’ collection of more than 600 artworks presents the unapologetically fun and undeniably cool spirit of rockabilly and psychobilly. The 55 artists featured here represent a global subculture and are some of today’s best lowbrow and cartoon artists, the de facto styles of the genre.
Whether you’re burning for nostalgia or learning more about the phenomenon, this massive collection is a study of some of the main themes of modern rockabilly culture: respect the past, be proudly defiant, and stay true to what you like.
Here you’ll see a broad range of stylistic influence from the 1930s to the 1990s as well as other sub-pop cultures like jazz, ska, surf, burlesque, punk, and horror adorning album art, show posters, comics, pin-ups, and more. Complete with a playlist curated by the artists, this is a must-have volume of art by artists who are finding success despite being outsiders.
This is one of those books where you’re certain going into it that you know what you’re getting yourself into, but then you learn you had no idea. An isolated cabin in the woods inhabited by a family whose respite is interrupted by a group of strangers with possible mayhem in mind. That’s been done before, right? I’ve seen the movies.
What if the strangers tell the family that the choices they make in that cabin have the power to press pause on the apocalypse or set it in motion?! Now you’re talking!
In this book you’ll learn who the family are as individuals and how their family dynamics work both before and during the invasion. Invited inside their heads, you’ll hear their thoughts as their lives are turned upside down and you’ll be given access to some of their most treasured and painful memories.
This is a loving and loveable family consisting of two doting dads and their adorable adopted daughter. I loved them all. It would have been so much easier if just one of them were the slightest bit irritating … but they’re not.
So, what about the invaders? Sorry, but all things considered I liked them too. I tried my hardest to demonise them but failed miserably. Whether you believe what they say or not, I believed that they believed it. From that perspective, scary as it sounds, it made sense to me where they were coming from. Much like our gorgeous couple, I went back and forth between not believing the people who had disrupted their peaceful lives and wondering if maybe they were actually telling the truth.
This is not a casual read and if you’re going through a stressful time in your life you may want to put this book on hold until your stress event has faded somewhat. It’s a testament to Paul Tremblay that his writing stressed me out so much. I kept getting this image of my life being this red stress ball at the time and reading this book felt like adding sharp metal spikes to it.
The Cabin at the End of the World may not have had as big an impact if my life had been floating on a calm lake while reading but I still think the constant tension, suspense and paranoia was always going to raise my blood pressure. I read some of this book in a doctor’s waiting room and at the beginning of my appointment my blood pressure was 132/100. Coincidence? You can decide for yourself after you read it!
I adore the way that Paul writes. I connected to his characters and felt like I was immersed in what was happening inside that cabin. I felt engaged the whole time and I was invested in the outcome of every character. I’m not quite sure how Paul did this but there were scenes where I had to pause and marvel at the beauty of sentences describing brutality. It doesn’t seem like the two should go together but they did here.
The pacing feels practically frenetic at times and I can’t see the story working as well any other way. You get to catch your breath when the characters do. Overall though, the stress of the situation doesn’t ease for the characters so it doesn’t ease for the reader either.
I expect some readers will be uneasy and maybe even cranky about some unanswered questions. While I would certainly read with interest a Q&A with the author I thought the book finished exactly where it should have and I’m okay with the unanswered questions. Throughout the book you’re only privy to information as it’s explained to the characters so it felt perfect to me how it ended.
My Nerd is Showing: I really appreciated the synchronicity between the number of grasshoppers Wen catches at the beginning of the book and the number of people that wind up in the cabin. I also picked up on some really interesting (to me) correlations between that and other numbers that pop up in the book and what those numbers are said to represent from a Biblical perspective. [Yes, I have a bazillion years of Bible College behind me. No, I won’t go all ooky spooky super spiritual on you and bore you with the Bible number meaning thing. You’re welcome!]
I wondered throughout the book if the specific numbers were intentional or not and wavered between thinking they had to be deliberate and thinking I was reading too much into something that meant nothing. Naturally after finishing the book I read the author’s bio. Upon discovering that Paul has a master’s degree in mathematics a nerdy smile may have escaped. Now I really want to believe the numbers were deliberate. 🤓
Favourite Phrase: “brain-bashed proto-zombie” … Seriously, how awesome is that word combo?!
The Bottom Line: I need to read every single thing Paul has or will ever write. I want to ramble on and on about all of the parts of this book that either surprised me, had me wanting to bite my nails or melted chunks off my icy heart but I won’t because I’m mean like that I don’t want to ruin your reading experience by getting into spoiler territory.
Thank you so much to Edelweiss and William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for the opportunity to read this book and discover a new favourite author in the process.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbours are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.
One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologises and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault”. Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”
Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.
I went to a craft expo with my mother about 15 years ago and that was where I first encountered genius level artists who can transform twirly swirly pieces of coloured paper into masterpieces. I was shown cute little puppies and stunning flowers, and after I picked my jaw off the floor I bought Mum a quilling kit for beginners. She was equally fascinated, looking for a new hobby and decided that quilling was the thing for her.
Unfortunately I never got to see any of Mum’s masterpieces because as lovely and gorgeous as she is, she doesn’t have the best track record in actually using the majority of the things she really wants me to buy her (sorry Mum, but it’s the truth 💕). So, like the special book to write treasured recipes and the colouring books after them, the quilling paper and tools remain unused in a drawer, if she still has them at all.
I’d forgotten all about quilling until I saw this book listed in my library’s catalogue of new releases. It turns out that those quilling masterpieces I was shown by the sweet craft ladies over a decade ago were the elementary Quilling 101 showpieces. As soon as I saw the cover of Paper Quilling Four Seasons Chinese Style I knew my jaw was in imminent danger of dislocation. The name of the front cover image is Godess of the Four Seasons and maybe a proofreader should have picked this up but they were probably blinded by the awesomeness of the artwork so can easily be forgiven.
This book takes you through the history of quilling and gives you a photographic tutorial for how the various shapes are made. I adore that rather than just making pretty pictures (although that would be remarkable in itself), Chinese-style paper quilling …
has given birth to many novel techniques of creation and borrowed wisdom from the traditional profound cultural essence ranging from folk arts, paintings, myths, poetries, auspicious symbols, idioms to time-honored solar terms which are still used today. In this sense, it is an art form that integrates tradition and innovation.
How cool is that?! The designs in this book are inspired by the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, so besides looking amazing they also have deep meanings. Each quilling design is accompanied by an explanation of that solar term.
For anyone who can look at some photos, read instructions and then go forth and create, the step by step guides are clear and concise. For people like myself who looks at the photos and immediately switch into hyperventilating mode, it may be best to watch a video tutorial or better still learn from someone crafty in person first, just to get the techniques down before turning the easiest tutorial of a duckling into something amusingly grotesque.
Disclaimer: My artistic ability is equivalent to sometimes being able to draw a stick figure that looks like a stick figure if and only if the stick figure is just standing there. The poor guy is probably standing there praying I won’t try to animate him in any way because I may break him but he’s safe because I know I would break him.
So now that you know details of my artistic prowess I looked at the categories of difficulty and thought:
Beginner – Yeah, right. Once I’ve spent the next year or so mastering the individual techniques of lines, scrolls, coils, loops and crescents with a long suffering (emphasis on the suffering) crafty tutor, only then would I dare attempt this.
Intermediate – I may have snort laughed when I read Intermediate and then turned the page. The stunning blue bird in Spring in the Air and the elegant lines of Swan on Water are extraordinary. The idea that one day many years from now I may be able to create something this breathtaking is intoxicating, I’ll admit, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Advanced – Would someone please make a Summer Water for me and frame it in some drool resistant material? The teensy tiny surfers riding the huge waves have this serenity in motion feel about them. I adore this one!
The twirly swirly bottom line: If you want to make gorgeous art, quilling may be for you. This book’s designs will make you look like a quilling genius if you can pull them off. It seems like once you’ve sorted out your scrolls from your coils and your loops from your crescents, the only limit to how creative you can be is your own imagination. If you want to drool over the creative genius of someone else and fantasise about ‘One day …’, I highly recommend this book.
My favourite is a girl standing under a tree. She’s looking off into the distance. It’s called Waiting and there’s something so haunting and wistful and beautiful about it that makes me want to look at it for hours.
If I ever master the art of twirly swirly pieces of paper, this is the first masterpiece I’d like to recreate. One day …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Create stunning papercraft works of art for every season with this creative and easy-to-follow Chinese paper quilling book.
Quilling, the art of coiling and shaping narrow paper strips into 3-D designs, has been popular with crafters for some time but the art form is hundreds of years old. This seasonal guide links beloved Western crafting with traditional Chinese Arts.
Paper has a flexibility and elasticity that gives it endless possibilities. All you need to get started is strips of paper, glue, and a tool to roll the paper. You can readily get these at any craft store or use what you already have: recycled paper and a bamboo skewer or toothpick work well.
This guide offers:
Examples of various forms of Chinese art for inspiration.
Different modes of composition.
The unique styles of Chinese paper quilling.
Each season is depicted in all its distinct color and beauty through the unique art of paper quilling.
Schizanthus Nerd 