Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I often feel like people don't believe me when I tell them that my life is pretty quiet but really it is and not much has been going on lately. Not that I mind :) I've always been a homebody - content to just chill. This does make for some pretty lazy habits that I need to work on but it also makes me pretty easy to please - if not terribly interesting to talk to.
I've just placed about ten books on hold between two different libraries so in a month or so I should have another massive review post ready for you!
July 24th is a state-wide holiday in Utah so I have tomorrow off which is excellent. I love me my three-day weekends. We get to see some friends and their little girl for dinner tonight and we'll probably spend some time with family for more fireworks [because July is basically a fireworks month here]. I'm also doing a 5K with one of my sisters-in-law tomorrow morning which means I have to get up absurdly early but at least we're walking rather than running. We're not crazy. Mostly I'm looking forward to more weekend time which will hopefully have a good dose of writing stuck in there. I wrote this morning for the first time [working on story rather than character, plot, and setting development] in months. Starting up again always feels so much harder than it should so I'm hoping to keep that little taste of momentum going. Who knows, Maybe I can finish this thing by the end of the summer? It doesn't hurt to dream ;P
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Thursday, July 2, 2015
11 book reviews, or, what i've been doing with my life lately
"When you give a girl a library card..."
Beware readers, here be spoilers!
The Moon and More [Dessen]
I've read several other Dessen novels and I generally enjoy her sweet summer romances. I was particularly interested in this book because it's set in the same sea-side town as Keeping the Moon which is my favorite of hers. There was a disappointing lack of overlap between the two stories which I suppose is understandable but it means the main reasons I love Keeping the Moon weren't present and without those factors I struggled to care as much for these characters. The Moon and More is a little unique for Dessen in that the main character doesn't end the book in a relationship which was somewhat refreshing [though mostly because I didn't really like either relationship she ended up in during the story]. All in all, The Moon and More slips neatly in among Dessen's other books, if somewhat underwhelmingly.
The House at Tyneford [Solomons]
While reading this novel I discovered that I have a predisposition to anticipate infidelity and adultery in historical fiction. I'm not sure why that is, but it is, and it follows for the other historical fiction books in this list, which is a little annoying.
That being said, there isn't any infidelity or adultery in Tyneford which was a relief because there definitely could have been some funky stuff. Elise comes to Tyneford from Austria to work as a house maid as a means of escaping the atrocities of WWII [being a Jew, though in genetics only]. Predictably [sorry, but it is], she falls for Kit, the heir of the estate but the presence of the war means that not all young love ends happily. Amazon's description is pretty spot on in relating this book to Downton Abbey and you can expect similar glimpses into the lives and cares of upstairs and downstairs folk as questions of loyalty and family are explored.
Perhaps it's because I struggle to grasp how close England and France are to each other or maybe it's a fault of the book but I couldn't really picture the fly-overs that residents of the valley become accustomed to as the war progresses. Elise treats these events with such casual acceptance that it removes most of the threat I'd expect to feel at seeing enemy aircraft flying so low over your home. I struggled also to really connect with Elise in general. She felt flat and child-like for a girl of 19 and while there is character development over the course of the novel it feels muted and glossed over which leaves the meaningful scenes feeling distant and lacking meaning you think should be there. Overall, a pleasant read but not incredibly memorable.
Sarah's Key [de Rosnay]
This book jumps back and forth between Sarah [a ten year-old Jewish girl in 1942] and Julia [a thiry-something journalist in 2002] and explores events and consequences of the Vel d'Hiv' round-up in France during WWII. It's called Sarah's Key because when Sarah and her parents are collected by the French police that fateful night she locks her younger brother in a hidden cupboard and promises to come back for him when the police release them. But they aren't released. You can probably guess what that cupboard opened to. Those that witnessed that moment became a crucial key to the puzzle when Julia discovers the mystery and follows the trail of what happened to little Sarah. It's a pretty gruesome premise, though the Vel d'Hiv' - a plan formulated and carried out by the French police without instruction from the Nazi party - was a gruesome point in France's history, but the moment her brother is discovered is not as graphic as I was afraid it would be. Still traumatic, but not disturbing.
Sarah's story is compelling and heartbreaking - atrocities seen through the eyes of a child who loses everything they hold dear and then carries a burden that would break anyone. I was eager to read as Julia uncovers clues and secrets long buried by people and a nation that wants to forget. Julia's own story, her marital issues, was less compelling. She came across primarily as indecisive on how to proceed with anything other than this mystery which ultimately propels the end of her marriage for her. You cheer for her when she decides to keep the baby that her husband can't contemplate for fear of realizing that he's growing old but I found myself more curious about how she continues with life after the novel ends than how it went during the story.
I have always been drawn to the events of the Holocaust and I know next to nothing about any part France played in that event so Sarah's Key was educational in that respect and I applaud de Rosnay's commitment to explore secrets that a nation may be ashamed of. It's not a popular task, nor a comfortable one, but if we bury our weaker moments without facing them then the atrocity lives on.
Room [Donoghue]
Room is the story of the existence, escape, and life of Jack, a five year old boy born to a mother who has been held prisoner by a man a la Ariel Castro for seven years. It's not exactly a happy premise so it might sound weird to say that I really loved this book but I did.
Room is told through Jack's eyes which softens the abuse present in such a living arrangement because he simply doesn't understand. Born and raised in Room, Jack's mother has shielded him [mentally - by telling him that there is nothing outside of Room, and physically - from her captor by hiding Jack in a closet at night when he comes] for five years but Room is no place for a child, let alone his mother, and so Jack, the baby who saved his mother's sanity when he was born, becomes her savior once again.
Donoghue does an incredible job of interpreting this horrific scenario as well as the aftermath through the eyes of a child. Aside from some advanced vocabulary Jack's voice is convincing and compelling, especially is the conflict between him and his mother about whether Room or Outside is where they belong. Room also explores more of the recovery portion of such an experience than we typically see in those few news accounts of similar real-life occurrences and the frustrations and struggles both Jack and his mother go through shows a deeper level of humanity that pulls your heart along on strings. Room is not a book I would give to younger teens but the unique way in which the subject matter is presented makes it accessible to a much younger audience than any other book that touches on this topic.
The Forgotten Garden [Morton]
This is another historical fiction piece and the fact that the whole thing is set up like a mystery novel that spans five generations only adds to my assumptions about lurking affairs and other infidelity. While nothing really adulterous happens in The Forgotten Garden, the familial drama that the mystery of Nell's history is founded upon is pretty screwed up. I mean, there were normal families in the 1800s right? Somewhere? Morton writes from three different character perspectives and on two different timelines for each character which gets a little confusing, especially as she jumps character and time period frequently to add to the sense of confusion and suspense.
The mystery is picked up by Nell's granddaughter who digs into the past to discover Nell's origins and the events that led to her being discovered on an Australian pier alone at four years old. You want Cassandra to solve the mystery because Nell had been so close herself before events prevented her from discovering the final clues but I struggled to care much about Cassandra herself. The women of each generation has their own story of heartache and struggle, Cassandra's being the death of her husband and young son some 10 years earlier. She has her own personal story arc, coming to terms and moving on, etc, but I found myself completely uninterested in whether or not she would find happiness again because I was so much more invested in getting closure for Nell.
Morton does plant a thorough maze to be navigated but the darker tones of the family's past scandals unbalanced the plot for me in a way that left me annoyed and dissatisfied even in the end. Forgotten Garden is dense with symbolism and questionable moral decisions that I'm sure really suit readers who enjoy gothic novels, it just didn't suit me quite as well.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet [Ford]
Bitter and Sweet tells the story of first generation Chinese American Henry Lee who witnessed the deportation of Japanese families to internment camps throughout the west during the second world war, his forbidden friendship and love for a young Japanese girl, and his search for her years later. Ford tells this story alternating between 1940s and 1980s Seattle where Henry has spent his entire life minus a short span in China for traditional finishing school. The opening of the Panama Hotel, like a time capsule that has housed the belongings of Japanese families for decades throws Henry's mind back to his childhood and the standout character in it - Keiko. Having lost his wife to cancer, Henry makes the cautious decision to dig into a past he's tried to forget in search of a precious record that ties him to this old sweetheart he'd assumed to be lost forever. His journey encompasses his son and reflects on the inherited nature of parent-child relationships and how we take people we've known all our lives at face value. The voice of this story treads carefully and the weight of years feels almost tangible in the narration.
Bitter and Sweet gives another, and perhaps a more unique look at this period of American history and its impact on those people most affected by it short of being shipped off themselves. How we approach tradition, family, and change are central themes in Henry's quiet life and his reflections have a way of sticking with you.
The Glass Castle [Walls]
Walls' childhood was made for a memoir and reads like fiction. You find yourself constantly questioning whether the events you're reading could actually have happened to someone because the bizarre manner in which her parents approached life doesn't seem real. Doing "the skedaddle" from place to place for the first decade or so of her life, Walls and her siblings didn't encounter stability until their family moved back to her father's hometown in West Virginia and the stability they found there was the kind that erodes all of the daydream, fantasy, and excuses that convinced you your parents were simply "eccentric" and "explorers."
Glass Castle is a gripping read because you want to see how Walls' life turns out - how does a child survive a life like that? And while I spent the majority of the book bursting with anger at her parents for their sorry excuse for parenting and providing, it's interesting to see how Walls herself acknowledges the strong family loyalty and love she felt for them without shying away from their failings. It's an admirably mature look back on a life that is laced with events equally fantastic and horrific.
Half-Broke Horses [Walls]
In Horses, Walls endeavors to tell the story of her maternal grandmother who's life was so varied in pursuit and experience as to be innately admirable. Told in her grandmother's distinctive voice, we follow her journey from the ranches of west Texas and Arizona to her time as a school teacher throughout the ranges of the west. Several years and a marriage based on deceit in Chicago send her back home with a larger view of the world as well as a deep-rooted distrust of men. Lily takes on the increasingly regulated school system, the tragic death of her sister, breaking and racing horses, learning to drive, and even flying lessons as her driven life rolls forward by her own determination to seize opportunities. Lily is remembered as a strong, stubborn yet fair woman who stood and fought for equality and the empowerment of women long before those movements had touched the desert west where she forged a life.
Horses is, obviously, set before Glass Castle so it was interesting for me to go back in time and learn about Walls' grandmother. Walls' own mother had always asserted that her mother had been a tyrant, oppressive and overbearing, and that she wanted to be nothing like her. To see where Lily's daughter's account met with and differed from the facts as shown in Horses recast Glass Castle in a new light in my memory.
Paper Towns [Green]
I've picked up several of Green's books in passing before but never settled to read any for a myriad of reasons but with the movie coming out I thought I'd give this one a go. [I'm waiting to try Fault in Our Stars until the hype for that movie dies out some more] I'm not going to summarize much here because chances are a lot of you have either read this or are familiar enough with the upcoming film to know the gist of the story.
I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this book when I'd finished it. Green somehow manages to write a story that has both profound commentary on how we view people, and fail to view them, and that feeling of "fluff" that I generally associate with the younger end of the YA spectrum. I love that he addressed the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope [and destroyed it so thoroughly] and Q's growth through that experience is satisfying although his narration feels older than that of a high school senior. I enjoyed his characterization of Q's group and more minor characters. Such detailed attention isn't often paid to the supporting cast of a novel like this but while I enjoyed picking up those tidbits they also felt somewhat superfluous to the story at large in a way that made me wonder if this was intentional on Green's part.
Paper Towns is a quick read and it poses many thought-provoking questions as well as taking you on a suspenseful ride with an ending that will come as a surprise to most. I'm curious to see how the movie interprets it.
Steelheart [Sanderson]
Guys. GUYS. I got this book from the library for my husband to read and when he finished it he insisted that I read it. He's long been adding Sanderson books to my future reading list but this is the first of his that I've read aside from his wrap up of The Wheel of Time. Guys, I finished Steelheart two weeks ago and it's still blowing my mind!
Ten years prior to the setting of the story an event occurred that gifted everyday men and women with extraordinary powers but the world David lives isn't full of superheroes. Sanderson has created what would [unfortunately] probably be a more realistic outcome of such a fantastic event. Epics, as people call them, fight each other for dominion over those without special abilities. The world has devolved into fractioned territories and states, each ruled by it's own individual or group of Epics and no one fights back, except the Reckoners. This underground resistance is dedicated to discovering the weaknesses of Epics and assassinating them one by one. David's father was killed by Steelheart when he conquered what was once Chicago and David is determined to join the Reckoners. He needs them to enact his revenge but they need him too. Steelheart is, for the sake of brevity, a super evil Superman. With similar powers and invincibility Steelheart has reigned without serious challenge for ten years. His invulnerability is taken as cannon by most but David knows differently. The day Steelheart killed his father, David saw Steelheart bleed and he's determined to see it again.
Steelheart is a much darker interpretation of the superhero genre that Sanderson crafts with incredible skill. A blend of fantasy and scifi, this book builds you up with comfortable character elements and tropes before pulling the floor out from under you in a way that will leave you reeling for days. By the time the twists and revelations started coming I wasn't aware of chapter breaks anymore in my desperate need to inhale the last third of the book. Steelheart calls up for debate the way we define heroism, evil, and human nature. I've probably done a fairly awful job of describing it but it has been ages since I've read something this honestly surprising, satisfying, and engaging and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in the fantasy, scifi, and superhero genres. Steelheart is set as the first in a trilogy and I can't wait to get my hands on Firefight but for those who are tired of the trilogy trend, Steelheart can largely stand on its own. There are some loose strings to help lead into the next book but there aren't any obnoxious cliff-hangers that hold the main story arc hostage until you've read the whole set.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall [Bronte]
Okay, I checked this book out with my original stack of 9 because it's what we decided to read for our book group [which meets tonight] so I should have read it first probably but I just finished it today. And man, it was a bit of a roller coaster! I've read Jane Eyre before and I've seen Wuthering Heights so I was curious to see whether Alice would fall closer to Charlotte or Emily and, thankfully for me, Wildfell Hall is much closer in tone and morals to Jane Eyre than Wuthering Heights [which I regard with the same distaste as Gone With the Wind. What can I say, I have to be able to sympathize with the main character] The best summary I've heard for Wildfell Hall is that it's like Jane Eyre meets Pride and Prejudice which, having finished it, I can now say is pretty accurate.
It took me a little while to get into the story. As I've said before, gothic romance-era literature isn't my favorite. I struggle with the language used as well as the ridiculously long sentences that tend to crop up. The book is written from the PoV of Gilbert Markham, writing this history in letters to a friend. The first third of the book, where Markham becomes acquainted with Helen Graham, the mentioned tenant, felt a little long and overwrought but once he began transcribing the contents of the lady's diary [and thus detailing her history and how she came so mysteriously to reside at Wildfell] I became much more invested. Helen's life has been plagued with a husband who doesn't deserve the title and the vast majority of the story is about her relationship and escape from him. It's a tale of neglect and abuse that isn't exactly new but Bronte has constructed such a believable heroine who skillfully toes that line between being admirable and being overly good that you at once pity her circumstances and wish you could bear life's trials as she does. Suspense over the long-term happiness of Gilbert and Helen as well as several other characters is constantly thrown into question with suspense that is believable but happily vindicated. I'm still a total sucker for stories that end happily, as this one does, and I feel Bronte did a wonderful job of balancing the turmoil and trials of less happy books with positive turns that don't feel contrived or forced.
Wildfell Hall is chock full of religious references and imagery that didn't bother me, though those who are less religiously inclined themselves might roll their eyes at it. But I think it's this connection that, for me, makes the happy endings satisfactory. I don't believe that life is all easy and smooth. But while obstacles, tribulations, and misunderstandings can make a right mess of things, I do believe that those who strive to live as best they can with a perspective on the eternities, will be brought to points where their misfortunes and abuses will be recompensed. I'm excited to discuss this one tonight.
Now I am determined to finally finish A Memory of Light [Jordan/Sanderson] so I can put The Wheel of Time series to rest!
Beware readers, here be spoilers!
The Moon and More [Dessen]
I've read several other Dessen novels and I generally enjoy her sweet summer romances. I was particularly interested in this book because it's set in the same sea-side town as Keeping the Moon which is my favorite of hers. There was a disappointing lack of overlap between the two stories which I suppose is understandable but it means the main reasons I love Keeping the Moon weren't present and without those factors I struggled to care as much for these characters. The Moon and More is a little unique for Dessen in that the main character doesn't end the book in a relationship which was somewhat refreshing [though mostly because I didn't really like either relationship she ended up in during the story]. All in all, The Moon and More slips neatly in among Dessen's other books, if somewhat underwhelmingly.
The House at Tyneford [Solomons]
While reading this novel I discovered that I have a predisposition to anticipate infidelity and adultery in historical fiction. I'm not sure why that is, but it is, and it follows for the other historical fiction books in this list, which is a little annoying.
That being said, there isn't any infidelity or adultery in Tyneford which was a relief because there definitely could have been some funky stuff. Elise comes to Tyneford from Austria to work as a house maid as a means of escaping the atrocities of WWII [being a Jew, though in genetics only]. Predictably [sorry, but it is], she falls for Kit, the heir of the estate but the presence of the war means that not all young love ends happily. Amazon's description is pretty spot on in relating this book to Downton Abbey and you can expect similar glimpses into the lives and cares of upstairs and downstairs folk as questions of loyalty and family are explored.
Perhaps it's because I struggle to grasp how close England and France are to each other or maybe it's a fault of the book but I couldn't really picture the fly-overs that residents of the valley become accustomed to as the war progresses. Elise treats these events with such casual acceptance that it removes most of the threat I'd expect to feel at seeing enemy aircraft flying so low over your home. I struggled also to really connect with Elise in general. She felt flat and child-like for a girl of 19 and while there is character development over the course of the novel it feels muted and glossed over which leaves the meaningful scenes feeling distant and lacking meaning you think should be there. Overall, a pleasant read but not incredibly memorable.
Sarah's Key [de Rosnay]
This book jumps back and forth between Sarah [a ten year-old Jewish girl in 1942] and Julia [a thiry-something journalist in 2002] and explores events and consequences of the Vel d'Hiv' round-up in France during WWII. It's called Sarah's Key because when Sarah and her parents are collected by the French police that fateful night she locks her younger brother in a hidden cupboard and promises to come back for him when the police release them. But they aren't released. You can probably guess what that cupboard opened to. Those that witnessed that moment became a crucial key to the puzzle when Julia discovers the mystery and follows the trail of what happened to little Sarah. It's a pretty gruesome premise, though the Vel d'Hiv' - a plan formulated and carried out by the French police without instruction from the Nazi party - was a gruesome point in France's history, but the moment her brother is discovered is not as graphic as I was afraid it would be. Still traumatic, but not disturbing.
Sarah's story is compelling and heartbreaking - atrocities seen through the eyes of a child who loses everything they hold dear and then carries a burden that would break anyone. I was eager to read as Julia uncovers clues and secrets long buried by people and a nation that wants to forget. Julia's own story, her marital issues, was less compelling. She came across primarily as indecisive on how to proceed with anything other than this mystery which ultimately propels the end of her marriage for her. You cheer for her when she decides to keep the baby that her husband can't contemplate for fear of realizing that he's growing old but I found myself more curious about how she continues with life after the novel ends than how it went during the story.
I have always been drawn to the events of the Holocaust and I know next to nothing about any part France played in that event so Sarah's Key was educational in that respect and I applaud de Rosnay's commitment to explore secrets that a nation may be ashamed of. It's not a popular task, nor a comfortable one, but if we bury our weaker moments without facing them then the atrocity lives on.
Room [Donoghue]
Room is the story of the existence, escape, and life of Jack, a five year old boy born to a mother who has been held prisoner by a man a la Ariel Castro for seven years. It's not exactly a happy premise so it might sound weird to say that I really loved this book but I did.
Room is told through Jack's eyes which softens the abuse present in such a living arrangement because he simply doesn't understand. Born and raised in Room, Jack's mother has shielded him [mentally - by telling him that there is nothing outside of Room, and physically - from her captor by hiding Jack in a closet at night when he comes] for five years but Room is no place for a child, let alone his mother, and so Jack, the baby who saved his mother's sanity when he was born, becomes her savior once again.
Donoghue does an incredible job of interpreting this horrific scenario as well as the aftermath through the eyes of a child. Aside from some advanced vocabulary Jack's voice is convincing and compelling, especially is the conflict between him and his mother about whether Room or Outside is where they belong. Room also explores more of the recovery portion of such an experience than we typically see in those few news accounts of similar real-life occurrences and the frustrations and struggles both Jack and his mother go through shows a deeper level of humanity that pulls your heart along on strings. Room is not a book I would give to younger teens but the unique way in which the subject matter is presented makes it accessible to a much younger audience than any other book that touches on this topic.
The Forgotten Garden [Morton]
This is another historical fiction piece and the fact that the whole thing is set up like a mystery novel that spans five generations only adds to my assumptions about lurking affairs and other infidelity. While nothing really adulterous happens in The Forgotten Garden, the familial drama that the mystery of Nell's history is founded upon is pretty screwed up. I mean, there were normal families in the 1800s right? Somewhere? Morton writes from three different character perspectives and on two different timelines for each character which gets a little confusing, especially as she jumps character and time period frequently to add to the sense of confusion and suspense.
The mystery is picked up by Nell's granddaughter who digs into the past to discover Nell's origins and the events that led to her being discovered on an Australian pier alone at four years old. You want Cassandra to solve the mystery because Nell had been so close herself before events prevented her from discovering the final clues but I struggled to care much about Cassandra herself. The women of each generation has their own story of heartache and struggle, Cassandra's being the death of her husband and young son some 10 years earlier. She has her own personal story arc, coming to terms and moving on, etc, but I found myself completely uninterested in whether or not she would find happiness again because I was so much more invested in getting closure for Nell.
Morton does plant a thorough maze to be navigated but the darker tones of the family's past scandals unbalanced the plot for me in a way that left me annoyed and dissatisfied even in the end. Forgotten Garden is dense with symbolism and questionable moral decisions that I'm sure really suit readers who enjoy gothic novels, it just didn't suit me quite as well.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet [Ford]
Bitter and Sweet tells the story of first generation Chinese American Henry Lee who witnessed the deportation of Japanese families to internment camps throughout the west during the second world war, his forbidden friendship and love for a young Japanese girl, and his search for her years later. Ford tells this story alternating between 1940s and 1980s Seattle where Henry has spent his entire life minus a short span in China for traditional finishing school. The opening of the Panama Hotel, like a time capsule that has housed the belongings of Japanese families for decades throws Henry's mind back to his childhood and the standout character in it - Keiko. Having lost his wife to cancer, Henry makes the cautious decision to dig into a past he's tried to forget in search of a precious record that ties him to this old sweetheart he'd assumed to be lost forever. His journey encompasses his son and reflects on the inherited nature of parent-child relationships and how we take people we've known all our lives at face value. The voice of this story treads carefully and the weight of years feels almost tangible in the narration.
Bitter and Sweet gives another, and perhaps a more unique look at this period of American history and its impact on those people most affected by it short of being shipped off themselves. How we approach tradition, family, and change are central themes in Henry's quiet life and his reflections have a way of sticking with you.
The Glass Castle [Walls]
Walls' childhood was made for a memoir and reads like fiction. You find yourself constantly questioning whether the events you're reading could actually have happened to someone because the bizarre manner in which her parents approached life doesn't seem real. Doing "the skedaddle" from place to place for the first decade or so of her life, Walls and her siblings didn't encounter stability until their family moved back to her father's hometown in West Virginia and the stability they found there was the kind that erodes all of the daydream, fantasy, and excuses that convinced you your parents were simply "eccentric" and "explorers."
Glass Castle is a gripping read because you want to see how Walls' life turns out - how does a child survive a life like that? And while I spent the majority of the book bursting with anger at her parents for their sorry excuse for parenting and providing, it's interesting to see how Walls herself acknowledges the strong family loyalty and love she felt for them without shying away from their failings. It's an admirably mature look back on a life that is laced with events equally fantastic and horrific.
Half-Broke Horses [Walls]
In Horses, Walls endeavors to tell the story of her maternal grandmother who's life was so varied in pursuit and experience as to be innately admirable. Told in her grandmother's distinctive voice, we follow her journey from the ranches of west Texas and Arizona to her time as a school teacher throughout the ranges of the west. Several years and a marriage based on deceit in Chicago send her back home with a larger view of the world as well as a deep-rooted distrust of men. Lily takes on the increasingly regulated school system, the tragic death of her sister, breaking and racing horses, learning to drive, and even flying lessons as her driven life rolls forward by her own determination to seize opportunities. Lily is remembered as a strong, stubborn yet fair woman who stood and fought for equality and the empowerment of women long before those movements had touched the desert west where she forged a life.
Horses is, obviously, set before Glass Castle so it was interesting for me to go back in time and learn about Walls' grandmother. Walls' own mother had always asserted that her mother had been a tyrant, oppressive and overbearing, and that she wanted to be nothing like her. To see where Lily's daughter's account met with and differed from the facts as shown in Horses recast Glass Castle in a new light in my memory.
Paper Towns [Green]
I've picked up several of Green's books in passing before but never settled to read any for a myriad of reasons but with the movie coming out I thought I'd give this one a go. [I'm waiting to try Fault in Our Stars until the hype for that movie dies out some more] I'm not going to summarize much here because chances are a lot of you have either read this or are familiar enough with the upcoming film to know the gist of the story.
I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this book when I'd finished it. Green somehow manages to write a story that has both profound commentary on how we view people, and fail to view them, and that feeling of "fluff" that I generally associate with the younger end of the YA spectrum. I love that he addressed the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope [and destroyed it so thoroughly] and Q's growth through that experience is satisfying although his narration feels older than that of a high school senior. I enjoyed his characterization of Q's group and more minor characters. Such detailed attention isn't often paid to the supporting cast of a novel like this but while I enjoyed picking up those tidbits they also felt somewhat superfluous to the story at large in a way that made me wonder if this was intentional on Green's part.
Paper Towns is a quick read and it poses many thought-provoking questions as well as taking you on a suspenseful ride with an ending that will come as a surprise to most. I'm curious to see how the movie interprets it.
Steelheart [Sanderson]
Guys. GUYS. I got this book from the library for my husband to read and when he finished it he insisted that I read it. He's long been adding Sanderson books to my future reading list but this is the first of his that I've read aside from his wrap up of The Wheel of Time. Guys, I finished Steelheart two weeks ago and it's still blowing my mind!
Ten years prior to the setting of the story an event occurred that gifted everyday men and women with extraordinary powers but the world David lives isn't full of superheroes. Sanderson has created what would [unfortunately] probably be a more realistic outcome of such a fantastic event. Epics, as people call them, fight each other for dominion over those without special abilities. The world has devolved into fractioned territories and states, each ruled by it's own individual or group of Epics and no one fights back, except the Reckoners. This underground resistance is dedicated to discovering the weaknesses of Epics and assassinating them one by one. David's father was killed by Steelheart when he conquered what was once Chicago and David is determined to join the Reckoners. He needs them to enact his revenge but they need him too. Steelheart is, for the sake of brevity, a super evil Superman. With similar powers and invincibility Steelheart has reigned without serious challenge for ten years. His invulnerability is taken as cannon by most but David knows differently. The day Steelheart killed his father, David saw Steelheart bleed and he's determined to see it again.
Steelheart is a much darker interpretation of the superhero genre that Sanderson crafts with incredible skill. A blend of fantasy and scifi, this book builds you up with comfortable character elements and tropes before pulling the floor out from under you in a way that will leave you reeling for days. By the time the twists and revelations started coming I wasn't aware of chapter breaks anymore in my desperate need to inhale the last third of the book. Steelheart calls up for debate the way we define heroism, evil, and human nature. I've probably done a fairly awful job of describing it but it has been ages since I've read something this honestly surprising, satisfying, and engaging and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in the fantasy, scifi, and superhero genres. Steelheart is set as the first in a trilogy and I can't wait to get my hands on Firefight but for those who are tired of the trilogy trend, Steelheart can largely stand on its own. There are some loose strings to help lead into the next book but there aren't any obnoxious cliff-hangers that hold the main story arc hostage until you've read the whole set.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall [Bronte]
Okay, I checked this book out with my original stack of 9 because it's what we decided to read for our book group [which meets tonight] so I should have read it first probably but I just finished it today. And man, it was a bit of a roller coaster! I've read Jane Eyre before and I've seen Wuthering Heights so I was curious to see whether Alice would fall closer to Charlotte or Emily and, thankfully for me, Wildfell Hall is much closer in tone and morals to Jane Eyre than Wuthering Heights [which I regard with the same distaste as Gone With the Wind. What can I say, I have to be able to sympathize with the main character] The best summary I've heard for Wildfell Hall is that it's like Jane Eyre meets Pride and Prejudice which, having finished it, I can now say is pretty accurate.
It took me a little while to get into the story. As I've said before, gothic romance-era literature isn't my favorite. I struggle with the language used as well as the ridiculously long sentences that tend to crop up. The book is written from the PoV of Gilbert Markham, writing this history in letters to a friend. The first third of the book, where Markham becomes acquainted with Helen Graham, the mentioned tenant, felt a little long and overwrought but once he began transcribing the contents of the lady's diary [and thus detailing her history and how she came so mysteriously to reside at Wildfell] I became much more invested. Helen's life has been plagued with a husband who doesn't deserve the title and the vast majority of the story is about her relationship and escape from him. It's a tale of neglect and abuse that isn't exactly new but Bronte has constructed such a believable heroine who skillfully toes that line between being admirable and being overly good that you at once pity her circumstances and wish you could bear life's trials as she does. Suspense over the long-term happiness of Gilbert and Helen as well as several other characters is constantly thrown into question with suspense that is believable but happily vindicated. I'm still a total sucker for stories that end happily, as this one does, and I feel Bronte did a wonderful job of balancing the turmoil and trials of less happy books with positive turns that don't feel contrived or forced.
Wildfell Hall is chock full of religious references and imagery that didn't bother me, though those who are less religiously inclined themselves might roll their eyes at it. But I think it's this connection that, for me, makes the happy endings satisfactory. I don't believe that life is all easy and smooth. But while obstacles, tribulations, and misunderstandings can make a right mess of things, I do believe that those who strive to live as best they can with a perspective on the eternities, will be brought to points where their misfortunes and abuses will be recompensed. I'm excited to discuss this one tonight.
Now I am determined to finally finish A Memory of Light [Jordan/Sanderson] so I can put The Wheel of Time series to rest!
Friday, June 26, 2015
my ceramics final
My final was on Thursday and it was the easiest final I've ever had. It consisted of sorting my pieces out of everyone else's and showing them to my professor who looked at them, complimented my work overall and a few items in particular, and wished me a pleasant summer. Other teachers take note - finals don't have to be so painful as you always make them out to be!
I really enjoyed taking this class - a whirlwind adventure of eight weeks - and while I didn't learn everything about ceramics I did learn many things so I thought I'd share some of those things with you while sharing the 20 pieces that survived my journey through the process. [warning: this is a pretty long post so if you just scroll through to see the pictures no one is judging you]
Many Things You Never Necessarily Wanted to Know About Ceramics:
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| [the lighting in my apartment is not stellar so forgive the less-than-professional cellphone photography] |
We spent the entirety of the class working on the wheels and if you're not comfortable with getting really up-close and personal with an inanimate object then pottery might not be the field for you.
After wedging the clay [think kneading bread], which rids it of air bubbles that would cause major problems down the road, you have to center the clay on the wheel head. This is accomplished by applying pressure with both hands. One - elbow planted firmly on your thigh, functioning as a vertical surface that determines the diameter of the clay on the wheel. The other - pressing on the top of the clay with the corner formed on the side of your hand when you make a fist, compressing the clay down until you have what amounts to a fat disk. Centering was probably one of the trickiest things for me. It sounds silly, but you can't describe what a centered piece of clay feels like, you have to feel it. But knowing that feeling doesn't mean you'll be able to consistently accomplish it on any given day. Even professional potters have times when they just can't get it right. Aside from that, though, it's mostly about force. You have to really push down to center a ball of clay and the bigger the ball, the harder you have to push. I personally ended up sore in my shoulders in a way I haven't experienced before.
We started out with cylinders, more commonly known as cups. This was primarily an exercise in pulling clay up to create a form and keeping the thickness consistent - practice well used on our first project: mugs.
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| [this is what can happen when glazing doesn't go very well] |
The only requirements here were that the piece have a handle and functionality [lip feels good in your mouth, specifically]. I'll willingly admit that ceramics in general, and wheel-throwing in particular, being so new to me made this first venture pretty intimidating which is why these first eight mugs are all sized just about for a child's tea party [or, as Tim has pointed out, espresso, if we drank it]. Though part of their diminutive size was a result of how much clay shrinks when it dries [and again when it's fired]. This clay had about a 13% shrink ratio [yes, I made that term up, but they really do shrink that much] so while none of these first ones were terribly large on the wheel, they were larger than they are now. But they're cute, so I kept them.
Handles are applied when the cup portion of the mug is 'leather hard' - a tactile measure of dryness where the clay feels about the same as a block of cheddar cheese. [trimming - shaping the bottom of a piece while it spins, upside-down on the wheel - is also done at this stage. this is also when you can do a lot of decorative work, like carving, or other additives like handles] You score the areas where the handle will attach - adding a touch of water to create a slurry - then, taking a flattened cylinder of clay, you attach one end to the mug and then 'pull' the handle to the length you want with smooth downward strokes, the handle-clay perpendicular to the floor. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of handles. They're finicky things and if you don't get them on right they can fall off as the piece continues to dry or in the kiln if air bubbles get trapped between the handle and the mug. Experience is definitely the ruling factor here.
[Once you've trimmed a piece you let it dry completely. At this stage it's called 'greenware' - presumably a reference to the fact that it hasn't been fired yet. Next, we bisque-fired the pieces. This step is solely to prepare for glazing. It is possible to glaze greenware and some potters do but your glazes have to be chemically formulated for that particular process. If we'd glazed our greenware with the glazes available then every piece would have exploded in the kiln. Bisque-fired clay is still pretty fragile and water/air permeable (a result of the temperature at which it was fired) which allows the glaze to soak into the piece. (Fun Fact: the difference between earthenware and stoneware is simply the temperatures at which they are fired. Earthenware is fired at or below 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit and stoneware is fired above that temperature. As a result, stoneware is harder and more durable but not necessarily super fancy.) When we glazed we first applied a water-soluble wax to the base of our pieces (what's referred to as the 'foot'). This wax keeps glaze from adhering which would result in utter disaster in the kiln - fusing the piece to the kiln shelf because, hey, glazes are glass. Wax isn't a total guarantee either, though. If you apply the glaze to thick then in can run and if that run reaches the kiln shelf the result is the same: a piece that can only be removed via use of a hammer. (The streaks on two mugs above are results of runs) Amazingly, no pieces were lost to this tragedy in my class - an apparent first for my professor. (Additional Fun Facts: aside from runs, there are two main problems that can occur when firing a glazed piece. 'Crawling' happens when the glaze shrinks faster than the piece and results in patchy glazes that resemble lizard skin. Some potters actually formulate glazes to do this on purpose to achieve that look. 'Shivering', however, isn't a desired look. This happens when the piece shrinks faster and farther than the glaze - resulting in the glaze falling off the piece. Yikes.)]
Having made the above mugs-in-miniature, I wanted to make at least two that were truly a functional size since Tim and I generally need a mug to hold more than one swallow of water. Combining some of my favorite design aspects, I created these two. His and hers mugs, if you will. The one on the right is still a tad on the small side but usable. The green one has the same quilted pattern, it's just harder to see under a more opaque glaze.
After mugs we set out to make jars. My professor showed us three different types of rims with four accompanying types of lids. We had to choose three types of rims to make. Jars may seem like a big step up from mugs and while, for me, this project was my least favorite, it's really just an extension of our practice with cylinders. Rims are created with simple figure pressure and most of the lids are made like really small bowls. The trick here is that, for best results [although never guaranteed] you need to make the jar and lid in the same session. You can stretch this a little but if you make one too long after the other then the drying times will be too dissimilar for the two to ever hope of fitting properly.
You can tell that the lid for this first one is bigger than the jar but by the time I made it [having broken another one while trimming it] I didn't care so much so I fudged a little. The result being that I couldn't show you the rim if I wanted to because it's glazed shut - the separate parts [though fired together] swelled and shrank at different rates so the wax [which I'll explain later] made no difference. I'm not really bummed about this though. I had secretly hoped that one of my jars would glaze together so I could have a trick jar for people to try to open.
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| [evil laughter] |
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| [Tim has dubbed this one 'the honey jar'] |
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| [this is also the jar with the best fitting lid. I've come to hate lids more than handles] |
I wasn't quite ambitious enough to attempt this latter miracle, especially since my primary goal with this project was to make pieces I'd use. So I set out first to make me some bowls. Unfortunately, of the three I made, I accidentally broke the largest during trimming. [guys, one thing I've learned is that every step of the ceramics process is an opportunity for you to mess up or for something to just incredibly wrong for undetermined reasons. it gets to being about equal parts stress and excitement] The other two did survive and this first one is a great example of how you shouldn't abandon a piece just because you aren't fond of it at the moment. As much as can go wrong at each step, there are also surprises that can make something go from 'meh' to 'cool!'. I wasn't a fan of this bowl before it was glazed. I thought the shape was kind of dumb and it just looked boring but now that it's got this super sweet glaze it looks like a totally different piece to me.
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| [if I had realized this glaze wasn't glossy (a mistake apparently made by my whole class) I would have glazed a ton more pieces with it because it's awesome] |
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| [free-handing with a needle. heck yes] |
Okay, I guess technically I made four bowls but this one got a little smooshed when it decided to fly off the wheel during trimming. That really happens, guys. I can't make this up. One side got pretty dented so I decided to mirror it and add a little spout. Not entire sure what this will be used for but the glaze on it [a glossy brown that breaks to black] actually turned a bit more purple on this piece for some reason and it gave it a sheen that makes it look metallic. Totally unexpected and I doubt I could replicate it if I tried. Glazes are unpredictable that way.
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| [I wish I had a better picture of the sheen on this. it honestly looks like it's made of aged iron] |
Speaking of vases! I was practicing the form I wanted to use for the pitchers below and the narrow portion became too thin to support the rim which caused the folding on this piece. I rather liked the look though and it's a nice size for a little vase so I kept it. I really enjoyed the matte brown glaze my professor had, both for the visual texture as well as the simplicity, but I painted some flowers in white glaze on top of it to keep it from being too boring.
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| [I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of the glazes interacting but I'm pretty happy with the result. the brown broke around the white in a way that makes the design look more organic.] |
Okay, these last pieces are my pride and joys from this semester. They were the last things I made and the ones I went into with the clearest idea of what I wanted - which means there was the most opportunity to be dissatisfied with the end product.
I don't know anyone who actually uses a ceramic pitcher these days but I chose the style because I thought they'd make really cute vases and judging on the sizes they turned out to be [a little small for pitcher-purposes unless you're talking milk and cream] vases are probably their best use. They are my biggest pieces by far so throwing them was a challenge unto itself because I was using more clay than I had all semester. Now, I'm pretty tall which I figure gives me at least a small leverage advantage when it comes to centering clay on the wheel but man, I had to use as much force as I could muster from my scrawny little arms to get these guys in line. Let that be a lesson for everyone, as a small tangent, skinny does not equal fit.
Personally, I don't think flower vases should be terribly ornate. I mean, the purpose is to show off the flowers, right? Complement them, at most. It was as I was pondering what glaze to use to achieve this goal that our professor showed us a series of slides [on a legit slide projector that he stole years ago from the art history department because they wouldn't get him a projector because 'it would get dirty'] of various potters' work. As we were observing the various styles he talked about the history of glazing in the United States. The art of glaze creation and use wasn't brought to the states until long after colonial America when pottery all looked a lot like this:
I grew up somewhat acquainted with this kind of crockery and the simplistic, rustic aesthetic completely answered my design needs. Now, we didn't have a grey glaze [probably because that would be boring] so, on our last day to glaze [praying I didn't screw up because I didn't have an additional 24 hours for the pieces to dry again before a second attempt] I settled for a white base with light blue for the detail work.
We didn't have enough time to do a full glaze run of our early pieces to see how they glazes would react in practice - and they look nothing like their final form when you apply them:
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| [you can match these to the tiny mugs by shape] |
- so yesterday morning was the first time I saw any of these pieces and while I was excited for all of them it was these pitchers that I was looking for most anxiously.
And they could not have turned out better.
I'm so ridiculously happy with these that last night I kept glancing over at them on my kitchen table and just grinning like a lunatic.
I had a total blast in this class and it was so satisfying to end it with a small horde of objects I made. What can I say, research papers just don't do the same thing for me. I'm even proud of the pieces I don't super love which is making the decision of which to send my dad as a belated birthday present much more difficult than anticipated!
Thursday, June 18, 2015
it's. so. hot.
Guys, I hate summer. Like, really really really REALLY hate summer.
It's been in the nineties all this week and even though I'm only ever outside for like half an hour at a time it is killing meeeee. I get asked fairly often if I think a Utah summer is superior to a New York summer as the temperatures are higher here on average but it's "dry heat." You know, to all people who think that dry air is somehow superior to air with any degree of humidity I say "forget you." I understand where the argument comes from and while moisture in air can create a list of complaints it's really difficult for me to remember that list when I wake up in the morning with blood in my nose because the air is so freaking dry that I can't breath. And that only gets worse when you get outside and the world is so hot that you have to squint to keep your eyes from drying out and you have to breath through your mouth to keep your sinuses from turning to dust and blowing away and even then you're constantly questioning whether you're actually getting any oxygen when you inhale. I got news for you people, summer is summer whether the air is wet or dry and I hate the season indiscriminately.
The only redeemable thing about summer for me is the fact that I can go grocery shopping at 10pm without freezing to death from a slight breeze.
*end rant*
This week I discovered that some friends of ours pronounce Cruella Deville "Koala Deville." I kid you not. I was so surprised to hear this new and mind-boggling pronunciation that I couldn't think fast enough to ask if it was an inside joke sort of thing or if they just pronounce her name that way. Whatever the case, this is officially the funniest thing I've heard all week. Try singing "Cruella Deville" in your head that way. I dare you. Of course, with material like this I couldn't resist a quick sketch today. Behold:
I think I'm going to be chuckling about this for a while.
I've been doing some brainstorming lately to get myself back into my writing and one of the things I've been working on is reviewing my list of characters and deciding why they are part of the story and if it really needs them. It feels about as heartless as it sounds but it's a necessary step that I'm sure I'll come back to over and over. I was considering a few characters yesterday and I was struck with the realization that one of them has DID [Disassociative Identity Disorder, previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder]. Now, I don't generally go around trying to give my characters psychological conditions but this one just makes sense. It actually serves to condense two characters that I really like but were a little redundant, as well as to bring the focus back to the central theme of the book. I've been personally fascinated with DID since I was in high school so the idea of writing a character with it is really exciting but also scary because the disorder is complex in nature and there is so little really understood about the way it works. Well, research for writing is the only kind I can stand anyway so it's a bonus here that I'm really curious about the subject anyway!
It's been in the nineties all this week and even though I'm only ever outside for like half an hour at a time it is killing meeeee. I get asked fairly often if I think a Utah summer is superior to a New York summer as the temperatures are higher here on average but it's "dry heat." You know, to all people who think that dry air is somehow superior to air with any degree of humidity I say "forget you." I understand where the argument comes from and while moisture in air can create a list of complaints it's really difficult for me to remember that list when I wake up in the morning with blood in my nose because the air is so freaking dry that I can't breath. And that only gets worse when you get outside and the world is so hot that you have to squint to keep your eyes from drying out and you have to breath through your mouth to keep your sinuses from turning to dust and blowing away and even then you're constantly questioning whether you're actually getting any oxygen when you inhale. I got news for you people, summer is summer whether the air is wet or dry and I hate the season indiscriminately.
The only redeemable thing about summer for me is the fact that I can go grocery shopping at 10pm without freezing to death from a slight breeze.
*end rant*
This week I discovered that some friends of ours pronounce Cruella Deville "Koala Deville." I kid you not. I was so surprised to hear this new and mind-boggling pronunciation that I couldn't think fast enough to ask if it was an inside joke sort of thing or if they just pronounce her name that way. Whatever the case, this is officially the funniest thing I've heard all week. Try singing "Cruella Deville" in your head that way. I dare you. Of course, with material like this I couldn't resist a quick sketch today. Behold:
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| [in other news: I'm not very good at drawing koalas] |
I've been doing some brainstorming lately to get myself back into my writing and one of the things I've been working on is reviewing my list of characters and deciding why they are part of the story and if it really needs them. It feels about as heartless as it sounds but it's a necessary step that I'm sure I'll come back to over and over. I was considering a few characters yesterday and I was struck with the realization that one of them has DID [Disassociative Identity Disorder, previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder]. Now, I don't generally go around trying to give my characters psychological conditions but this one just makes sense. It actually serves to condense two characters that I really like but were a little redundant, as well as to bring the focus back to the central theme of the book. I've been personally fascinated with DID since I was in high school so the idea of writing a character with it is really exciting but also scary because the disorder is complex in nature and there is so little really understood about the way it works. Well, research for writing is the only kind I can stand anyway so it's a bonus here that I'm really curious about the subject anyway!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
hodge-podge
I'm currently compiling a post with my reactions to the mountain of books I've been reading but I'm going to wait until I've finished all of them before posting that monster so today we get a random amalgamation of my life. Yay!
My ceramics class is wrapping up, our last day to do trim and finishing work is Monday, so we're all desperately praying that our pieces dry in time. I figured this week wouldn't be an issue because we're finally starting to get the hotter summer weather I'd normally expect right now but then it rained last night and it's raining again now which will play a detrimental role in the drying of the last pieces I made yesterday. Ugh. Weather. Why do you mock me? Realistically I think I'll be able to prep all my pieces in time to fire next week but the threat of having to throw pieces in the slurry buckets makes me panic, especially since my newest pieces are the biggest I've made so far and I'm actually really happy with them and reeeeaaaaallllly want to keep them! Fingers crossed! After bisque firing I'll just have the glazing left to go which I'm excited for but it's also another potential way to screw things up so happy anxiety!
Yesterday we lost power at work for almost two hours which provided an excellent opportunity for me to unleash the windup mouse I'd just obtained on Tuesday night. It was a very rewarding experience. When I arrived home around 5:45, though, I discovered that my zip code had lost power at 5pm and it didn't come back until 10pm. It's probably the longest power-outage I've experienced in a while and while it was a tad boring it wasn't as bad as the last time we'd lost power [sometime during fall when it got dark at 5pm]. It did seem weird to have two such outages in one day though.
The daughter of some friends from New York is getting married out here this weekend and while we're missing her wedding due to a family reunion we did get to see her and her fiance on Tuesday. Yay double dates. I've long felt like it's important to have couple friends but I'm also well aware of the struggles of trying to match up four separate personalities. These two are sweet though so I think we'll see more of them in future. The bride's family, for various last-minute reasons, moved out to the area two weeks ago and will actually be living pretty darn close to us which is a fun surprise. You really just can't get rid of some people even if you're 2,000 miles away! haha
My ceramics class is wrapping up, our last day to do trim and finishing work is Monday, so we're all desperately praying that our pieces dry in time. I figured this week wouldn't be an issue because we're finally starting to get the hotter summer weather I'd normally expect right now but then it rained last night and it's raining again now which will play a detrimental role in the drying of the last pieces I made yesterday. Ugh. Weather. Why do you mock me? Realistically I think I'll be able to prep all my pieces in time to fire next week but the threat of having to throw pieces in the slurry buckets makes me panic, especially since my newest pieces are the biggest I've made so far and I'm actually really happy with them and reeeeaaaaallllly want to keep them! Fingers crossed! After bisque firing I'll just have the glazing left to go which I'm excited for but it's also another potential way to screw things up so happy anxiety!
Yesterday we lost power at work for almost two hours which provided an excellent opportunity for me to unleash the windup mouse I'd just obtained on Tuesday night. It was a very rewarding experience. When I arrived home around 5:45, though, I discovered that my zip code had lost power at 5pm and it didn't come back until 10pm. It's probably the longest power-outage I've experienced in a while and while it was a tad boring it wasn't as bad as the last time we'd lost power [sometime during fall when it got dark at 5pm]. It did seem weird to have two such outages in one day though.
The daughter of some friends from New York is getting married out here this weekend and while we're missing her wedding due to a family reunion we did get to see her and her fiance on Tuesday. Yay double dates. I've long felt like it's important to have couple friends but I'm also well aware of the struggles of trying to match up four separate personalities. These two are sweet though so I think we'll see more of them in future. The bride's family, for various last-minute reasons, moved out to the area two weeks ago and will actually be living pretty darn close to us which is a fun surprise. You really just can't get rid of some people even if you're 2,000 miles away! haha
Thursday, May 21, 2015
life lately
My life is pretty nondescript for the most part. Whenever people ask me how life is my answer is almost always "same ol', same ol'" because I don't do much outside my routine which is why this blog isn't about the various exploits of my life, haha. There are a few things that have been refreshingly new lately, though.
Last week the ceramics class I registered for started. It's been a load of fun so far. We're spending most of our time throwing which is brand new to me and, frankly, I'm impressed that I can make something resembling a cup. The semester could honestly end now and I'd still be pleased. Our first project is "drinking vessels" which is a fancy way of saying "mugs." I'll share some pictures once I get passed the awkward handle stage [they have to have handles to fit the assignment but I rarely pick up mugs by the handle during regular use so the process of attaching handles, already challenging, feels even more frustrating, personally]. It's been a long time since I've had an official excuse to make something with my hands and I've missed it about as much as I expected. I grew up with almost an entire wood shop in my basement so I find a lot of happiness in crafting things.
My professor has a big emphasis on creating items for functionality as well as visual aesthetics, at least with the mugs. "Don't make dust collectors" is a phrase I've heard a lot this week, along with "don't glaze the professor's pots." The choices some people make in an attempt to cheat baffle the mind. With the idea of functionality being thrown around, and knowing that at some point we will be making jars [with lids!], I'm trying to think of a use for a jar in my house. Cookie jar is obvious but we don't have a constant supply of cookies [because we eat them] so I was thinking rice. Does anyone know if rice absolutely, positively, no buts about it must be kept in a completely air-tight container? Other suggestions for practical jar-usage in the home would also be appreciated.
My only grumbles are that the class is before my shift so I'm getting up at 7am every day and I know, I know, I'm a total pansy, but I am not a morning person. I've shifted my sleep schedule to compensate for the earlier rising but I'm perpetually drowsy regardless. Also, nails. Fingernails are the arch nemesis of potters. If they extend at all past the tips of your fingers your clay will slice to ribbons on the wheel. At the very least you'll end up with nicks and lines in your pieces [I speak from experience]. So the first thing I did for class was to file my nails down with took ages [I keep them at a pretty good length generally] and proves to be a process that I will need to repeat at least once every two weeks. Also, I've never realized before how much I depend on my nails to protect my hyponychium [that edge of skin underneath your nail]. I've been stabbing myself there constantly on various things! I don't want lines in my pots but I will be glad to let my nails grow again when the class ends.
It's been almost a month since my birthday so this next bit is older news but I wanted to wait until a friend's birthday and then mother's day passed before sharing. My mother in law, ages ago, gifted me with a wonderful set of watercolor brushes that she used to use, as well as a large pallet and a few books on watercolor. I've been wanting to explore the medium but all I had was a super cheap set of paints that weren't really great to work with. So, for my birthday, my mom sent me a great starter set of liquid paints as well as some good heavy watercolor paper. I was stoked about the paints but knew that if I didn't find a reason to use them right away there was a danger of them being left to collect dust in the closet since the fear of ruining new and beautiful things has resulted in similar hording in the past. Luckily, one of the packages my mom sent also had a set of watercolor cards, with envelopes, which provided my excuse since I come from a family that believes in writing 'thank you's for almost everything.
The last time I really used watercolors was in elementary school and I have no prior experience with liquid paints so there's definitely a learning curve going on, the start of which I will not be sharing, haha. After a few fun experiments I ended up with this, which was actually used as a mother's day card.
Watercolor functions very differently from acrylic and I'm still trying to orient my brain in that regard but there are ways to accomplish certain things, like silhouettes, if you're overconfident enough. This was a birthday card for a friend who's probably as homesick for New York City as I am for New York.
I love giving gifts to people but deciding what to give is not my strength so I'm often left grasping for ideas. Mother's day is the worst because I was not good at honoring this holiday growing up [I know, and I'm duly ashamed of myself] and I'm now trying to make up for it. But I don't know my mother as a frivolous person so I needed something that wouldn't just be clutter. Painting something for her seemed like the perfect option. In the interest of doing something potentially more meaningful than, say, a random flower, I went looking for a landscape in Scotland to paint. My mom served a two year mission for the LDS church in Scotland when she was 21 and hasn't been back since so, you know, sentiment. I settled on Buachaille Etive Mor, a mountain more commonly known as "The Shepherd of Glencoe." If you google pictures of it you might recognize the view as that valley was used in filming Skyfall.
It looks better from a distance, haha, and I'm certainly not going to show you the shot I used as a reference. All in all, though, I'm rather pleased with it as a first attempt at a landscape in this medium and I think it was a pleasant surprise for my mom. Maybe someday I'll be able to take her back to see it in person.
Last week the ceramics class I registered for started. It's been a load of fun so far. We're spending most of our time throwing which is brand new to me and, frankly, I'm impressed that I can make something resembling a cup. The semester could honestly end now and I'd still be pleased. Our first project is "drinking vessels" which is a fancy way of saying "mugs." I'll share some pictures once I get passed the awkward handle stage [they have to have handles to fit the assignment but I rarely pick up mugs by the handle during regular use so the process of attaching handles, already challenging, feels even more frustrating, personally]. It's been a long time since I've had an official excuse to make something with my hands and I've missed it about as much as I expected. I grew up with almost an entire wood shop in my basement so I find a lot of happiness in crafting things.
My professor has a big emphasis on creating items for functionality as well as visual aesthetics, at least with the mugs. "Don't make dust collectors" is a phrase I've heard a lot this week, along with "don't glaze the professor's pots." The choices some people make in an attempt to cheat baffle the mind. With the idea of functionality being thrown around, and knowing that at some point we will be making jars [with lids!], I'm trying to think of a use for a jar in my house. Cookie jar is obvious but we don't have a constant supply of cookies [because we eat them] so I was thinking rice. Does anyone know if rice absolutely, positively, no buts about it must be kept in a completely air-tight container? Other suggestions for practical jar-usage in the home would also be appreciated.
My only grumbles are that the class is before my shift so I'm getting up at 7am every day and I know, I know, I'm a total pansy, but I am not a morning person. I've shifted my sleep schedule to compensate for the earlier rising but I'm perpetually drowsy regardless. Also, nails. Fingernails are the arch nemesis of potters. If they extend at all past the tips of your fingers your clay will slice to ribbons on the wheel. At the very least you'll end up with nicks and lines in your pieces [I speak from experience]. So the first thing I did for class was to file my nails down with took ages [I keep them at a pretty good length generally] and proves to be a process that I will need to repeat at least once every two weeks. Also, I've never realized before how much I depend on my nails to protect my hyponychium [that edge of skin underneath your nail]. I've been stabbing myself there constantly on various things! I don't want lines in my pots but I will be glad to let my nails grow again when the class ends.
It's been almost a month since my birthday so this next bit is older news but I wanted to wait until a friend's birthday and then mother's day passed before sharing. My mother in law, ages ago, gifted me with a wonderful set of watercolor brushes that she used to use, as well as a large pallet and a few books on watercolor. I've been wanting to explore the medium but all I had was a super cheap set of paints that weren't really great to work with. So, for my birthday, my mom sent me a great starter set of liquid paints as well as some good heavy watercolor paper. I was stoked about the paints but knew that if I didn't find a reason to use them right away there was a danger of them being left to collect dust in the closet since the fear of ruining new and beautiful things has resulted in similar hording in the past. Luckily, one of the packages my mom sent also had a set of watercolor cards, with envelopes, which provided my excuse since I come from a family that believes in writing 'thank you's for almost everything.
The last time I really used watercolors was in elementary school and I have no prior experience with liquid paints so there's definitely a learning curve going on, the start of which I will not be sharing, haha. After a few fun experiments I ended up with this, which was actually used as a mother's day card.
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| ah, fingernail, the clay hates you but I miss you so |
I love giving gifts to people but deciding what to give is not my strength so I'm often left grasping for ideas. Mother's day is the worst because I was not good at honoring this holiday growing up [I know, and I'm duly ashamed of myself] and I'm now trying to make up for it. But I don't know my mother as a frivolous person so I needed something that wouldn't just be clutter. Painting something for her seemed like the perfect option. In the interest of doing something potentially more meaningful than, say, a random flower, I went looking for a landscape in Scotland to paint. My mom served a two year mission for the LDS church in Scotland when she was 21 and hasn't been back since so, you know, sentiment. I settled on Buachaille Etive Mor, a mountain more commonly known as "The Shepherd of Glencoe." If you google pictures of it you might recognize the view as that valley was used in filming Skyfall.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
eclectic updates
It's been a bit of an unusual week. I'm working what I call the "middle" shift, covering both the morning and afternoon positions while my coworker and her husband are traipsing across Pennsylvania and Chicago looking at grad schools. I've got a good bit of experience with this shift since it's the one I work whenever we're in the process of hiring a new morning person, and it's got its benefits but getting up at 7am is killing me. I know, total baby, but as much as I love how sweet the world is in the morning, getting myself out of bed earlier than 8:30 is torturous and always leaves me feeling drained for the rest of the day regardless of when I went to bed the night before. Ah well. Practice, I suppose.
Today will be the thrilling saga of The Plumber: Is Emily Just Seeing Things or is that Black Crap Coming Out of the Faucet Real? followed up by Book Group: This Month it's at My House - stay tuned to see if I can get the place cleaned up in time/treats baked/if anyone shows up. The last is a ridiculous fear [I know I can count on at least three people coming] but I'm super paranoid that no one will come :/
This Sunday is Mother's Day [as most of you probably know] which is great, because my mom is great and all moms are great, but last year and this year this holiday is doubly great because it's one of two holidays in the year when we can talk to my brother who is serving an LDS mission in Brazil right now. He's coming home sometime in October or early November so this is the last time we'll be able to skype with him until he's back in person. The fact that I have to calculate a three hour time difference for this call reminds me that my mental map of the world is super skewed. I always thing South America is more directly under North America. NOPE.
The trees around here all seem to have exploded into leaf over the last week or two which always takes me by surprise in the best way. The green here is so faded compared to what I grew up with in New York but, that being said, green is green and I will take what I can get for the limited amount of time I can get it here in the desert. I really need to spend more time outside to enjoy it. Maybe if this lingering storm will ever move itself out of here I can start taking walks.
Writing updates will hopefully make their way back into existence sometime this month. A friend directed me to a plotting/timeline tutorial that I'm hoping to work my way through in the next week or so. The fact that I haven't really written in almost two months is probably one of the things I'm most ashamed of right now [yes, I have a list] but I was reminded this week that it doesn't matter so much how quickly the book gets written, just that it does. So I'm not abandoning the project, it's just taking a different schedule that I planned at the start of the year. Best laid plans and all, right?
Today will be the thrilling saga of The Plumber: Is Emily Just Seeing Things or is that Black Crap Coming Out of the Faucet Real? followed up by Book Group: This Month it's at My House - stay tuned to see if I can get the place cleaned up in time/treats baked/if anyone shows up. The last is a ridiculous fear [I know I can count on at least three people coming] but I'm super paranoid that no one will come :/
This Sunday is Mother's Day [as most of you probably know] which is great, because my mom is great and all moms are great, but last year and this year this holiday is doubly great because it's one of two holidays in the year when we can talk to my brother who is serving an LDS mission in Brazil right now. He's coming home sometime in October or early November so this is the last time we'll be able to skype with him until he's back in person. The fact that I have to calculate a three hour time difference for this call reminds me that my mental map of the world is super skewed. I always thing South America is more directly under North America. NOPE.
The trees around here all seem to have exploded into leaf over the last week or two which always takes me by surprise in the best way. The green here is so faded compared to what I grew up with in New York but, that being said, green is green and I will take what I can get for the limited amount of time I can get it here in the desert. I really need to spend more time outside to enjoy it. Maybe if this lingering storm will ever move itself out of here I can start taking walks.
Writing updates will hopefully make their way back into existence sometime this month. A friend directed me to a plotting/timeline tutorial that I'm hoping to work my way through in the next week or so. The fact that I haven't really written in almost two months is probably one of the things I'm most ashamed of right now [yes, I have a list] but I was reminded this week that it doesn't matter so much how quickly the book gets written, just that it does. So I'm not abandoning the project, it's just taking a different schedule that I planned at the start of the year. Best laid plans and all, right?
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