IVE BEEN GONE FOR OH SO LONG: an update

So I started out this year excited about this blog and reading so much... its basically fallen apart for the time being.
I've had a lot of health scares including but not limited to seizures, uncontrollable migraines, and body pain.
I'm trying to get back into the mindset of being able to read, do art, do... anything really.
Its difficult. VERY difficult.
I thank you few readers for your continued support in reading my posts, im hoping im going to be able to get back into the swing of things as soon as I can.

I most likely will be filling in the dates that ive missed in my year of books. we will see how many i can get done as it would be nice to complete my newyears resolution.

Femme Fatale

I have been very unwell lately. Between a migraine that ended up sending me to the ER and lasted a week, migraines that have completely wiped out whole days, and trying to get out there and do modeling/work with new photographers... Its been trying for me. So i'm catching up on reading and posting when I can. If I manage to read more than one book in a night i'm trying to fill in back space where I missed days. I'm hoping to read at least 365 books/stories this year.

Title: Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the unknown life of Mata Hari
Author: Pat Shipman

Mata Hari is someone that is kind of unavoidable when reading about burlesque, strippers, and the like.  I'd often wondered about her, as i'd seen pics but never had actually read anything about her other than that she was popular. 

I found out due to this book, that I do not care for her as anything but a visual.

The woman was insufferable.

Shes basically Scarlett O'hara from the Gone withe the Wind movie (i've never read the book) as a real person.

She cared really almost nothing about anyone but herself, and anything of real value except for her own personal gain/money. She was highly promiscuous, a cheater, and most definitely a liar. She was counted as a spy for germany, france, and russia though it seems like she cheated them as well (for a paycheck without following through with orders) which finally caught up to her in the end.

She (and anyone she was with) was constantly in HUGE amounts of debt due to her spending habits, and it seems as though she suffered from syphilis from her first husband (which in the end led to the demise of her two children.). 

Basically the short of it is that she was spoiled rotten for her whole life.

((Weird side note: her head appears to have been stolen from its place in a museum a long while back after her execution.))

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatale-Love-Lies-Life/dp/0060817313

ISBN: 978-0060817312

Into the River

Title: Into the River
Author: Ted Dawe

I did not care for this book. I found it boring and it made me a bit listless as I had been (because of the cover insert) expecting some fantastical Maori folklore or superstition to be present. Nope.

This book is about a Maori boy who is quite intelligent and how he gets mixed up and away from his roots into the modern times at a college/boarding school in the city. 

It was very much a disappointment.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Into-River-Devon-Santos-Dawe/dp/1943818541/

ISBN: 978-1-943818-19-8

Bones of faerie

Title: Bones of faerie
Author: Janni Lee Simner

Bones of faerie is book one of "the bones of faerie trilogy".

There is a book that ive been wanting to read for years called "the spiders' bride" that every time i type that in to the library databanks, the next closest is this book. Well. I'm finally reading this one.
I wasn't disappointed.

Its younger young adult fiction. The book itself follows the story of a girl named Liza who lives in a town where magic is shunned. To the point that children found to be carrying faerie traits have been killed or left to die in the elements.
She knows this because her father did this to her baby sister after she displayed the typical glass clear silver hair of the faeries.
There was a war. In the war it seems the faeries used magic. We used what was handy to us: nuclear weapons. Faeries seemed to be dead and gone but their magic lingered and twisted nature against the human world. Angry trees, wraiths of shadow, stones that explode at slightest touch.

Liza runs away to find that shes special in unexpected ways and that she was running towards something. Not just away.

You really end up liking the kids in this book. The author does a good job of making the situations and responses things that kids actually would do as opposed to the stereotypical -hes 9 but makes decisions like a 47-year-old trope-.

I liked it and look forward to reading the next books in the series.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Bones-Faerie-Book-Trilogy/dp/0375845658

ISBN: 978-0-375-84565-9

Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine

With this title i'm filing it as a back date as to fill up the gaps of days i've missed.
I've been very sick with brain issues lately and so I keep having to skip reading days.


Title: Oishinbo a la carte: Japanese Cuisine
Author: Tetsu Kariya
Artist: Akira Hanasaki

This is volume 1 of the Oishinbo series by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki. It follows the story of Yamaoka Shiro, and his co workers as they go through trials and tribulations of finding the best foods for their newspaper column. This was the most boring so far of the Oishinbo series, as it had no real lessons or morals in it. In fact it seemed to mostly be Shiro having fights with his father (who is a master chef or something) and his father being a pompous windbag.  

As the series progresses (and i'm reading them out of order) it improves a great deal. Each volume includes recipes for a meal featured in its pages. This one so happened to be two recipes: Pine-skin seabream  and Kamishio seabream. 

Theres not much substance to this volume as i've said, but it touches on how "real chefs should not smoke" and how some things like strawberries should be enjoyed without toppings to cover their natural flavor.

Pretty sure if I had started with this first volume I would have abandoned the manga series from my reading list.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/OISHINBO-JAPANESE-CUISINE-Tetsu-Kariya/dp/1421521393

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2139-8

The Rat Prince

Title: The Rat Prince
Author: Bridget Hodder

First off, I absolutely hate the cover of this book. It is very offputting to me, and I might draw a different cover for it at some point. 

This book (despite the terrible cover that makes me feel like its aimed at 2nd graders) is very well done! The story is from the rats' point of view as well as Cinderella's herself. Gone is the super young marriage. Gone is the mother dying when the girl is very very young. Hodder does very well at covering all the angles that were previously untouched in other tellings of this story. Particularly the stepmother's past, why the father is absent, and how magic isn't always what you want but can sometimes be what you need.

I really don't want to go much farther into this other than to say that I absolutely love the names of the rats and mice. (SO MUCH LOVE!) This is a very good book, and you should totally read it if you are a fairy tale lover! 

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Prince-Bridget-Hodder/dp/0374302138

ISBN: 978-0-374-30213-9

Golden Girl

This book is the sequel to Dust Girl which is an American Fairy Tale.

I'm finally getting around to writing the post about this one. I've had to re read this over and over a few times now. Stress took over for a bit, and my memory was wiped a few times by migraines. I also had a bunch of library books taken (which I am still stressing over), and am working on popping out another kidney stone baby.
This stone is bad enough that I missed comic con because of it. Super lame.

Anyways, finally read this book in its entirety so here it is:

Title: Golden Girl
Author: Sarah Zettel

This book is book two in the American Fairy Trilogy, this series MUST be read in order. It cannot be skipped through or read in a mishmosh like some of the other series' I've read in the past, this one has continuity that you will miss or spoil the plot with if read out of order.

Where last we left Callie she and her friend Jack were on their way to Hollywood to scope out the Seelie Court.

I love how well the dichotomy of the Dark and Light courts are played out in this series. They are indeed uniquely american. The Unseelie court (to whom Callie's father was heir) is made up primarily of dark skinned people. Their power is held in music, specifically Jazz music. 

The Seelie court (the ones causing all the trouble for this poor girl) is made up of a bunch of shining white folks, primarily in the movie industry. Their magic seems to be mostly visual/glamour based.

Callie knows that the Seelie court has her mother, and she has suspicions that her father is there too. So she goes to Hollywood. She gets hired on quickly as a stage hand to the equivalent of Shirley Temple, and her world continues to spiral out of control. This is no place for a half fairy girl who doesn't know what she is up against.

I am highly impressed with Sarah Zettles' lists and attributes at the backs of her books. She puts up historical notes as well as complete song lists labeling the tunes that she mentions throughout the series. I am also impressed with the level of attention she pays to details that meld with true history. I will be happy to read the finale of this series (and hopefully during a time that I can pay attention.)

Find it here:  https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Girl-American-Fairy-Trilogy/dp/0375869395

ISBN: 978-0-375-86939-6