This book is a home decor and lifestyle tome that might be considered a "coffee table book" by some. It is full of alluring photos of real people's bohemian homes. The driving principals of the first half of the book are to create spaces that have clarity, flow, spirit, growth, and harmony. This section is less hippie-dippy than it sounds. Part Two of the book focuses on specific additions to your spaces, like crystals and astrological signs. This section is exactly as new age as it sounds. I first saw this book in an Instagram post from Heavenly Metal in Ann Arbor. After reading as many free pages as I could in Google Books and spotting it a few more times, I made the commitment and bought it. I am really pleased with this purchase because not only does the book look good (re: the aforementioned coffee table possibilities), but it was also pleasurable to read. I already use some of the principals in my spaces and it was nice to affirm those. I also learned techniques that I have implemented in my home now, and will definitely consider as I put together my next place.
0 Comments
This book is the sequel to Beartown and it is quite possibly even more riveting. We follow many of the same characters, and a few new ones, in the rural hockey community, learning more of their triumphs and heartbreaks in a pulsing narrative. This book is sort of about a hockey team, but really it's about community and society and life and friendship and love. I loved this book. Ms. Deacon and I had a bit of a race to see who would get to read this one first, and I won. Backman's narrative in these novels is like a clinic in characterization: every passage is about a person before it is about an event. This technique really shapes the story for me as one of the human spirit and what it means to survive and thrive. Five out of five stars. In the first fifty pages of this book, Starr and her friend Kahlil leave a party in their neighborhood, get pulled over by a white police officer who asks Kahlil to step out of the car, Kahlil goes to ask Starr if she is okay and the police office shoots Kahlil three times in the back. This book is about Starr Carter and the aftermath of her friend's death. She decides what to do with her witness testimony and how she can fight with her words. Everybody recommended this book to me. Several of my student book groups have read and raved about this book. It did not disappoint. Thomas' characters are relatable and dynamic. She addresses a multitude of social and cultural issues through a graceful and powerful narrator. I will see the movie adaptation soon and I can only hope it gets close to the original. Despite growing up in East Rockport, Texas, Vivian does not worship the football team or ignore when the boys at her school are offensive to girls. In fact, she is sick of being told, "Make me a sandwich," and she does not like the Bump'n'Grab game the boys play in the hallways. So she makes a zine and distributes a few in the girls' bathrooms to see if she is not alone. It turns out, she is not the only girl at East Rockport High who does not like the sexist culture, and she is not the only one who wants to do something about it. A student pitched this book to my English 10 class this fall and it sounded interesting but it did not get picked for a group. Then I saw it at the book store and figured it would be okay to get a copy for my classroom library. Reading this book was energizing. Mathieu addresses high school feminism in a very real way and her inclusion of Riot Grrrl was dreamy. Zuri Benitez loves her family, her block, and her writing. She loves everything about living in Bushwick, NYC. That is, until the Darcy family moves into the mini-mansion across the street. While the charming and cute Ainsley quickly strikes the fancy of Janae, Zuri's older sister, it is his brother, Darius Darcy, who makes Zuri see red. They get off to a terrible start, but a few key encounters help them see the errors in both their pride and prejudice. I read Zoboi's American Street, and loved it. I read Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and loved it. This book is a wonderful meshing of a classic tale with a very real, latinx, urban, youthful retelling. I could not put it down. This graphic novel autobiography depicts part of Marjane Satrapi's adolescence in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s. Iran was going through revolution and war at this time, but Marji was just a regular teen. She wants to buy jeans and Nikes, chat with her friends, and go to school. However, when her family and friends are imprisoned or killed by bombs, it is hard to be "normal." I have been hearing of this book for years, but just finally happened to pick it up at Dawn Treader. The graphics were excellent and really demanded my attention more than I have found with other graphic novels. Satrapi's story weaves in so many elements of adolescence, politics, war, family, and education that I enjoyed the feeling of learning about real things as I read. Beartown is resoundingly a hockey town. It is also a family town, a rural town, and a town that has its fair share of politics. This is story about Beartown as their junior hockey team plays in the national tournament. It is a tapestry of characters, secrets, beauty, and resilience. I read this book because a friend recommended it and I LOVED it. I desperately wanted more when I got to the last page, and good news for me, there is a sequel! Backman's writing is rhythmic, honest, and carefully chosen as he writes this heartache of a story. Eleanor does not fit in, per se. She feels too big, too colorful, and too different from her peers. But then again, Park does not quite fit in either. He is half Korean, half white, and he loves comics. This is a roaring love story set in 1986. It brings the feels. Yet another book I read on the recommendation of a colleague aka friend. This was the first of Rowell's books that I read and I fell in love with both Eleanor and Park and then very quickly with anything penned by Rowell. The 1986 setting is the cherry on top of this delightful work. This novel is book six in the Throne of Glass series. Maas steps away from Aelin and Dorian and instead narrates the story of Chaol and Nesryn as they seek answers on the southern continent. Clearly, this book is part of a long series that I have already committed to. So I loved it. I love Maas' characters and how they are multifaceted to a fault. While geared for teens, her stories are enchanting for all. This novel is a bridge between the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy and the next installment Maas writes featuring some of the supporting characters. At this point in Feyre's (and Rhys') story, she is preparing for the Winter Solstice and trying to heal some of the wounds she and her family endured in the previous three books. This novel is written from multiple voices and suggests heavily at the characters and conflicts that will be featured in the next installment. It is difficult to describe just this novel without saying a bunch about the trilogy that precedes it. I am invested in the characters at this point and would read anything about them. A Court of Thorns and Roses is a fantasy series that begins with a sort of "beauty and the beast" tale, but with distinctly feminist undertones. |
J. HiEBERBibliophile Archives
June 2020
Categories
All
|