So once I figured out this was a romance novel and not a crime fiction novel, my mood while reading this improved.

Reclusive forensic artist Macy Sheridan agrees to work one final case she hopes will solve the mystery that’s haunted her for years. The only things blocking her from achieving her goal are a perfect facial reconstruction and Detective Leigh Monroe, a woman who reminds her of the past and challenges her future.

The first half of this book was really awkward. The pacing was all over the place and I still have no idea what the characters looked like other than one had red hair. I liked the characters because the cop was always spouting off motivational sayings (endearing quirk), and the other character was an artist so she’d have these art moments. But honestly, every time the characters were in the same scene all the writing felt so forced.

The second half of the book was better because the story moved faster and finally the plot happened. There was a lot going on in the plot:

1. The love story
2. The cold case
3. The mysterious run-away who wants to find his family
4. The detective’s estranged mother

Since this is a romance, most of the details were in the love story/sexy parts. And the other stuff was background noise.

If you enjoy lesbian romance books, you’ll probably dig this.

If you’re looking for a decent mystery book with lesbian romance on the side, maybe not this book.

 

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This is the second book in the Kate Kane series, and like many second books it’s not as strong as the first book. However, it is still just as fun.

Private investigator Kate Kane is as snarky as ever. She and her automaton (living marble statue?) assistant, Elise, who is the most endearing character I’ve read in years, are working on a missing person’s case. Chaos ensues. Hilarity abounds.

I have two issues with the book. First of all, I have a hard time keeping all the characters and their names together. So many characters! So many types of characters! (Human, vampire, faerie, mage, werewolf, alchemist?)

The second issue is that in this book Kate Kane uses her magic powers too much. In the first book there was so much about how she doesn’t like to use her powers cos she turns inhuman and blah blah, but in this book, any time trouble came up she just morphed back and forth and it felt pretty weak.

Still and all, it’s a fun book, a fun series. If you liked the first book you will enjoy this one as well.

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 With that title how could I not pick up this book?

From blog to book, Jen Mann writes some hilarious essays on suburban living. If you’re raising kids of your own I’m sure this book is even funnier. I thought it was funny, and I don’t have kids. That being said, I also thought they way she writes about her husband really makes him sound like an ass. In fact, she’s pretty honest about her and her husband both being jerks at times. On the one hand I appreciate the honesty of not sugar-coating a story, but on the other hand, those essays were probably the weaker ones in the book.

Most of these stories are hilarious. And most of them made me want to punch these insane supermoms in the throat as well. She’s onto something.
The names she gives all the different kids slayed me. One was named Rocket. I died.

My favorite essay was the one about garage sales. It was not only funny, but totally spot on.

All in all it’s a fun read, and like I say, if you have kids I bet it’s even funnier.

 

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Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.

When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite. But they don’t laugh.

Melanie is a very special girl.

Okay, how could I read that blurb and NOT pick up this book? I couldn’t. I HAD to know.

I do not read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction (and when I do read it, I make sure it’s a good one, Stephen Irwin’s The Broken Ones comes to mind.) I do not enjoy the feeling of hopelessness that these types of books tend to leave with me. That being said, this book grabbed me right away and I could not put it down.

Melanie is a special girl, but also she’s more than that. And I feel it is impossible to talk about this book without giving all the good stuff away!

I’ll just say this, the plot was good, the characterizations were great, and the relationship between Melanie and her teacher, Miss Justineau, was so sweet. The book length was perfect, there were no wasteful pages, the whole story was off like a shot, and when it ended I was relieved. I don’t think I could’ve handled any more intense situations.

I was expecting this book to be good, but it turned out to be great.

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This is the 5th book in the Rebecka Martinsson series.

I was looking forward to reading this one because I loved book #4, Until Thy Wrath Be Past, so much. That book was so different than the others and now it seems in book #5 we’re back on track to regular mystery solving without the help of a ghost. And make no mistake, I’m glad. If this series had turned into some kind of supernatural mysteries series I’d be turned off right away.

So anyway, we’re back to Martinsson and Mella solving mysteries in Kiruna, Sweden. The book switches between two stories, one in 1914 when the town of Kiruna is a new mining town full of promise and roughnecks (think of Deadwood), and the mystery of the present time: a local lady who happens to be the town drunk is brutally murdered with a pitchfork in front of her young grandson. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the historical B-story plot with the rich mining manager and the school marm, but I loved it.

The A-story with Martinsson and Mella was a great mystery. It moved quickly. There is a plot device child, Marcus, the grandson of the murder victim, but I can’t really complain about that character because he’s written very well and not too precious. Plot device children can be tricky, they can be too perfect, poppet-y, or they’re a total McGuffin and that’s just insulting to the reader and children in general. Larsson does a good job with Marcus.

I love that Martinsson and Mella have great repsect for each other and have a good professional relationship with each other, but can we please have them as BFFs? They both need a woman friend, amirite? We do get to see Martinsson hang out with Lars Pohjanen, the medical examiner. That was such fun! And she gets closer to the K9 cop, Ericksson, thank God, because if you don’t love that character then you have no soul. So I love that everyone is becoming more friendly with each other as the series progresses.

I won’t spoil anything here, but at the end of the book Rebecka has to make a decision, and I cried like a baby. Real tears came out of my eyeballs.

Dear Asa Larsson,

YOU ARE A MONSTER AND YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY.

Love,

Jaimie

The Second Deadly Sin is a great book. If you’ve enjoyed the series so far, you’ll like this one as well. If you haven’t read this series, but you like Swedish mysteries in general, you’ll love it.

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Tags: Åsa Larsson, Scandinavian crime fiction

From the book:

Too many artists find themselves in a frustrating rut: unable to sell paintings hanging in galleries, bogged down by projects they can’t finish “or “abandon, and using any excuse to avoid working in the studio. Author Carol Marine was herself suffering from painter’s block–until she discovered “daily painting.” The idea is simple: do art (usually small) often (how often is up to the individual) and, if you desire, post it and sell it online.

This book has some great advice/ideas if you’re currently having artist’s block. And if you’re fine right now, but you’ve had a block in the past so you KNOW you’re going to have one in the future (and let’s be brave but realistic about this, YOU WILL.) this book has some great nuggets of wisdom to help you get through your tough spots. I’m not saying it will fix your art brain immediately. (That would rule though, right?) But Ms. Marine does a really great job of explaining how simple (note: I did not say easy) it is to paint something every day (or more realistically, often.)

Her writing style is really relaxed and conversational making the book super-readable. She really makes daily painting feel like an attainable goal.

I do not think that this book would be as good for very beginning artists. Having some knowledge of what you’re doing and how paint and colors work would be best. That said, you could still be a novice and use this book to help build your skills.

I was not as interested in the online selling part as I was in the artist’s block part. Not only does Ms. Marine write about it, but she also has some of her artist friends write about it as well. It’s a really good mix of honesty and suggestions for working through the blocks.

If you’re looking for some new ideas for your art work, or having a bit of a block yourself, (and if you are having a block I am so sorry, please remember to be kind to yourself.) get this book and put it in your face.

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Tags: art, creativity, painting

I was looking forward to reading this book because I really loved Annabelle Gurwitch’s Fired! documentary. I was hoping that this book would be more in that style where she would ask her friends, actors, comedians questions about their experiences with aging.
This book is not that.

This book is about her dealing (or not) with aging, and while 2 of the essays were hilarious (The Life Coach essay had me rolling.), she writes the rest of them in such a way that she comes off sounding really spoiled. When she talks about money–needing it, not having it, and spending lots of it anyway–it really killed the humor. She is such a smart, funny lady that it’s a shame that in most of these essays she writes herself as very shallow.

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It’s difficult to be creative. What I mean is if you are a creative person it can be difficult-

Scratch that. What I mean is that I often find being creative to be a burden. I don’t know why exactly. Part of it is that I think I was born with an extra helping of Protestant Work Ethic. It’s ingrained in me. Work! Work, work, work!

Work = Life

Work = Good

Work = Winning

Are you working? Yes. Good!

Are you working? No. Then go to work.

I have no idea where this comes from. Like I said, I think I was born this way. My brother, not so much. (Hi Justin! Love you!)

So sometimes working on a bit of artwork feels frivolous. Like it’s not a real job, it’s taking up my time, and I should be doing laundry and sweeping since it’s my day off. As though laundry and dish washing are more worthy things to work on. I’m trying to break this way of thinking. In January I bought a small Moleskine sketch book, and I’ve tried to make something in it at least once a week. (Hello, work ethic. See? Even my hobbies are structured.)
This was difficult at first because I usually work on large canvases or large sketch books. Working on a small scale feels so constrictive and frustrating. But I’m getting there. I’ve made a few things that really make me happy, they feel like completed pieces.

***

Another frustrating part is that growing up I was pretty good at drawing.  So I went to art school. If you’re the artsy one you get asked to do all the stupid shit that non-artsy people need done.

“Hey, the church needs a banner lettered. You’re the artist!”

“My kid has to do a map for school. Can you do it?”

“I need a cartoon for a newsletter, you’re an artist, just do up something funny, okay?”

“Can you paint a Spiderman on my son’s wall?”

The examples could go on. I’m sure if you’re the artist in your fam/group/clan/job that you’ve been asked the same things. These are soul-crushing things. These things make me want to hide my ability. They make me want to fade into the background, forget I’m creative, just hide it away.

***

I went to art school but never wanted a career in art. I even majored in painting. That’s like majoring in uselessness. (Don’t start with me, I’m joking. Mostly. Shut up.) But I find value in my art education all the time. I tell people that art school is basically creative problem solving. (I also tell people to go to trade school and learn how to fix air conditioners.) But if you have a problem I suggest getting an artist to look at it. I mean, also a specialist. If you have a plumbing problem call a plumber. But creative problems are an artist’s specialty.
I felt (and still feel) that as an artist/creative person, I can do any job (barring serious medical stuff. Plus I’m kinda queasy around blood.) just show me the job then leave me alone, and boom, job done.

I’ve been really blessed cos even though I don’t want to be a full-time artist, I still get to be creative at my library job. But I also have the feeling that no matter what job I work I would probably end up doing something creative. I doubt I could help it.

And that’s another problem. I can’t turn off my brain.

***

I’m always noticing things. Everything. Textures. Colors. Light. Music. Lyrics. Mouths. Teeth. Smells. Sounds. Birds. Fucking birds. They are EVERYWHERE chirping, tweeting. Absences. Negatives. Shadows. Signs. Words. So many words. Flickering fluorescent lights (the asshole of the lighting world.)
Everything reminds me of everything else. It’s ridiculous.
So if you’re talking to me and I look like I’m distracted, I am, cos the light is reflecting off every shiny surface and that shadow is hilarious, and you just said, “The boss is after you.” so now in my head I’m singing Duran Duran all, “I’m on the hunt. I’m! af! ter! you!” and that book cover over there has the most amazing shade of green-blue or is it blue-green? I can hear the aquarium running so it probably needs more water in it.
And you say, “Jaimie, have you heard anything I just said?”
And I say, “Yes. I got it. No problem. And I’m *singing* HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF! */singing* So Imma take my lunch break now.”

 

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Tags: art, creativity

I really enjoyed this book about Bob Ross. It is not a biography exactly, but more a look at Ross’s art and lifestyle.

I remember watching The Joy of Painting on PBS on Sunday afternoons in the ’80s and early ’90s with my dad and trying not to fall asleep to Bob’s soft, hypnotic voice. We were both impressed that he could finish a painting in 30 minutes, and I was more impressed than my dad who said that Bob Ross was like a Xerox machine with paint. I saw his point, but I still loved to watch him crank out a painting. Our favorite part would come toward the very end of the episode. Sometimes Bob would have this good painting going on, right? And then at the end he’d blow the whole thing by adding a giant tree in the foreground, and dad and I would lose it.

“Wait, what’s he doing?”

“Oh God, here it comes!”

“TREE!”

“Called it!”

We had fun.

Reading this book brought back those memories, and it made me think a lot about art school in the 1990s. I love that the authors were so kind to Bob Ross in this book. They don’t go so far as to say that Bob Ross made high art or anything, but they do feel that maybe he didn’t deserve a complete snub from the Art World. I agree. I mean, while I was earning my painting degree I was never encouraged to paint a single landscape, and to mention Bob Ross would’ve gotten me laughed out of the studio.

But the way Bob Ross would talk about painting and that anyone could do it, that you control the world in your painting, that’s really good stuff. That’s empowering. I really appreciate that now more than I would have in my 20s.

The other thing I really liked in this book were the two chapters comparing/contrasting Bob Ross to Andy Warhol and Thomas Kinkade. I really liked what they did there.

This is a really sweet book about a really sweet man. And you don’t have to be an artist or hobbyist to enjoy it. I feel like anyone who watched The Joy of Painting would get a kick out of reading this.

 

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Tags: Bob Ross

Get this book and put it in your face.

Jane Bussmann is a British comedy writer/celebrity journalist who, after having a bit of crisis in her life, decides to become a Useful Person and tries to follow human rights activist (a very hot human rights activist) John Prendergast to Uganda to write about his work. She does this by not really knowing what she needs to do this. She’s never worked as a foreign correspondent. I feel like this probably makes her the best person for the job.

Ms. Bussmann does a fantastic job of writing about the self-centeredness of Hollywood and the incredibly devastating reality that is Uganda, while adding piles and piles of hilarious self-deprecation on top. It doesn’t seem right that reading a book about the horrors of 20,000+ children being kidnapped and forced to join a rebel army should be so entertaining. I can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud. I also can’t tell you how many times I kept thinking, “My God, is she TRYING to get killed?!” But thank God, she didn’t die, and thank God, she did make this a funny, entertaining story cos otherwise you’d just want to curl up under a blanket and never get out of bed.

I sincerely hope she keeps being a Useful Person and continues to write about it.

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Tags: Jane Bussmann, nonfiction, Uganda

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