1. Yes, I guess you could call it a small library in the way of multiple shelves throughout the house plus stacks here and there lol. There‘s about 370 in my own collection, not including magazines and my kids collections in their rooms.
2. I believe this one was my favorite from April ☺️
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
Picture doesn‘t do it justice but I had so much fun assembling this book nook my husband got me. My whole family is in awe of it and so am I, even though I‘m the one that put every tiny piece together lol.
This one has been on my shelf for a while after someone posted about it on Substack. Excited to finally get to it ☺️
Nothing major happened this week but it‘s still nice to practice gratitude, it‘s the simple things that matter anyway
1. My fur babies (my dog Luna too, but I didn‘t get any photos of her this week)
2. A brand new journal
3. Stickers for said journal
4. Going for walks
5. Missed quite a bit of CrossFit last week and early this week but was able to jump back in yesterday
Consider yourself tagged if you see this 😉
@DebinHawaii #5JoysFriday
“He fell quiet again and slumped back into his armchair with a lost, faraway look in his eyes, muttering in protest that he would never ever talk about it, that it was a story from a bygone age, that nothing was worth waking the dead.”
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
pickThis one was unlike any art history book I‘ve read before, and in a good way. Maybe I‘m biased because drawing is my preferred medium, but I enjoyed learning about how drawing has evolved over the centuries. I learned about so many artists, some already known to me but many I‘d never heard of before. I enjoyed the arguments in support of drawing as an art form in itself; yes it can be used for mere planning, the working out of ideas and…⬇️
This one caught my eye and the narrators sounded pretty good in the preview… let‘s see if it can keep my attention.
bailedCould not connect with the characters and while the narrator was pretty good, he made even the 36-year-old MC sound like a 70+ year old man. Nothing wrong with that per se, but it kept throwing me off.
1. Occasionally, but only because I‘m pretty much a third party vendor for my kids with Robux lol (grandma gives them cash now and then)
2. I would say money does affect him as he‘s been put on “house arrest” for being an aristocrat…
@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday
“…how could one measure oneself against the ancients? Comprehend the passage of time that eventually saw even this once-colossal statue tumbled down and broken up, and come to terms with its implications for one's own mortality? Reach deeply into one's soul and find the courage to create in the face of such magnificence?”
“He sketched the countryside in the same way he sketched men, women and children: because he was passionately interested in the ordinary and its subtle variations and unexpected moments of beauty…”
“An oil painting was a significant investment of time, money and resources: it needed careful consideration. Would a patron buy it? Would it be a worthy addition to an artist's body of work? There were many constraints. Drawing, on the other hand, was quick and cheap: it presented the opportunity to record the apparently insignificant and the easily overlooked; to spend time looking at a scene that might at first sight appear unprepossessing.”
My youngest was home sick today, it was early release for my oldest, and I got a few things done. The last couple of weeks absolutely drained me so I‘m giving myself some grace today and calling it early. You‘ll find me here until dinner time.
I‘m loving this book but I wish they would‘ve enlarged some of the images. I actually have very good vision but I wanted to see more of the tiny details, so I had to get a magnifying glass. It works 🤷🏻♀️
This is a long listen, so I‘m hoping it can keep my attention. I love samurai video games so I‘m hoping I‘ll love listening to this story as well.
pickListening to book two of this duology was such a treat, I felt even more so than the first book. I was transported every time I listened, and I was so invested in these characters that I found myself anxious for them. I didn‘t want it to end but also wanted to know how it turned out. I liked how this one focused more on the whole cast of characters, and I loved the romance between two different characters this time around… ⬇️
“Leonardo (da Vinci) drew to plan compositions, to record the natural forms that fascinated him, to map the landscape, to devise weapons and flying machines and to understand the mysteries of the human body. Drawing took him to places no one had dreamed of.”
Next up for nonfiction 😁
pickThis is a soft pick. Taking emotion out of it; this is a well-researched, well-written, and unbiased biography. But emotionally speaking, my feelings for its subject were ambivalent. At times I admired and respected her, but there were certain things I could not get past, like her privileged branch of feminism which ignored the intersectional necessity of Black feminism as well as equal rights all across the board (for people of color and LGBTQ)⬇️
Litsy wasn‘t letting me post last night. But what a nice night it was. My introverted self has had to be way too extroverted these past couple of weeks as the days led up to my BIL‘s wedding. The in laws were in town, some staying with us. Everyone has gone home or is leaving tomorrow. I love them, but I‘m so happy to have my home and my routine back to normal, and ecstatic to have a calm weekend for plenty of reading. Sunny approves too lol 😻
This one caught my eye at the library yesterday…
1. Ordered the tagged book, excited about it.
2. Less social media lately, have miraculously found more time for sunset walks.
3. Been making progress on my certification.
4. Fell in love with this pup I found wandering on our street (pic doesn‘t do her justice). Found her owners. I miss her but glad I met her (and that she‘s safe).
5. Had lots of one on one time with my kiddos 🥰
#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
“…All things must progress, and progression is not always a steady incline. Sometimes we must fall, sometimes we will rise—some must be hurt while others have fortune, for that is the only way we can learn to rely on one another. As one is blessed, it is his privilege to help those whose lives are not as easy. Unity comes from strife, child.”
Thanks for the tag! @Trashcanman
“Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.”
If you wanna play, consider yourself tagged!
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
“You look at things as a human, young master… You see rank and distinction; you try to order the world so that everything has a place either above you or beneath you. To a Seon, there is no above or beneath, there are only those we love. And we serve those we love.”
“‘I have found that no matter what the circumstance, it is most useful to be oneself,‘ Shuden said. ‘The more faces we try to wear, the more confused they become.‘
Roial nodded slightly, smiling. ‘True. Boring, perhaps, but true.‘”
1. As a very anxious person, I use several different practices for inner peace. Going for walks, meditating, journaling, and drawing are my go-to methods. I do these things regularly and that helps, but I‘ll do them more when I‘m anxious or feeling down.
2. The tagged book and “Upstream” by Mary Oliver (as well as any of her poetry) are my top reads to help with inner peace.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
“…‘writers tend to magnify the significance and difficulty of writing and to destroy its essential simplicity and directness.‘ Also, they ruined tablecloths with their lead pencils.”
My next listen… just finished book 1 of the Shepherd King duology, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to use my current credit on Audible to get book 2.
pickThis one had a lot of the usual fantasy tropes, but I still enjoyed it. I loved the romance. There were times I found the MC annoying, but she grew on me. I really enjoyed the plot though. I kept listening wanting to know what happens next. Cards imbue the holder with magic, but wander the woods without a charm and you might be infected with powerful but degenerative magic that doesn‘t require the use of a card. “Nothing comes free.”
“…the real tragedy occurs when the drive that should go into creation becomes unhinged and spills over into personal relationships.”
“Male editors who fulfilled their job duties were deemed not ‘formidable‘ but ‘genius…‘
Lurking within the word ‘formidable‘ is this original sin: she did nothing to prop up male authority or disguise her own, nothing to make it easier for men to defer to her.”
“She valued intellectual risk, because she herself had profited from wading into books that made her stretch to encompass them.”
“…her father and Crullie seemed to have provided only support, never censorship. Katharine was allowed to read books that scared her and books that she didn‘t understand—and these were ‘often the ones that meant the most‘ to her.”
This is what “watching the game” with my husband looks like 😅
pickI moved through this one slowly, annotating/underlining, taking it all in. Airey takes a no-nonsense approach while still being motivating and inspiring. He gave me a lot to think about and helped me come to some important decisions for how I want to approach my business. More importantly, it didn‘t overwhelm me but filled me with excitement. In my opinion, every designer wanting to start their own business should have this one on their shelves.
“‘At its best… money facilitates community health and support for yourself and your extensions, and in the larger world it provides a context of universal interaction between countries that can lead to healthy cultural exchange. At its worst, it becomes a vehicle to manipulate and oppress from a stance of power…‘”
“‘Good ideas are like falling in love… when it‘s not the real thing, you can debate about the pros and cons forever. But when it‘s really right, you know it when it happens and you‘d be crazy not to act on it.‘”
Here‘s to the simple joys in life!
1. Did plenty of creating this week (makes my soul happy).
2. With the Merlin ID app from Cornell, I was able to ID all of the bird sounds in our yard (I drew ones I saw, image on the far left).
3. My cats Sunny & Midnight gave me plenty of moments full of love/laughter, as usual 🥰
4. I had a me date at the bookstore.
5. Went on a few walks with my son & our dog, we had nice talks 🥰
#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
Letting myself slow down a bit this morning… I‘m loving this one so far and I just LOVE the feel and smell of a decent paperback. This one has slightly thicker, creamier pages than a lot of paperbacks so it‘s a bit heavier but feels so good in my hands. So I wanna know, when it comes to physical books, do you prefer hardcover or paperback?
pick“…no matter what, you are not alone, not with ten quintillion insects on this planet and 390,900 plants known to science—no, you are most certainly not alone in this rich and dark dirt.” What beautiful essays. Aimee connects her life to nature as she‘s learned profound lessons from fireflies, bonnet macaques, ribbon eels, etc. Lessons like, learn to laugh at yourself, and just dance! Nature reminds us that the simple things make life worth living.
Had a “me date” at B&N with the gift card my hubby got me for Valentine‘s Day, hadn‘t a chance to use it until now. Really excited for these 😁 #bookhaul
A quiet Sunday afternoon on my porch surrounded by my books and journals, yet another cup of coffee, and my fur babies keeping me company 🥰
