A Dance of Birds, Poetry and Paper Collage by Angela Blair and Sherri Linnemeyer

A Dance of Birds, Poetry and Paper Collage

Angela Blair and Sherri Linnemeyer

Last night I attended the premiere book signing for this book, A Dance of Birds by Angela Blair and Sherri Linnemeyer. The book was written by Angela, and is a poem about birds, and is suitable for young children to adults. The illustrations are by Sherri, and were created with tissue paper collage, and they are exquisite. So much so that I not only purchased a book and had them sign it, but I also bought one of the original pieces of art by Sherri that is included in the book. I would have loved to get the parrot cover art, but that, I knew, was not available or had already sold. But the piece that I did get, was of a starling in front of the Notre Dame cathedral and will look great on my wall. 

European Starling and Cathedral

Sherri Linnemeyer

The event itself was also lovely. It was held at Churchill School in Baker City, which is an old elementary school turned into a multipurpose center for arts and events (including an  Air B&B, bike hostel, recording studio, artist studios, hair salon, and more.) The Dance Hall was used for this event, which is the old school gymnasium auditorium. It has old school tables and benches that fold into the wall on one side, and repurposed theater seating on the other side, with seat backs custom painted by local artists, including me. Angela and Sherri were both there with a table for purchasing books and where they would both sign, and Sherri had her art on display and for sale. There were treats served by East Side Bakery, and drinks served in the bar by Corinne Vegter. Robert Anders and a friend (I am sorry I did not get her name) played guitar and violin to serve as atmospheric background music and it was very well done. Angela and Sherri spoke about how the book came into being, and then Angela read it for all of us. It was truly a delightful evening, and great for me and my daughters to get out of the house for a bit and be among some wonderful people.

This book is available to purchase from Amazon, or if you are in Baker City, Oregon, you can find it at Betty's Books. The author's website is angieblair.com for more information.

 

If Keanu Were Your Boyfriend, by Marisa Polansky

If Keanu Were Your Boyfriend by Marisa Polansky

It is no secret that when I laid my girlhood crush on Ricky Schroder to rest, that I then discovered Keanu Reeves, not yet the superstar that he would shortly become. I wasn't as outwardly fanatic with this crush, but I used to joke that I was going to marry him....or Cary Elwes (Westley from Princess Bride). 

So when I found this book at the local library book sale, of course it had to come home with me. It was meant for me, right? 

This is a fun, quick read based on articles and interviews with Keanu Reeves. You learn little tidbits about him like his favorite food, where he was born, tragedies that have occured in his life, and even the rumor that he may be immortal because he looks so youthful.

It was a nice distraction from the craziness in my life. I have a friend I am loaning this to, so she can imagine what it might be like if Keanu were her boyfriend.  

O Keanu, I pined for you in my youth, but that was a lifetime ago. I am married over 30 years now, and those fun celebrity crushes of my teenage years must now be only appreciation for the beautiful person you have become and the roles you have played. You will have to be my boyfriend in some alternate universe where I might be found worthy of your affection. 

 

Daybreak--2250 AD by Andre Norton

Daybreak--2250 AD, Andre Norton

I have no clue where I picked up this old paperback book, but I have a special place in my heart for science fiction that is from the 1960s or earlier, and this one is dated 1952. This is the story of a half mutant human in a post-nuclear war America. Survivors of a nuclear war have banded into their own tribes--the knowledge, science, and history seeking mountaineer Puma Clan, the wandering and adventurous Plains People who live much like Native Americans of old, the Flying Men, a tribe of dark skinned artists and inventors descended from airplane pilots,  and the Beast Things, which come from  human ancestry but are mutated into savage monsters. 

Fors is the son of a Star Man, an honored title of an expert mountaineer, and he seeks to follow in his deceased father's footsteps to also become a Star Man. However, his mother was a mutant, the type which have white hair and can communicate with animals; so Fors has never been fully accepted as part of his tribe. He has taken all the tests to become a Star Man, and did well, but unexplicably was not approved, knowing it was because he is mutant. So now, he must become a laborer and give up his mountaineer ways and live as little more than a slave. He escapes his clan and takes his mutant cat with him, to try to find something in the city ruins of the Old Ones, that will bring him approval from his clan. But he must steer clear of the blue territories, which are still radioactive, and avoid the Beast Things if at all possible, for they are vicious and will hunt him down and eat him.

While he is out, he finds a dark skinned man in a trap, and pulls him out and bandages up his wounds. This is Arskane, of the Flying Men, a tribe that is from the south. He and Fors become friends like brothers, and learn of some things in their journeys about each others' peoples, and how they would like to seek peace with men rather than battle. But they also learn that the Beast Things have been attacking and perhaps evolving in their intelligence, and are becoming a bigger threat to all humanity. All clans must ban together to survive the Beast Things. 

This was written at a time where there was massive racial division, and the author's message was all about looking past differences to see that we are all brothers and sisters, we are all human. Page 81 stood out to me where Arskane and Fors are talking about their civilizations: "It seems to me,"he said slowly, "that we are like the parts of one body. My people are the busy hands, fashioning things by which life may be made easier and more beautiful. The Plainspeople are the restless, hurrying feet, ever itching for new trails and the strange things which might lie beyond the sunrise and the sunset. And your clan is the head, thinking, remembering, planning for geet and hands. Together--"

"Together," Fors breathed, "we would make such a nation as this land has not seen since the days of the Old Ones!"

"No, not a nation such as the Old Ones knew!" Arskane's answer was sharp. They were not one body--for they knew war. And out of that warfare came what is today. If the body grows together again it must be because each part, knowing its own worth and taking pride in it, recognizes also the worth of the other two. And color of skin, or eyes, or the customs of a man's tribe must mean no more to strangers when meeting than the dust they wash from their hands before they take meat. We must come to one another free of such dust--or it will rise to blind our eyes and what the Old Ones started will continue to live for ever and ever to poison the earth."

 

The Engines of God, Jack McDevitt

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

This is the first book in the Priscilla Hutchins or the Academy series. I came upon Deepsix, which I believe is the third in the series, and started out with that, not realizing it was a series. Deepsix was really enjoyable, made me want to read more. So I went on Paperbackswap.com and found the others in the series. This first book in the series did not disappoint, and I look forward to reading the others in order!

These are set in the not too distant future, where space travel has become a common thing, and the people of earth have started exploring other planets, looking for those that might be able to hold life and be terraformed, because the Earth is becoming volatile, with wars, famines, massive storms destroying everything. They have found one planet with intelligent life, but it is not advanced beyond Earth's 19th century. Other planets have been found with life, but not intelligent. But there are a few planets that have been found where there were once civilizations, but they have been extinct for thousands of years, and what's interesting is that each one has some kind of geometric structure on a moon, and on the planet itself, a sculpture of some being, which is the same sculpture and same being, placed on each planet. 

So the Academy has set up archeologists and scientists on these planets to try and solve the mystery of who these beings are and what has happened on the planets. 

Priscilla Hutchins, or Hutch, is a pilot transporting people and supplies to and from these places, and she is called to one where a large temple has been found with plenty of artifacts. The scientists are sure they are about to discover something big, like a Rosetta stone, which will make it easier to translate the writing, but this planet will begin terraforming very soon, with large chunks of ice being dropped in from the sky to raise the water levels. Everyone needs to be evacuated before it begins, because everything will soon be underwater. 

What happens next, I won't say, just in case you want to read it, but be sure, nothing goes according to plan, and it's up to Hutch and her team to solve the mystery and perhaps even save the Earth.

 

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

This book was recommended to me by my daughter, Elizabeth, one of the many books she has recently read. This is a cozy romantasy, I guess you might call it. It's clean, and by that I mean no sex scenes or coarse language. It's the story of a young woman with purple skin, Terlu, an extrovert who needs connection with other people, who takes a job as a librarian in the city of Alyssium. She ends up working in a section of the library where she gets very little connection with others, and she is extremely lonely, so she finds a spellbook, and uses a spell to make a spider plant sentient, so she can have someone to talk to. (In this world, magic is only allowed to be used by sorcerers, and it's a punishable crime to cast a spell if you are not a sorcerer). She and her plant, Caz, get along well, and then someone turns her in. She goes to court and is punished by being turned into a statue as an example to others.

Years pass, she drifts in and out of consciousness as a statue, and wakes up in the snow, someplace she doesn't recognize, and she is no longer a statue. Confused, she tries to get her bearings and discovers a giant greenhouse, made of smaller greenhouses. She meets a winged cat named Emeral, and eventually a young man with golden skin and black and gold hair, named Yarrow, the gardener in charge of taking care of the greenhouses.

She learns that the greenhouses, which are magic, are dying, and Yarrow believes she can save them. She doesn't believe in herself enough to think she can do that, and is fearful that the authorities will find out if she does, and turn her into a statue again. So will she do what she believes is lawful, or will she do what she must to save the wondrous greenhouses?

I enjoyed this book, it's on a world very different from our own, yet many similarities. The author chose to make many of the plants and foods earth foods, so for instance, they cook with garlic and tomatoes, or make honey cakes. 

This is a love story between an extrovert needing connection with people while on an almost uninhabited island, and an introvert who prefers to be alone but not totally alone. It's about embracing what makes us unique and celebrating it, not just in ourselves, but in others as well, about not trying to change others to be like us but just accepting them as they are. 

This author has written many other books, and I have not read any of them, but apparently this is part of a series, the first being "The Spellshop" so I will probably read that as soon as I get a copy of it. 

 

The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George

 The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George

This book tells the adventure of a grieving man who owns a floating bookshop (boat turned bookshop) and his journey into letting go of a loved one lost, and learning to love again. 

Jean is a man in his 50s who is able to prescribe just the right book to help a reader's soul. He has incredible insight into what others need to read to help them heal or grow. He is an avid reader, and has turned a boat into a floating bookshop. One day, a tenant in the apartment building is in need of help--she just left her husband and is starting over with literally nothing---and he gives her a table from a room in his apartment that he has boarded up and forgotten about for 20 years. 

The neighbor discovers a letter inside a drawer in the table and returns it to him, which opens up a raw wound caused by the woman he loved with all his soul leaving him abruptly 20  years ago. He never read the letter, just hid it away because he was so angry being abandoned by her without even a goodbye. But when he finally opens the letter, he learns the truth---she was dying, and was leaving him to go spend her last months with her husband. She asked him to come. Her husband knew about him and would be expecting him.

20 years gone, and she must have died waiting for him to show up, and he was clueless to what was going on. He decides to lift anchor and head down the river, to find her husband and finally get some closure. 

A famous author quickly climbs aboard as he is setting out and goes with him. They have adventures along the way and meet some new friends, while learning about themselves, about life, death, grief, acceptance, and love.

This book was a little different from what I normally read. There was some  sexual language in it, but I was glad that there was not a lot of it. There was a lot of very vivid, colorful, poetic prose which did make the book more enjoyable. I liked how Jean, a loner without anyone in his life to love or even like, learned how to make friends, find love, and create his own unlikely family. 

A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim

A Forgery of Fate, Elizabeth Lim

I picked up this book from a rummage sale for two dollars. It has to be the most beautiful modern made book I have ever had in my possession. The full color illustrated dust cover has illustrations on the inside and outside, with gold accents. The illustrations inside the cover are front and back, full cover, and different from each other. And sprayed edges! This was an autographed Owl Crate exclusive, and if you can ever get your hands on one, it's glorious.

sprayed edges and gorgeous cover

front inside illustration

back inside illustration

This is inspired by Beauty and the Beast, The Magic Paintbrush, and Asian folklore about the Dragon King and his undersea kingdom.

This is the story of Truyan Saigas, the daughter of a merchant. She is a gifted artist, and when her father goes missing, she must take care of her family, and she does this by forging art and selling it for high prices. This leads her to the Dragon Prince, who is under a curse put on him by the Dragon King. He convinces her to marry him (an arranged marriage for one month), and create a magic portrait of the Dragon King who is destroying his own Kingdom and its people, and this portrait will be his undoing, but we don't learn how until later in the book. 

Tru must travel to the undersea kingdom and learn to paint the Dragon King perfectly in order for the plan to work, but he has spies everywhere, and he seeks to destroy the Prince and his plans. Will Tru be able to pull off this painting? Will she and the prince fall in love, or will their marriage end with the contract? Will the prince be saved from his curse?

I really enjoyed this book, visually, and the writing was easy to read and follow, the story, inspired by other folklore, easy to recognize, but the author made it her own story. I loved it, and if you love fantasy, or books where love conquers all, this is a good one to read.