Peter de Sève's illustrations!

 

You most likely have already seen much of his work, although you might not know it. This is the man who's responsible for many well loved animated characters, such as Scrat, from Ice Age, Bruce the shark, from Finding Nemo. A brilliant artist. A must see!

Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

...by Baz Luhrmann

Get to know your parents.
You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings.
They're your best link to your past
and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Books

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

- Arnold Lobel

This year's Way Out West festival!

Or you have would have liked, anyway. It was this weekend and it was amazing! The Gods of Weather and Wind smiled upon us and the music was fantastic!

My favourites were The Avett Brothers (of course!), Robyn, Prince, the Jayhawks and Tiësto!

The Avett Brothers were the whole reason I was there, really, I wouldn't have gone this year if they hadn't been booked. Everything else was just a bonus.

But Prince was sooo great! He put on a simply amazing show and you could tell he'd been doing it for 30 odd years, it was just beautiful! And he looked so happy and didn't seem to want to stop and that kind of joy is so contagious. Lovely!

Looking forward to next year! =)


P.S. If any americans (or anyone else, for that matter) want an invitation to Spotify, just say the word. I've got invitations to spare and it's a great tool for finding new music! D.S.

The Kate Daniels series

... by Ilona Andrews.

Kate is a great heroine who's not afraid to admit she's afraid (if only to herself) but won't let it stand in her way either. Raised by a man who did his best to turn her into a psychopathic warrior so that she could kill her own father, she has some emotional issues to work out, but since she came to Atlanta the steel plated brick walls around her heart are crumbling. And nothing is as scary as feelings.

The series is great and very similar to the Mercy Thompson books. Magic, monsters, action and wit in spades. Read it!

White Oleander

... by Janet Fitch.

This book is amazing, so very gripping and beautifully written. It's on my Top Ten list of all times.

Astrid's struggle to carve out a piece of happiness from an unyielding world is described in some of the most poetic sentences I've read so far. Each battle, each win and loss must be keenly felt by anyone with even a smidge of imagination and I cried several times, shaking my head at the unfairness of it all. Dramatic, but true.

I've read it in Swedish and, like I said, loved it. Janet's second book, Paint It Black, I read in English and... it wasn't as good. The story wasn't as captivating, the characters not as likeable and the language... not as beautiful. Colour me disappointed! 

Now, I don't know if this is because the book simply isn't as good as the previous, or... dun dun dun dunnnn; because the translator was the poet! That it was her voice coming through and making it the great read it was! Hmm... Now, of course, I could read White Oleander in English and know for sure. Get the author's words directly and see for myself if it's as ingenious as in Swedish. But I'm afraid to. I don't want to knock this book off its pedestal. In the words of Nelson Muntz; "Some of us prefer illusion to despair!” So...

The reason I'm saying this is simply to reassure you, that if you don't like book, it might be because of the language, not because you're not like me. ;-)

Shifters

... by Rachel Vincent.

We get to follow Faythe Sanders in her struggle for independence in a rigidly patriarchal society. It's a well thought through series with appealing characters and good action.

I think it's also finished, with Alpha as the finale, which I like, even though the books are great. As much as I like having a long series to look forward to, some authors really can't go out in style. Instead they drag the series out for decades, with only every fourth or fifth book actually worth the paper it's printed on. Bitter much? Nah.

Anywho, Rachel Vincent does tie the loose ends together nicely and this is a great read for anyone who likes Mercy Thompson and Gin Blanco.

Enjoy!