AWESOME

So in a previous post I mentioned a man named John Green. I'd like to take a moment to now mention his brother Hank Green (also a video blogger) and this awesome new website that he has launched:

www.readit1st.com

Check it out and decide if you are up to making the pledge:

Books in Rochester!

It's a shame that I find out awesome book related things after I move away from a city. So I stumbled across this blog today which you should definitely check out because it's pretty cool and has some neat info for Rochester, NY area folks. Rochester Area Book Sellers.

Just Finished Reading...

Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

This is the definitive book on love, the purpose of the moon, and being an outlaw. Every person should read this book.

Just Finished Reading...

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

This book is about two high school guys named Will Grayson who meet and are changed forever by the experience. It's a totally excellent book. Both writers are really amazing at portraying their particular Will Grayson, I absolutely recommend this book to everyone.

Summer Reading!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

John Green is a young adult writer and a videoblogger. As part of his video blog he has given a reading assignment to his viewers. I know he can be a bit overwhelming at first, but John Green makes books look cool, so I wholeheartedly recommend reading The Great Gatsby and following along with John's videos. I know he talks really fast, and maybe it would be good if we could play it in slow motion... sooo good luck keeping up!!

Introduction to writer John Green! Where he answers some questions from his vlog viewers, gives us The Great Gatsby as a reading assignment, and says some really awesome things about the power of books!

John Green discusses the epigraph of the Great Gatsby, as well as giving you several chapters to read for further discussion.

Discussion on the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, and summary.
Rapid-fire discussion of Great Gatsby

Just Finished Reading...

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

I had a hard time getting through this one, especially since it was just a young adult book. It is about a  young apprentice magician named Nathaniel who hopes to get revenge on another Magician for humiliating him. In order to do this he summons a Djinni, who must do his bidding, albeit not very well. In the end his quest for revenge leads him deep into a plot against the government and in way over his head with only an unruly Djinni to help him. The book was ok, and I don't really feel that I need to read the rest of the trilogy.

Books Read July 1st 2010 to June 30th 2011

Every year I try to read about 50 books (or about a book a week). I find it's a reasonable goal and keeps my reading skills sharp. My tenth grade English teacher gave me this idea, except he set the somewhat more ambitious goal of 100 books a year. Since these past 12 months were ridiculously busy for me, I had a little trouble meeting my deadlines for this year's 50 books and had to read more than my usual number of young adult books in order to keep on schedule. However, I'm hoping my number for this next year will be somewhat higher, I'm aiming for 60!

1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2) Dear America: West to a Land of Plenty by Jim Muphy
3) Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson White
4) Dear America: A Journey to the New World by Kathryn Lasky
5) Dear America: My Heart is on the Ground by Ann Rinaldi
6) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
7) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
8) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
9) Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
10) The Sleeping Beauty by Mahlon F. Craft
11) I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury
12) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
13) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
14) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
15) Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
16) An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
17) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
18) Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
19) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
20) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
21) Atonement by Ian McEwan
22) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
23) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
24) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
25) Looking for Alaska by John Green
26) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
27) Ways of Seeing by John Berger
28) Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
29) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
30) The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block
31) Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
32) Z is for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
33) A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
34) Dogsong by Gary Paulsen
35) Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
36) Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli
37) Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force by Dave Wolverton
38) All I Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio
39) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
40) 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
41) Demian by Hermann Hesse
42) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
43) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
44) Tithe by Holly Black
45) Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
46) Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
47) Into the Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville
48) The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
49) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
50) Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

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Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

This is the story of a little boy named Peter Pan, a mischievous boy who can fly, and who refuses to grow up. It is the story of his grand adventures in Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers. His mates are Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the Indian Princess Tiger Lily. They have grand adventures and fight the pirate Captain Hook and his crew. The novel was original a play inspired by J.M. Barrie's friendship with the Llewlyn-Davies children.

This is a grown-up book in the disguise of a children's book. Everyone twenty and older should read this book so that they can remember how to be a little kid again.

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A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

After a slow start and several distractions I finally finished this book! 

Despite my troubles getting through it, I really enjoyed reading it. I feel most of my problems stemmed from the fact that the last book by Bryson I read was In a Sunburned Country, which I read just before leaving for Australia to study there for a semester. The book therefore took on an entirely different meaning for me than this one did, since I was soon headed for the very places he was describing. I didn't feel that connection with this book, having no immediate plans to go hike the Appalachian Trail. After reading this, however I'm feeling pretty inspired to head out into the wild and take on the "AT" myself. Hey, if Bill Bryson can do it, why not? I think this is what I love most about travelogues: they not only inspire me to want to see the world, but they also act as a stand-in, a way to see the world through another person's eyes and let you experience new and interesting places from the comfort of your own living room sofa.

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Into the Land of Unicorns by Bruce Coville

AND

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

I read these books so fast that the plot is already a little fuzzy. One was about unicorns and had pretty much the entire story  crammed into the last ten pages. The other was about an alien boy who accidentally falls onto our planet through a timey-wimey-spacey-wacey door thing. He looks human, except where he's from everything is awesome and there is not violence or war or any need for laws, government, money, etc. I'll let you sort out which plot belongs to which book. I do remember LOVING these books when I was young, so that must mean they are awesome. Unfortunately I seem to have grown past reading elementary school level books. Sad day. 

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Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

This has been my favorite book since I was about eight or nine. I unashamedly recommend it as the best Cinderella adaption (...adaptation?), ever. I read it at least once a year and I never get tired of it. Everyone should read this book, even though it's completely girly, and a little cheesy.

I promise to stop reading teen-girl novels soon. 

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Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Reading Tithe really made me want to read Weetzie Bat, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Although this book does not contain any faeries, it is a lot like a fairy tale, and it does have a genie. It even has a Happily-Ever-After ending. The book is about finding wonder in the ordinary, about losing things and people you love, the search for security in an unstable world and the beautiful and terrible nature of love. 

As far as girly teen novels go, this is probably one of the best ever written, and I'm not just saying that because I recently finished a less admirable teen novel. Francesca Lia Block is really an extraordinary writer. Weetzie Bat reads like a fairy tale about a glorious, rich world. But the world is our ordinary one and it's filled with pain and heartbreak the way the real world is. I feel like every time I read this book I take something new and different from it, which is a rare find in teen novels.

It's hard to explain the plot, but since it's only about 100 pages, double spaced, size 18pt. font; I recommend you just read it for yourself. It can be finished easily in a few hours while laying in the grass on a sunny afternoon, like today… what I'm trying to say here is: get out there and read something!

Just Finished Reading...

Tithe by Holly Black

Apparently I am on a girly book binge...

 Last night I was reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and I was feeling deeply unsatisfied with his wise observations and scientific statistics about how nature is disappearing rapidly at the hands of humanity. It was thunderstorming outside and I decided I needed to read something distinctly less thought provoking. I chose this one because I remember reading it when I was fourteen or so, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was about... except that it had fairies in it. I would like to mention as a side-note here that I fully support the reading of cheesy-young-adult-fiction, no matter what your age. Just because the font is embarrassingly huge, the language lacks a certain... sophistication and the plot generally includes a lot of teen angst, doesn't mean it isn't a valid read. I love teen books. I read this one in a couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is about a misfit girl who moves from Philadelphia where her mother sings in a band and spends most of her time drunk and with dead-beats, back to her home town somewhere in New Jersey. Here she gets caught up in the politics of faeries and the struggle between the Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court and the free Faeries, who all have a different agenda and she is caught in the middle. She obviously meets a handsome faerie knight and true love follows, etc. 

Honestly I can understand how I forgot the plot the first time I read it... it isn't really anything remarkable. In fact I think my fourteen-year-old self was pretty confused about what happened in the book at all... the reveal of important information is completely vague and you're left thinking: so I guess that was all part of the evil plot, I think? Maybe? This book is wonderful for some solid, all-in-good-fun entertainment, which is sometimes exactly what one needs out of a book.

Just Finished Listening to/Reading...

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is the story of an ordinary looking young woman with an extraordinary mind. She is orphaned at an early age, brought up by her apathetic, bordering on cruel relations until they decide to send her to school. After eight years spent at school, she realizes there is nothing left for her there and advertises herself as a governess. It is this point that her story truly begins, involving love, tragedy, hardships and eventually happiness.

Having simultaneously just returned home from college and started a new job, I've had a lot to do. So I spent two days (last weekend) listening to a free online recording of Jane Eyre by LibriVox while doing some intense spring cleaning on my room. I had to somehow make all the things that usually live at school with me and all the things that live at home, all fit in the same place. This endeavor was made much easier with a book to keep me company. I didn't quite finish listening to the book over the weekend, so I read the last quarter in the past week.

Jane Eyre is one of those books that every female between the age of 16 and 100 should read at least once, possibly twice. I recommend this book for guys, also, but mostly I think guys will hate it. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even though the descriptions do tend to go on unnecessarily. The bantering humor between the characters is really endearing and as a classic it definitely warrants a read. It would be especially good for summer reading while soaking up some sunshine and drinking tea and napping at intervals...

Just Finished Reading...

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Brideshead Revisited is a nostalgic novel about an artistic, observant man looking back on his life. It takes place, for the most part, in the time before the second World War and tells the life story of Charles Ryder, beginning in his school days at Oxford. It is the story of his close relationship with the Marchmains, a very wealthy family who live in a time where their world of privilege is rapidly shrinking. Charles Ryder is enchanted, first, by the middle son of the family and spends many happy, youthful days with him. Later he is attracted by other members but in the end, he comes to realize that he is spiritually and socially too distant from them. 

I've been wanting to read this book for a while because I liked the (2008) movie version so much. If you are interested in reading it for the same reason, DON'T. It's not much like the movie. Oddly enough, my favorite part of the movie was the beginning which was all about Charles Ryder's youth. In the book, I couldn't really get into the story until Book II "A Twitch Upon the Thread," …basically the last third, about Ryder's adult life. This book is definitely NOT for everyone. The language is challenging and convoluted. Also, let's face it, it was very ENGLISH. For me as an American it was hard to grasp it all, especially the deep nostalgia for a psat English high society. Religion is omnipresent, and may alienate non-Catholic readers. However, I did like the theme of memory and of lost innocence. The book was also very beautifully written.

All in all, I can't recommend reading this book to the faint of heart. It was tough to get through, the descriptions go on for paragraphs and the language isn't easy. in the end I am left feeling like I missed something, and need to reread it in order to grasp the full meaning.  

Graduation Has Come and Gone

Saturday May 7th was my thesis show, the final project for my Bachelor of Fine arts degree that I have been working toward all year. The week since then has been a whirlwind of things to do before leaving college. Yesterday I started my new job and the beginning of my life out in the real world. I'm very tired from all of the overwhelming things going on right now, but I really wanted to post pictures of the show for which this blog was made:

Show cards

My show partner and her sister, me with my back to the camera

Some guy taking pictures of my work

Same guy stopping to look at my work

Me, my show partner and her mom in our show space

Bean Stalk, Step Outside and Stacks; all acid etchings

Some digital prints, a stack of showcards, and a copy of the magazine I created.
Also a sign asking people not to steal my magazines because they
aren't free but people seem to think they are.

Wirds and You Are What You Read; both acid etchings

Put Your Feet up, Silhouettes, and Conquer That Mountain; acid etchings

Get Carried Away; monoprint

Conquer the Classics; acid etching

Be the Leader; acid etching

Show space from the inside looking out

Show space from the outside looking in

Just Finished Reading...

101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, Illustrated by Michael Dooling

So I'm a 22-year-old reading a children's book, don't judge me!

I'm sure you're all pretty familiar with this story from its Disney and movie versions. Pongo and Missus have puppies who get snatched by the evil Cruella DeVil (best name for a villain or what??) and they head off across miles of English countryside to get their puppies back.... and then end up with a few more pups than bargained for.


This book was amazing. It was super charming, with human owners being referred to as "pets" and a brilliantly painted picture of canine communication. Also there was a subtle hat-tipping to the fact that art is better than television, (which we all knew to be true, anyway) and a surprising twist as to who the 101st Dalmatian is. I'm not giving it away, but I will admit that I was most of the way through the end before I added up the math and realized there was someone missing. Hey, it's been a rough semester, that's why I'm reading 101 Dalmatians and not something that requires intense contemplation. Having said that, the language in this book is pretty sophisticated and has a really subtle humor that I love, but I don't actually think small children would get it. I also have one small issue with how the book treats women... or female dogs. Poor Missis is just a dumb, pretty face who can't tell her left from her right or understand very many human words, or count. She does have some shining and uplifting moments, but mostly she's just the Mom and the Trophy Wife, not the clever hero that Pongo is. Maybe I'm reading a little too deeply into this...


Regardless, this was a wonderful book and I absolutely recommend it. 

Just Finished Listening to...

Demian by Hermann Hesse Audio CD

Demian is the story of a man named Emil Sinclair as he is looking back on his childhood and the friend, Max Demian, who did much to shape his thoughts and help him break free of his innocence and social constraints. It is his story of trying to find himself. Read Demian For Free Online

While normally I recommend reading over listening, the amount I am overwhelmed with senior thesis work hasn't allowed me to do much reading lately. My solution is therefore to do my work while listening to books on tape. I chose Demian because it has been my favorite book since it was introduced to me by a friend my Freshmen year of college. It seemed right to end my college career listening to the book that had influenced me so much at the beginning of it. It's really hard for me to explain what it is about this book that appeals so much to me. It is somehow comforting and inspiring. It makes me feel like I am on the right path, that I'm not alone, that whatever I'm facing I can handle. I don't know how it accomplishes all these things, but I know that every time I've hit a rocky patch in the past four years of my college career, Demian has been an excellent security blanket that I keep coming back to. Somehow, despite all the times I have read this book, I always find something new in it that helps me out.

For example, this time around I took note of the scene where Sinclair is asked if his journey to where he has ended up was all bad, he admits that it wasn't. It was difficult for him, just like life is hard sometimes, but the hard times make us who we are just as much as the happy times do. You can't make just become the person you're meant to be overnight. It's a long, hard struggle to find out who you are and what you're meant to be to the world. 


"Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. He might end up as a poet or madman, as prophet or criminal - that was not his affair, ultimately it was of no concern. His task was to discover his own destiny - not an arbitrary one - and live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one's own inwardness."

L!braries!

I was recently reading an article in Novum, a Graphic Design magazine, about The L!brary Initiative, sponsored by Robin Hood. The L!brary Initiative "seeks to reverse these patterns of low literacy skills and underachievement by working with community school districts and public elementary schools to design, build, equip, and staff new elementary school libraries. Working with schools in high poverty neighborhoods that have low academic achievement, the partners are committed to fundamentally transforming school libraries into vital resources for the whole school community — students, teachers, and parents — that will impact and contribute to improved student performance."

The L!brary effort is being made due to the fact that "An alarming 60 percent of New York City's public school students in grades 3 through 8 are reading below grade level. Their inability to read and understand limits their opportunities for success in school and in life. To make matters worse, often these students come from homes and attend schools that lack the capacity and resources to help them develop their ability to read, to comprehend, and to explore the world."

I personally think this crusade is amazing and wonderful a) because they are making some pretty sweet libraries for kids and b) the initiative is all about the Importance of Reading to a successful life and c) they have got really awesome artists and designers working for the cause, so this effectively combines some of my most favorite things. 

I hope you are as moved and inspired by this effort as I am! If you have the means I encourage you to donate to Robin Hood in order to help keep this awesome organization going.

Here are some pictures!

Designing for the Future of Learning

Seriously, I want to study in those awesome orange chairs!

More Pictures!

Library Mural design by Stefan Sagmeister (one of my favorite designers) and Yuko Shimizu

Just Finished Reading...

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist is about a shepherd boy who has a recurring dream about treasure hidden at the pyramids of Egypt. This dream sets him off on and adventure of self discovery and understanding of the world. Along the way he meets the King of Salem, Malchizedek, who tells him "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." He also encounters an Alchemist and finds his true love. Through his journey he discovers much about the nature of the world and has a deep impact on many of the people he meets. 

I would definitely recommend reading this book. It's short and a pretty easy read so I was able to cope with it during all my last-semester-of-college-putting-together-a-BFA-thesis-exhibition craziness, and could also carry it around with me easily. Also, the book was just wonderful. It was incredibly inspiring and encouraging to me in a time where I have the opportunity to leave college and follow my dreams, wherever they lead. Now I may not be heading to Egypt to hunt for treasure but I would like to believe that as I graduate and head into the real world, that the universe in conspiring to help me achieve my goals. 

Words Come to Life

Censorship Causes Blindness

Books Are Dangerous, They Give You Ideas

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books Week 2009

Banned Books Week 2009

Celebrate Your Right to Read

Banned Books Week 2009

FREADOM

Banned Books Week 2007

Banned Books

Every year the American Library Association promotes Banned Book Week, a time to celebrate your right to read by delving into books that have been (or are still) on the banned books list. You don't have to wait for banned books week to enjoy these books, here's a list of 25 Banned Books you Should Read Today. Exercise your right to be a rebel by reading some illegal books right now.

Conquer the Classics

Reading Classics Makes You Better

Any kind of reading is good for you. But this article talks about 10 Ways to Improve Your Mind by Reading the Classics. They have some good points about how anyone who is reading these days is dominantly reading books that have been recently published, so you can really give yourself an added advantage by gaining new knowledge from some old books. Now if you are having some trouble finding classics, remember that they are simply books that stand the test of time. You can find a pretty good list here at goodreads.com.

Put Your Feet Up With A Book

The best way to find the time to read is to make the time. Bring a book with you everywhere, that
way every time you have some spare minutes, you won't waste them by sitting around being idle.