Artful Readers Club - April

I have a confession to make... my book for April for Darcy's Artful Readers Club was meant to be "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel. I was still only halfway through by the end of April...ooops. But looking at my list again I realised I'd put "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer on it - which I read back in March before I went to see the film! So, The Host is now my April book and I will review Bring Up the Bodies for May (which I have finally finished). Hope that's clear!

I imagine most people have heard of Stephenie Meyer as the author of the Twilight saga but she has also written The Host, which I was aware of but had never got around to reading. I had no idea of the plot until the trailers started appearing for the film and was actually a little surprised to find it's along the lines of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The synopsis...

"Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love."

The review...

This book, like Twilight, is aimed at "young adults", so is a nice easy read - I think it only took me a few days to finish it. The author deals with the conflicting thoughts of the two women very well and it's not difficult to follow who is "speaking" each time. You easily find yourself sympathising with the "alien" and understanding her point of view so the book was interesting in that respect. If you like books in this genre then I think you'd definitely enjoy this book. As for the film..."it was alright" was our response when the credits rolled - the book is much better!

The art...

I've been working on this on and off for a few weeks - I've attempted a face - she's ok, apart from one eye being bigger than the other! Her eyes are silver - the trait that indicates a human has been taken over. The silvery strands around her head are the "alien" - they enter through the back of the neck. And I put some planets around the page to indicate all the planets Wanderer has inhabited before coming to earth - I couldn't resist a bit of doodling though!

Artful Readers Club - March

My book for March's Artful Reader's Club run by the very talented Darcy was World War Z by Max Brooks.

I will admit that this went on my list because the film is due out soon and I like a good zombie film :) Also, if a film adaptation looks good I like to have read the book beforehand.

The synopsis...

"It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, World War Z brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation."

What did I think?

Well, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. This isn't your typical zombie fiction as a large portion of it deals with the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse rather than how it starts. It also covered some issues that I've not seen before with this genre, for example, zombies that end up in the sea but obviously don't die, so randomly appear on the beaches, and the people who are tasked with sorting out the money situation - how do you tell whether the money that people have is their own or stolen from looting?

I'd recommend this book for anyone who loves a good bit of zombie or post-apocalyptic fiction :)

I'll be interested to see what the film is like because it doesn't seem to be very similar to the book judging by the trailers - though I imagine it's a hard type of book to adapt to a film.

My art...

 

Despite enjoying the book, there wasn't any one part of it that inspired me art-wise, so I've gone with a general "aftermath" type journal page. The quote is from the book though...

My book for April is Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

Artful Readers Club - February book

Yes, I know I should be posting March's book, I'm already behind :) Only with the artwork mind you, I'm right on track with the reading.

My book for February was 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz.

You can read the book description on Amazon here.

So...I really struggled wth this book to begin with. The book jumps about between each character - which is normally something I like in a book. However, each characters section was quite short which meant there were a lot of natural breaks in the story, which in turn meant that I didn't really read a large enough chunk at a time to really sink my teeth into it. But, about two thirds of the way through, the story suddenly grabbed me and I finished the book in a couple of days. I actually enjoyed the book in the end, especially once it became clear what was causing the "hauntings". If you're a fan of horror then I'd recommend this book but be warned that you may need to persevere to get into it.

My art...

I picked a few bits from the book that stuck in my head - the grass outside of the house that is filled with creatures and the fungus that grows in the rooms in the house. The house in the book is nothing like the one in my journal page but I've been looking for an excuse to use this die!

My book for March is World War Z by Max Brooks. Hopefully I'll get my artwork finished and linked up before the end of April...

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Circle Journal 2013

If you've read my blog before then you'll know that last year I took part in a circle journal with nine other ladies who have become firm friends. A few of us wanted to do another one so we started again after Christmas. The lovely Darcy - despite having not having the time to devote to a journal page each month - is keeping us organised and is giving us our theme each month. The themes were decided by us in advance and told to Darcy in secret :)

Due to a few postal scares last year we have decided not to post journals around the country so are just doing individual pages which can be handed over in person once we're at the end.

Our theme for January was "Julie Nutting Designs" - chosen by Becca, and I had to make a page for Jayne.

And here is my page...

 

As Jayne is a fan of Stampotique stamps I decided to go a bit more gothic with my lady - I think I succeeded!

I had great fun playing with the background - the strips of patterned paper is something that seems to appear quite a lot in Julie's designs and I'm really pleased with the effect so I'll definitely be trying that again.

February's theme is "Beatles Lyrics". I've chosen my song and have a fair idea of what I'm going to do :)

 

ARC January 1st Book Review

For the first month of the Artful Readers Club I chose (or rather Hubby randomly chose) "Wicked Appetite" by Janet Evanovich.

What is it about?

A woman called Lizzy who lives in Salem and has a talent for baking - particularly cupcakes.

She meets Wulf and Diesel, cousins who are both looking for the SALIGIA. These are stones of power, each of which represents one of the seven deadly sins.

Wulf wants them as when they are combined hell on earth is supposedly unleashed... Diesel is trying to stop him, and enlists Lizzy's help.

What did I think?

I've read, and enjoyed, a few of Janet Evanovich's books from the Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series and the seven deadly sins plot of this book appealed to me.

I liked the characters, Diesel sounds very lovely! ;) However, the plot was very linear - no major twists and turns and no suspense. But... it was a very easy read (finished in one day) and quite enjoyable in a "turn your brain off" type of way.

I guess it passed the test as I read the second book in the series "Wicked Business" straight after...

My artwork...

I decided in the end to do a journal page. I bought an old hardback children's book recently at a charity shop to alter and this was my first page in it.

The main image I was left with after reading this book was "cupcakes"! So... that's what I went with.

I tried to do the background in "witchy" colours as the book is set in Salem and I bordered the page with the names of the deadly sins in latin. The quote is a quote from the book and the image is from The Octopode Factory. I decided after taking the photo that I'll add "ARC January" on there somewhere to remind me in the future why I did the page. 

My book for February is "77 Shadow Street" by Dean Koontz. I reckon that'll be a dark journal page!