Month: January 2020

Recent Reads: Creative Journalling by Renee Day

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

Creative Journaling is a guide to layouts for bullet journals (called dot grid journaling here), junk journals (when you use left over ticket stubs, pages from books and so on to make a journal), mixed-media journals (when you use paint, hot glue guns, and other things to make an artistic journal), and travel journals (making pockets to put tickets and so on).

I use a bullet journal, but I hadn’t seen how to set up any of the others, and so this book gives you clear instructions for how to set up all of these, and make it your creatively.  

I enjoyed the different layouts for the bullet journal, as that’s what I will probably mostly take away from it, although the travel journal is something I’ve always wanted to do, so seeing the suggestions here, hopefully I’ll be inspired to make something next time I’m planning on travelling!

Lots of clear instructions and lovely photos, along with a list of resources and explanations!  This is a great introduction to journaling!

Creative Journaling was published on 14th January 2020,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Renee Day on Instagram, or through her website.

If you’re interested in other resources for Bullet Journaling, have a look at my review of The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll.  

If you’re inspired to do crafty things, then have a look at Crafting Cute: Polymer Clay the Kawaii Way by Dani Banani.

You can also visit The Handmade Fair with me!

 
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to 

Quarto Knows

 (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my 

GoodReads profile

 to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: Chew the graphic novel series by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

Welcome to a world where avian flu has swept the world, and where eating chicken has been outlawed.  The most powerful law enforcement agency is the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as they have to shut down any and all ways of people eating chicken.

Tony Chu is a cibopath, which means that he can see where something he has eaten has come from, it’s memories, you might say.  The same is true if he eats normal food, or people.  The only thing that stops his powers are beets.

This graphic novel series is not for the faint of heart or stomach!  Yes, Tony does indeed take bites out of people, and we have blood, and guts, and other people eating others, because, believe it or not, Tony Chu is an FDA Agent, and eating people is often part of his job.

I’ve read all 12 volumes of the graphic novel, and it was very entertaining, funny, heartwarming, gross and sad.  I really recommend it, but just bear in mind my warnings over the grossness of it!  

If you do read it, I hope you enjoy, and do go all the way until the end!

Chew volume 1 was published in 2009,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow John Layman on Twitter, and Rob Guillory on Twitter and on Instagram.

Check out my 

GoodReads profile

 to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying up by Marie Kondo, illustrated by Yuko Uramoto

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

KonMarie has been a way of tidying up that has been around for a while, and is one of those that lots of people rave about!

A Netflix series came out in 2019 called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, and I really enjoyed starting it!  You could tell who had watched it from Instagram posts about folding clothing!

This is the manga (graphic novel) about how to implement the KonMarie method, as you follow along Chiaki, a young woman with a super messy apartment, who is helped by Marie Kondo with how to tidy her apartment, and see the magic of it helping her life.

I really enjoyed the manga, seeing the uncertainness of Chiaki, saying the things that you know clients and others who have put the method into practice will have said!  It showed exactly what you should do, making it clear, and giving you the reason why you do this.

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up was published on 17th October 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Marie Kondo on Twitter, or through her website.

You can follow Yuko Uramoto on Twitter.

If you’re interested in self help books, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: Heida by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

Heida is a farmer in Iceland, in the highlands.  She is a former model, and lives with her mother on the farm.  

It’s a really interesting account of her life, giving you insight to what it really must be like to live up there, have 500 sheep with the lambing, shearing, scanning for pregnancies, and herding them in for the winter.  All whilst living next to a volcano.

This reads as a mix between diary, flow of consciousness and interview.  There doesn’t always seem to be a link between paragraphs, but it is a really interesting account of Heida trying to keep a hydro-electric dam from taking some of her land, and how she had to balance her farm with going in to politics.

I did enjoy Heida, it’s an enjoyable adventure to a completely different life, and one that I feel is very apt for January as Heida’s life is so matter of fact and without unnecessary waste, which is what we often want in January!

Heida was published on 18th April 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Steinunn Sigurðardóttir on Facebook, or through her website.

If you’re interested in other stories of women’s lives, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo ????

The Art of Love: The Romantic and Explosive Stories Behind Art’s Greatest Couples by Kate Bryan and illustrations by Asli Yazan  ????

Furious Hours; Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep ?????


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!