The Friday 56 (121) & Book Beginnings: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

What if you once had thousands of bodies and near god-like technology at your disposal? And what if all of it were ripped away?

The Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her to the only place she would have agreed to go—to Athoek Station, where Lieutenant Awn's sister works in Horticulture. Athoek was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized—or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station's AI is unhappy with the situation, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what's going on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent

Beginnings: "Considering the circumstances, you could use another lieutenant." Anaander Mianaai, ruler (for the moment) of all the vast reaches of Radchaai space, sat in a wide chair cushioned with embroidered silk."

56: "In my quarters, Kalr Five, disquieted by the day's events but of course expressionless, had my supper waiting for me--a bowl of skel and a flask of water, common soldier's mess."

Comments: Ancillary Sword wasn't as good as Justice or Mercy. But I still enjoyed it. A lot of vital things happened, and set up the conflict for the third book. So, it was definitely worth the read. What are you reading this week?

Most Anticipated 2018 Books

Hi, hello, how is everyone doing today? I'm here to share my list of most anticipated 2018 book releases. Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list and I’m not going to break it down into segments to cover every last book I want to read in 2018. There’s no point, and I like to leave room for books I’ll inevitably come across later in the year. Adri is also joining me today with the sole book she's waiting for...

Breana's picks...

• The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard—I have an ARC from netgalley for this one and have already read and loved it. I’m not going to say anything else about it now since the review will be on the blog closer to the release date. But just know that this story was amazing and entirely too short.

• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik—I read Uprooted and liked the story. I didn’t really care for the Dragon, but I loved everything about the forest and the setting. So, I am very excited that Spinning Silver is going to be a thing. 

• A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney—ALICE IN WONDERLAND RETELLING WITH A BLACK PROTAGONIST! I am a sucker for Alice retellings and am looking forward to A Blade So Black.  

• The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton—There’s a lot of hype surrounding The Belles, but that hasn’t stopped me from being overly excited for it. This is the kind of book I’ve been waiting for.

• The Heart Forager by Rin Chupeco—The Bone Witch was a book that surprised me in 2017. I’d read some mixed reviews for it, but in the end, I loved the story. The end of The Bone Witch left a lot of loose ends that I’m hoping the sequel, The Heart Forager, will clarify.

• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland—I’m looking forward to this one because I’m interesting in what Ireland can do with the premise hinted at in the synopsis. 

• Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente—The synopsis literally says “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Eurovision in an over-the-top science fiction spectacle”. Listen, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite novels. So, obviously Space Opera made it onto this list. 

• Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova—I almost forgot about this book. I loved Labyrinth Lost, and let me tell you, I'm so freaking excited for Bruja Born.

• The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden—I’m not ready for the Winternight Trilogy to be over, but the end is coming. And I’m excited to see how Arden plans to end the trilogy. 

Adri's pick...

• Raven: Daughter of Darkness—I was excited when this comic was announced because not only are there going to be twelve issues this time (the last one was six), but aldo an increase in conflict. The hardest part for me is that I've decided to wait for the trade paperback, if there is one.

What 2018 books are you looking forward to?

New Resolutions for a New Year...

Well, Happy New Year everyone. We made it to 2018. I’m back to blogging and have already had to DNF two books from two different genres. **Cries** That's not the way I wanted to start the year, but it is what it is, and I'm hoping from here on out that my next reads will be better. But, I digress. The actual point of this post is to talk about my resolutions for the New Year. I evaluated what I wanted to do differently from the past two years and have come up with a short list of reasonable goals for myself. So, without further ado, here are my resolutions for 2018...

• Finish a sketch book...

This is more of a personal goal than a blogging one, but I thought I might as well include it on this list because I may or may not share a few pages from my sketchbook...eventually. I don't usually manage to finish a sketchbook and the majority my old ones are are filled with doodles, old art, random notes to myself, and a lot of blank or missing pages. I don't care how long it takes me to finish my current sketchbook—it's larger and has more pages than my old one—so long as I make real progress on it.

• Finish more series...

This seems like a simple goal to accomplish. But let me tell you, I have a little problem with completing series. I’m not being dramatic. I’m being honest. I start them. I like the first two, three, sometimes even six books in the series. And yet, I don’t finish them. What got me thinking about this were the three books I got for Christmas: the last two books of the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie, and Cold Steel by Kate Elliott. The good thing about this goal is that I’m on the right track thanks to my binge-reading of the rest of the Imperial Radch trilogy, and my local library has a couple of the books I'm looking for.

• Actually read some poetry...

I don't read enough poetry. Plain and simple. I looked at the books I read last year and realized that I got through 2017 without reading a single book of poetry. Luckily, my local library has a pretty good selection of poetry, and I've already put several on hold including Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur and The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace.

• And last, but certainly not least: allow more flexibility with the blog...

I can't say that my method of blogging will remain the same by the time 2018 is over, despite the fact that I want to keep the number of posts at least at three per week. But I also need to remember to take some of the pressure off  myself when I don’t particularly feel like blogging as much, and post when I feel like it. I'm also going to remove the rating system from the blog. I want to see how it'll work without the birdcages. We'll see. Design wise, I have already started on an idea for a new header for the blog. I don't know when it'll be done or if I'll change the design at all, but you never know...

So, that’s it. Those are my blogging resolutions. What are your plans for the year? 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It’s officially 2018. We will be back to blogging soon. Until then, Happy New Year! We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe day.

—Our Thoughts Precisely Team

Thoughts on 2017...

Usually, I have a little more to say for this post, but I feel like I would be repeating a lot of the same things I said at the end of 2016. Instead, I decided to focus on one topic, and it’s a lesson I learned this year.

At the end of last year, I stated that I was happy with the overall look of the blog and comfortable with my posting schedule. However, as 2017 wore on comfortable became a synonym for static. Static ultimately translated into lack of motivation to continue blogging and reading. I was limiting myself based off of the original idea my co-blogger, Andrea, and I had when we first started the blog back in 2013. I had to stop and think about why that was. It’s been four—almost five years since we—Andrea and I—started blogging here. Adri has joined us. My reading taste has changed and so have the subjects I want to talk about. But, the blog hadn’t changed along with those things, and that’s where the trouble ultimately came from.

Fear of change is real. I’m not trying to be dramatic. It’s there, and I acknowledge the fact that I sometimes find myself stuck in that mindset. However, I also didn’t want to abandon the blog because I’ve spent a lot of time on it. And that’s ultimately what encouraged me to keep going.

The changes seem so simple now that I’m looking back at them a couple of months later. I could have done them a lot sooner. What I’m trying to say is this: don’t abandon something you’ve worked on, change it into something that better suites your vision, current hobby, reading preference—anything. Because if something isn’t making you happy, maybe stop long enough to evaluate why that is. Make the changes you think you need.

I learned that lesson in 2017.

Best of 2017: Books

Continuing with the “best of 2017” theme, Adri and I are back and ready to list our picks for the best books we read in 2017. 

Before we get to the list, I have a couple of technical things to mention. To keep this organized, I’ve broken the post down into two sections: Fiction and nonfiction. Also, these are just the books we read this year and are a combination of 2017 releases and backlist titles. Because Adri is joining me, I'm not setting a limit on the amount of books we can pick for our respective lists. And, these aren't all the books we read and loved. This is only a very small percentage of them...

Fiction…

Adri's picks...

• Raven (TPB) By Marv Wolf man, Alison Borges, and Diogenes Neves
• Mirror's Edge: Exordium (TPB) by Christofer Emgard and Mattias Haggstrom
• The Gauntlet by  Karuna Riazi
• The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis

Comments: Okay, this is a sad, sad list. After I wrote it, I ran to Breana and demanded to know what fiction I read (jokingly of course)! Well this is it... sadly. I actually wanted to read more comics this year, but I'll do that next year.

Breana’s picks…

• The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
• The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco 
• The Windfall by Diksha Basu
• Starflight by Melissa Landers
• City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
• A Crown of Wishes by Rochani Chokshi
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
• Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee

Comments: Overall, I had a relatively good reading year. Most of the fiction I read ended up being highly enjoyable reads with unique settings, stories, and characters. There were very few exceptions to that, mainly because I was pickier this year and only read books I thought I would enjoy.

Nonfiction

Breana’s Picks…

• Gone by Min Kym
• Colored Pencil Portrait Painting by Alyona Nickelsen
• Undeniable by Douglas Axe
• The Cosmic Web by J. Richard Gott
• Wondrous Beauty by Carol Berkin
• Don't Live for Your Obituary by John Scalzi
• Discover Magazine

Comments: I didn’t end up reading as much nonfiction as I originally thought I would. Part of the problem was finding ones I was actually interested in. That being said, the books I did read were surprising in all the best ways possible.

Adri's Picks...

• Leading Lady by Stephen Galloway
• Color Index by Jim Krause
• Rarely Seen by Susan Tylet Hitchcock with a foward by Stephan Alvarez
• Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design By Deborah Nadoolman Landis with a foward by Anjelica Huston
• The art of Fashion Draping Second Edition by Connecticut Amaden-Crawford
• The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann
• Manga Art by Mark Crilley

Comments: In contrast to Breana, I read so much nonfiction, this list only scratches what I read. This year, I mainly stuck to fashion, designer's biography, art, and other biographies. I beleive I'll continue to read books like these into 2018, because I have a long list (that I manage to lose) of books I want to read from the library.

 What are some of the best books you read this year?

Best of 2017: Music

I typically associate December with Christmas-y stuff, but it’s also that time of year where I get to talk about some of the best books I’ve read. The only difference is that this year I’ve decided to dedicate an entire post to the music I've been listening to in 2017. This list includes albums that came out in previous years as well as 2017 releases. Adri is also joining me today with her own additions to the list....

Breana's picks...

• Lady Wood by Tove Lo
• Blue Lips (Lady Wood Phase ll) by Tove Lo 
• Hopeless Fountain Kingdom by Halsey
• The Dreaming Room by Laura Mvula
• The Altar by Banks
• Sweet Sexy Savage by Kehlani
• The Fate of the Furious The Album by Various Artists
• Another Eternity by Purity Ring
• For All We Know by Nao

Comments: In 2017, Music Monday encouraged me to keep up with new music by my favorite artists while also seeking out bands/singers/etc who were entirely new to me...

Adri's picks...

• The Chief by Jidenna
• Art Angels by Grimes
• Dark Matter by Les Friction
• Warmer in the Winter by Lindsey Sterling
• Gemini by Macklemore
• Awake Alert Alive Almost by Spiritual Machines
• Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and The Fall of A Rebel Angel by Enigma
• Carcal by Disclosure
• Break From This World by Globus

Comments: Although I havn't got the chance to buy every album on this list, starting with Awake Alive Almost, I feel like I've listened to more new music this year than the last. I can only hope that next year will bring more.

So, what music have you been listening to in 2017?

ARC Review: Don't Live For Your Obituary by John Scalzi

Title: Don't Live For Your Obituary: Advice, Commentary and Personal Observations on Writing, 2008-2017
Author: John Scalzi
Series: n/a
Source/Format: Subterranean Press via Netgalley; eARC
More Details: Nonfiction; Writing
Publisher/Publication Date: Subterranean Press; December 31, 2017

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Between 2008 and 2017, author John Scalzi wrote fifteen books, became a New York Times bestselling author, and won numerous awards, including the Hugo, the Locus and the Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio. He also had book deals crater, lost more awards than he won, worried about his mortgage and health insurance, flubbed a few deadlines, tried to be a decent parent and husband, and got into some arguments on the Internet, because, after all, that’s what the Internet is for. Scalzi wrote about it all—the highs and lows in the life of a working writer—and gave his readers, and other writers, a glimpse of the day-to-day business of navigating a writing life in today’s world. Sometimes these essays offered advice. Sometimes they commented on the practical business of publishing and selling books. Sometimes they focused on the writing issues, arguments and personalities of the day. And sometimes, Scalzi reflected on his own writing life and career, and what both meant in the larger scheme of things. Don’t Live for Your Obituary is a curated selection of that decade of advice, commentary and observations on the writing life, from one of the best-known science fiction authors working today. But more than that, it’s a portrait of an era—ten years of drama, controversy and change in writing, speculative fiction and the world in general—from someone who was there when it happened… and who had opinions about it all...

Considering that this book was written by John Scalzi, I’m honestly not surprised that I liked it. I’ve been following Scalzi since I read his book, Old Man’s War, in 2015. I was late to the series, but nevertheless, I enjoyed it. So, I was excited when I first learned that he would be releasing a book on writing, mostly comprised of posts that have appeared on his blog between 2008 and 2017.

I liked Don’t Live For Your Obituary partly because I don’t have to go back through all of Scalzi’s blog posts to find the ones included in the book, and he has a lot of insightful commentary on his experience as a published author and on publishing in general. This book covered a myriad of topics. There was one topic I particularly liked and that was the focus on the business side of publishing—including taxes, money, and day jobs—which is something I often look for in writing books but never usually get.

Don’t Live For Your Obituary is a good book to read if you’re thinking about getting involved in anything publishing related, or are just looking for something interesting to read. It doesn’t sugarcoat or feed into lofty expectations, and often focuses on the reality of publishing. So, if you’re a fan of Scalzi then I recommend this book. And, if you’ve read the vast majority of the blog posts on his blog, Whatever, then, I still recommend Don’t Live For Your Obituary.

Disclaimer: This copy of the book was provided  Subterranean Press via Netgalley for this review.

WIP December #6: Merry Christmas! & Something Festive?

WIP: Snowy scenery at sunrise, a.k.a. I’m still painting.

Comments: First things first: Merry Christmas!

Today is also the last post for WIP December. I’m a little sad that I’ve reached the end of this but also relieved, because now I can move on to another project for the blog. Plus, there’s a chance I will do this again next year. So, it’s all good.

Anyway, today’s WIP was inspired by sunsets and snow. It doesn’t snow in the part of California where I live—except on very rare, unusual occasions—which is the complete opposite from where I used to live in Virginia where winter felt like winter. Admittedly, the rest of WIP December wasn’t very Christmas-y, and I couldn’t end this without something appropriate for the time of year. So, here’s my something-festive.

Here's a better explanation for this painting: I’ve always loved the colors of a sunsets and sunrises and how the light can affect the landscape. In my opinion, one of the coolest effects is when the trees are turned all dark and shadowy, and the snow has a bluish quality to it. It puts an emphasis on the color of the sunset. I love it! And, I also wanted to paint it. So, I did. Enjoy!

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What's the best gift you gave or received? Or, what are you working on today?

The Friday 56 (120) & Book Beginnings: The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette De Bodard

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late Twentieth Century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians’ War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital. Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls. Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself...

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Beginnings: "It is almost pleasant, at first, to be Falling."

56: "There were no dragon kingdoms here--no spirits of the rain and rivers, not under the polluted clouds that rained acid; not in the blackened waters of the Seine; not in the wells that had long since run dry."

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Comments: I don't believe I've ever talked about this book on Our Thoughts Precisely before, and since I still haven't read much in the month of December, I decided to mention it for The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings. The House of Shattered Wings is one of my favorite books and has one of the most unique uses of fallen angels. 

What are you reading this week?

WIP December #5: Still Painting

WIP: Painting; original character without a name.

Comments: This painting is the product of two factors: I wanted to work on another face and continue painting. Both things happened to work in conjunction with each other. So, I pulled a sketch from my sketchbook.  This is the result. I had so much fun with this painting. Faces/people are one of the things I’ve struggled to paint using traditional mediums. Through trial and lots of errors, I’ve realized that it was time to upgrade my supplies with ones that were better suited for my needs. Changing the type of watercolor paint and colored pencils I was using made a noticeable difference in my process. Reeves works for what it’s worth—landscapes in particular—but going forward, I much prefer Sakura Koi because of the way the paint works when layered. It still took some time to achieve the look I wanted; however, it was much easier. Also, practicing faces helped a lot. I found it easier to get the contours and shadowing the way I wanted.

There are a number of old paintings that I want to redo, and there's one in particular that's already at the top of my list: the Padme Amidala painting from the Halloween Post .

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Are you working on anything interesting?

Holiday Treats: Chocolate Chip Cookies

The December festivities finally crept its way to the food corner of the blog. No, I'm just kidding. Holiday Treats was a minor part of the plans I made in November—I even had the post graphic ready—but once December started, I originally I thought I would skip it altogether because WIP December was taking longer to finish than I originally thought. Then I did some baking and everything changed.

Making something sweet and festive is simple even if you onky have the basic ingredients. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can have classic flavors with fun shapes or simply a variation in color. And sometimes, it’s as simple as making a few alterations to a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I chose cookies because they’re easy to make and it’s kind of simple to mix and match flavors and add extra ingredients like sprinkles, dried cranberries, etc.. Time is always a factor, and simply put, cookies aren't as time consuming as my favorite rough-puff-pastry recipe, which requires chill time and a few tedious little steps—but the end result is worth the effort.

I used Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and dressed it up to make them more festive. I replaced vanilla extract with almond extract, and added around a ¼ cup of Christmas tree sprinkles for the whole batch. That’s it. The almond extract alters the taste, and the sprinkles give the cookies little pockets of texture—a light crunch that’s similar to the edges.

Of course, almond extract isn’t the only option. There are other choices like mint—which always pairs well with chocolate—strawberry, lemon, hazelnut, and even cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon extract. And sprinkles are always an option. In my opinion, cookies are better with sprinkles.

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What are you cooking this holiday season?

WIP December #4: New Paint + Another House

WIP: I've returned to drawing houses.

Comments: The simplest explanation behind this painting is that I got some new art supplies that I needed to get comfortable with. I haven’t done a proper review for them and figured that I might as well go ahead and talk about them, since I will be using them regularly. The first item is a new set of colored pencils: Prismacolor Premier. Second, Michaels had a 60% off coupon on the Saturday after Black Friday, and I got new watercolor paint: Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box. I have used products by Sakura before—including the white gel pens and the fine liners—and have wanted to try this set of watercolors for a long time.

Sakura Koi is very different from Reeves Watercolor. The colors are vibrant, and I disn't feel like I had to try as hard to achieve the shades I wanted. The finish is smooth. It’s not chalky once it’s dry, which is what I was expecting since this paint is a little more expensive than Reeves. I also love the colors, and I'm especially a fan of the olive green. I’ve tried to mix paint to get that shade before, and it’s never been exactly what I’ve wanted. So, having the shade already there—no mixing required—makes me absurdly happy because I know that I’m going to get a lot of use out of it.

This painting was more of an experiment than some of the other pieces of art I’ve talked about on the blog. So, I also wanted to see how white gel pen and my new set of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils would look on top of the paint. Due to the colors I was using, you can’t really see the colored pencils. That being said, the white does standout.
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Music Monday (35): Holiday Music Part 3

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I can’t end the year without mentioning Merry Christmas by Mariah Carey. It’s my all-time favorite holiday album. My picks this week are O Holy Night and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Gloria.

 

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What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (119) & Book Beginnings: Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

As they approach adulthood, Cat Barahal and her cousin Bee think they understand the society they live in and their place within it. At a select academy they study new airship technologies and the dawning Industrial Revolution, but magical forces still rule. And the cousins are about to discover the full ruthlessness of this rule...

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Beginnings: "The history of the world begins in ice, and it will end in ice."

56: "The stream of words made her frown, but my statement was so unexceptional she could not protest."

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Comments: Honestly, I haven't read any books that I can quote from for The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings. Instead, I decided to share a few quotes from one of my favorite books: Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. Cold Magic is the book that introduced me to Elliott's writing, and since then it has remained one of my favorite fantasy novels. Period. End of discussion. The opening sentence is also quite memorable. 

What are you reading this week?