ilikereadingactually

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And At Night We Dance - 24x30” acrylic on wood for the Hi Fructose magazine 25th anniversary show at Roq La Rue in Seattle this June.

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Head of a Young Woman in Profile (1895) by Odilon Redon

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October Gold (1889) by John Atkinson Grimshaw

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From the blog: The Indisputable Joy of Things Arranged in Rainbow Order (featuring the book Encyclopedia of Rainbows)

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“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.

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lets trot buckaroos. hit tingler THE SENTIENT LESBIAN EM DASH—MY FAVORITE PUNCTUATION MARK—GETS ME OFF is out now as audiobook you can download here

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Rebellion 1776

Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson

it's been a while since i read a middle grade book, and much longer since i last read Laurie Halse Anderson, so this was a nice treat! a straightforward and fairly fast read, interesting in its historical details and compelling in its emotional arc, even though i felt like it could have gone deeper in that aspect.

Elsbeth, the book's plucky narrator, is a young teenager employed as a maid in Boston during the American Revolution. one of the first main upheavals of her circumstances in the story is the expulsion of the British army from the city, and the mysterious disappearance of her father in the same night; these national and personal stakes continue to run through the narrative, but most of the drama comes from Elsbeth's day-to-day, finding herself suddenly alone and a maid-of-all-work to a family with six (i think? i lost count!) children.

i think this is just the way of it with historical fiction, which i don't often read, but the beats of the plot inevitably revolved around the progress of historical events: war news, smallpox (and inoculation, which was very interesting!), independence declared in Philadelphia, and the eventual neat tying-up of threads loosened by these circumstances. there was a little bit of mystery (i wished there had been more), some interesting interpersonal triumphs and heartaches (i also wished there had been more of this, or deeper explorations), and quite a few really charming scenes of Elsbeth with her chickens or the family cow. overall the writing was excellent, as i anticipated from Anderson, but i kept wishing for a the highs and lows to be higher and lower. for a book with "rebellion" in the title, the action was always pretty mild!

that said, i think it would be a great choice for middle grade readers who are in it more for the history than the excitement of the plot (and a great choice for grown-up readers who are into that too).

the deets

how i read it: an e-galley from NetGalley, as usual. i am shamefully still making my way through spring titles!

try this if you: dig a diary-style narrative framework, enjoy family stories, or are into the history of the period!

a line i really liked: this just really encapsulates four-year-olds to me

I sat down in front of Gilbert and offered him a feather. "These are beautiful," I said. "Do you know where I can find more?" "Oh, yes," he said, stuffing the feather back into his sack. "The chickens out back will share their feathers with you if you play with them first." My bedraggled, balding chickens. "Truly? What game do you play with them?" He pulled on the string that closed the sack. "I chase them fast around the house, then around the barn. When they get tired, they let me pet them." "Gadzooks, Gilbert," I exclaimed. "The mystery is solved! Now I know why they stopped laying eggs." "They'll make more eggs if I ask them," he said confidently. "Those chickens really love me."

pub date: April 1, 2025! go get it and read it, or give it to a young reader you know!

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Lilies - Jun Chen. , 2024.

Chinese , b. 1960 -

Oil on canvas , 136 x 160 cm.

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The First Love    -   Walter Elst ,  2002.

Belgian, b. 1955 -

Oil on panel , 40 x 30 cm.

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The Wall of the Kitchen Garden, Yerres (1877) by Gustave Caillebotte

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Strawberries - Annabelle Six , 2012.

Dutch , b. 1949 -

Oil on panel , 30 x 40 cm.

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I'm going through user-made tilesets for an old DOS mahjong solitaire game and I found what's possibly the most evil one

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december: finish nona january-april: very intentionally Not think about it lest I break irreparably forever now: being soooo brave about it

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paleozoic menagerie

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Landscape (1905) by Willard Metcalf