Tag: Art

Review: Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill

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Aquicorn Cove 1-- bookspoilsNot only does this book feature mind-bending gorgeous works of art, it holds so much meaning in its pages. Usually, books that evoke such truly beautiful pieces tend to not have an exciting storyline to tag along, but this is where Aquicorn Cove comes in to shake up the status quo.

I was already keen on the premise alone, courtesy my unshakeable love for the ocean, but the fact that Aquicorn Cove also addressed the harms in fishing ocean creatures and the dangers of plastic had me practically cheering out loud. WHOO!!Aquicorn Cove 7-- bookspoils

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This is one of those reviews were words needn’t be written because the art speaks for itself. I mean:
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Aquicorn Cove 5-- bookspoilsThis stilled my mind from all racing thoughts.Aquicorn Cove 2-bookspoils

Aquicorn Cove 6-- bookspoilsThe beauty and power of that first panel stopped me cold, for some reason.Aquicorn Cove-- bookspoils

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I zoomed through this short read without even trying because IT’S JUST THAT GOOD.

One last thing: Aquicorn Cove knows how to evoke real emotions, make characters feel completely real, and seamlessly captures intricate details that had a calming effect on me.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: October 16, 2018

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Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying Aquicorn Cove, just click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!

Review: Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 by Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo

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This book arrived just as I had completed reading the previous collection with my little sister during the weekend; Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls did just what it promised… meaning that she was put to sleep right away. I think the historical aspect wasn’t quite there yet for my nine-year-old sister.

Still, I was ecstatic to hear the news of this follow-up book to come out. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 boasts a brand new graphic design, a glossary and 100 incredible new portraits created by the best female artists of our time.

I liked, in particular, the inclusion of new, contemporary women in this edition, since I had just finished my reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, and here we have her familiar face featured!Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 1-- bookspoilsGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 2-- bookspoils

But my main issue with Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 stems from the fact that these summaries skip one too many significant details and it results in an inconsistent, half-hearted historical biography of these accomplished women.

I also feel like the book reduces the women’s accomplishment a tad by making their hard work sound like a breeze. Like, with Lilian Bland building her own plane, they make it sound like she snapped her fingers and boom there’s a plane: “Lilian read everything she could find by the Wright brothers and other famous aviators about how to build a plane. She succeeded in building a flyable biplane—an aircraft with two pairs of wings—then went on to build a full-scale glider, just like the one her boyfriend hadn’t let her fly.”Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 9-- bookspoilsGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 10-- bookspoils

Putting my hindrances aside, I’d still like to share some of my favorite stories of these extraordinary women:

  • JOHANNA NORDBLAD
     ICE DIVER

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This mentioned a film “made about one of her incredible dives,” and I was utterly hypnotized watching it. I had to replay the video over and over simply to wrap my mind around the scope and expansiveness of Nordblad’s chilling actions.

“It shows a solitary figure dragging a sled to the middle of a frozen lake, leaving a trail of footprints behind her in the snow. She cuts a triangle into the ice with a saw and sits on the edge. Taking a deep breath, she slips into the black water. A different universe unfolds around her: silver and deep blue-black, silent and beautiful. She swims along like a mermaid, at peace with the world.”

  • J.K. ROWLING
     WRITER

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  • BRENDA MILNER
     NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST

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  • VIVIAN MAIER
     PHOTOGRAPHER

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 11-- bookspoilsI can’t stop staring at this utterly haunting painting.Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 12-- bookspoils

  • SKY BROWN
     SKATEBOARDER

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 13-- bookspoilsGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 14-- bookspoilsThis nine-year-old skater is an inspiration.

Screen Shot 2018-02-28 at 09.46.55I am, however, eternally perplexed at their notion of including a Nazi-born girl in this collection, because we should, of course, applaud a fish for swimming, instead of shining light on the many brave Jewish women to survive and oppose the terrors of the Holocaust…

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Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2, just click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!

Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore by Vanessa Friedman, Roxane Gay (Foreword)

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I was overjoyed at the sight of this in my mail, courtesy of Abrams Books.Dress Like a Woman 1-- bookspoils

What does it mean to dress like a woman?

Today, a woman can be a surgeon, an artist, an astronaut, a military officer, an athlete, a judge, a scientist–the possibilities are endless. The photographs inside this book depict women–both familiar and unknown–who inhibit a fascinating intersection of fashion, gender, class, nationality, and race, proving there is no single answer to this question. With essays by Roxane Gay and Vanessa Friedman, Dress Like a Woman is a comprehensive look at the role of gender and clothing in the workplace.

Beyond the empowering concept set behind Dress Like a Woman, this is the most beautiful book I’ve received to date. The high-quality images produced in here, ranging into the world of women through time and space (literally), astonishes me. The creative people behind this book put all their toil into this compilation, and you can feel it through the detailed pages. WE NEED MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS!!Dress Like a Woman 9-- bookspoilsDress Like a Woman 13-- bookspoilsDress Like a Woman 15-- bookspoilsDress Like a Woman 16-- bookspoilsDress Like a Woman 11-- bookspoils

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ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: February 27, 2018

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Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying Dress Like a Woman, just click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!