Friday Reviews

Friday Reviews Week 6:
October 7th- 13th, 2017

This has been one of my best reading weeks this year and I also got to read two of the books that I have been anticipating for a long time, John Green's Turtles All the Way Down and Rhett and Link's Book of Mythicality.

🍁 Book 1: The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference 🍁

Edited by David H. Borcherding

Read October 7th-8th

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~ Brief Synopsis and General Thoughts ~

This book was mostly a disappointment for me. For a book said to be "An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic" it really had nothing major of substance that would not be known to a fantasy writer or someone with knowledge of history. Really the fantasy topics are little and far in between. Most of the information that I read in this book was basically information that I learned in history classes, from historical fiction books, and fantasy books.

One section was actually useful for me, which is about the Anatomy of Castles. It's the only section of the book that I'll even use. I'm sure I could have found this information in some other source that would have been more detailed than what I have found here. This is a book that I bought years ago believing it to be useful for me in writing my book series. It's not.

~ The sections in the book ~

Below I will list the different parts of the book and what they contain. 

1.) Traditional Fantasy Cultures: talks about Christianity, Feudalism, Manorialism, The Social Order, Ecclesiastic Titles, Knighthood, and various terms about the Middle Ages

2.) World Cultures: talks about Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica, Other Mesoamerican Cultures, North America, Oceania, and South America

3.) Magic: contains: history, principles of magic, what magic does, ritual and ceremonial magic, secret societies, divination, building your own magical worlds (the list in this section might be useful for building basics of a story, but you can find questions like this anywhere. I have about twenty myself), written in the stars

4.) Witchcraft and Pagan Paths: How to recognize a witch, classical witchcraft, Gothic witchcraft, family or traditional witchcraft, dictionary of terms from witchcraft and magic, etc.

5.) Commerce, Trade and Law in Contemporary Fantasy: commerce, punishments, trade and barter

6.) Fantasy Races: dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, goblins and orcs, half-lings and hybrids, merfolk, trolls, minor races, Non-Western races, created races, Industrialization and Characterization.

7.) Creatures of Myth and Legend: contains an alphabetical listing of creatures (with about a paragraph of information for each creature) - Again this could be useful for someone who does not know about these creatures, but to write about them you would want/ need much more information than what this gives you.

8.) Dress and Costume: materials, colors, women's clothing, men's clothing, shoes, children's clothing, clergy, chastity belts

9.) Arms, Armor, and Armies: arms, armor, armies, beasts of war

10.) Anatomy of a Castle: castles and other fortifications, castle life, siege

~ Overall Opinions of the Book ~ 

I will say that I have not fully read every single part of this book. The reason I bought this book was for research and there are various aspects of it that are more important to me than others. Really, this focuses more on Medieval European concepts with little focus on the actual fantasy. I thought this would actually give tips towards writing, whether that be world building or creating a fantasy world. But what I actually received was a dry encyclopedia like book that gave very basic explanations of the topics. The images are okay inclusions in the book.

Fantasy writers, that believe this book will give you valuable pointers for writing fantasy, should really steer clear of this book. It's not worth the price and you will most likely not find what you are looking for. If you want to read something much more worthwhile, you should pick up Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer. It's is meant for writing fantasy but you can get something out of it if you don't write fantasy. I will be doing a detailed review of this sometime in the near future.

🍁 Book 2: The Marvels by Brian Selznick 🍁

Read October 9th, 2017

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~ Brief Overview ~

This book is incredible. It was my fourth book that I have read of Brian Selznick's and it definitely my favorite of them all. This may actually have become my favorite book of the year. I never thought that I would love this book as much as I do. It's actually pretty incredible. 

For those new to Brian's books, I want to explain his formatting. Half or more than half of his books are told in illustrations. Probably some of the best illustrations I have seen in books ever. Then the other half is told in prose. Brian's books are always beautiful, but this exceeded that in so many ways. 

~ Synopsis ~
The Marvels tells two different stories that connect in such an amazing way. The first is told in about 400 pages of continuous pictures. It begins with a boy named Billy who is shipwrecked in 1766 and eventually finds work at a theater in England. Throughout this story we follow the rest of his family throughout the generations and their life as actors. This is up until 1900, when Leontes Marvel is banished from the theater.

The second part of this story takes place almost a century later, in 1990, with the runaway Joseph Jervis. He has come to England from his boarding school to try and find his uncle. Albert Nightingale, his uncle, is known to be a strange man living in the most stunningly beautiful house, that contains many secrets. Joseph becomes fascinated in this house and his uncle. He tries everything to figure out what has happened in the past with his family and also the house.

~ Overall Thoughts ~ 
Brian Selznick does an incredible job weaving each of his books together. This book was no exception. It was intriguing in the mystery aspects and a great adventure that I believe would be great for all ages. This was one incredible read for me and has become a ultimate favorite for me. He also based the story off of real people so that was another great aspect.

If you pick up any book that I recommend for you this should be the one. Also, it's a quick read so it will not take you too long.

🍁 Book 3: 365 Journal Writing Ideas 🍁
By Rossi Fox
Read October 9th, 2017
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This was a quick read that had some really great writing prompts. I have been thinking of starting a daily journal next year and I'll probably use at least a couple of these. I like using prompts to play around with writing a bit. Some can be quite good, I just wish that this one had more examples that I enjoyed.

The formatting and layout of the book was somewhat disjointed. Also, the prompts are repetitive. This would be a great way to start journaling, but you might be able to find better prompts in other places.

🍁 Book 4: Rhett & Link's Book of Mythicality: 🍁
A Field Guide to Curiosity, Creativity, and Tomfoolery
By Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
Read October 10th, 2017
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I loved reading this book and getting to know Rhett and Link more from it. I have been a Mytholical Beast for a little over three years and I am so happy to be able to read more about them and just about them.

This is the perfect book for any fans of Good Mythical Morning and Rhett and Link in general. I believe anybody though can get something out of this book. It is funny and heartwarming at parts. The section with their wives writing is great, it's probably one of my favorite parts of the book.

I really want to get the audiobook now to listen to them read it.

Check this book out.

🍁 Book 5: Turtles All the Way Down 🍁
By John Green
Read October 10th, 2017
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I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of the book. 

This book was incredible, though I'm not surprised. John Green has done it yet again. I read it in one sitting and was thoroughly engrossed the entire time. I have been a fan of John Green for about six years through his books and also as a Nerdfighter. I'm a very proud Nerdfighter. DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome)

~ The Plot ~
Sixteen year old Aza and her best friend Daisy, begin to pursue the mystery of the fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett's disappearance. Aza is reluctant but Daisy is insistent and there is a hundred- thousand dollar reward at stake. They both start to investigate and talk to an old friend of Aza's, Davis Pickett, the son of Russell Pickett.

Aza is living with the tightening spiral of thoughts that constantly plague her mind throughout her whole life. She does a great way of describing this on the first page saying that it's like she is in a fictional story, with someone controlling her every thought (very meta). She is trying to be a good daughter to her mother, a good friend, student, and live with a mental illness that controls a lot of her life.

~ The Characters ~
Aza was a great main character that I loved from the very beginning of this book. John definitly made her voice authentic. I believe that this book was incredible because of her character. The voice that he created made me realize what it felt like to live with OCD and anxiety a little more. It was hard to read at times because of it but also, so beautiful. I loved Aza so much.

Each of the characters also felt real. Aza's best friend Daisy made me think of my own friends. She's not afraid of telling Aza the truth when she needs to hear it but also is always there for her. Hearing about Daisy writing Star Wars fanfiction is some of the funniest parts of this book and I really enjoyed getting to know her character.

Aza's mom and parenting in general was another vital part of this book that I felt was important. She was always trying to figure out how to help her daughter. Her caring nature and attitude towards life was a great addition to this book.

Davis, one of the sons of Russell Pickett was a complex character himself. His father has fled and left Davis to care for not only himself but also his little brother, Noah. They do have servants but they are not around and both boys really do need a reliable guardian. Throughout the book, we see Davis try to protect his brother from the truth, but also him worry about the outcome of everything.

~ Overall Thoughts ~
It has been quite awhile since John has written a book but I feel that it was well worth the wait. I have been a fan of him for a long time and I am glad to say that this lived up to my overly high expectations of it. Sometimes I feel we hype things up too much, which will sometimes ruin the book. This could have been the case but John Green's book was written so beautifully. He writes with such a distinct voice and with so many stunning lines. I love his writing immensely and cannot get enough of it. The ending was so powerful and I'm still thinking about it three days later. I'll admit that I would love to read it again really soon. This has become my favorite John Green novel, right above Looking for Alaska. It's also a favorite of this year for me.

If you read any book the rest of this year please read this one. I believe that you will not regret it.

🍁 Have a great weekend. Happy Reading. 🍁