Mostly Book Beat (formerly Art Beat)

Art, photography, books, a bit of stitching, some serious nordic love...

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Book Review: Voice A Versa by Billy West

I requested this memoir from NetGalley as fan of Billy’s work on Futurama, not sure what I was about to read, I will lead with the caveat that there are a lot of potential trigger for readers, the book covers abuse both physical and sexual of a minor and a lot of substance abuse amongst other potentially difficult subjects to read about. So diving in, I rated it 4.75 stars out of 5. It was an…

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Review: The Perfect Matcha

By Stevie Greene I received an e-ARC for this book via NetGalley thanks to HQStories. I requested it because I was feeling the cosy romance vibes having just finished another cosy romance set in a remote getaway cabin in Norway and also I love a good pun. For this book we headed to the Pacific North West and meet our protagonist Willow, in Seattle suffering from some burn out, she heads back to…

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Review: Always Home, Always Homesick

Always Home, Always Homesick: A Love Letter to Iceland by Hannah Kent I have sat down to attempt a review at this several times and I stall because I don’t feel like I have the words to convey how much I loved this book. Before starting I will say that if you haven’t read Burial Rites by Kent, then go do that now – its an amazing story about Agnes Magnúsdóttir the last woman to be executed in…

Review: Always Home, Always Homesick

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Review: Art Work by Sally Mann

Or to give it its full title Art Work: On the Creative Life by Sally Mann How much did I like this book? A lot, it was an easy 5 stars for me, although I wasn’t super familiar with Mann’s photography before starting the book (I recognised some key pieces), I will be seeking it out more in future.  So the book is an amazing collection of letters mostly between Mann and Ted Orland (these were so…

Review: Art Work by Sally Mann

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YALC Hints and Tips

For a first time visitor What I learned before my first visit to YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) in 2024 from scouring blogs and social media and what I learned during the event that I wish I’d known in advance. Aka a handy guide for anyone planning to attend in November 2025. Logistics (aka the venue) Entry to YALC versus Comic Con In case you haven’t realised yet, YALC is held in…

YALC Hints and Tips

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Book review: Utterly British Maps

By Helen McKenzie Front cover My second NetGalley book, digital copy : apparently by National Trust books, I didn’t know they published books! Map of Cornish Pasty hotspots Fantastically funny and informative, and who doesn’t love a good map? From funny place names to which town has the most roundabouts, and several food related maps – it could’ve been a 5⭐️ review but sadly I disagree with…

Book review: Utterly British Maps

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Review: Reframing Women Printmakers

By P.L. Henderson I’ll just dive right in and say that I think that this is an essential read if (like me) you are a women and a printmaker, or even an artist of another kind, or just has an interest in print, but also that it should be included on reading lists for art courses. The author has done a great job of covering women printmakers across history considering how sidelined they’ve been…

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Finished reading this a couple of days ago, why it took me Sooo long to start I’ll never know, I basically bought it on release day. Luckily managed to stay away from spoilers. Rated it 5/5, as it managed to keep me guessing and raised my heart rate multiple times.

[austinkleon]

How to read more. Here are books I’ve written. Here are of books I like.

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It's my 15 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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Oxfordshire Artweeks

And a bit of shameless self promotion. In case you hadn’t realised, May is the month the artists in county of Oxfordshire open up their homes and studios to the public, hundreds of art exhibitions take place during a little over 3 weeks (May 4-27th this year), with each week dedicated to an area of the county. As usual I will be exhibiting during city week which officially starts on the 11th May…

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The Dream Thieves

By Maggie Stiefvater: Audiobook review If you know me, you know I’m super fussy with audiobook narrators and if it doesn’t sit right with me, I can’t get on with it.Well not a problem with this book, The Dream Thieves, nay the whole series, I really enjoyed this and I think a lot of that is to do with Will Patton as the narrator who just oozes southern charm. He manages to make all the…

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Book review: Gild by Raven Kennedy

Gild by Raven KennedyMy rating: 3 of 5 starsInteresting concept – taking someone and their story from mythology and giving it new life, however something about this retelling didn’t gel with me. I finished it and it was a decent story, but I don’t know if I care about the characters enough to go on. I felt like the last 20% of the book was the best part, which was a lot less sex focused and story…

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Book review: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör by Grady HendrixMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI enjoyed this even though its not my usual type of genre (i don’t tend to read a lot of ‘horror’). The book is set in a US furniture store ORSK that models itself on IKEA, therefore the entire book is designed an IKEA catalogue making it a quirky and enjoyable book to behold. Although the basic premise may seem familiar, I felt there were enough…

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Happy Piano Day

Nils Frahm live at the Barbican, 2018 In case it passed you by, today is Piano Day – a day organised by some amazing piano loving people and created from an idea by Nils Frahm in 2015 – held on the 88th day of the year, because of course pianos have 88 keys. I first heard about it back in 2018 when Olafur Arnalds and Halldór Eldjárn created an interactive installation called Stratus whereby…

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Iceland road trip (day 8)

Iceland road trip (day 8)

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Iceland road trip (day 9)

Iceland road trip (day 9)

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