Jun 2, 2025
From traditional sketch to digital
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Italy
seen from China
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from India
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from Malaysia
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from United States
From traditional sketch to digital
July 2024 Reading Wrap Up
July started off very strong, but then completely fell apart :/
I haven't picked up a book in almost 3 weeks, and had to temporarily stop reading Daughter of the Forest because life got very busy and stressful. But! all of that is almost behind me, and I hope I can start to get back to normal. I don't think I've ever gone 3 weeks without reading anything :(
I managed to get through 5 books at the beginning of July, with 4 physical books and 1 audiobook. I had an ambitious tbr, but I guess I will be trying to finish that up in August.
1.Equal Rites (Discworld 3) by Terry Pratchett (4/5 stars) This was a fun change for me, as I haven't read many discworld books. I've been meaning to read more, and I'm glad this introduced a few popular characters. Overall I had a good time with this!
2.Thief Mage, Beggar Mage by Cat Hellisen (3.5/5 stars) This book has less than 100 ratings/reviews on Goodreads, so I was intrigued to pick it up. This was one of my Random TBR picks for the month of July. This was a slower paced southeast(?) asian fantasy with lots of angst and characters who can't catch a break. I can't say this book is going to be very memorable for me, but I did enjoy it.
3.River-Horse: A Voyage Across America by William Least Heat-Moon. I started this book in June, but realized I needed to switch to the audiobook if I wanted to finish it. Reading the abridged audiobook was 100% the best decision. This is a travel narrative about the author's journey to cross America on rivers, and I thought the audiobook was excellent.
4.The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy) by Chelsea Abdullah (2/5 stars). This is difficult for me to rate this book, because while I don’t think it’s bad or poor quality, I just couldn’t get into the plot or characters at all. I think it’s just a me problem :( This was a fast paced, action packed adventure quest story that I should’ve liked. It did have more of a YA feel to it than I was expecting though. Overall, it’s not a bad book, just not for me apparently. I ended up skimming the last 40% just to see what happened.
5.The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison (5/5 stars). I really like post- apocalyptic stories with women main characters, and this was so excellent. I read this in about 24 hours, and I could barely put the book down. It is very dark and traumatic, so be warned. This follows a lone woman trying to survive in America after a pandemic wipes out most of the population (especially women)
I started Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, but had to put it down because of life stuff. I'm hoping to pick it back up soon. I'll be done with grad school in less than 2 weeks, so I'm hoping to have much more reading time soon!
I'm not posting an August tbr, since my brain can't really think of/process creating a tbr right now :(
On the thirty-first of May, Nikawa entered what was once known as Sioux Country, a vast region covering nearly all the northern half of the Great Plains, the home of peoples who gave to most of the world the current perception of what an American Indian is. Even in the United States today, tribes with no connections to the Siouan nations have taken up certain elements of their nineteenth-century culture and apparel. Until we reached the mountains some weeks hence, the Indians we met would be Sioux, a name their ancient enemies the Chippewa put on them: 'adders.' I reminded the crew that for the next fifteen hundred miles we'd be passing through Indian lands, reservations where we'd be foreigners, and I suggested they avoid the word 'Sioux.' I asked them to remember the four branches of those inhabitants of the northern Plains: Teton, Santee, Yanktonai, and Yankton, with each except the last having several bands, such as the Oglala, Hunkpapa, Assiniboin. Even better, I said, call the Tetons Lakotas, the Santees Dakotas, and the others Nakotas -- if you wanted to make friends with someone from London, would you call him a limey, a European, or an Englishman? We talked of that matter in the breakfast grill of the Fort Randall Casino and Hotel while a young Yankton waitress needled us about our losses (but for the Professor who had won twenty dollars) at the slot machines the night before. Pilotis said, 'Consider the money reparation.' And she: 'You've got a long way to go then.'
William Least Heat-Moon, River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat across America
'Maybe you can teach us your secrets,' Pilotis said, and Billy answered, 'Sure. You just got to look ahead, see what's ahead.' He spoke that while staring toward the stern, watching where we'd been, and Pilotis said, 'Is it good to look back at the river?' And Billy, 'Why would you do that? You got to see ahead.' He worked on the beer, occasionally calling for a change in our course. He said, 'I'm blind in one eye.' Blind? I reached for the throttles. You've got only one good eye? 'It works. You've got two eyes, so you should see real good. You just got to learn to look ahead. Don't slow down. You want a beer anybody?'
William Least Heat-Moon, River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat across America
I must say here, in unabashed self-defense, that cursing is part of a Missouri River pilot's proper and honored method of ascent; to go upriver without it is simply unhistorical, probably unhealthy, and certainly unlikely, so much so that even devoted Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans deem it less than a peccadillo.
William Least Heat-Moon, River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat across America
But all your art! It's so awesome! D: and everything on your blog is suuper hot ahah, *coughklainecough* anyways, you have the same name as my sister o.o
Thank you.
It means a lot when anyone says that they enjoy my drawings. Especially random messages like this when I'm not expecting it at all.
And yes, this blog really has morphed into all things Klaine. xD I really couldn't help myself though. They are pretty much the best cutest thing ever.
You're sister's name is Ashley? It's actually a really common name, sometimes I hate it for that fact but other times I don't mind it at all. If her name is Ashley Rose though that's a little more freaky. xD It'd be even freakier if her last name started with D.
Gah, I love your blog sosososo much! I went through it until like page 128 or something :D It's sooo awesome! I love your drawings/art by the way, it's amazeballs!
jshdakjglfdhjga
What?
WHAT?!
Why would you go that far back?! I'm not interesting enough for that. ;w;
Thank you so much, and I'm pretty sure you are amazeballs for using that word. xD I guess you have been looking at my posts. lol
But seriously, thank you, you nutty person you. <3
"I went to the afterdeck and sat contentedly solitary in the great remove and watched a day of forty weathers close down to discharge the long western glimmering and give the night over to the scent of wet sage, the buzz of nighthawks, the far sorrow of coyotes, and then one of the strangest voices in all of wild America, a bittern in the reeds: gulping air, inflating throat, pumping out mellow, cavernous, liquid gurgles, wobbling notes seeming to rise from beneath the river itself, a voice made from the bittern world of slow marshy waters.
For all I knew, that lone bird, sometimes known as a thunderpumper, called down the lightning and the wind which drove into my bunk to lie in the easy rocking of the river, the Musselshell ticking the hull and putting a slow creak in the mooring lines. For a few minutes I knew all the reasons I was in that farness."
William Least Heat-Moon - River-Horse