July Desktop Wallpaper Project

 

As summer heats up, reading on the porch, with a tall glass of lemonade is a must. Here are some titles to dive into while you relax to the drone of a faraway lawnmower and the flash of lazy lighting bugs.

ASYLUM FOR FAIRY TALE CREATURES by Sebastian Gregory

Asylum

This is a wonderfully imaginative short novel. Familiar fairy tale characters are reintroduced in a more ‘realistic’ light, with the unavoidable consequence of insanity. As the author puts it, how could anyone be expected to be sane after what’d happened to them.

It would be enough to drive a person to madness. And so many of the fairy tale creatures went skipping into the comfort of insanity.

Gregory introduces us to a girl who was cobbled together by the reanimated parts of village children by a cracked doll maker, a young girl who saw a wolf but is accused of skinning her grandmother and a girl who was saved by her teddy bear — or so she claimed. These and many others populate an asylum and the reader is treated to their stories in a rotating Canterbury Tales style.

Gregory’s style dark but simple. It reflects the twisted tales we are engaged in. Here is how Red Riding Hood visits her grandmother.

On this day the girl arrived at Grandma’s house. A small cottage made of coloured river stone, with a  thatched roof from the trees, with according to Grandma kept the house from prying nobodies. Two windows that flanked the green door reminded the girl of a surprised face. There was no fence for there for there was no garden, just the woods, which were becoming full of twilight as the sun had hid itself. The girl as always went to knock, but the door creaked open. It seemed to be the only sound in the world for the forest suddenly became hushed as if in anticipation. ~ Loc. 86

This is an imaginative dark twist on the stories we all know.
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Read via NetGalley. Thank you to Carina Press for the ebook access.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2446 KB
Publisher: Carina (27 Jun 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B00KYU49TO


 

LONDON’S STRANGEST TALES: HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES by Iain Spragg

LondonsStrangestTales

 

This is the perfect introduction to British history for someone who doesn’t want to get bogged down with too many details. Spragg is accurate but he tells these true stories with humor and focuses on the bizarre aspects of them. Each is somehow related to the history of London via the palaces it is so famous for. His style is loose and conversational.

Plenty of people have breathed their last at the Tower of London over the years. The majority shuffled off this mortal coil after a good old-fashioned beheading, a no-nonsense hanging or a straight-forward firing squad. You used to know where you were at the Tower when it came to executions. That all changed in September 1613 when the noted poet and essayist Sir Thomas Overbury mysteriously kicked the bucket while in custody at the Tower and a story so labyrinthine it makes the plot of Games of Thrones look simplistic began to emerge. We’re talking politics, green, infidelity, the King and a jam tart laced with sulphuric acid, so strap yourself in. ~ Loc. 371

The tone works and makes it an approachable way to explore Britain’s past.

Read via NetGalley. Thank you to Pavilion Books for the ebook access.
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Imprint: Portico
ISBN: 9781909396470
Publication Date: 1 May 2014
Format: Paperback
Dimensions: 216 x 138cm
Page Extent: 176


VINTAGE ADVERTISING ART & DESIGN from Dover Publications

VintageArt

Dover is the first and last name in images and elements for designers. There are nearly 700 elements for designers to use in this collection. Each is from an actual advertisement, dating from the 1890s to the 1920. Many are Art Nouveau, with a few Victorian and Art Deco, and even a handful of Egyptian elements. There are also embellished letters for monograms or dropcaps.

Preface

This is both a valuable resource and a fun collection of art. It is just as useful for the causal scrapbooker as it is for the professional graphic designer.

Viewed via NetGalley. Thank you to Dover for the ebook access.
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Series: Dover Pictorial Archive
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications (March 19, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486491196
ISBN-13: 978-0486491196
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches