Sketchbook Challenge - Close Up

The design on my new t-shirt, which also came with the large round sticker.  Also done for this month's Sketchbook Challenge theme - Close Up.

A New Tool

Trying out my new Sketch and Wash Pencil.

Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon

This is not one novel, but a short story (Lord John and the Hellfire Club) and two novellas (Lord John and the Succubus and Lord John and the Haunted Soldier).  I really enjoy Diana Gabaldon's writing (the Outlander series) and Lord John Grey is an interesting minor character from that series.  This was an enjoyable read, but not as good as the Outlander series.  I rate it 3 out of 5.

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

I really don't know how to review this book.  I never could decide whether I liked it or not; I liked parts and disliked other parts.  So I'll quote the description of the book from Goodreads:

"With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal,and rescue illuminates this book like flashes of heat lightening."

I even had trouble deciding on a rating and finally settled on 2 out of 5.

NOLA Collage Pages

Collage Page 1

Everywhere we went in NOLA, we collected business cards, tickets, brochures, and menus. I had intended to include more of them on my sketch pages, but often got so involved in the sketching that I forgot to leave space for them. Then I saw Leslie Fehling's Ireland Sketchbook on her blog, and her collage pages inspired me to do something similar with my ephemera.

Collage Page 2

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

Fifteen year old Alfred receives Joey, a beautiful horse, from his father.  Alfred loves Joey and trains him to work on the farm.  When the family runs short of money, Alfred's father sells Joey to the cavalry at the start of World War I.  Alfred is too young to join but promises Joey he'll find him.  Joey experiences many of the horrors of war.  Joey is the narrator of the book, and that works better than I thought it would.  The book is written for children aged 8 and up; I don't often read children's books, but I wanted to read this before seeing the movie.  It was a quick read; I'm a pretty slow reader and even I finished it in 2 days.  I thought it was well written and I rate it 3 out of 5.  It is my second book for the World War I reading challenge.