Thursday, October 24, 2019

WRP 10: Australia

World Reading Project, Book #10

Australia
The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Andrew Barton "Banjo"  Paterson, 1895

Clay read these poems and suggested this book to me for good reason; I mean, look at that cover. It's in the public domain, so you can read it for free on Gutenberg.org! This is the first book of poetry I've picked for my project. Banjo Paterson's most famous work is the bush ballad "Waltzing Matilda". He wrote lots of poetry about the outback, sheep shearing, cattle drovers, and lots and lots of horses. I enjoyed this book because there were so many poems about good trustworthy horse friends, and a love of the land. It's clear that Banjo really had an affection for horses. Here's a snippet of the title poem, describing the game horse who saves the day and runs down the escaped colt of a famous racehorse:
And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,
He was something like a racehorse undersized,
With a touch of Timor pony — three parts thoroughbred at least —
And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.
There was courage in his quick impatient tread;
He was hard and tough and wiry — just the sort that won't say die —
And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.
And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Halloweeeeen outgoing!


Mummy monster mail art swap:

Joined a October/Halloween washi tape swap. These are the ones I'm sending:







 Zombie mail art swap, back and front:





Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Halloween mail galore!

Outgoing Halloween mail:


Made from a book jacket given away by a library:

I wrote a quote from Macbeth that's hard to read in the photo: "Eye of newt and toe of frog... wool of bat and tongue of dog... for a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble!"


A homemade card, a piece from a medical dictionary, and a printed out movie poster. 

For a werewolf swap- I was happy with the werewolf and moon I drew and matched it with another old movie poster.

Dancing monsters go into the post box!

I think this is the creepiest Halloween mail I've made yet this year!

Thursday, October 3, 2019

WRP 9: Sweden

World Reading Project, Book #9

Sweden
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, 2005

This was the first of the books I've chosen because they made a big splash in the US. I think in the future I will avoid this strategy as they have not been my favorites. Honestly I was surprised that this became such a crazy seller because the first half (?!) of the story is really boring. Way too much financial crap at the beginning. Also, what's up with the stupid descriptions of exactly what kind of computers everybody has? It feels very dated, but I bet I would have hated that even if I'd read it when it first came out. Another thing that feels dated are the repeated description of Lisbeth's clothes and tattoos; it seems very "ooh, look how weird she is" in a stupid old man sort of way. But once the story got rolling it was very enthralling and hard to put down. The sexual assault and violence was sickening. That's about all I have to say.