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Published January 6, 2009 by Rebecca Matheson

A couple of mistakes

reading_smGeoff and I have spent the last few days in Bendigo, staying at the lovely Langley Hall. After and between exploring where Geoff spent a good bit of his primary years and early teens, we had some space for catching up on the the volume of reading to be done for the next while.

I bought with me two books, Irresistable Revolution – Shane Claiborne and The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet – Colleen McCullough. So one non-fiction, one fiction.

They have turned out be horrendous mistakes.

Irresistible Revolution kept me awake for a few good hours on the first night while I tried to reconcile my life with some ideas and practicalities, I eventually gave up because I couldn’t get it to work and slept instead. Pure brilliance. If I could wish something disturbing on everyone I know, it would be that book and the guts to actually come through with something. I shall meanwhile continue to attempt to assess my own situation in regards to some fair truths that will persist in being shoved at me gently while I finish the text. The safest way of living here, methinks is to never finish it at all so it might be forefront in my mind.

The supposedly lighter Pride and Prejudice follow on – which I have never actually read (or rather finished) because the BBC so closely follows the story and I can’t be bothered wading through more of Mrs. Benet who is so freaking annoying, made it’s way merrily along and then started destroying some of the beautiful things about Elizabeth and Darcy – which I could manage with – with some pain mind you, but it birthed out Mary nicely to compensate. THEN at about half way, it went spaco-weird as Mary gets abducted (via two other abductions) into this weird sect and I suddenly remembered that for all McCullough’s charms and graces in seemingly following in the grain of something light, she doesn’t actually write strictly happy chick lit and although not exactly terrifying -I wasn’t in the mood for it to the last thing I read before heading off to sleep. I continued to read and when it flicked back to mauling Darcy and Lizzie I left it kindly there. I am enjoying the book rather a lot. Despite McCullough’s marvelous attempts at making new of Chick-lit, the topic itself and the appalling lilac (cringe even at the word) of the book cover will ensure it’s place forever in the genre, but I do LOVE the nasty shock she pulls out just as you’re getting comfortable.

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Books Christianity Holidays Life

Books claiborne Life mccullogh

Published November 21, 2008 by Rebecca Matheson

Tracking reads

dickensHad very nice lunch out with Sam and while we were wandering, managed to bungle a few op-shops. I naturally found myself some books. The Christmas Books-Volume Two by Charles Dickens (includes: The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man) and a very nice new-looking copy of The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester.

As I we progress into the ever nearing holiday season I intend to get the reading count up. I am currently well engrossed in Margret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, and I’m afraid will probably jump at anything Atwood that comes my way, it’s beautiful, beautiful stuff. Amongst the fiction, I have to spare some space for the ever backlogged Coffee House Theology and the numerous others that I must read.

For the last few years I have been tracking what I read on All Consuming. I’m not sure why I keep using it, because it is aesthetically appalling, but does seem to do the trick. Is there anything else out there – nicer but just as functional?

Books Op Shop

all consuming Books finds op shops reading

Published October 18, 2008 by Rebecca Matheson

How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul

how to be a graphic designer without losing your soul“The biggest problem designers face is fear; fear of clients, fear of failure, fear of ideas. Our ability to overcome fear is perhaps the greatest skill we can acquire. Most bad design, most mediocre design, is a consequence of fear. Clients are frightened, designers are frightened; audiences are frightened. The modern world of commerce runs of fear: a marketplace terror that makes us timid and risk-averse. Most of us deal with fear by falling back on the familiar and the safe. but if we do this, we are not allowed to turn around and say our lives are dull. If we are going to avoid losing our souls, we have to overcome this fear.” – Adrian Shaughnessy (p.147)

I finally managed to get my hands on a library copy of this book and am already eternally grateful. Shaugnessy has written a brilliant book that talks about the Design industry through it’s pitfalls and triumphs, it is gloriously practical, interesting and well written. I am a fan.

This takes the shiny button for the ‘best’ of design books that I’ve read thus far, just ahead of tellmewhy by karlssonwilker. Very different, incredibly helpful. I even feel vaguely prepared, although I’m sure that’s naive.

On another note, I’ve been exploring illustration lately… in that I’ve been thinking about it rather a lot and am getting these small hits of inspired glee. I bought a CAP magazine on Illustration a little while back but I’m holding out until holidays, where those things that I “have” to do aren’t getting in the way.

My branding assignment for the school is FINALLY coming along. I need to meet up with them again to discuss through some of the concepts that I’ve come up with. Still battling to get a decent linear mark as the uni brief requries that we produce: a linear, solid, abstraction, postive/negative, pictogram.

Books Branding Design Uni

Books Design illustration Uni

Published July 27, 2008 by Rebecca Matheson

Everybody wants to go to Heaven

book9Mike Hogan and David Crowder’s book Everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die was a lovely surprise. I found it randomly one day on sale (so bought it)- didn’t even know the man had written a book or two despite loving his music for quite a while.

It is a really interesting and honest look at death and grieving and place of the soul in current culture. Although personally having minimal actual musical interest, the speckled lot of bluegrass history added value to the theme and as history tends to be, was actually quite interesting.

I loved the book for it’s Pratchett style footnotes and humor – it’s candidity, and the beautiful sections of prose interspersed through the bulk of the text. It was a relatively easy read once I got used the unusual format and the small sections made it great for that ‘last few minutes before bed’ thing. The combo of personal story, theory, history, prose, IM thoughts and general wikipedia fun was really good mix for me personally, and I would go back and tackle it again sometime to probably get a lot more from it.

Besides all of the thumbs ups for what’s inside, if you don’t care and just want to judge it by it’s cover, by all means, go ahead. I reckon the cover is pretty fun itself.

Books Christianity Culture Humor

banjo bluegrass Books David Crowder Death grieving soul

Published June 18, 2008 by Rebecca Matheson

Beautiful Confusion

confusionI like the odd challenging book once in a while. Last night I started One Hundred Years of Solitude. It’s a novel by Nobel Prize winning, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and translated from Spanish.

Currently I’m amiss as to what is going on with each particular character as they all have names that blend into one, I can’t help but wonder if that is kind of the point.

I like finding something like beauty in confusion and like the idea that it is intentional. Perhaps it would broaden our perspective of life and the world and of God if we sometimes allowed ourselves to think in a similar way.

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Books Life Op Shop

Books Life perspective thoughts

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