shadesofwords

John Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is brilliant, complicated & full of dark intrigue. George Smiley has been fired but then secretly hired back by the British government to find a Russian mole in MI6. This has all the gorgeousness of post-cold war spy drama. Pair it with the 70s BBC series.

Anthony Horowitz always pens a decent page turner and A Twist in Knife is no different. The cool thing is that this an author self-insert so Horowitz plays himself as the prime suspect. Nice theater set up with a bunch of creative types as the other suspects.

It’s been a crazy time in January...and what we are one month into 2025 already! And surprisingly am already exhausted. Sanity has been kept by reading. #bookthreads
#books #currentlyreading

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“Bundle up”
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Here are my 44 #books reads

3.5 really? Am I that easy to please?
Also, never ever reading Sarah J. Mass again...please someone give me those hours back.
#books

So here it is - my #GoodreadsYearInBooks

Reading List: 10 Mystery Novels Everyone Must Read My personal favorite mystery novels are the ones with a closed room murder in a lavish country house somewhere, a fixed number of suspects and lots of motive!

#bookrecommendations 📚
shadesofwords.com/10-mystery-n...

a cartoon of a man riding a white horse with the hashtag #lotr ALT: a cartoon of a man riding a white horse with the hashtag #lotr

She spends 70% of the movie being told what to do and having self-doubt, even though she is smarter than the others by a lot - which lets be honest is the reality of women. So yeah, the movie totally works!
#thewaroftherohirrim #lordoftherings #hollywood

a drawing of a woman standing on a rock with the hashtag #lotr on the bottom ALT: a drawing of a woman standing on a rock with the hashtag #lotr on the bottom

Now to the protagonist of the movie - Hera Hammerhand does not actually appear in Tolkien's work. She is mentioned as the unnamed daughter of the king. I am all for telling stories of unsung heroines but there is more telling than showing of Hera's greatness, so its not super convincing. #hollywood

For the Tolkien fan, its nice to see the visualization how Helm Hammerhand's reign ends and the 2nd line of kings of Rohan begins. And Helm's Deep never falls!!
#thewaroftherohirrim #hollywood #lordoftherings

a poster for the war of the rohirrim shows a dark background ALT: a poster for the war of the rohirrim shows a dark background

Honest reaction to #TheWarOfTheRohirrim . I loved the animation but it does not quite have the magic of the LOTR movie trilogy. The strongest moments are when the original soundtrack plays or when we have callbacks the fans know and are familiar with.

Did this ink study part of an online demonstration for Artcircle artists. Small glimpse from that demonstration is shared on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cJ9UKbtb7KU Spoke to fellow artists about Robert Bateman and how he has inspired many generations of nature artists around the world. Here is a small head study of Indian peafowl in ink and gouache, one of the most painted/drawn bird in the bird world. Title: Indian Peafowl Study (Pavo cristatus)! Size: 21.082x 29.71 cms (8.3x11.7) Medium: Ink/Gouache on 170GSM paper Scholar sketchbook Duration: 10 hours Location: Bhadravati, Shimoga, Karnataka, India February 15th, 2022 Reference: Own Reference image

Indian Peafowl Study (Pavo cristatus),
did this ink study part of an online demonstration for Artcircle artists.
1/2 Small glimpse from that demo,
#ArtAdventCalendar #SciArt #indianwildlifeartist #ink #inkwork #traditionalart #inkmasters #illustration #birds #birdart #sketchbook #RobertBateman

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The cover was the reason I picked it up too - it seemed appropriate for Halloween season!

OMG not every day an author reads the post about a book I read! Your book was very unusual and intriguing!

In 100+ pages, Jiang evokes so many emotions by focusing on how Wenqi’s life changes as her parents force her to live here & grieve for her lost brother. Hidden in the pages, is also the story of the immigrant’s experience of grief of losing their home and never finding peace in the new world.

Linghun is my most interesting read of the year. Ai Jiang’s short novella on its face is a morbid story about grief and longing. Set in a housing community, where the homes allow a family to commune with the ghosts of their loved ones. A tragedy of lives of refusing to move on.

In 100+ pages, Jiang evokes so many emotions by focusing on how Wenqi’s life changes as her parents force her to live here & grieve for her lost brother. Hidden in the pages, is also the story of the immigrant’s experience of grief of losing their home & never finding peace in the new world. (2/2)

Total fluke!

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A couple of skulls with South Indian hairdos and some marigolds along with the Blaft Publications logo. BLAFT AT THE EAST BAY ALTERNATIVE BOOK AND ZINE FEST, David Brower Center, Berkeley, Saturday, Dec 7 2024, 12PM - 5PM

We'll be tabling in Berkeley, California on Saturday! Come say hi!

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No connection to the first movie, except the ghost has the same name - Manjulika. It really is the Manjulika franchise and not the BB franchise. Kartik Aryan brings his own comedic flavor to Rooh Baba, though the romance plot with Kiara Advani's character seems like a stretch.

Bhool Bhulaiya 2 is an improvement to the first movie. The plot is loopy and the jokes a little forced, but we finally whole heartedly embrace the horror genre. Proper ghosts and proper scares, and no one can do it better than Tabu.
#desiwatch #bollywood

#hospitalplaylist season 1 is very good too!

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You should be very proud of yourself!