«Fiction is the lie that tells the truth.»
I don’t know about you, but the books I read have to a certain degree become a red thread of where my head was at that exact moment in life. It’s a bit funny when I look back at my lists of what I have read - because I can usually tell where I was emotionally.
«Oh, I was going through it, wasn’t I?»
Looking back at certain periods of my life, the books I read, the books I read over and over and over again. It is almost like a map of my life, which I find to be so fascinating. Some periods are clearly marked of me expanding on my reading habits, exploring new authors, new genres and ways of reading. Before I eventually pull back to the familiar epic fantasy genre.
Sometimes I am all over nonfiction books, I will fall into a rabbit hole on a specific topic and lose myself in it, before I eventually reemerge and return to my fantasy books. I will go down a path of just staying in my comfort sone, rereading old favourites before I am brave enough to face the world again.
The books I read are a red thread of my life.
Bookstrider was never meant to be a personal story. It was always more about the books that I am enjoying, reading projects and rants. However, I am realising that reading is personal. At least for me. I have my comfort books, that I will reread over and over again whenever I am down. I have my tells when I am struggling with things in my life and I am desperately trying to make sense of it - I end up reading a bunch of self-helps books lol.
It is both comforting but also a bit worrisome whenever you visit this section of a bookstore - we are all struggling with something, so we seek out information on how to understand ourselves and whatever we are going through.
The rabbit hole of the season
Fiction might be a lie, but it can reveal the truth about your life. And right now I am going through it. It’s been a roller coaster of a year, and we have only just reached May! But that is life, it is a roller coaster. Ups and downs no matter the season.
The seasons of my life are right now a bit tough. Luckily one the things that help me through it, are the books. One of the reasons I love reading is because it has always been a safe space. Whenever the world around me is crumbling, I will hide between the pages, only emerging when I have to. It has been like this for as long as I can remember, and it has never changed.
For the past few weeks I have escaped to England, finding peace as I join Cromwell on his struggles to deal with Henry and the politics of Tudor England in Bring Up the Bodies. I have watched as the kingdoms of Dara are in a struggle for power and run off to Osssia were a revolution is brewing.
One rabbit hole I fell into this time, is art. I found my rereading Art Matters by Neil Gaiman. This little book was gifted to me by readygoready (Instagram) a couple years ago and I have never stopped reading it. I just love it.
What is art?
Is it only paintings hanging on a museum wall?
Or can it be crooked sketches hid away in your sketchbook?
Words? Articles? Books?
I find it so soothing that Gaiman says that your imagination can change the world. The first time around I took it literally. Change the world. But now, I look at it as it changing my world.
When I was younger and I could not really describe what I was feeling, I would try to draw it. The drawings were never any good, just sketches with no true shape or form. But it helped me put it down on the page and process what was going on inside of me. As an adult I have started to find my way back to that part of me, the creative one. I picked up drawing again during the pandemic, but never really committed to it.
This time I have.
I actually signed up for a drawing class. One that I have been thinking about for years and just, always had an excuse to postpone. What changed my mind was this little book.
«The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before»
It really does.
The satisfaction of creating something new, even if its just for you - is unmatched. You have created something that was not there just a moment ago. And it changed your world a little.
Art Matters sparked a trip down a rabbit hole of books about art. I have reread old favourites like Steal Like An Artist by
. Spent hours reading and trying to copy the figures in Fundamentals of Character Design, studied how to draw faces with Jake Spicer.![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe9ba4f7d-e809-4d20-9c1b-1bd6dfd0824a_318x318.jpeg)
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And then, I started going to the library to look at art by various painters, artists and designers. Studying lines, emotions, thoughts and movement behind every piece of art I could lay my eyes on.
And it has been so soothing.
This season of my life is still hard, but it is a little less hard now. It’ll pass. It always does. In the mean time, books are here to help me through it. There are four books that I would like to highlight in addition the ones I have already mentioned:
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Perhaps these can give you a creative inspiration just like they have done for me lately. I’ll wrap this weeks newsletter with some kind words from the man himself.
“So be wise. And if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise and then just behave like they would. Now go, and make interesting mistakes.
Make Interesting. Mistakes. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules.
Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.”
Until next time,
happy reading! ✨