Book review: "Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves..."

“Magpies, Squirrels & Thieves: How the Victorians Collected the World” by Jacqueline Yallop

As someone who is utterly fascinated by the Victorian Era, I’m not one for passing on a book that’ll educate and entertain on that aforementioned topic. Now I bought this book several years ago in Aberystwyth, but I, for several reasons, never got around to read it, until now. And I am very glad that I finally did.

The book starts out with describing the Victorians and their relationship with collecting in general and then uses that as a jumping-off point for looking closer into a handful of specific collectors.

The collectors in question are: John Charles Robinson, Charlotte Schreiber, Joseph Mayer, Murray Mark and Stephen Wootton Bushell. Each of them representing a different archetype of collector, each of them highlighting the good and the bad of Victorian England and the roles they fulfilled and each of them not only watching but influencing the history happening around them.

“…the Victorians continued to debate the ways in which art might influence their lives…making space for objects in their homes because they liked them there and because their desire for lovely things seemed irrepressible.”

Yallop’s writing is very dynamic and engaging, making the reader really get to know and like her selection of collectors. At the same time she manages to weave in other topics like racism, gender inequality and greed, just to name a few. And she does this seamlessly without taking the reader out of the moment or lose the focus on the collector in question.

And while at the surface she appears to focus on some specific players on the collecting scene, her narrative also manages to tell the story of collecting as a business and a hobby, and of how museums came to be as we know them today. All this information is never presented in a boring or “slow moving” way making the book a rather quick read.

“Clubs and galleries and organizations brought collectors together across Britain and Europe, but collecting in the mid-nineteenth century was as much about competition as about cooperation.”

I thoroughly recommend this book if you’re interested in history or the Victorian Era specifically, not only will you learn a lot reading it, but you’ll also go on quite the ride with her cast of different collectors and maybe you’ll even catch the collecting-bug yourself.

Hope you enjoyed this little review, and I’ll see you in the next one :)

Come on a Walk with Me!

So! The world changed. Now let me assure you that I’m not here to reiterate statistics, world news or dwelling in everything that is currently bringing stress and anxiety into our lives, instead I wanna give you a window into some of my thoughts regarding self-care and routine as well as taking you on a walk with me.

In the last month or two I have seen my own personal everyday and weekly routine thrown out the window. Not only have my regular pastimes ceased to be a part of my life, but my social life has become a thing of the Internet and phone-calls. To put it mildly I’m bored! I am bored and craving social interactions face to face! But with all this extra time on my hands I surely have gotten a lot done in the last month? Passion projects? Hobbies I usually don’t have or make time for? No. For the longest time I’ve gotten absolutely nothing done. Fortunately that has now changed.

I am personally of the belief that in order to solve a problem one must first diagnose the root cause of said problem. And for me the lack of productivity appears to come from my fear of meeting my own expectations.
It is a problem that I have encountered many times throughout my life, especially in regards to school. Every little task becomes a giant project and every aspect of it has to be done absolutely perfectly, and should it be anything less than perfect I have failed. This was the mindset that had presented itself once again and it quickly became a self-feeding downward spiral: the less I got done, the more ashamed I became of myself, the more I felt defeated and even more projects and chores were pushed aside because clearly I was not perfect enough to get them done perfectly.
This sounds quite dramatic I know, but that was my mindset. However! With the problem diagnosed a solution could now be crafted!

First things first: a basic routine was needed to restore my energy and give me a sense of normalcy. And I do mean a very basic routine, so do not expect anything fancy.
For me a basic routine includes a time to get up, a time by which I have showered and gotten dressed, times set out for the three main meals of the day, a walk, a time by which the most basic everyday chores have been done (making the bed, cleaning the dishes etc.) and last but not least bedtime. I sat down with one of my way too many notebooks and plotted it out ignoring passion projects and other things I felt that I should be doing and just kept everything to the bare minimum. And though I have not been perfect in sticking exactly to that baseline of a routine every single day (Yes, I stayed in bed watching kpop music videos to 10am before I got up!) It has so far been quite the success.
Second part in beating the Perfection Monster included me making a list of everything I not only want to get done this month, but also what I absolutely need to get done before May rolls around. That list came out to be 24 bullet points and looking quite intimidating, but still it gave me the overview I needed. Lastly I needed a set of tools to get it done, or at least mostly done by the end of April.
Enter Camp NaNiWriMo! If you’re unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo it’s basically the challenge to write 50.000 words in a month during November every year, and during Camp which happens in both April and July you get to set your own goal. So I logged on to their web page and created a project called “Get Shit Done Month” and pretended that my tracker was minutes instead of words. I set my goal to 2.700 minutes averaging out to 90 minutes a day.
With a list of projects and chores, a tracker and some good old fashioned motivation I have been dealing with the Perfection Monster and winning! I have not spent 90 minutes everyday, but every little thing helps and being able to cross off things as I get them done is very satisfying, not to mention that I’ve promised myself a pair of new pantyhose from Pamela Mann should I manage to cross off the entire list.

And speaking of rewards I just wanna take a moment to talk about the difference of self care and self indulgence before I leave you and walk home.
During the time of loosing my routine and being paralyzed with anxiety the one thing I practiced was self indulgence. I deserved it right? I felt so bad and I couldn’t get anything done, the least I could do was being kind to myself. Yes and no. When not kept in check self indulgence quickly becomes sloth and gluttony, and instead of being kind to oneself one ends up making the situation worse and halting any progress that can be made. Do not get me wrong, self indulgence can be good for you in small doses, but the most important thing you can do for yourself is self care.
Self care covers everything from showering and eating healthily, to having a spa-day and watching your favourite movie. It is what lays the foundation to build your mental and physical health upon, and the reason for me working out a basic everyday routine before even attempting working on everything I wanted and needed to get done. Having a regular sleeping and eating schedule, making sure I get some fresh air and basic exercise everyday and keep myself and my home clean and tidy gives me the energy, again mentally and physically, to achieve what I want not only these days, but during other more normal times as well.

And with that it’s time for me to get back home. I hope you enjoyed this little walk with me. Stay kind to yourself, to others and be responsible and levelheaded.

And I’ll see you in the next one.

Music I Listen to while I Write

Like most people who write I enjoy having on some music at a low volume to one; help me concentrate and two; keep me in the story’s atmosphere.
I personally prefer listening to albums rather than a mixed playlists, because with an album the artists usually invoke the same themes and sounds. There’s an overall arch that a playlist, no matter how well balanced and themed, just lacks. So below I have listed some of my favourite albums to listen to during writing sessions (incidentally they also just happen to be some of my all-time favourite albums and bands, so I’d highly recommend giving them a listen even if you’re not looking for music to write to).

“My New Time”, “Altitude” and “Stacked Smoke” by Autumn
The vast majority of my writing features Gothic themes and Autumn is a band that, at least for me, create an atmosphere that transports me into those stories. However, being a very particular creature, the Gothic setting that I’m brought to with their music is always a post 1920s setting. For an album that takes me to a Victorian Gothic setting look no further than to the next album below!

“Opheliac” by Emilie Autumn
This album works as a two for one type deal. It, as mentioned above, brings me into a Victorian Gothic setting, but it also helps me with invoking a more decadent and mad scene, still very much with either Gothic over- or undertones. I have an affinity for the Gothic Mad Woman, and this album perfectly embodies those themes.

“Violet” and “Walking With Strangers” by The Birthday Massacre
Now these two albums are the only ones on the list that do not take me into a Gothic mood. The atmosphere that these albums draw me into is still dark, still “horror” and definitely modern. But at the same time there is also a childlike glee to them, the song “Lover’s End” especially has that particular creepy-kid factor.

“Dark Adrenaline” by Lacuna Coil
This album brings me back into the Gothic, but keeps the modern setting for me. And since this album is also on the heavier side it is also my preferred soundtrack for when I write more action oriented scenes.

“Century Child” by Nightwish
This album takes me into the mindset of a Gothic fairytale. While the other albums on this list have had a strong sense of modernity to them this album is the only one that takes my thoughts back to a, very romanticized, medieval setting. It is also the only album on here that takes me from an industrial setting into a nature one. The overall puppet theme of the songs also helps to create a dark and creepy setting.

So that was my list! I hope you will check these albums and bands out for yourself, even if you’re not interested in writing with a soundtrack or even writing at all. Have a nice day and I’ll see you in the next one.
Bye!

I’m Back! (and a New Year’s Resolution)

Well it’s definitely been a while! I’ve been wanting to return to this blog for quite some time now, but it took a fabulous lady at the Always Burning event I attended on the 15th of February to provide the last butt-kick I needed.

The blog has gotten a bit of a revamp, and I’ve tried to modify the posting schedule to a somewhat less ambitious level (that’ll hopefully fit me a lot better) and I’m going to take my time trying to find my “voice” in this medium.

Since my last post I’ve gotten older, wiser and more comfortable in my own skin, and I’m hoping that that will shine through in the posts as well as my commitment to make this a regular thing for me to work on.

With the re-introduction out of the way it is now time to venture into the first (proper) post of 2020!

New Year’s Resolution

Usually I’m not one to make one or more of these, because quite frankly I never keep them. There are several reasons for this, but mainly it comes down to me having a goal without a plan to actually reach it. However this year a resolution has been made!
And what part of my life am I going to improve on? Well, since I’m not a smoker there’s nothing to quit, and considering that I’m in decent shape there’s nothing new to start up. What I want to do instead is bring something back into my life that I lost a few years ago: my habit of reading several books during a month.

When I was a fledgling teen I used to read all the time and consume book after book, and I loved it. It greatly enriched my life and provided inspiration for all my various creative endeavors, and I miss that. The lack of reading has become quite severe within the last few years and I’m at a point now where I almost feel left behind.
Another thing that truly bothers me is my inability to talk to my friends about books, because on one hand I can only contribute with books I’ve read years ago, and on the other hand I’m incapable of talking with them about the books they’ve read.
But no more!

This is the year where I’ll bring an old habit back to life. And that’s the key word: habit.
While I am going to track the amount of books I’ll read this year, I do not have a set goal for the amount, or kinds of, books that I’m going to read. This is about building up a habit of reading on a regular, or even just a semi-regular, basis.
Simply put; I won’t be reading any books in 2020 if I do not make time for it. And so, how’s it going so far two months in?
In my personal opinion it’s going rather well. So far I have finished one book, and I’ve begun on another. What I still need to work on is making time for and prioritizing reading over browsing the Internet.
WI-FI is most definitely my main downfall. I often find myself going to YouTube, Netflix and many other sites where I’ll then proceed to dive down a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole that’s almost impossible to get back out off.

In order to combat this I’ve tried to do the old “reading before bed” - routine, but unfortunately there are many evenings where I’m just too tired to concentrate on reading, so even though I have gotten some extra pages turned it’s not enough for what I’m trying to do.
Another thing I’ve done is turning off the devices that connects to the WI-FI which have produced much more reading time. One thing that has really helped me in that tactic is my old iPod: while it connects perfectly well to my laptop, it has no way of connecting to the Internet on its own. Not having to go online for music prevents any temptation to start browsing.
The second method has so far proved to be my favorite one when making time for reading, I just have to get better at actually doing it. So I guess that’s going to be the next step.

Fingers crossed that I manage to make my resolution a reality, and I’ll see you all in the next one!
Bye!

Book review: Flapper by Joshua Zeitz

 

For many years I have had a fascination and love for the 1920s. Whether it’s the fashion, the progress that women made for equality, the rise of Hollywood, the prohibition or the technological progress, it all makes for one interesting and fast paced decade.

Though the focus of this book is on the women of the era, Zeitz also eloquently brings in the topics of the advertising industry, prohibition and how the fast moving technology industry impacted not only social life but also the laws of the land. And it is all part of the great strides women took during those years. Now! His focus is on the American Girls, who unfortunately did not get as far as their European sisters during that time, and thus much of the progress was lost when the 1930s came about. Though never returning to the previous Victorian standards, a more conservative view definitely took hold after the crack on Wall Street. But this is not a historical article! So onwards to the review!

Zeitz have picked a handful of some of the most famous Flappers in the US at the time to include in his book. From Zelda Fitzgerald, Lois ‘Lipstick’ Lane to Colleen More; these three flappers inspired women and set the standard each from their own industry and place in society. I have personally developed a bit of a crush on Miss Lane; her style, her work ethics and her snarky-ness all put a smile on my face. Zeitz give them all the space they need to unfold before your eyes, but he does not make the mistake of disconnecting them from reality; dryly commenting on the fact that it was only a very few privileged women who had their opportunities or could afford their lavish lifestyles.

In fact he takes the time to showcase the lives of middleclass women, as well as working women who were working long hours for little pay in the pursuit of independence. He goes over the social rebellion and the clashing of the generations. How the conservative, God fearing people of America shivered, held their breaths and denounced all the evils of the short skirts showing of the girls’ knees, of the kissing and necking in the back of cars, of young women leaving home and not marrying and, even worse, not listening to their parents or other authority figures!

But one of the most recognized features of the Flapper is her style! And Zeitz covers this extensively, connecting the changes in fashion to the newfound mobility of young women in not only America but Europe as well. Dedicating several pages to some of the big designers of the time, like Coco Chanel, in order to explain just what was the look of the Flapper. This is also the part of the book where he jumps over the pond, since the majority of the fashion favoured by the Flapper originated in Europe.

All in all, this book is very informative, yet also very fun to read. I had an easy time getting through it, with its less than 350 pages it is a fast read. Not mentioned above is also his look at the cinematic industry and its impact on the Flapper. But even that topic he manages to get around with smoothly blending politics, fashion and even racism.

The book itself is rather gorgeous to look at and it will certainly make any nightstand or coffee table more fashionable. And inside each chapter is preceded by a beautiful black and white picture, setting the mood (and making me wish I wore red lipstick more often). But now you must excuse me! I’m gonna curl up in bed with a cup of tea and watch Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries on Netflix.

 

Until next week!

Xoxo Christina

Books I’ve Mentioned On The Ghoul’s Night Out Stream

 

Hello Everyone! So I had the pleasure of being a guest-ghoul on the Ghoul’s Night Out Stream hosted by Horror Addicts on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChNY5V5WCOCQCNG3Cy4EDgQ). And we talked about many “things” (wink, wink). Books being one of those “things”, and so I decided to make a little list for everyone of the books that I mentioned.

 

1. “Love in Vein – Tales of Vampire Erotica” edited by Poppy Z. Brite
2. “Lost souls” by Poppy Z. Brite
3. “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
4. “Soulless” by Gail Carriger
5. “Best British Horror 2014” edited by Johnny Mains
6. “Gothic” by Fred Botting

 

All of the books above deals with violence, sex and horror, now you have been warned!

 

If you wanna see the stream here is a link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXB6WiDz378), as well as a link to Emma’s channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc98I_anDmaYOQzU6tcfklw). I had so much fun and I hope everyone else had fun too! And I would also like to thank people in the chat for book recommendations as well; I have looked them up and put them on my wish list.

 

I hope some of these books have caught your interest. I will see you in the next one!

 

Xoxo Christina

Book Review: American Apocalypse by Matthew A. Sutton

 

Have you ever wondered how and why the apocalyptic worldview of Evangelical Christians has become so prevalent in the United States? Well wonder no more, because this book will take you on a tour through the history, politics and social issues within the movement.

 

Sutton guides you down the path of the abovementioned movement, from its beginning to its position in today’s society and political sphere. He touches upon core beliefs and values, the issue of race, politics, education, pop culture and key figures. At times the sheer volume of information can become overwhelming, but it never makes his narrative boring or impossible to follow. It does mean, however, that this book is not an easy or quick read. One does need to sit down and take the time, but I personally think that it is worth it to do so. (Granted, I am a bit biased, since this topic is an interest of mine).

 

The book also contains a handful of black and white pictures, mainly, of key figures in the movement. Putting a face to the preachers and supporters are most welcome and it also helps to illustrate two of the major focuses of the book: race and gender. Sutton describes and explains the division of race in the movement; how different interpretations arose in the two main groups, African Americans and Whites, and how some wanted to segregate the faith and how a few did cross racial lines. When it comes to gender the conflict comes from the biblical interpretation of women’s role in society and in the faith as well.  As the pictures show the evangelical movement was dominated by whites and lead by men. Other races and women, though having important roles in hindsight, did not seemingly play any prominent roles in shaping the movement.

 

Though diving down into social issues and political pressure, Sutton also clearly explains the structure of the apocalyptic worldview. He does focus more on the premillennial version, but that focus does not take away from the others portrayed in the book. One of the other versions which get a thorough description, both in its structure and its cultural meaning, is the interpretation by the African American apocalyptic movements. As mentioned above, race is one of the focuses of the book.

 

But not only does Sutton look at the movement’s actions and conflicts within the context of America, he also looks at it in a more international setting, specifically the World Wars. Both wars played an important part on the apocalyptic movements, touching upon the conflict of urging the apocalypse to come sooner while at the same time not wanting to play into the Devil’s hand by summoning the Antichrist into the world. But also the issue of American isolationism is touched upon.

 

Moving on to the last two themes, at least the last two I will mention here; politics and education. When looking at politics today it is clear that religion plays a significant role to many American voters. So Sutton’s explaining how the Evangelical movement has been heavily involved in politics the last 100 years, comes as no surprise. But it is not only involvement within the top of church hierarchies; individual members and supporters also saw it as their responsibility to move history and national and international events in the direction of the second coming of Christ. Education was of equal importance and the rise of Christian private schools and institutions, according to Sutton and his research, can also be linked to the Evangelical movement. Seeing the conflict with religion and education in today’s America, it is definitely relevant to know the roots of said conflict and how it grew and has been growing.

 

All in all I highly recommend this book. It is an interesting, though slightly heavy, read. I have used it along side my research into the religious beliefs of White Supremacists (Christian Identity) in the United States, and it was very interesting to see how the two actually fit very well together and how Christian Identity has clearly taken inspiration from the Evangelical movement. I tried to lay out the main themes and discussions of the book above, however since it is so dense in information I feel like I have only scratched the surface. If you wanna dive into the American Apocalypse yourself it is easily found on Amazon.

 

Until next week!

 

Xoxo Christina