vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Recently rejoined the public library (Angus Libraries). I struggle with print due to progressive neurological illness - indeed have done for 25+ years - so borrowed a mass of illustrated/painting/photography books. Latest catalogue request from elsewhere in Angus is a new manga Sherlock Holmes. Fab!

It is encouraging I can still find physical books I want to borrow, even if I can't read print or even large print now. And it's marvellous how the online library catalogue lets me call books in from all over Angus. There's a particularly good Scottish cultural/history collection in store at Forfar.

Meanwhile I continue to read masses on my Kindle. I have a huge pile of ebooks on my virtual to read pile. I often snap them up when they're on reduced sale price. I buy far more ebooks than I ever get read! But at least it lets me keep reading extended fiction and non fiction. With gargantuan font.

Book haul

Jul. 17th, 2025 05:43 pm
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Book haul from Monifieth Library (4 books from elsewhere in Angus, found in the library catalogue and transferred over to Monifieth for me) plus a small book about the Greek Myths I'd ordered from our local bookshop in Broughty Ferry.

5 books resting on a red sofa. At the bottom, lying flat beside each other, are two large hardback art books by Keith Brockie: "The Silvery Tay" and "Mountain Reflections". The book covers both show paintings of birds, and the books are full of these. Behind these two books, leaning upright against the sofa, are paperbacks "Voices of Scottish Librarians", "The Fiddle in Scottish Culture", and "All the Violet Tiaras: Queering the Greek Myths" by Jean Menzies in the 404 Inklings range.
vivdunstan: (oracle cards)
I recently bought artist Eugene Vinitski's Renaissance Venice inspired Tarot and Lenormand oracle card decks. Tried the first the other week - very pleased with it. Started looking at the second tonight. Gorgeous art. Nice accompanying book. Though I will need another to learn this new to me system.

Richly illustrated cards laid out on a red patterned cloth. The cards are Renaissance art style, including the doge's ceremonial barge, a woman sweeping the floor, looking out towards a palazzo, a glimpse of moonlit Venice, a stork looking out to the Grand Canal, and more. Each card includes a small traditional playing card image in the top right, and a number at bottom left. Above the 6 cards shown in detail others are spread open and some can be glimpsed more than others.
vivdunstan: (tarot)
Doing another quick reading, drawing 4 cards at random, and arranging them from top to bottom in order of how much I connect with them. With the option to ignore or reduce in applicability the card I place at the bottom. Then some personal reflections on the topics raised by the cards drawn tonight, and how I feel about them.

I'm using my new in hand Venetian Tarot deck this time. Not only is the art gorgeous - Renaissance Venice inspired - but it's also fantastic to hold in the hand, great to shuffle, and gold gilded edges. Just lovely.

My first reaction was "Aarrgghh! I've drawn the Hanged Man!" But thinking more, it's the card in today's random draw that resonates with me the most. I'm currently in a state of transition, in more ways than one. I recently got some big work-related things finished, and am moving on to focus on other things. And I'm also seemingly starting to slowly come out of my latest 3-month neurological flare. And want to have fun. Meanings associated with this card can include all of sacrifice, release and new perspective. And I honestly feel that's on point.

Alongside that the Seven of Cups and Knight of Wands both fit in with this state of transition and where I'm moving to. The Cups card is often associated with romance, but also with new ideas, adventures, passions more generally. And I'm very much feeling that I want to pursue things I'm passionate about. Likewise the Knight of Wands brings up ideas like impulsivity, action and determination. And again ties in so strongly with how I'm currently feeling.

I placed the Ten of Swords at the bottom in my arrangement today. This is one of the more bleak cards in the Tarot deck, associated with despair, trauma and feeling rock bottom. I just don't feel that, though I do feel the hope this card can conversely be associated with. But yup, not really the card for how I'm feeling today.

That was so much fun. And wow, these cards are just stunning.

vivdunstan: (tarot)
The Venetian Tarot deck by Swiss-based artist Eugene Vinitski. This is stunning. With art inspired by Renaissance Venice. I also picked up a copy of his Golden Venetian Lenormand deck - different system from Tarot, but with similarly inspired stunning artwork.

A set of colourful artistic Tarot cards spread across a red cloth. All have atmospheric Renaissance Venice art, including a gondola for the Chariot card, and the Campanile San Marco being hit by lightning for the Tower card. Beside them is a sturdy box, as well as a signed certificate of authenticity from the artist.

vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Bit shocked how wobbly I am now, and how dangerous it felt today going upstairs in Waterstones to the cafe - it felt as though I was about to fall on the stairs several times. Martin was coming up behind me. But overjoyed to have managed a rare midweek afternoon outing with him, during the summer too. For once I was awake enough during the day, and he was free - still using up holidays urgently before August. Really pleased how far I managed to walk into the Dundee University Botanic Gardens, even if it was very slowly with two sticks, and I sat down an awful lot! So nice to be sitting out among the plants and trees. I had fun sketching in various places in the garden. Martin was all over photographing plants, birds (especially that jay he was over the moon to see) and butterflies. We couldn't park near enough to Vintage Strings music shop on Perth Road to nip in, so headed to Waterstones instead. Where I was able to look at and buy one book I'd really fancied. And bought another I have been tempted with for a year or two. Getting to the cafe upstairs was extremely hazardous for me today, but we had a lovely sit down and drink/eat there. Then home. I will be very wobbly tonight and probably tomorrow too. But it was absolutely worth it. Oh and while out we also returned a library book that we'd not got back to the university library before today. Again I sat sketching while Martin scooted off to the library with my book.

The pictures show (1) a birder in action in the Botanic Gardens, (2) one of his jay photos (we are so pleased with these!), and (3) my book haul from Waterstones.





vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Our garden that is. It's taken until now for it (1) to be warm enough for me to sit out for any reasonable length of time, and (2) a warm sunny day when I'm not doing something else, even in another city as on the Capercaillie concert day! We were out from 4.30pm-6.30pm, when it was pleasantly warm, with a little breeze. Martin got our folding table and chairs out, in our usual excellent spot.

Martin sat with me for the duration, happily reading, and intermittently taking photos of planes and birds in our garden. We also had seagulls flying overhead at just 3 metres! From below that's rather terrifying, like seeing a giant plane from below whoosh overhead at speed. But we were more surrounded by sparrows, blackbirds, chiffchaffs and wood pigeons. Oh and #notourcat Isla was curled up, tail swishing happily, in the garden nearby.

I had a first tentative go at sketching. Very rough, very rudimentary, but I was enthusiastically trying it. Looking forward to doing it more. It's about 35 years since I've seriously drawn anything ... I also took out my latest society magazines from the Tolkien Society and Sherlock Holmes Society of London. And was reading a recently published book of charming paintings around St Andrews. And planning various other bits and bobs.





vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Got me some art supplies in (the pencil case is full of a good range of grades of graphite pencils etc.). I used to love drawing as a teenager. Especially in O'Grade Art and Design, when being sent out into Wilton Lodge Park on our own to draw the landscape and wildlife was just the best thing ever! I'd like to return to drawing, though I won't be able to get out much. Considered using my iPad, but for me, I think, analogue would be better. Wish me luck!

vivdunstan: (tarot)
From top to bottom standard size Cats Rule the Earth Tarot, below that playing card sized Pocket Crow Tarot, and at the very bottom tiny Deviant Moon Tarot Borderless Mini Edition.

At the top are quite large cat art cards, in the middle are smaller cards with crow themed art. And at the very bottom tiny cards with Hieronymus Bosch style art.
vivdunstan: (tarot)
I'm going to be using this for self reading properly soon, but was just having a look through it, seeing the style, and also assessing the package as a whole. I bought this deck some years ago, after I discovered it existed. Erin Morgenstern designed this Tarot deck at the same time she was writing The Night Circus book.

The theme is Victorian / gothic / whimsical / magical, though based firmly on the Rider-Waite-Smith standard ideas and designs. The art is painted in black and white acrylic, with many greys. There are often animals on the cards, especially cats and dogs. Numbered cards have full designs. The overall feel will be familiar to readers of The Night Circus.

The card stock is very thick, possibly overly so, making shuffling the cards in the hand harder than it might be. The deck comes in a well designed and practical box, complete with a guidebook. The guidebook includes many interesting ideas for spreads, as well as guides to the meanings of the individual cards.

A nice package, and I'm looking forward to trying this deck out properly for readings.

P.S. I had looked at this deck briefly a year ago, but am now more familiar with Tarot card meanings, and in a better position to use the cards properly.

A' Hobat

Apr. 7th, 2025 06:13 pm
vivdunstan: (tolkien)
Finally arrived, my hardback copy of The Hobbit translated into Scottish Gaelic. Looks superb, and includes Tolkien’s original full page illustrations.

The printing/delivery was slow. I ordered two weeks ago. But finally have it! There's no way I can read the text consistently yet. My Gaelic learning is still much too rudimentary. But viewing it as a life goal!







vivdunstan: A vibrantly coloured drawn image of David Tennant's Doctor, with sonic screwdriver in his right hand (tenth doctor)
Was a bit shocked the other night to find I didn't have a Ninth Doctor icon already here. Added one, based on Alice X. Zhang's fabulous comic art. And now just added a Tenth Doctor one, ditto. Which given he's my favourite Doctor ever - even beating the mighty Tom - I should have good use for! Not least because I plan to rewatch Ten's Doctor Who stories. I've recently been rewatching Eleven and Twelve, and expect to go on to Thirteen. Should give Nine and Ten another look too.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Still struggling not to type 2024 at the top of these posts!

    earlier books )
  1. Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jade Scott
  2. A Middle-earth Album: Paintings by Joan Wyatt Inspired by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by Joan Wyatt
  3. Could You Survive Midsomer? – A Winter's Murder: An Official Midsomer Murders Interactive Novel by Simon Brew
  4. Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen by Edward Parnell
  5. Introducing Shakespeare: A Graphic Guide by Nick Groom
  6. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
  7. The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson


I've written reviews of Captive Queen, the Midsomer Murders gamebook and Eerie East Anglia.

Of the others, the Tolkien paintings book was nice, though there were some curious choices, especially re the hobbits. The Shakespeare book was great in parts, but had an almost total blind spot on detailed coverage of the many plays, which felt like a huge omission. Our Mutual Friend was a delight for me, as always. And The Principle of Moments, the first in a planned trilogy, was a heady mix of fantasy, space opera and time travelling shenanigans. Probably more ambitious in its goals than it ultimately achieved. But still a riveting read, and I will read the other books.
vivdunstan: (oracle cards)
Got this new deck today. It's designed by Catherine Davidson and artist Thiago Corrêa.

It comes in a very oversized box, though that accommodates the relatively large guidebook nicely. One of my cards was slightly bent at the edge in the box, but it's ok now. The cards are a little flimsy, but shuffle well.

The guidebook is good. Very clear, easy to read, a good introduction, and looks comprehensive. Also has some nice ideas for spreads, including cat themed.

The card art is *gorgeous*. Some of the choices are a little off, but many look solid. And full of character. I laughed a lot when I saw the Four of Cups ...

I think I will find this deck more approachable than the traditional illustrations. Though it is based on those.

vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Got my new tablecloth - a William Morris design, thick cotton, newly hemmed to the required size, including overhang - and looking forward to using it soon with my new small folding table for gaming on. Here's what the design looks like.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Crikey I so wanted to type 2024 there haha!

I've got off to a flying start this year, partly with 2 books that were hang overs from before, but also a quick read for my book club. But then I also quickly read 3 other books that had been hanging around for too long, and I wanted to pass on to charity shops. I'd previously started reading a couple of them.
  1. An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
  2. Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
  3. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
  4. Egyptian Myths: Meet the Gods, Goddesses, and Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Jean Menzies
  5. Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb by Zahi Hawass
  6. ABBA: The Treasures by Ingmarie Halling and Carl Magnus Palm
An Academy for Liars is a dark academia book, with rather a lot of violence and gore added to the mix. It was ok, but I had to push to keep reading it to the end. 3/5 stars.

Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri was an incredible insight into the experience and history of black hair. A strong 4/5 stars.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was another 3/5 star read for me. Ok, mostly, but a rather odd writing style, and an unexpected and lengthy shift away from the cosy bookshop setting mid way through. 3/5 stars.

Egyptian Myths by classical historian and YouTuber Jean Menzies was an entertaining and informative text, full of striking large format illustrations from Katie Ponder. I did find the order and structure a little confusing in places, but I learned a lot. 4/5 stars.

Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb is a large format coffee table book, filled with huge photographs and details of many hundreds of items from Tutankhamun's tomb. The items chosen are a selection carefully curated by Zahi Hawass, and it's not exhaustive. But for what you did get it was jaw dropping, including multi-page folding out large photographs. Both Martin and I were stunned by parts. 5/5 stars.

ABBA: The Treasures is a large format squidgy book telling much of the story of ABBA in photographs, reminiscences, and reproductions of paper ephemera connected with them, tucked into folders inside that you open up and work through the contents of. It's a nice book, but a rather narrow perspective on their life, focusing mainly on some of their 1970s international tours, which one of the authors accompanied them on. I did feel that I was missing out on the wider story. But the folders of paper ephemera were a delight. I was particularly amused by the customs list, for the Australian tour I think, including a "piano accordion". 4/5 stars.
vivdunstan: Warning sign re risk of being mobbed by seagulls (dundee)
Back home from the V&A Dundee now. Really enjoyed the Kimono exhibition. We could turn up any time to get in, with our new joint memberships, and the V&A staff handled that we hadn't got our member cards in the post yet. I came away from the front reception desk with a freshly printed temporary membership card, and they will look into the missing cards (I'm thinking Dundee East postal depot backlogs!). It was incredibly busy when we got into the exhibition, so much queuing needed to get around the different sections. Slightly anxiety inducing for infection phobic us. We dodged a few obviously coughing or sneezing people ... And we skipped some bits that were of less interest. But I saw all the bits I really wanted to see. I was especially interested in the early history and some of the related artefacts on display. Plus kimono pattern books and drawings and paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries. I was agog at those. I only had a few things I struggled to see from my wheelchair because of height/arrangement. More of a problem was navigating around the fellow visitors, who were so engrossed that we'd often have to very clearly alert them to wheelchair coming through. I needed a horn! But we both enjoyed it and are glad we went. And just outside was the Dundee Tapestry exhibition still, which was also attracting lots of visitors, and we were happy to go round it. Bought stuff in the shop after - which is still a bit too much of a squeeze with a wheelchair, though somewhat improved after my feedback a year ago which they acted on. Then coffee and bagels lunch at the kiosk/van outside. Very glad we made it, though I won't be surprised if the same thing happens as last time we went there, and we've picked up an infection (was Covid a year ago). Fingers crossed not though!

P.S. Martin just said he could have done with fewer physical kimonos on display. I also found some of those some of the less interesting elements of the exhibition. But as he said, if you went to a kimono exhibition and didn't see lots of kimonos you would probably be justifiably disappointed! But overall the balance was good.

P.P.S. Have just emailed the V&A Dundee with some feedback on the Kimono exhibition, including how it was much better for me accessibility wise than Tartan, and also to thank them for improvements they have made re accessibility in the shop. Which they did after my feedback a year ago.
vivdunstan: A picture of a cinema projector (films)
Note there are spoilers in this post. Scroll past if you don't want to know some quite specific details.

Earlier this year I mentioned here that I was intending to watch some of the animated Tolkien films from 1977-1980 soon. As I said then I'd never seen The Hobbit (1977) or The Return of the King (1980), though I have seen the doesn't-tell-the-whole-story The Lord of the Rings (1978), which I watched on Channel 4 one afternoon before Christmas in 1988 ...

It's taken us a while to get started. But first up last night was The Hobbit (1977), which I'd sourced a Spanish-released DVD copy of. After changing the settings to English language audio and no subtitles we were good to go with the 77 minutes long animated movie.

I knew going in that it was an extremely condensed retelling of the story. But I was honestly surprised by how much they packed into the running time. And the opening sections charmed me, with the pre titles sequence where Bilbo meets the dwarves and Gandalf, and the rather nice folk-inspired song "The Greatest Adventure". The other songs were more of a miss for me though. The dwarves are introduced phenomenally quickly, but that wasn't a problem for me. I find the original book overly long on this, never mind Peter Jackson's take on it.

The character design choices are a mix of good or curious to downright strange. Gandalf is as you would expect. Bilbo perhaps a bit Disney. The dwarves are a mix, some rather disturbing. Trolls ok. Elrond has a beard. Mmmm. Though I was pleased they managed to include that portion - I thought they'd skip it. Goblins suitably disturbing. Gollum very strange, but it sort of works. Wargs awesome. Ditto eagles. Mirkwood spiders suitably terrifying. Wood elves very very strange, and more scary looking than the goblins. Not sure about the Lake-town men. And Smaug looks more like a big cat (I've seen "bobcat" used to describe him) than a dragon, at least in facial features. Nice thrush though. The animation is generally good, with some particularly impressive visual moments. The animation work was done by a Japanese company linked to the future Studio Ghibli.

The voice acting is variable. Bilbo and Gandalf are fine. Gollum suitably disturbing. I liked Elrond's voice. But why does the elven king have an Austrian accent? And Smaug sounds strange. I wasn't familiar with the actor voices already, so didn't make connections with other roles. But just responded to how they sounded.

As I said I was impressed by how much they fitted in, including the trolls section, Rivendell and Elrond, the Misty Mountains and goblins and Gollum and riddles (good allowance of time for this key bit), then wargs (but no Beorn), Mirkwood spiders, the wood elves and barrel escape (to be fair that's phenomenally condensed into a couple of minutes), Lake-town, Lonely Mountain and Smaug, death of Smaug, Battle of the Five Armies, and Bilbo's return. The Battle bit was the only bit that dragged for me. I suppose after the hasty earlier sections its slightly more leisurely pace felt too slow. They also made a curious choice to depict some of the battle using dots viewed from overhead moving around. Which might be how someone at a distance - in this case Bilbo - might see things. But wasn't entirely successful.

They certainly missed other parts of the story, including some key moments, like Bilbo deciding not to kill Gollum. Nor did he steal the Arkenstone, and the emotional ending with Thorin was reduced as a result. Much was there though, just accelerated/edited hugely. And I'm still stunned by how much they did cover in the time.

The thing I liked least about the film is the ending, where Gandalf says some words to Bilbo, hinting that the ring he found is important, and in the future there will be more adventures involving other members of his family. Mmmmm. I can see why they did that. It's a quaint nod to them hopefully continuing the story (which the same team sort of did with The Return of the King animated movie in 1980). But to suggest that Gandalf has an awareness of or even hint of the importance of this ring at this time, never mind other foresight about its future, just feels so very wrong for this viewer/Tolkien fan at least.

However overall I enjoyed it. I think they got more things right than wrong. And I would far, far prefer to watch this 77 minutes version than the nearly 9 hours of Hobbit movies from Peter Jackson ...

vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Sending early Christmas and Happy New Year wishes to our friends and family. We will be having a very quiet and restful holiday period. Martin is on holiday for two weeks after today, and will be mainly resting. Hope you have a good time too. The picture is "The Shortening Winter's Day is near a Close" painted by Joseph Farquharson. We have had a large framed print of this since the late 1990s, bought from a glazier in Bonnygate, Cupar. It is currently up on our main wall in the sitting room, and very much enjoyed.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Just read this, for my book club. It's an incredibly short read. It took me just 11 minutes to read the main story in the book, and 4 more minutes to read the author's afterword.

There were elements I liked. The illustrated small hardback book (and I lucked out by chance getting a signed one) is a gorgeous item. The illustrations are beautiful. And there is a sense of magic and winter running throughout. Some very nice animal elements in the book.

But it feels like the first draft of the start of a story that needed much more depth and especially length. I think if it had been improved in that way it could have been something incredibly special. As it is it is disappointing me and the other book club members who've read it.

The author's afterword is interesting, and worth reading. But if anything it just highlights how slight the main story is. For example the afterword discusses other wintry stories in the lyrics of Kate Bush songs. And those sounded far more interesting than what I just read ...

I am glad I read it. But equally glad I still have loads more to go in my first (and leisurely) read of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Because I'm enjoying that way more than I did this.

Rating 2.5/5, or generously rounded up for Goodreads purposes to 3/5.

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vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
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