yourartistfriend
Illustrator by day ☀️ Tarot reader and witchcraft practitioner by night 🌙
549 points
yourartistfriend commented on a List
Unofficial Tomato War Side Quest
Pro tomato or anti tomato? Follow the PB Tomato War lore with this unofficial side quest. Start with The Spellshop (& read Fantasy's post @ 41%) to see the war's origins and pick your side. Next, get the facts with Ten Tomatoes That Changed The World (notbillnye / pro camp's manifesto). Hate tomatoes? Read I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, and discover their true evil with Dead Witch Walking (virus spreads via GMO tomato). Finish with the feel-good Fried Green Tomatoes. Which side will prevail?
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yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I struggle with my mental health 👎🏽👎🏽 it’s gotten so much better over the past few years, but every now and then your girl gets real low and can’t find joy in anything.
The worst part? I had just started a new read I was actually enjoying… and then the depression hit. I tried to keep going, but even reading, my usual safe space, just stopped working.
I’ve tried video games, puzzling, coloring, watching murder docs and other true crime things, but nothing’s making a difference. Then I got a bit neuro-spicy and the sound of my AC started driving me up the wall, so now I’ve got old faithful (Parks & Rec) running in the background for comfort noise.
What do you all do when joy is nowhere in sight? I know it’ll pass. It always does. But right now? Everything feels muted, and I hate it. So I’m hiding under a weighted blanket trying to out-vibe the void 😅
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yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Do you guys get where people are in the story with just the percentage or the chapter ? I am always lost and make only a ballpark estimate so I am afraid to spoil anything.
The thoughts from whatever percentage with a message like "seriously?!?", I have no clue what it is about exactly, I can have doubts but I would prefer having some more information...
What do you guys think ?
Edit: I was mainly talking about books I have already read and on which I don't want to spoil anything, so I avoid interacting with thoughts in general
39yourartistfriend commented on crybabybea's review of A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes
“Can we just also say that we don’t actually need gravity?” - Trisha Paytas
Whoever said this book was accessible to the layman was lyinggg. Or maybe I’m just even more layman than the everyday layman, which is extremely possible when it comes to physics and science in general.
I felt like I was reading a textbook. And, for the record, I really tried to pay attention; I always tandem read my nonfiction so I can really absorb the information. Unfortunately even having someone read it out loud while I read along with my eyeballs could not help me here.
At first, I was following along, when we talked about gravity and motion. I can understand Isaac Newton and Galileo, even if I can’t really think much further or ponder scientific theories like Hawking can. Then all of the sudden we started talking about quantum mechanics, T symmetry, antiquarks, and Euclidian time and space. I was so totally lost and had no idea how they connected to the basic idea of gravity. It felt like we were going over the basics of science, and then literally a chapter later he’s throwing all these extremely academic topics at me with no real explanation.
I know that the general idea of the book is to think about time and space and its possibilities and limitations. I understood that Hawking was thinking about how to define the “beginning” and “end” of time and space; whether or not time is linear and absolute. Does time even exist? Is everything we know a lie? Don’t ask me, I don’t know what conclusion Hawking came to or if he even came to any conclusion at all. He could have told me the universe exists in a pickle jar and I would have been like, “Yeah, that makes sense to me,” by which I mean none of it makes sense to me at all.
So, I don’t really know who this book was written for. I can imagine that if you are interested in physics, you won’t find a lot of new information here, since Hawking did at least try to keep it at the surface level. But, if you’re like me and had to cheat your way through science, I can’t imagine that you would understand much more than I did. If you are like me, and you want to read a book that will make you feel helplessly stupid, this book will help you achieve that for sure.
Sometimes, the narrator laughed when he was reading Hawking’s writing, which led me to believe that Hawking was making some sort of joke, which then made me even more confused. I am sadly not in the special physicist club so I had no idea what was so funny but a lot of people say Hawking is super funny, so if you like science you might like that aspect.
Anyway don’t ask me to regurgitate any information from this book because I will not be able to. I can tell you the terms Hawking talked about but don’t ask me to define any concepts or theorize about time travel or anything. At least I tried it, maybe people will think I’m super cool and smart for reading this, and I can mark it off of the “100 Books to Read Before You Die” bucket list.
11yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I am a little obsessed with first lines in literature. Do you guys have any favourite opening lines in books? Either because they immediately drew you in or because they were particularly clever?
One of my favourites is from A Darker Shade of Magic: "Kell wore a very peculiar coat. It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several, which was, of course, impossible."
Or, a very famous one, from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: "The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
55yourartistfriend wants to read...
Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More
Blair Imani
0yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I just signed up to Pagebound today and am poking around before I start my day, so hi everyone!
I absolutely love the idea of the quests and lists (oh, and the forums, this site was made for chronic chatters)! I'm such a mood reader so when I read something I love the first thing I want to do is find other books in the same hyper specific niche.
So, does anyone have any weirdly specific niched lists or quests to recommend? I love fantasy of all kinds but am always open to trying something outside of my comfort zone too.
18yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hey guys! I already posted this in a comment under the latest announcement post, but I'm posting it here as well because I think it got lost.
Regarding seasonal readalongs and special events: I noticed that for the current seasonal challenge and the pride 2025 special event we only have fiction books. I think it would be lovely if we had just one informational book to go with all the fiction. So that could for example be one informational book about the holiday Dia de los Muertos (the origins, the folklore, the traditions, etc) or one book about the significance of pride (the history, important figures, etc.).
I think adding just one non-fiction option can only be beneficial. Since you only need to read one book to get the badge, people who only read fiction can simply skip the informational book, while others might get inspired to learn about an important topic through the group event. This way we cultivate learning and growing a better educated community!
Just an idea! Let me know if you have any thoughts on this!
(note that I don't know what all the previous readalongs/events were, so I'm only speaking from limited knowledge. I've only seen two readalongs and one special event since I joined here!)
54yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I just wanted to take a second and call out how awesome the forum set up is! I'm reading Blood Over Bright Haven right now (and LOVING it) and I'm having so much fun blasting through a chapter then pausing and reading all the posts up through that point. And it's an added bonus that it's all on your own time! It's one of the many things about Pagebound that really gives that community feel. And the readalongs/events really boost all of this and contribute to the heart of this site. Ok that's all, back to reading! 💕
18yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hello everyone,
I am in a mood to be destroyed emotionally. Therefore, could you please give me book recommendations that feel like the below:
I told you things - Gracie Abrams You’re losing me - Taylor Swift tolerate it - TS this is me trying - TS my tears ricochet - TS How Did It End? - TS So Long London - TS
I am looking forward to every title!!! 🤍
10yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I have been seeing a lot of discourse regarding book cover preferences lately. I wonder if anyone has ever gotten the ick from a book cover? If so, did you still read the book, or was it an immediate no thank youuuu?
101yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
does anyone else feel this way😭 I am so excited for the launch (and am jealous of everyone who is a beta tester) that I routinely check the page bound IG for updates HAHA. I know that the estimate is late September to early October but I am so excited!! AHHHH
67yourartistfriend wrote a review...
This book was a huge disappointment for me.
I expressed a lot of my thoughts in the book forum section, but I will do my best to summarize everything here.
In the effort to present a well-rounded review, let me begrudgingly start with a few positive things.
This book is not downplaying the importance of the mundane efforts that have to always go along with the magickal, especially in things like healing work. The author also mentions that the best workings we will do are likely going to be those which we modified or made from scratch specifically for our situation, and highlights that for a good working you don’t necessarily need loads of supplies. Content-wise, there are undoubtedly some interesting ideas for workings in this book, and there’s lots of pre-written wording for them, if that's what you're looking for. There is also a decent amount of information on graveyard dirt.
Now, regardless of these points, I personally don’t recommend this book to anybody.
The main reason for this is definitely Dorothy Morisson’s treatment of other cultures, religions and practices. More specifically, the complete lack of understanding, respect, and actually even mere acknowledgement of other cultures.
In the book she talks about entities from African traditional religions several times, something she does not have any ties to, “teaching” her readers how to approach them and call on them, without doing the bare minimum of addressing the origins of the beings. This is extremely irresponsible and disrespectful.
She also takes concepts from native american culture and appropriates them, instructing people how to make a “dream catcher” for negative workings. Again, this is done with no consideration of the history of this sacred object and there is actually zero mention of native american people whatsoever.
This typical white entitlement is something we should all have a problem with. People who are a part of these indigenous traditions are still alive and practicing today. We do not need to teach about their practices in their place, and we should not be choosing to learn about their practices from a white person.
Needless to say, indigenous people are often too busy to even bother with authors like Dorothy Morisson, because they’re just trying to deal with the mountain of other, more notable bulIshit they were dealt with at the hands of white people (inequality, violence, environmental crises, etc.). The last thing we should be doing as practitioners is carelessly taking things from them. _
Aside from what I listed above, which really should be more than enough to discredit this author when it comes to talking about these topics, her poor treatment of this aspect of her research also tells us that she likely handled more parts of her research equally poorly. There were a few instances I brought up in the forum where I was confused by the information she gives, but to be fair, there’s always a chance that may have just been my personal opinion and where I stand with my knowledge on these topics.
I see Dorothy Morisson as a poor teacher, as she did not see it as important to show respect required when talking about the topics she chose to include in the book. _
With my most important point out of the way, I also want to mention her writing style in this book. I know this aspect is entirely personal preference, so expect my personal opinions below.
This book is very wordy. At various times it reads like it was written by somebody who was trying really hard to meet the word requirement. There are several rather random dialogues included which I did not find were adding any value. There are points where the author goes heavily into detail about some very personal things that happened to her (for example, how and with whom her ex husband cheated 🤦♀️). These things made the actual experience of reading very unenjoyable for me.
Aside from this, there are some specific passages that I mentioned in the book forum which further negatively impacted my opinion of the author. Her apparent self-aggrandizement in some parts makes it difficult to even care about the information she is sharing, just because of the way she is sharing it. —
Writing a book is a massive project and there will always be some things that can be done better, especially as times change and people progress. I’m sure most authors would like to go back and fix a few things about their books. But when it comes to more serious things like respecting other cultures, there is a degree of responsibility that we all carry if we’re deciding to go into these topics and attempt to teach people about them. It’s not that she handled this aspect kind of badly, instead it appears that she didn’t even think about this aspect at all. You can tell she did not even try to be respectful, otherwise at least some information on these traditions and cultures would have made it into the book.
Aside from other gripes I have with this work, I firmly believe her treatment of other cultures alone makes this book a poor resource. I would sincerely recommend looking elsewhere for the information on this topic.
0yourartistfriend started reading...
Of Blood and Bones: Working with Shadow Magick & the Dark Moon
Kate Freuler
0Post from the A History of the World in 100 Objects forum
I've been reading this book very slowly because I only read it when I can take notes, and I usually read about only one object at a time. By the end I want to have some brief bullet points on all 100 objects 📝 :)
I've been really enjoying these bite-sized reading sessions!
0yourartistfriend commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
yourartistfriend commented on CaptainPantsless's update
CaptainPantsless wants to read...
The Cunning Folk's Book of Cottage Witchcraft: Spells, Charms & Traditions of Wild Folk Magic
Danu Forest
3yourartistfriend finished a book
Utterly Wicked: Hexes, Curses, and Other Unsavory Notions
Dorothy Morrison
0Post from the Utterly Wicked: Hexes, Curses, and Other Unsavory Notions forum
This author clearly thinks she has free rein over African traditional religions, and I’m soo sick of it.
Recipes related to Orishas, Oshun and Chango/Shango, are mentioned in Chapter 5, then in Chapter 7 she gives workings with Oshun, Yemaya, and later advises people to work with Papa Legba (another entity (lwa) from ATR) to protect their home. No context, no mentions of their origins… all very much in line with what I’ve been seeing this far in the book.
Her complete disregard for other cultures in these workings and recipes completely overshadows all other workings she included in the book and I really can't say I would personally feel like giving any of them a try because of that. I just can't see somebody who has this approach to be a good teacher and give good advice in this area of things. So yeah, what a grand read this has been for me...
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