Medieval Costume and How to Recreate It by Dorothy Hartley

“All too late it is beginning to be realized, slowly indeed but no less surely, that the historic evolution of dress and personal ornament offers a wide field for methodical study; that it is in fact a science and can be made to subserve worthier ends than those of mere amusement.” pg 11, ebook

Medieval Costume and How to Recreate It by Dorothy Hartley is more of a history book than practical manual for dressing as a historical figure, unless the reader happens to have a very highly developed tailoring ability.

At least, more than I currently have.

That being said, the divisions of different types of historical costumes into profession is inspired. As author Dorothy Hartley explains, at the beginning of the book, professions had a huge affect on how medieval persons looked. Think doctor compared to butcher compared to musician or priest.

“After the careful restrictions of religion and royalty, musicians are refreshingly loose, and may wear anything. Since there is no definite costume for musicians we have concentrated on robes and sleeves that give free play to the arms.” pg 74, ebook

In addition to the visible clothing, this book delves into the garments worn under historical clothing, which was a topic I hadn’t considered before. But, as Hartley writes, dressing as a historical figure gives the roleplayer the opportunity to both entertain and educate through the details of the costume.

For example, the thickness and type of the fabrics that go into hose have an obvious function as well as a proper place on timeline of historical costumes.

“To the casual enquirer it will no doubt seem a curious anomaly: it is none the less a fact that in the majority of costume-books no portions of man’s apparel are slurred over in so haphazard a fashion as those under the above heading.” (hose and breeches) pg 80

This book is a learning experience but, as I mentioned, also a practical one if you already know how to construct a shirt or are curious about how to make a cloak hang correctly.

Highly recommended for roleplayers or historians.

Thanks for reading!

Less Doing, More Living: Make Everything in Life Easier by Ari Meisel

“The idea of Less Doing is to reclaim your time and- more important- your mind, so you can do the things you want to do.” pg xv

Ari Meisel, a self-professed “achievement architect”, outlines ways to streamline your chores, finances, and more in order to free up time for the activities, and people, that are most important to you.

“I don’t want you to run errands, ever ever ever again. They’re not efficient, and there’s no way to make them efficient.” pg 69

Many of his suggestions are common now, like setting up an automatic delivery from Amazon for your regularly needed household items like toilet paper and paper towels. But when I considered that this book was published in 2014, then it seemed like a stroke of genius.

However, that won’t necessarily be useful to readers who are looking for more updated suggestions to make their lives that much more efficient- except for a few of his timeless strategies. For example, measure and monitor how much time it takes you to do things so then you can figure out where your time is going to.

Not rocket science, but helpful.

The one suggestion of his that I found most intriguing was his idea of creating an ‘external brain’. Basically, you write notes, diary entries, clip electronic articles and organize it in a program (he likes Evernote) so that you can access it again quickly if you would like.

“… you can create an ‘external brain’ that stores everything reliably, offers instant access, and frees your mind for more interesting work.” pg 18

I thought this approach could be very helpful for someone like me who reads and researches different topics all the time, for the fun of it, but also for professional content creators who are looking for their next blog post or YouTube video, etc.

How much easier would it be to be able to access all of your previous research rather than having to start over from scratch each time?

On the other hand, there is a massive amount of time required to both create this external brain and keep it updated. I suppose the investment only makes sense depending on what you’re eventually going to use the database for.

Recommended with reservations for readers who are looking for ways to streamline their lives.

Thanks for reading!

The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30; Tiffany Aching, #1) by Terry Pratchett

“Tiffany Aching was lying on her stomach by the river, tickling trout. She liked to hear them laugh. It came up in bubbles.” pg 5, ebook.

With those three sentences, Terry Pratchett introduces readers to one of the most beloved characters from his Discworld series, Tiffany Aching.

Young Tiffany lives in sheep raising country, where chalk from an ancient sea lies beneath the ground. When an otherworldly creature bursts out of a creek and tries to pull her and her little brother Wentworth beneath its waters, Tiffany fights back.

It is the beginning of a life or death struggle with monsters from worlds beyond Discworld, though Tiffany does not know it at the time.

But luckily for her, there are allies who will join her in this fight- the Wee Free Men.

“In the reeds, quite low down, small voices whispered: “Crivens, Wee Bobby, did yer no’ see that?” “Aye, we’d better offski an’ tell the Big Man we’ve found the hag.” pg 10

Pratchett weaves this coming of age story with humor and magic. He utilizes the best themes of the Witches Discworld subseries to do so.

Tiffany discovers headology, the importance of belief and appearances, and her own mysterious connection to a witch legacy that was hiding in plain sight in the hills.

The pacing of the tale is quick, racing from one danger to the next, and perfect for young adults or reluctant readers who enjoy fantasy.

In addition, Pratchett uses a real life painting in the story which adds another layer of ‘fairy magic’ to the telling. The artwork is “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” by Richard Dadd and you can see it here: https://bit.ly/3tW58bb

Detail of “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke”

The surreal painting captures the unsettling feel of the creatures and worlds Pratchett so deftly describes. It is also whimsical, but hints at the danger lurking in the shadows.

For the past few weeks, I have been doing a read-through of the Discworld Witches series and really disliked the last one, Maskerade. I felt like the witches’ character flaws were beginning to dominate the story, which was draining its humor and heart away.

The Wee Free Men brings magic and heart back into the equation. In Tiffany, readers discover a brave young girl who wants to do the right thing but doesn’t have any one to show her the way. We know her mentors will show up eventually, but until then, she and the wee free men need to figure things out on their own.

And how they do that is a very good story. Highly recommended.

Thanks for reading!

The First 100 Chinese Characters, Simplified Character Edition: The Quick and Easy Way to Learn the Basic Chinese Characters by Alison Matthews

The First 100 Chinese Characters, Simplified Character Edition: The Quick and Easy Way to Learn Basic Chinese Characters delivers on everything it promises in the title except the part that mentions “easy”.

I didn’t find it easy at all.

“You’ll be learning a writing system which is one of the oldest in the world and which is now used by more than a billion people around the globe every day.” pg 4

After a brief introduction in which the author Alison Matthews outlines the book (there is a pronunciation guide, explanation about the construction of the language, techniques and more), it hops right in to the basic characters, beginning with numbers.

The book provides plenty of space for practice, but I utilized calligraphy paper because I’m not allowed to write in a library book. 🙂

That being said, I am going to acquire a copy of this just for me, because not only is it fun, but also it’s going to take me longer than a few weeks to master the basics.

I had some warning going in to this project that it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. One of my nephews took Chinese as his foreign language option in the lower grades and, though he’s a smart little dude, he said it was very difficult.

It is. But it is also beautiful. I love how the characters sometimes resemble the words they stand for, a dimension English lacks with our boring Roman alphabet.

And like calligraphy, there is an art to creating the characters. I suppose the same could be said of cursive, but it doesn’t have the same feel at all. When I finish a practice page of Chinese characters, I feel like I’m looking at a painting rather than an essay.

In addition, being a left-hander is a benefit in writing Chinese rather than the hindrance that I feel it has been for me in English. The characters are traditionally written top to bottom, right to left. I don’t smear the ink across my hand and wrist! It’s been quite novel.

Highly recommended for anybody interested in learning how to write Chinese characters.

Thanks for reading!

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (The Siege, #1) by K.J. Parker

“Orhan.” Nobody called me that. “You’re a clever man and you use your brain, which makes you unique in this man’s town, but you’ve got to do something about your attitude.” “Attitude? Me?” pg 16

Through a series of unfortunate events, Orhan, the leader of a group of military engineers, finds himself in charge of the defense of “the City”, the capital of the Robur empire. The Robur empire seems to have been loosely based on the Roman empire, which, in its conquering of the world, took diverse sets of people and organized them into useful groups under its overarching control.

Orhan is one of these conquered peoples. But he has a unique set of skills, all of which will be put into use during the siege that is to come.

“My meteoric rise, from illiterate barbarian serf to commander of an Imperial regiment, is due to the Hus, the Sherden, the Echmen and, last but not least, the Robur, who are proud of the fact that over the last hundred years they’ve slaughtered in excess of a million of my people.” pg 5

The story is told entirely from Orhan’s point of view in first-person narrative. This invites the reader to step into Orhan’s shoes and makes the tale quite exciting and immediate.

On the other hand, Orhan is emotionally bereft and runs his life through merciless logic, which doesn’t always serve him, or the people around him, very well.

“That’s one thing about human beings I don’t see the point in: love. It does nobody any good. You love someone, and either they let you down or they die. Either way, you end up crucified.” pg 55

He is an impatient and, occasionally, violent character, who literally punches people when they don’t conform to his view of the world fast enough.

In other words, wearing Orhan’s shoes for the length of the story is an uncomfortable ride for anyone who uses a modicum of emotional intelligence in their lives.

Photo by Miquel Rossellu00f3 Calafell on Pexels.com

That being said, K.J. Parker (pen name for Tom Holt) has done a brilliant job of creating an unforgettable, if unpleasant, narrator. By the end of the book, even though I didn’t like him, I found myself rooting for Orhan anyway because that’s the kind of reader I am.

But if you have trouble connecting with stories where you don’t like the characters, this might not be the book for you.

The one moment where I did connect with the narrator was when he discovers his importance in the siege that is to come.

“If, as I was horribly afraid, I was the senior military officer in the City, I needed confirmation or a warrant or something. If there was someone higher up than me, I desperately wanted to hear about him and ask him for orders.” pg 78

I used to have similar feelings when I first started working as a reference librarian at the library. Prior to that, as a circulation assistant, if I had any question about anything having to do with the library or technology or research, I’d call up whoever was sitting at the reference desk and they’d supply me with the answer.

It was my own version of chain-of-command. There was an unspoken faith that I carried- if I didn’t know the answer, the reference librarian would so there was never any reason to worry.

The day that my training was done, my supervisor went home, and I was left alone at the reference desk, that was my Orhan moment. If I didn’t know or couldn’t find the answer, there was no one else for me to turn to.

It is humbling to realize that it all rests on your shoulders, but it is also a character making moment. How you respond to the pressure says so much about you. And that is the strength of this story, the slow revelation of Orhan’s character under pressure.

Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction. Though this is classified as a fantasy too, I feel like it veers more into a parallel universe than a true fantasy world where magic is real and otherworldly creatures are running around. I’d be curious to know what other readers think about its genre.

Thanks for reading!

Die #2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans (Artist)

Now that the main characters from Die, Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker are back in the fantasy gaming world of Die, they are struggling to make their way back to the real world.

Part of that struggle involves delving into the past and decisions made by their teenage selves. There are lost loves, old enemies and even a few descendants to contend with- not to mention old hurts that they’ve carried for years between members of their own party.

Which is a particular problem for our intrepid heroes. They all have to agree that they want to leave “Die” in order to do just that. And they don’t all want to leave anymore.

Like most sequels, at least in my experience, the follow up to the first issue wasn’t as strong. Now that readers are in the character development section of the story, action moves a little slower and it reads less like a fantasy adventure and more like a drama.

I think the character with the most potential for growth is Ash, the Dictator, who is a man in the real world, but a woman in the world of Die, and controls people’s emotions with her voice. But all of the movers and shakers in this drama have some growing to do.

There’s Ash’s sister Angela who plays a cyberpunk named Neo. In order to power her electronics, she uses ‘fair gold’, something which readers get to learn a little more backstory about in this issue.

My favorite character is Matt, the Grief Knight, whose power is fueled by his depression and despair. Of everyone in this story, I’m rooting for him to get home the most because of the unshakable love and devotion he has for his family.

He’s also, I think, the most relatable of the group. Who among us hasn’t felt the sting of the pain and sadness that life occasionally dishes up and wishes for a way to harness that power for the greater good?

In this issue, readers get to learn about the origins of Matt’s magical sword, the outer representation of that inner voice that whispers to him about his failings and secret anxieties.

We also brush on the mysteries of Sol’s resurrection, Chuck’s astounding conflict avoidance and the awesome extent, as well as limitations, of Isabelle’s godbinding powers.

I’m interested to see where the story goes next. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy fantasy and horror-tinged graphic novels.

Thanks for reading!

Ways of Heaven: An Introduction to Chinese Thought by Roel Sterckx

“China, so far, tends to creep into our narrative only from the time it appears on the imperial horizons of the West, or when it enters the international politics of the twentieth century, or when its economy seems unresistingly relevant (or threatening) to us.” Preface, x

Ways of Heaven, by professor Roel Sterckx from the University of Cambridge, seeks to build a bridge for the western mind to a thorough understanding of Chinese thought through its philosophy, history, historical figures, rituals, food and more.

The result is a delightful window into a different world, complete with context and signposts to guide your way.

I was looking for a book with a general overview of Chinese philosophy and this one definitely fits the bill.

Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about military formation. Confucius replied: ‘I have, indeed, heard something about the use of sacrificial vessels, but I have never studied military matters.’ The following day, he left the state. (An. 15.1) pg 221

Sterckx explains how Chinese history changed with each dynasty as well as the interpretations of key philosophical texts. Each succeeding ruling figure had to prove that their rule was legitimate and connected to all of the ones that went before it. Also, if Confucius’s teachings didn’t fit with how the current emperor wanted to rule, all that had to be done was to craft a different interpretation for the new ruler.

In that way, Chinese history and philosophy are both living systems, shaped by those who came before us and also, perhaps, changed in ways we will never know. It is fascinating to consider.

(And also ripe fodder for any authors who are looking for material to create historical fiction or alternative universes.)

I appreciated how Sterckx teases out the importance of symbols and materials that permeate Chinese culture. Lately, I’ve been on a Chinese and Korean television binge through Netflix and I could tell I was missing all sorts of meanings because I didn’t grasp the cultural cues.

Ways of Heaven helps with that too.

“In the Olympics of Chinese metaphor, champions are those who float along the river of life with ease, accompanied by a teacher or loved one and with the looks of a dragon and a character like jade.” pg 367

My favorite part of the book is when Sterckx talks about the use of music in Chinese ritual. How many times in films and television have you seen an ancient sage playing a flute while seated serenely on the side of a mountain? I can think of dozens of examples of just that. Now I know why:

“Music creates an unspoken bond that no other medium can achieve. … It is ritual lived through sound: ‘Music is what sages delight in, and it can be used to make the hearts of the people good. Its effect on people is deep; it can change habits and alter customs.'” pg 241

Highly recommended for readers who are interested in Chinese history or philosophy.

Thanks for reading!

Maskerade (Discworld, #18; Witches #5) by Terry Pratchett

“The huge, be-columned, gargoyle-haunted face of Ankh-Morpork’s Opera House was there, in front of Agnes Nitt. She stopped. At least, most of Agnes stopped. There was a lot of Agnes.” pg 9, ebook.

The usually charming wit of Terry Pratchett falls flat in this entry of The Witches, a sub-series of Discworld.

Having already lampooned the general idea of ‘theater’ in Wyrd Sisters, Pratchett takes a crack at ‘musical theater’, specifically The Phantom of the Opera. Besides the addition of the witches to the mix, the main gag is that Agnes Nitt is fat.

It’s not a story that has aged well.

“Agnes was, Nanny considered, quite good-looking in an expansive kind of way; she was a fine figure of typical young Lancre womanhood. This meant she was approximately two womanhoods from anywhere else.” pg 21

Agnes is not the only person in the story with weight concerns, the other being one of the lead singers in the opera, a male. But Agnes, despite her obvious talents, is forced to sing in the chorus, providing the voice for a willowy female who looks the part.

All of this is just a backdrop for the larger story which is basically that Granny Weatherwax is bored and Nanny Ogg is afraid if they don’t find another member for their coven, then Granny will turn to the dark side.

Which no one wants, obviously. Because Granny Weatherwax is one of the greatest of her age in headology and general witchy works, which vary greatly depending upon the circumstances.

And it brings the readers back around to the concern that I addressed in earlier books about Magrat (the witch they’re looking to replace) being bullied by the other older witches in the coven. In Maskerade, they’re just looking for a new punching bag.

The one bright spot in the story was Greebo, slinking around in his predatory human form. I love how he talks to people, elongating his R’s and adopting a general attitude of slightly aggressive insouciance, something which I imagine cats would do, if forced to speak English.

But beyond that, for whatever reason, this entry in the series didn’t hit the spot for me.

Here’s hoping the next is better.

Thanks for reading!

Lord Marksman and Vanadis Vol. 01 by Tsukasa Kawaguchi

“I have a homeland to return to and protect. I inherited Alsace from my father. Abandoning it is out of the question.”

Warring factions lead to the capture of Tigrevurmud Vorn, the young count of Alsace by Eleonora Viltaria, a war maiden, one of many, chosen by a powerful dragon king and given a magical weapon to help her succeed in battle.

Eleonora has offered to return Tigre to his home, but first his people must pay a huge ransom, which they can’t afford.

Meanwhile, another powerful leader is preparing to take advantage of Tigre’s absence to ravage Alsace.

What will happen next? Pick up volume 2 to find out.

Which I’m not sure I want to do. Having not read a manga series before, I didn’t realize that some cater to particular audiences and preferences. This one, I have since discovered, is classified as “seinen” and recommended for adults (men, says the wiki) between the ages of 18 and 45.

I inadvertently discovered the classification when I turned to a page containing a balloon-chested young woman nearly nude except for a tiny hand towel.

In another, there’s a cantankerous maid in Eleonora’s palace whom is given a teddy bear to sweeten her mood. After admiring the cute cartoon of the teddy bear, I realized that readers could see up the young woman’s skirt.

I prefer to read manga for the story and not semi-naked cartoon figures. But, if that’s your thing, this fantasy series might be of interest. It is an art form, after all.

As for the story, I was particularly intrigued by the war maiden and dragon part, which volume one didn’t really have time to get into between the introductions to the various characters and the naked scenes. Which, in my opinion, is a shame.

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Category: Reviews

Medieval Costume and How to Recreate It by Dorothy Hartley

Less Doing, More Living: Make Everything in Life Easier by Ari Meisel

The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30; Tiffany Aching, #1) by Terry Pratchett

The First 100 Chinese Characters, Simplified Character Edition: The Quick and Easy Way to Learn the Basic Chinese Characters by Alison Matthews

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (The Siege, #1) by K.J. Parker

Die #2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans (Artist)

Ways of Heaven: An Introduction to Chinese Thought by Roel Sterckx

Maskerade (Discworld, #18; Witches #5) by Terry Pratchett

Lord Marksman and Vanadis Vol. 01 by Tsukasa Kawaguchi

Menu

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Menu