New Art: Libra

Just finished another painting a couple of days ago
Inspired by the 7th Zodiac sign, Libra
I quite like how it turned out
Though the face was difficult to paint because it was very small
Also her arm is too thin. But oh well.

~Sakura

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

"Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering"
-Nicole Krauss

Hello again,
I recently finished the novel The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. A teacher I have currently reccomended it to me, and though I was tentative to read it because I feared it would be a cheesy romance novel. With a title like "The History of Love", I didn't have high hopes. Thankfully though, I was wrong about everything that I thought would be faulty with the novel.

The novel follows two characters; Leo Gursky, an old man; and Alma, a fourteen year old girl trying to get her mother to be happy once again. Despite having an age difference of about sixty years, the two are connected through the name "Alma", and the meaning which it holds for each of them. Though mainly narrated from the point of view of these two, there are also intermissions of narrative from Bird, Alma's younger brother, the son of Gursky, and an author. 

I was quite stunned by the writing style of this book. Though simple, it was very engaging, and I just wanted to drink up the rest of the novel and relish in Krauss' diction. I manage to read through this book within a manner of days, which is quite uncommon. If for anything, read the book for the sake of the experience.

Despite the smooth writing style, I found that the plot was at times difficult to follow. There were places when I wasn't sure what was going on, or what connection it had to the greater plot of the story. However, the majority of the time the writing was all very clear.

I found this to be a very pleasant read; it's quick, but leaves you feeling very satisfied and content.

I strongly recommend it if you want something to make you think, laugh, cry, feel.

Sakura~

New Art: Auto Retrrato en Kahlo

A while back I had to do a self portrait for my Spanish class in the style of one of four Latin American artists: Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Goya, or Picasso. Frida's art stood out to me the most, and I already had ideas begin forming when I heard the nature of the assignment. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, although I managed to get a smudge of ink on the face which is frustrating. As for much of my art, the background is scrapbook paper and everything else is drawn in marker (Copics)

I'm most happy with how the flowers turned out, since I was positive that they would end up ghastly, or looking like a six year old had drawn them. Surprisingly though, they didn't~

I do quite enjoy making self portraits; I ought to do more of them, though perhaps in my own style (though I did enjoy the inspiration Kahlo's art gave me)

I hope you readers enjoy the art~

Sakura 
xo

Native Son by Richard Wright

Hello~

Today, I’ll be attempting to write a book review, since after all, this is a blog about both books and art.

I recently finished reading the book Native Son, which was written in 1940 by Richard Wright. When I was in the eighth grade, my English teacher recommended to me, however, it was a fairly intense, terrifying book. Nonetheless, it intrigued me, and so I decided to read it once again.

There are multiple covers, but I prefer this one~

A brief summary- The story is simple enough: that of an underprivileged black boy named Bigger Thomas living in the 1930’s. He only attended school until the 8th grade, after which he dropped out. He, his mother, and younger brother and sister are living in a small, one bedroom apartment, infested with rats. At 20 he still has no proper job, and so he goes around making plans of robbing various people. However, he does soon obtain a job as a chauffeur for a rich white family, whose daughter, Mary, is dating a communist- a problem at the time. After a few wrong turns, Mary is dead at the hands of Bigger, and fearing for his life, he attempts to cover up the crime. When that doesn’t work, he is taken by the law.

Despite being written in 1940, I found the style of the writing to be very enthralling to read. The book is fast paced, and one that I think is really emotional. The lack of equality at the time really takes its toll on the readers and the characters, om a very strong way. I have read books that dealt with racism in the past, however none as brutally so as this one. It’s very heart wrenching to read, and though Bigger was the one to commit the crime, his entire life was an ordeal so unjust that it one can’t help but feel sympathy for him.

This is definitely one of the most emotionally destructive books that I have read, but meanwhile, I think it’s something quite spectacular. It’s very emotional, and though brutal and graphic in some scenes (I wouldn’t recommend this to those faint of heart or those who dislike gory scenes), I think it’s definitely worth a read. I still am not sure if I understand the entirety of the book on a deeper level, but it is an amazing book, even if you understand it only on a surface level.

And to finish off, a quote: “Violence is a personal necessity for the oppressed...It is not a strategy consciously devised. It is the deep, instinctive expression of a human being denied individuality.”  I think this is one quite relative to Bigger’s situation- he’s denied so many things, he has no real way to retort to them. Violence is the only way that he can cope- the only method which he has been given to be able to cope.

A very emotional, beautiful book. I highly, highly recommend it.

Sakura~

New Art: Self Portrait

I don't have a book review ready quite yet
So here's a self portrait I did,
The words in the background are from some song which I can't recall the name of

New Art: Curiosity

Hello~
Yesterday I finished a piece which I started earlier in the week- which was mildly inspired by the work of Audrey Kawasaki (the fish, at least).
It's my attempt at more collage-like works, where I draw the main components on good marker paper, and then cut the out and paste them onto textured/interestingly colored backgrounds. With marker I've found that it's difficult to create good looking backgrounds, and plus there's always the chance of the marker bleeding and ruining the drawing.
If you aren't familiar with marker being used as a medium, it's not the traditional "crayola" marker or something like that. The ones I use (Copics), are an alcohol marker, and the colors are absolutely beautiful and they give a somewhat water color-like effect, which I love.

The drawing

I am quite happy with how it turned out- I especially love the fish.

I hope you (possible) readers out there like it~

Sakura ♥

Hello!

Hello everyone~
I have decided to create this blog in order to speak about interests which I have which don't really fit into my beauty/fashion blog {link to it}. I assume that the subscribers which I have there won't be as interested in posts about books which I have recently read, so I figured I would make a separate blog for such interests so I won't have a bunch of comment-less posts on my other blog~
On here, I plan on posting about books (reviews of them and such), art (both my own, and inspiration), and possibly cooking (though I don't have as much time as I would like in order to cook)

Some info about my self: my name (well, pen name) is Sakura, I am currently a student, and I really love to read and write. In the past two years or so, I've become more passionate about drawing, and I do that quite often. 
I don't know what else one is supposed to write in a self introduction, so for now, ciao~
Sakura ♥