International Giveaway | Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

I recently had a wonderful spurt of five star reads when I finally got around to reading Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows duology and, just before that, Joy McCullough's wonderful novel in verse, Blood Water Paint which I reviewed here.

Combining historical fiction with poetry, Joy McCullough has brought the story of 17th century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi to life. Artemisia Gentileschi is my favourite artist; a woman who took revenge with paint after she was sexually assaulted by a man her father hired to tutor her and, remarkably for her time, chose to press charges against him.

I devoured this book in one sitting and absolutely adored it, I'm confident it's going to remain one of my favourite books of 2018 and beyond, so I'm going to give a copy away! I'd love to see more people reading this book, so if you'd like to win a copy take a look at the giveaway information and leave a comment below telling me what your favourite read of 2018 has been so far!

• This giveaway is open internationally to anywhere that the Book Depository delivers to
• If you're under 18, please make sure you have your parent/guardian's permission to give me your address which I'll need to send the book to you (I can promise you I won't share such personal information with anyone)
• I'll be getting in touch with the winner on the 1st August, so make sure you check your emails if you enter!
• Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review | Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

Blood Water Paint

by Joy McCullough

My Rating: 

Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome's most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.

Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery | Dutton Books

Artemisia Gentileschi is my favourite artist, and the moment I discovered Blood Water Paint existed I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. This is one of those instances where I hoped a book would be wonderful and my hopes were fulfilled. This is the best book I've read so far this year.

Told in verse, something I didn't realise until the book arrived but loved once I started reading, Blood Water Paint follows Artemisia through what must have been the most difficult part of what must have already been a difficult life for a woman in the 17th century. The daughter of a painter, Artemisia showed far more talent for art than her brothers and was taught to paint by her father after her mother's death. Later, her father would hire fellow painter Agostino Tassi to tutor Artemisia privately. Tassi took advantage of his position and raped her and, remarkably for her time, Artemisia pressed charges against him.

For a long time Artemisia has been remembered as nothing more than the victim of sexual violence despite her amazing paintings, and now Joy McCullough has done her bit to restore Artemisia's voice. Her poetry is interspersed with sections of prose told as though Artemisia's mother, Prudentia, is telling her stories the way she did when Artemisia was a girl. While her father has allowed her to paint, in the novel it's Artemisia's mother who inspired the brutal, real ways she chooses to portray the biblical women she paints, and as the story progresses these women themselves step out of the paintings to offer Artemisia comfort and strength during her literal and metaphorical trials.

I sat down and read this in one sitting, it flows beautifully and I couldn't put it down. McCullough not only presents Artemisia as both groundbreaking artist and ordinary girl, but also considers Artemisia's unique take on the biblical stories that were so commonly painted during the Italian Renaissance. Unlike the many male artists who portray women the way they like to imagine them, Artemisia paints women as they are and even takes inspiration from the way her own body moves and the horrific events she experiences.

I don't think I can put into words how much this story is still relevant, how much we seem to prefer to believe that the men we know are incapable of causing people harm rather than listening and believing the women they have harmed. It's heartbreaking that, 400 years on, so many of the struggles Artemisia faced are still faced by women now, but this book is beautiful and raw and empowering and you should read it immediately.

Review | When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard by Megan Beech

When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard

by Megan Beech

My Rating:

Burning Eye seeks to break down some of the barriers that are put up between young poets and publishers to make it more accessible for poets to put work out early in their career. This chapbook from Megan Beech is the third example of Burning Eye working with a young poet in this way. Although still in her second year at University Megan has already caught attention with her infectious reeling wordplay, but, as is already evident in When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard, she is quickly moving on into more complex writing. Megan is not afraid of speaking her mind and grappling with political themes with a confidence missing in many older poets. When I Grow Up To Be Mary Beard captures the sound of a resurgent feminism that demands to be heard and marks Megan out as a name to watch.

When I grow up I want to be Megan Beech.

I practically never review poetry on my blog for two reasons: 1) because I don't read anywhere near as much poetry as I probably should, and 2) I don't think I know enough about poetry to write a fair review. Having said that, this is my blog and, regardless of my inexperience with poetry, when I love a collection as much as I love this one I have to say something about it.

When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard is brimming with fantastically feminist spoken word poetry, from the titular poem all the way through to the very last. As far as poetry goes I'm still figuring out what kind of poetry I like and this collection has made me want to find even more spoken word poets. Thinking about it now I've always enjoyed spoken word poetry; I'd much rather listen to a spoken word poet read their work aloud than read it myself, which is why I've never really found as much joy in reading poetry as I do in reading fiction, and I actually read a lot of these poems aloud to myself, which was such a fun way to read them. Beech uses language and internal rhyme so cleverly and with such skill that, if this is her debut collection, I can't wait to see what she brings out next.

What I loved about Beech's poems, as someone who often finds poetry difficult to translate in my prose-centric head, is that I understood them and I understood the rhythm of them and, most importantly, I understood the message in them. There are moments when this angry, political, frustrated voice breaks through that I identified with so much it's no wonder I love this collection.

Some highlights for me were 'When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard', 'Shakespeare was a Gangster Rapper' and 'Vontrapped', but there wasn't a single poem that I disliked. If I were to put my English graduate hat on and offer any criticism it would be that some of the poems were quite similar in a literal sense; the same words would pop up here and there and I think I only noticed it because this collection is fairly small compared to other collections I own, but it didn't bother me in the slightest. We don't look at the work of poets like Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen and say 'Eh, too much war', so there's no way I'm going to criticise an emerging poet who's using her voice to tackle issues she's passionate about.

Really this is less of a review and more of a gush, but whether you like poetry or not I highly recommend you give this collection a try. I can't wait to see what Megan Beech does next - I'll be keeping an eye on her!

(And if you're interested, you can listen to her read her titular poem here!)

Reading Wrap-Up | December 2014

December was one of those strange months in which I felt like I read way more than I did. I read five books in total - which is good! - but for whatever reason I feel like I read way more than that; probably because one of the books I read was a collection of short stories.

Anyway, on with this very brief (because I'm very tired) wrap-up!

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop

by Jenny Colgan

My Rating: 

Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton, buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, large tempting piles of Turkish Delight, crinkling selection boxes and happy, sticky children. She's going to be spending it with her boyfriend, Stephen, and her family, flying in from Australia. She can't wait.

But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what's best for the sweetshop also what's best for Rosie?

Reviewed here!

My Family And Other Superheroes

by Jonathan Edwards

My Rating: 

Leaping from the pages, jostling for position alongside the Valleys mams, dads, and bamps, and described with great warmth, the superheroes in question are a motley crew: Evel Knievel, Sophia Loren, Ian Rush, Marty McFly, a bicycling nun, and a recalcitrant hippo. Other poems focus on the crammed terraces and abandoned high streets where a working-class and Welsh nationalist politics is hammered out. This is a postindustrial valleys upbringing re-imagined through the prism of pop culture and surrealism.

A really fun poetry collection!

The Christmas Surprise

by Jenny Colgan

My Rating: 

Rosie Hopkins, newly engaged, is looking forward to an exciting year - especially as the little sweetshop in Lipton she owns and runs continues to thrive. She's also enjoying helping out her best friend, Tina, as she prepares for her big wedding to local lad Jake. But fate is about to strike Rosie and her own fiance, Stephen, a terrible blow, threatening all they hold dear. And it is going to take all their strength, as well as the loving support of their families and their friends, to hold everything together.

Reviewed here!

My True Love Gave to Me

ed. by Stephanie Perkins

My Rating: 

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays.

Reviewed here!

Witch

by Damian Walford Davies

My Rating: 

With the narrative pull of a novel and the vibrancy of a play, this collection offers a thrilling portrait of a Suffolk village in the throes of the witchcraft hunts of the mid-17th century. The poems in this collection are dark spells, compact, and moving, delivered by those most closely involved in the “making” of a witch. The speakers—from priest Thomas Love and the villagers, who slowly succumb to suspicion and counter-accusation, to the witch hunter Francis Hurst and the “witch” herself—authentically conjure a war-torn society in which religious paranoia amplifies local grievances to fever pitch.

A very atmospheric collection, and one that I think I'll be going back to and rereading more than once this year!

What did you read in December?