The Dallergut Dream Department Store

The Dallergut Dream Department Store was the second book that a friend from work recommended to me. It is the story of Penny, who gets a job at the titular Dallergut Dream Department Store, where dreams are sold to the dreamers who visit Penny's world when they sleep. In this world, our brains don't create our dreams; instead, there are beings who craft dreams (and it's a whole big thing in Penny's world, where the big dream makers are celebrities and they have a yearly award ceremony that everyone watches). The dreams are paid for after the fact, with strong emotions that the dreamers experience. Those emotions can be bought and sold, and used as needed (added into cookies and drinks, sprayed on furniture to create a certain feeling, stuff like that). 

The Dallergut Dream Department Store is Penny's first year working for Dallergut, from her initial interview into the new year. She begins learning the ins and outs of the business, and meets some of the dream makers, all the while tending to the dreaming customers' needs. Most of the chapters are interspersed with stories of dreamers in the waking world (and how the dreams they choose to purchase influence them). These dreamers are often loosely connected, in that one may be friends with another, or hear of another's life, but otherwise their stories standalone.

The characters who work at (or around, in the case of the dream makers) Dallergut's store are quite varied and eccentric. I enjoyed a lot of them, especially Dallergut. Dallergut is both wise and infinitely curious, asking questions that make the others around him think. He values curiosity and insight, as that was largely how Penny was hired in the first place. 

Unfortunately, while the world and the characters are interesting, I found the story of the book largely lacking. I started losing interest in reading it part way through (possibly in part because it reads like a bunch of kind of boring short stories after the initial wonder of the setting wears off). I actually really struggled to finish reading the book (I found myself wishing I was reading one of the graded French readers I've been reading lately instead). It's such a shame: The Dallergut Dream Department Store has a lot of promise, but failed to live up to that. :(

The Frugal Wizard's Guide for Surviving Medieval England

Oh geeze, I forgot to write about The Frugal Wizard's Guide for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson.

The Frugal Wizard's Guide for Surviving Medieval England is another one Sanderson's Secret Projects books. I wasn't really sure what I would think of it (I wasn't immediately grabbed by the title and premise like I was with the other two Secret Project books I've read). But I needn't have worried: The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England hooked me from start to finish!

The book starts out with the main character awakening with no memory of who he is, where he is, or why he is there. Around him he finds only pages of The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, a guidebook that explains that he is in a multiverse, and Frugal Wizard TM has found a set of dimensions that resemble medieval England in our world; Frugal Wizard TM sells the dimensions to people so they can be the hero of their very own world. You see, the people from his world are advanced, with nanobots and other augments, so even though they might be ordinary in their time and world, they are extraordinary in a medieval setting. But our hero is not alone; he discovers that there are others from his time who are here and are looking at conquering the world. Piecing together who he is and why he's here, he needs to figure out who he is and what he's willing to do for this new world he's found himself on.

Once again, I enjoyed all the characters. The setting was a lot of fun (I really liked how the chapters were interspersed with pages from the actual Frugal Wizard's Guide to Medieval England - it was fun, and the drawings were fantastic!) I really enjoy Sanderson's writing, and I'm looking forward to reading The Sunlit Man (though I intend to keep it for a time when I need a good read, rather than jumping straight into it right now). 

The Rainfall Market

A friend at work recommended You Yeong-Gwang's The Rainfall Market to me (as well as a second book) after I told her that I've had a bit of a tough time reading lately. The Rainfall Market is a really quick read at only 209 pages, so I thought it was a great place to start. 

The Rainfall Market is the story of Kim Serin, a girl who feels like her life is a depressing mess. Her father passed away, her sister disappeared, her mother has no time for her, and she has no friends. When she hears that if you write a letter to the mysterious Rainfall Market, a magical place where you can exchange your misery for a better future, she jumps at the chance to obtain an invite. Once there, she has until the rainy season ends (about one week) to make her choice, or she will disappear forever.

But Serin isn't alone. As the holder of a golden ticket, she is given a guide cat, Issha, who can help her find the future she wants. Together the two of them go searching through the Rainfall Market, meeting (and often helping) many of the inhabitants (the Dokkaebi, a race of human-like beings who take and use different emotions and memories of humans) in search of the perfect Dokkaebi orb to bring back to her world for a better future. 

The Rainfall Market is a really cute and overall feel good story (though I admit, even though it has a happy ending that I kind of saw coming, I was crying at some of the events that got us there). This is the perfect read for when you're in need of something more light-hearted. :)  

Heartwork Journaling: Play with a Purpose

I stumbled on the idea of Heartwork Journaling a little while ago, I believe as an e-course. I didn't really want to sign up for it, but I discovered that the creator, Maritza Parra, had created a book, Heartwork Journaling: Play with a Purpose. So I decided to give that a read to see what this idea was all about. I've been journaling on and off for a few years now, so I thought this practice would be worth checking out. :)

The idea of Heartwork Journaling is that you use art to better uncover the feelings that you are dealing with, to both work through them and help you create a good life through self care and creativity. The main idea Parra reiterates all through the book is that your art doesn't have to be perfect or even pretty - it's 100% fine if the art you make is messy and something that you don't want to show anyone! She recommends getting a book of watercolour paper, watercolour paints, and some markers for outlining and writing on the pages (though near the end of the book she also mentioned using crayons or markers as an alternative, so that was nice to see). The book is made up of a bunch of lessons that I think are to get you started with Heartwork Journaling, though I'm not really sure....the lessons seemed to be kind of one-off art projects, and nothing really seemed to build off of previous lessons. There are some journaling prompts in most of the lessons as well to get you to reflect on emotions and other areas of your life (for example, boundaries and relationships). 

While I like the idea of Heartwork Journaling, I didn't really connect to it in the book. I didn't connect with the idea of being a divine scientist, and found the book overall too structured (in that I wasn't really interested in doing any of the lessons). I did find some helpful journal prompts though, so that was great.

I'll also admit, I wandered to the dollar store part way through reading this book, but I couldn't find anything I would call "watercolour paper," so I didn't really have any of the materials to follow the lessons in watercolour anyway. I have pencil crayons and could give those a try, but the whole idea really felt made for watercolour paints (they can kind of blend and bleed together in your art; pencil crayons or markers wouldn't really). 

While I am grateful for some of the prompts I discovered in Heartwork Journaling: Play with a Purpose, I'm not sure how much I will use a lot of the concepts in this book. But I also think it's worth checking out and deciding for yourself on how you feel about the idea. :) 

Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently

I almost returned Caroline L. Arnold's Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently to the library unread. I'd taken out a few self-help books around the same time that were all along the same lines (transforming your life for the better), read a bit, then ultimately sent them back. But something stopped me with Small Move, Big Change. And whatever it was, I'm glad it did!

Small Move, Big Change is all about transforming your life by slowly changing your habits. A lot of your behaviour runs on autopilot, or through habit, as Arnold explains. So when you try to make a big sweeping change, you run up against that autopilot, eventually succumbing back to those habits you always use (this is specifically due to the limited amount of energy your willpower and decision making capability have per day; each time you decide to do something counter to these auto-behaviours, you use some of your will power up until you have nothing left). By targeting small, select behaviours with microresolutions (small resolutions that have instant gratification because they are so small, it's much easier to follow through with them), you can, over time, change your habits by making new ones, which in turn will change your life.

I felt like a lot of this idea was also in Atomic Habits (though this book predates Atomic Habits, so maybe Clear got some ideas from Arnold?) But I really liked how Arnold packaged this. The first part of the book explains the whole process of setting microresolutions, and the rest of the book shows examples in action in different parts of your life (sleep, fitness, diet/nutrition, clutter, relationships, spendig, punctuality, and organization). You honestly don't even really need to read the second part of the book, as you get everything you need from the first part. But there are some interesting ideas based off of examples from the author's life (and from some of her clients and friends). I honestly already started a couple in my own life as I was reading this book (and believe me, as you read it, you get so many ideas for things you can try, it's very hard to limit yourself to the two that Arnold recommends at a time!)

While I was reading Small Move, Big Change, I was honestly struck by how Arnold's method felt like the missing piece in my own attempts at self-improvement and goal setting. I was very impressed with the microresolution method, and I hope it helps me in my own life!

Lost in the Never Woods

I saw Lost in the Never Woods at work and thought it sounded fun. I like fairy tale retellings, and have really enjoyed the Peter Pan stories I've read (specifically The Child Thief by Brom and Lost Boy by Christina Henry). So I was quite excited, especially for a story about a more grown up Wendy trying to remember her time in Neverland.

Lost in the Never Woods opens with a very traumatized Wendy trying to finish her volunteer shift at the hospital. But when the police show up to ask questions about a child who went missing, she is, of course, under suspicion. Five years previously, Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods; only Wendy returned, and she has no memory of what happened during that time. But when, on her way home, she nearly hits a strange boy with her truck, and recognizes him as the boy who she has been secretly drawing for years, she begins to piece together what exactly happened to her family all those years ago.

I really enjoyed Thomas' version of Peter Pan (the character). Out of the Peter Pan retellings I've read, this Peter is the most wholesome. He is upbeat, friendly, brave, and just a really wonderful guy.

I also quite liked the ending of the story, when you find out exactly what is happening (spoilers here): What Peter's Shadow is (the manifestation of the fear and anger of a person) and how he is gaining power (he has been kidnapping local kids and feeding off their fear). What happened to Wendy's brothers (they tragically passed five years ago), what Peter is (he is like a guardian spirit who brings the souls of children who meet tragic ends to Neverland where they can recover and finally move on), what happened to Wendy all those years ago (she was the one and only living girl to go to Neverland; her presence, and also that Peter likes her (she is the only person he has ever really wanted for himself) are what caused Peter's Shadow to start to gain power and split off from Peter), all of that was really well done.

....unfortunately, it is a SLOG to get there. I wasn't prepared for that at all...pretty much nothing happens for a good 50-60% of the book. I very nearly stopped reading it multiple times (and wouldn't have felt bad if I had because it was so boring). A friend of mine suggested I keep trying because Thomas is an author she likes, so I did decide to persevere. The end was good, but you honestly could skip the first 200 pages and wouldn't miss a whole lot. This really should have been a novella, or a Murderbot-sized book; coming in at nearly 400 pages, Lost in the Never Woods should have lost a lot of the excess bloat.

While the end of Into the Never Woods was rather good, I do not recommend this book as a whole. I am proud of myself for making it through though. Unfortunately, having read it, I have no desire to read anything else by Thomas (at least at this time).

The Blanket Cats

I saw The Blanket Cats and thought it sounded like a cute read. The premise is that there's a pet store that rents out cats for three days to people; as long as the cat has its blanket, the cat is fine in the new environment. The endorsement on the cover even said "Utterly charming...I would read a hundred of these stories," so I was ready for some cute stories about cats in temporary homes. So I was utterly unprepared for the reality that is The Blanket Cats: terrible people, terrible situations, and a cat being there for no real reason.

There are seven stories in The Blanket Cats. The first one is about a childless couple who decided to try renting a cat to see if a cat would work in their lifestyle. But the couple is a couple in name only; after they were unable to have children, they basically started leading separate lives at the wife's insistence (they have separate bedrooms, where they go to hang out alone all the time). The wife is enamored with the cat, until the cat catches a mouse when they take her to a park. At that point she wants nothing to do with the cat, though the story sort of implies that maybe the couple will be a bit closer now? I'm not sure though because the story just kind of abruptly ends (honestly, that's how most of the stories in this collection end).

The second one is about a lady who always rented the same cat every few months. The two of them would go off on adventures together. The cat she normally rented had retired, but the pet store owner let the lady take the cat on one more adventure. This one had some supernatural elements to the story, where the cat seemed to be able to show her either memories of people or the future of people. As the story unfolded, it turned out the lady had cancer, she stole from the company she worked for (who were all good people) and was intending to commit suicide. The story ended at the beach where she didn't drown herself, and the cops finally caught up with her.

The third story is about a loud and obnoxious man and his son, who together rented a cat (well, the pet store owner let the boy rent the cat - he didn't trust the father). It turned out the boy had been bullying another kid at school quite badly. The boy named the cat his own name, and seemed to use the cat to work through his own emotions? It was a bit confusing because both the cat and the boy had the same names. Either way, it wasn't a good story.

This was the point where I was pretty sure that endorsement on the front cover was lying.

The fourth story was about a family whose cat had passed. But they were having their grandmother with dementia over for the last time before the grandmother went into a home. And the grandmother had loved their cat, so rather than tell her the cat had died, they rented one in the hopes that she wouldn't notice. This story also featured the family's older daughter lying about breaking up with her boyfriend, so she asked him to come to dinner for her grandmother's sake. 

So basically more terrible people.

The fifth story was arguably the best of the lot. A man lived in an apartment building where no pets were allowed. The landlord would periodically rent a cat from the Blanket Cat place who was a fairly rough, kind of mean cat; he would go through the building and use the cat to find out if any of the tenants had animals (and promptly evict them). The main character's girlfriend wanted to move in with him, but she had a cat, so they decided to rent that same cat in the hopes that the two would be okay with each other come inspection day. Unfortunately, their kitten loved the older cat too much and got super excited when she could smell him.

This story had some of the most interesting and sympathetic characters. The landlord had a very sad story, and while he was a gruff man, he was by no means horrible (when he discovers the kitten, yes he wants the couple out, but he also wants them to get better jobs/be financially better off before they leave). The cat he rented out also had an interesting and tragic story (he was the kitten of his family before they passed), so while the man didn't want the cat living with him full time, he still gets him to visit often. This was the one story that I genuinely thought was good - I didn't feel like anyone was horrible.

The sixth story was also really good. This one was the only one from one of the cat's perspectives. One of the cats gets rented out to someone who seems like a pretty horrible cat guardian. So the cat takes off on the first chance he gets. He jumps into the back of a truck to get away, and discovers two kids who are running away from home. The cat helps them, then at the end of the story moves on with the intention of helping others.

Again, this story had some good people going through some tough things. Some of the things going on from the cat's perspective were a bit weird, but overall I really enjoyed this one, too.

But we can't end on a good note, can we? No, of course not. So that brings us to the final story of the collection. A man was laid off from work, and his family will need to sell their house and go back to a smaller apartment. The man feels like he has betrayed everyone, and wants to make even just one dream of his kids' come true: they had told him they wanted a cat before, so he rents one for a few days. His wife is against it. His daughter basically doesn't want to give him the time of day. But his son is quite excited. The two of them attempt to build some memories (with the women wanting no part in this). But when their real estate agent surprises them with some clients who are interested in viewing the house, the couple send the kids and cat to the park. And their daughter takes the blanket from the cat's carrier and purposefully leaves it at the park.

Now, this one didn't feel as horrible as the earlier stories in the collection. I felt like these were good people dealing with a traumatic situation. But the story itself wasn't a good read. It dragged in weird parts (like when the dad tried to get his son to guess what was in the cat carrier....why would a moment like that need to go on?) but also wrapped up too quickly. This story felt like it could have been more fleshed out. This was especially true of the end; the end just sort of happens, and I didn't feel like there was good closure (the father and daughter went back to the park to retrieve the blanket).

So that was The Blanket Cats. It's not a charming read, and I would not read hundreds of these stories. These seven were enough, thank you.