mszy reads

Del Toro’s Frankenstein-inspired collage.

Mixed media (watercolor, ink, graphite, washi tape)

2026

I have recently discovered a use for all my old, crappy artwork that has been dormant in storage forever…making NEW crappy artwork that I enjoy more :)

Took a relaxing trip to a local indie bookstore and couldn't leave without getting Miyazaki's Shuna's Journey! I'll share a flip-through later to show how beautiful the art and layout are. Also stopped by a local coffee shop and had a necessary chai latte with a cherry almond scone 🌸

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I first read this during a time of isolation, living in the woods with no one around me but my pets. I felt a deep level of empathy for the Count as I read through his story of house arrest inside a hotel.

At times this book left me with a deep sense of loneliness. However, I also felt hope through his daily interactions with the tenants and staff of the building and how he kept his elegance and dignity through enduring such a humiliating punishment.

While at the bookstore the other day, I came across this illustrated book by Studio Ghibli co-creator Hayao Miyazaki. I never knew he had a book and this excited me so much, so of course I instantly made the decision to buy it!

Shuna's Journey is by no means a new story, coming out in 1983 (two years prior to Ghibli's founding). It was, however, newly translated into English and published in this gorgeous edition. The story is based on a Tibetan folktale and looking at the cover you can easily see how Studio Ghibli's famous film Princess Mononoke (1997) was inspired by this earlier work.

As a fellow watercolor painter, I am always inspired by Miyazaki's use of color and lighting in his work, especially in his landscapes and backgrounds.

Here is a quick little flip-through of the book. I don't want to give it all away though so you can still be surprised if you choose to grab your own copy.

Raw, beautiful poetry on discovering and defending boundaries as a woman...love, sexuality, emotion, breaking, healing...I read it twice, and am due for another re-read.

"I have no balance in love. I either guard my heart completely, or I toss it away."

Here is a little peek at my setup for taking most of my book photos. It's super simple.

I take as much advantage of natural light from my window as I can, use sweaters and fabrics as a backdrop, and made some reflectors out of cardboard and aluminum foil to bounce light back and fill in harsh shadows.

*REVIEW*

5🌟

"FOR A VERY LONG TIME, THE DAYS WENT BY, EACH JUST LIKE THE DAY BEFORE, THEN I BEGAN TO THINK, AND EVERYTHING CHANGED"

Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction

Synopsis from Goodreads: “Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl – the fortieth prisoner – sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.”

What I loved about it:

● The spunk of the narrator: “My memory begins with my anger.”  This narrator sparks a fire among the sameness and monotony of life underground, inciting change among a group of people who are too afraid to do anything—and then seeing this spark slowly lost as even the strongest-willed of characters is susceptible to loneliness.

○ The narrator’s way of detaching as a way to cope with the loneliness, and the development of her realizing her humanity: “I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all.”

● Its look at female sexuality and how without men, females still have each other. There were many lesbian partnerships in this novel. I especially loved the narrator being asexual and the perspective this brought.

○ The absolute bleakness of it all. This book surprised me in being utterly unsurprising. Nothing happens, and yet I felt a roller coaster of emotions through it all.

I Who Have Never Known Men left a void in my soul that nothing will ever fill. I believe it is worth reading at least once because of its interesting social perspective on what the world would be like without men and the blank emptiness of it all will bring a new appreciation for human connection even among the hermitiest of hermits (like myself). It is a short book and should be a quick, thought-provoking read.

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, here is one of my absolute favorite hist fic novels, written by Korean-American author Min Jin Lee.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century). This Dover edition has the story told both in prose and poetry. I read the poetry half and enjoyed the tale more than I expected for it have being written so so long ago!

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595/6) by William Shakespeare. My favorite part was when Hermia got roasted by Lysander for being short: "Get gone you dwarf; You minimus...You bead, You acorn."

As a very small adult human, I took that personally 😂

A goal I made for this year is to begin studying a language I have never studied before. I chose Mandarin.

Here are the most useful books and apps I recommend:

- The Standard Course HSK 1 Textbook and Workbook

- Tuttle's Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1 (uses an outstanding system of visualization to learn the characters instead of rote memorization)

- Pleco Dictionary (app)

- Duolingo or HelloChinese (app - I personally use Duolingo more because my friends are on there, but HelloChinese is specified to learning Chinese, so it may be considered better quality)