Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd & Jim Kay, A Monster Calls

Whilst picking up The Chaos Walking Trilogy from the library (see my review here) I spotted A Monster Calls on the shelf.

The Plot: Conor's mum is dying. One night a monster comes to call, he will tell three stories and in return expects Conor to tell the final tale.

Rating: ««««¶ (4/5)

Siobhan Dowd dies of cancer before completing this story, so the novel was completed by Patrick Ness. This gives the novel added poignancy, and the narrative is sad enough as it is. I'm not ashamed to admit I had a little cry.

More pictures under the jump:-

Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan is an artist who specialises in paper-cutting. His designs are intricate and whimsical, they appear on prints, ceramics, textiles and jewellery. In addition, he has published three illustrated books, two of which I own.

To have a peek at some of the pictures of This Is For You (which would make a great valentines gift btw) and A Sky Full Of Kindness, have a look after the jump:-

Anna + Elena Balbusso

picture taken from here
cover for Eugene Onegin

The Balbusso twins are illustrators, I saw a sample of their work on a recent visit to the V&A. They have won the 2013 V&A Illustration award for their illustrations for Alexander Pushkin's book, Eugene Onegin. 

picture taken from here 

Having a gander at their website, Anna and Elena have also illustrated few other books including Beowulf  and one of my favorite novels The Handmaid's Tale, by Margret Atwood:-

pictures taken from here 

Phlegm Comics

Phlegm is my favourite street artist. He is based in Sheffield, so I used to walk past some of his work when I was at Uni. I recently bought a book of his pen and ink illustrations.

The British Museum & Mildred's

Today we visited The British Museum and Mildred's, a small vegetarian restaurant in Soho.

Ok admittedly, this post has little to do with books or cuppas, though in my defense we did drink tea and there was a library in the museum.