When the publicist reached out to me about this one, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to accept it.* It’s been a few years since I reviewed an interactive book like this and even though they’re perennials on my top 10 viewed lists (oh heeeey, Lee Crutchley and Sharon Jones . . . ), I always feel like they’re cheating a little bit, but then again I spent most of last year flying through “trashy romance novels” so . . . yeah.
However, after checking out Naylor’s Instagram and seeing how many of the bright pieces of art made me smile and honestly adoring his love for colorful socks, I said yes.
I did my usual skip the table of contents, read the forward matter and jump right in. I loved that it opened with a “this book is yours read it back-to-front, flip to a page and do what it says, or do whatever you want.” So, much to my surprise before I even got to number 10 I was ready to torch the beautiful well constructed book.
Seriously, I was appalled at #8 and did an “OH HELL NO” probably out loud because no one else was home and then even louder WHO ORGANIZES THEIR BOOKS BY COLOR?!?!?!? And immediately proceeded to call Naylor a monster, an anarchist and any other number of unpolite names. I mean what else would you expect from an Instagram artist, right? (This is not a dig on Naylor more on bookstagram and influencer culture.**) Seriously, ya’ll my anxiety skyrocketed!
To be fair he did warn that not everyone would like everything about his book/suggestions and ultimately, I persevered to find other fun and incredibly colorful gems like: draw on your toilet with dry erase markers or take a midnight walk and so many wonderfully illustrated quotes about living life colorfully. The artwork was just so vibrant I couldn’t help but smile and I (mostly) forgot about the bookshelf insanity.
There were also some pretty cool interactive parts like cutting pages or letters out to give to someone else and as shocking and horrifying as that was to me to cut up such a beautifully made book, I totally got it so didn’t hold that against him.
The most striking piece of the entire book however, was #59 “A Colorless World”. It completely caught me off guard with it’s complete void of color and truly made me appreciate the rest of the book that much more. Where they dropped it into the book fit perfectly (even though there appears to be a typo) and I craved to see the next page, but I held on the page for a minute to really take in the juxtaposition of the rest of the book.
When it comes to these type of books if I do accept them I always accept a physical copy. It’s important to see how it feels and interacts physically. If it’s made too cheaply so much is lost in translation. If it’s got interactive things like “cut out these letters” or “rip out this page” that doesn’t translate well to digital. Live Life Colorfully did NOT disappoint.
The cover is really sturdy and the heavy gloss paper as you’re turning pages and it really pulls the colors out of the page make them feel that much more vibrant (or the lack thereof that much starker), so kudos to Naylor, the design team, and the production team! The only problem I had with it was the inability to easily read some of the words that stretched across a full spread (I’m thinking purple was one). Where the page was bound a word split the pages and I didn’t want to really crack the spine so it was hard to read a word or two, but like I said that was a minor annoyance than anything worth really critiquing.
Recommendation: If you’re ever unsure of a gift or want a talking piece for your coffee table, this is definitely a great option. The colorful artwork and fun ideas throughout are engaging for all ages and I found myself smiling the entire time I read it. Naylor definitely shares his underlying philosophy that you could really try and read more into if you want, or if you really want to you could rip out pages and play with them or give them to people, it really is a real-life choose your own adventure type book!
*I received a copy of Live Life Colorfully from the publicist in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.
**Seriously not a dig at Naylor—one of my favorite “Instagram artists”, CJ Hendry, has some hilarious takes on when people call her that and I sort of feel like they should hang out together. If anything my comment is a critique of bookstagram and the influencer culture where everyone has to have f*cking aesthetic or a strict (more often than not, muted) color pallet. Give me the gritty days of early-Instagram: give me your drunken selfie, next to a photo of a bug or a leaf, next to whatever inspired you at that second in time. Don’t cultivate your life for everyone else and good lord don’t make every post a selfie!!!! Personally, I have a 3 selfies in a row gets you muted or unfollowed unless I’m solely following you for the thirst traps.
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