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Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art & Home by Margaret Peot

July 7, 2015 by

tlc tour host

Source: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 128 pgs
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Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art & Home by Margaret Peot is a gloriously laid out how-to guide for stenciling on fabric and other materials, and Peot outlines what tools work best and how to choose the best brushes and materials for making stencils.  She says in the introduction, “In this book you will make your mark literally — using stencil techniques to paint on clothes, paper, and home furnishings for fashion, interior design, art, and crafting.”  However, she does warn, “while experimenting with the projects in this book, you will make some beautiful things and some ugly things.”  (page 7)

My husband is the more crafty one when it comes to art, though I’ve done some pastel drawings and some collage in scrapbooks previously, but this book was a way that our family could create something together.  With the gorgeous examples in the book, it was very hard to decide, but we ultimately chose to do a project with found items, which can be those found outside, like feathers and leaves, or just stuff from around the house like ribbon, lace trim, or other items. Then, after rummaging around the house and looking at the stuff we had, we changed our minds. Obviously, this is a book that can generate a ton of ideas.

Finally, we decided to create a board that our daughter could use for her achievements, like her swim ribbons and her medals from soccer, etc. We wanted to create something with stencils and acrylic that she could use. However, rather than cut out our own stencils, we bought some we liked to try out; we’ll probably be more adventurous later when we redo the kitchen cabinets.

You can see the progression and results we had for our first time. We thought that the instructions about picking out brushes and paints was pretty straightforward. The techniques for brushing on the paint was relatively easy to follow, though it seems that we were both using different techniques on the same project. The overall result is good, but I think we’ll need a little more practice before we tackle a larger project. Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art & Home by Margaret Peot will have us busy for some time, and I think theses are some great projects for families to do together or even to teach little ones. I’ll be sharing this book with both my husband and daughter for sure.

There are two giveaways with this review, one through Rafflecopter, and one for a single copy of the book to a U.S. resident.

So please do enter both. Leave a comment about what kinds of stencil projects you’d be interested in doing in the comments for your chance to win a copy of the book.  Enter by July 12, 2015, 11:59 PM EST

 

 

 

 

About the Author:

Margaret is an artist, writer and costume painter. Margaret’s book Inkblot: Drip, Splat and Squish Your Way to Creativity (Boyds Mills 2011) was awarded a Eureka! Silver Medal for non-fiction children’s books. She is also the author of The Successful Artist’s Career Guide (F&W 2012), Alternative Art Journals (F&W 2012), and Make Your Mark (Chronicle Books, 2004), voted one of Library Journal’s best how-to books of 2004. She is looking forward to the publication of two new books in 2015, Stencil Craft (F&W) and an early reader picture book, Crow Makes a Friend (Holiday House).

Margaret has painted costumes at Parsons-Meares, LTD for more than twenty years. Projects include Broadway (Aladdin, The Lion King, Wicked, Turn Off the Dark, Will Rogers Follies, Shrek the Musical, Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, among many others), dance (ABT, Joffrey Ballet, Pilobolus, Feld Ballet, Nevada Ballet), film (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), as well as for circuses, arena shows and ice shows. For more information, please visit her websites: MargaretPeot.com and TheInkBlot.com.

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway:

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Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

June 23, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 85 pgs
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The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, which was our June book club selection and my second reading (I haven’t read this since college), is a nonfiction analysis of different types of principalities and how a prince can keep them when factions or people move against him.  The work is considered a classic and it is an examination of what traits make principalities hard to maintain or easy to keep, as well as what characteristics a prince should foster in himself to hold onto his principality.  Although this is a slim volume, the economy of the language makes it quite dense and oftentimes dry.  Many often attribute the sayings of “the ends justify the means” and “might makes right” to Machiavelli, though they are not necessarily accurate interpretations of what he espoused.

It is clear that his life experiences as a civil servant in Italy, which had been far from unified under one government and was operated more through a balance of various factions and the strength of the truth.  It is clear that Machiavelli viewed political success from a practical standpoint, without an emphasis on morality.  More accurate attributions of wisdom to him might be that you can gauge the intelligence of a prince by those he has around them or that it is better to be feared than loved.

“The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite one, are good laws and good arms; and because you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow … ” (page 40)

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli has become a guidebook for many leaders, and has been perverted by others, including Hitler and Stalin.  Whatever readers may take away from his advice on principalities, Machiavelli is clearly a keen observer of human behavior, especially among rulers.  It is highly humorous that he would give this book as a gift to a new ruler of the Medici family in the hope of gaining favor with the new government, especially since the book tends to provide a framework for governing as if the reader would need pointers.  How many rulers would take to that kindly?

What the book club thought:

Everyone seemed to agree that this was almost like a how-to guide on how to become a prince and maintain the power they gain, regardless of the political or geographical situation.  One member expressed the opinion that Machiavelli seemed to focus on his own ambitions, despite his couching of his advice as something to help Medici, who was currently in power at the time the book was written.  Others did not see that, and I mentioned that he was incredibly disappointed that his political and civilian government life had come to an end too quickly and that he was motivated to ensure his return to that life.  Overall, most people found the book interesting and though that it would be interesting to see what Machiavelli would have written about the U.S. presidency or if his guide would work in today’s modern world.  The book generated a great deal of discussion, and most were surprised that it was not more evil than they expected.

About the Author:

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian political philosopher, musician, poet, and romantic comedic playwright. He is a figure of the Italian Renaissance and a central figure of its political component, most widely known for his treatises on realist political theory (The Prince) on the one hand and republicanism (Discourses on Livy) on the other.

Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, borrowed copy, challenges, nonfiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer by Lisa Pliscou

June 3, 2015 by

Source: Author Lisa Pliscou
Paperback, 188 pgs
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Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer by Lisa Pliscou is an unusual biography in that it is written from the perspective of a young girl, the now famous Jane Austen.  In the introduction the author said she has created a “speculative biography” because there is so little known about Austen’s younger years.  She includes a time line for the biography and a list of sources, as well as a delightful annotated version of the biography in the back of the book.  Annotations help provide context to the well crafted narrative of young Jane’s early life.  An overarching theme in this biography is what makes a writer become a writer?  Are they born as such? Does it require simply a fondness for words or an observant nature and does it need to be nurtured just by the individual or by their own support system?

“But people aren’t born writers; they become writers.  They’re shaped by the circumstances of their lives — their personality, their interests, their experiences, their family and friends — and it’s never a certain thing that a talent with words, no matter how abundant, will find its full expression in both accomplishment and recognition.”  (pg. 141)

With this thesis in mind, Pliscou sets about illustrating how this may be true for Jane Austen, called Jenny by her family.  In many respects, she was not considered the writer of the family, and many in her family also wrote, including her mother.  And again, like most writers will tell you, reading can shape your craft as a writer, and as Jane read more and more, she began to use her knowledge to pick apart novels and other writing to learn how it functioned.

“Like Mama ripping apart an old gown of Cassy’s, only to put it together in a different way, creating a new gown for Jenny, Jenny was going to rip apart everything she had read.”  (pg 75)

Pliscou does touch upon the limited options available to women of Jane’s time, even in her transitions between different parts of the book.  At the heart of this biography is a strong young lady who sees an opportunity to become more and to be fulfilled in an unconventional way.  Had she different parents or siblings, perhaps there would have been no famous novelist.  But thankfully, that was not to be.  Young Jane Austen: Becoming a Writer by Lisa Pliscou is delightful, and would make a great introduction to young writers still toying with words on the page.  It demonstrates a young lady’s life as it is shaped by the world around her and the words on the page, and it also includes delightful illustrations.

About the Author:

Lisa Pliscou is an acclaimed author of both fiction and nonfiction — funny, thought-provoking, educational, inspiring — for adults and children, with a highlight on the coming-of-age experience.

Her work has been praised by the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, the Associated Press, The Horn Book, and other media.

 

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus, Read by Henry Rollins

May 6, 2015 by

Source: Audible
Audio, 7 hrs
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The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus, read by Henry Rollins, examines rock and roll history in a unique way, threading together not only U.S. history and the British invasion, but also the influences and changes that occur when new artists take on old songs and make them new.  The artists breathe new life into these songs based on their own experiences and influences, and while the songwriters are often in the background and not praised as much for their work writing them, they provide the backbone that sets these No. 1 hits on their paths to greatness.  Each chapter of the book is broken up to discuss a particular song, but Marcus’ writing style often seems like he’s just producing a name-dropping litany, rather than fleshing out the history of those songs.

The songs he selected were Shake Some Action; Transmission; In the Still of the Nite; All I Could Do Was Cry; Crying, Waiting, Hoping; Instrumental Break; Money (That’s What I Want) Money Changes Everything; This Magic Moment; Guitar Drag; and To Know Him Is To Love Him.  While the Beatles could not be ignored given their wide-ranging influence on rock and roll, Marcus does select songs and singers who were not necessarily as big, including Joy Division and others in Motown and other genres.  Rollins does a great job at pacing his reading of this book, but readers will still hear the run-on sentences and the excessive use of commas, as well as the tangential stream-of-conscious discussion that is all Marcus.

The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus, read by Henry Rollins, is an experimental thesis that the genesis of music is the interplay of chords, song, voice, and other factors, but it also strives to demonstrate how music from all genres influences not only what is produced today, but what has been produced previously.  While many would say that there is nothing new in music, Marcus would disagree — as he does in the interview with Rollins — saying that each artist places their own flavor and influence on a song, making it into something new.  The possibilities are endless.  While readers can appreciate Marcus’ musical knowledge and experience, as well as his tracking of history, the execution of this book bogs down the pacing and will leaver readers’ minds wandering.  An experience that, perhaps, could have been improved by some audio snippets of the songs he discusses.

About the Author:

Greil Marcus is the author of Mystery Train (1975), Lipstick Traces (1989), The Shape of Things to Come (2006), When that Rough God Goes Riding and Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus (both 2010), and other books. With Werner Sollors he is the editor of A New Literary History of America (2009). In recent years he has taught at Berkeley, Princeton, Minnesota, NYU, and the New School in New York. He lives in Oakland, California.

Filed Under: audiobooks, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (audio)

February 25, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 12.5 hours
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin, was our February book club selection.  Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who felt something was wrong, some lump was growing insider her, and that lump she had was eventually diagnosed as a kind of cervical cancer.  Her treatment commenced, but she bore it all on her own, telling very few in her family about it.  She also continued to bear children throughout the process.  Lacks has since become immortal in that her cancerous cells were collected and cultivated by scientists and renamed HeLa.  Those cells were used in the fight against polio and a number of other diseases.  While she was unable to see the fruits of her cells’ labors, she is in a way immortal.

Rebecca Skloot injects herself into this narrative, which becomes part memoir as she recounts her interactions with Lacks’ children, especially Deborah.  Skloot discovered that this family had been bombarded by requests for information long before she decided to write a book about Lacks and her cells, which had made them less than willing to speak to her.  Despite the many set backs and the paranoia that often ruled Deborah’s reactions to her questions, Skloot made headway and even took family members on road trips in ways that brought the true past of their mother back to the family.  In many ways, this is not just a story about Henrietta Lacks, how her cells helped science and cured disease, or about medical ethics, but it also is a story about a family regaining its connections and its past.

The audio production was well done, especially differentiating between Deborah’s thoughts and that of the author, making them easily discernible.  This audiobook also included an interview with the author about her research and her interactions with the Lacks family, as well as her writing process, which was fascinating.  And although the story shifts from the past to the current research, the book’s narrative flows well and is immediately engaging for those with an interest in science, medical research, and the history of HeLa.  But even then, this is a human interest story about how a family struggles to learn about their mother and her cells and what happened in the past.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin, packs a punch — hitting the heart of medical research and the debate about who cells belong to, what rights patients have to their own cells, whether there should be more restrictions on their use, and whether compensation should be offered to those who donate their cells.

About the Author:

Rebecca Skloot is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Her award winning science writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; and many other publications. She specializes in narrative science writing and has explored a wide range of topics, including goldfish surgery, tissue ownership rights, race and medicine, food politics, and packs of wild dogs in Manhattan. She has worked as a correspondent for WNYC’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW.

Book Club had to be postponed due to a snowstorm, but I cannot wait for the discussion in March!

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Trigger by Tim Butcher (audio)

February 19, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 10 hrs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War by Tim Butcher, narrated by Gerard Doyle, is a mixture of travelogue and a sort-of-biography of Gavrillo Princip, the man who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and set the wheels in motion for World War I.  Princip has been considered a radical in many texts, but Butcher seeks to remedy that image and bring to life a more rounded view of the assassin, who eagerly sought the unification of the Slav people in a single nation of their own.

Butcher travels as Princip had traveled from his days growing up and in school and until he joins a group aimed at creating a unified nation free from foreign rule.  Moving from the feudal frontier village of his birth through the mountains in the northern Balkans to Belgrade and Sarajevo where Ferdinand was murdered.  While the story of Princip is engaging, the constant reflections on Butcher’s life as a war reporter in the 1990s during a more modern war in Bosnia draws parallels while pulling readers out of the story about the assassin.  Butcher meets some well-meaning people on his journey and some have no information about Princip, while others have pre-formed perceptions of the teen.

Doyle does an excellent job narrating and maintains the readers attention with his inflections and enthusiasm for the subject.  Butcher’s reminiscences about growing up in Britain after WWI and reporting on modern war are distracting.  The most interesting parts of the story are obscured by the travelogue for the most part and could have been reduced significantly to ensure the history shines through.  Readers interested in the history of the region and why Princip assassinated Ferdinand would be better served by another account of the man’s actions.  The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War by Tim Butcher, narrated by Gerard Doyle, takes too much time outlining the travels of Butcher and his past, focusing merely one-third on Princip, how he was shaped, and why he assassinated the archduke.

About the Author:

Tim Butcher is a best-selling British author, journalist and broadcaster. Born in 1967, he was on the staff of The Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009, covering all major conflicts across the Balkans the Middle East and Africa. Recognised in 2010 with an honorary doctorate for services to journalism and writing, he is based with his family in the South African city of Cape Town.
Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, audiobooks, borrowed copy, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

December 16, 2014 by

Source:  LibraryThing Early Reviewers
Hardcover, 368 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg is a perfect book for book clubs who want to discuss social and cultural issues.  Nordberg is a journalist in Afghanistan, and she stumbles upon a family with a son who is not what he seems.  He is bacha posh or dressed up as a boy in Dari — it is a technique used by families to save their families’ honor when they have only daughters.  The pressure on low-income, middle-income, and even rich families to have sons is great, and while there are rules in place, they can be bent.  Some families take their youngest girls and dress them as boys, and these girls are then allowed the same privileges as true sons — which means education, sports, being outside unescorted, and wearing boys clothes.  While these privileges only last a short while, the daughters mostly enjoy their time as sons, but there are some who prefer to be girls and wear dresses, but do what they must for their families to survive in society and earn the money they need to live.

“Often, as we have seen in Kabul, it is a combination of factors  A poor family may need a son for different reasons than a rich family, but no ethnic or geographical reasons set them apart.  They are all Afghans, living in a society that demands sons at almost any cost.  And to most of them, the health workers say, having a bacha posh in the family is an accepted and uncontroversial practice, provided the girl is turned back to woman before she enters puberty, when she must marry and have children of her own.  Waiting too long to turn someone back could have consequences for a girl’s reputation.  A teenage girl can conceive and should not be anywhere near teenage boys, even in disguise.”  (page 68 ARC)

Nordberg consistently brings in outside data about the culture of Afghanistan, and she admits that her efforts to apply logic to the situation is pointless, and yet she keeps trying.  These women have defined beliefs and adhere to their culture, even if they wish certain traditions and customs regarding women were different.  Even one female politician adheres to the culture because to outwardly thwart it would bring dishonor to her family and particularly to her husband.  Each of these women knows that to survive they must work within the system, and sons are regarded above everything, though women are considered property and as good as cash when making advancements in society — which is why many women were sold off into marriages at very young ages.  While some aspects of the culture are less arcane, it is clear that Afghanistan is resistant to “Western” ideas and ways, and when the Taliban is in charge, things are even more dire for women.

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg touches upon a phenomenon that is more widespread than expected, but it is not documented, as these girls dressed as boys are considered acceptable so long as the secret is not widely broadcast.  While many would see this as a form of resistance in a rigid society, the women in these families do not see it that way in many cases.  It is merely a way to survive and maintain a honorable reputation in the eyes of society, and if dressing a girl like a boy magically results in a son being born, so much the better.

About the Author:

Jenny Nordberg is a New York-based foreign correspondent and a columnist for Swedish national newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.  In 2010, she broke the story of “bacha posh” – how girls grow up disguised as boys in gender-segregated Afghanistan. The Page One story was published in The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, and Nordberg’s original research in the piece was used for follow-up stories around the world, as well as opinion pieces and fictional tales.  Check out her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.

Filed Under: ARC, nonfiction, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200 Years of Classic Book Covers by Margaret C. Sullivan

December 2, 2014 by

Source: Quirk
Hardcover, 224 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200 Years of Classic Book Covers by Margaret C. Sullivan is chock full of covers from when Jane Austen’s books were first published to more modern renditions as publishers strove to attract the attention of young adult readers.  The covers range from plain leather and cloth to campy and romantic, but Sullivan does not stop there.  She offers her readers a bit of publishing and copyrights history, along with some family biographical notes.  Austen’s novels have endured for two centuries, and some volumes included illustrations by artists and critical introductions by famous critics of the time.  In the back of the book, there are synopses of the novels and a guide for buyers of Austen’s works, with some sage advice about staying within a budget — especially since some volumes can cost $500 or more.

This is a beautiful rendition of the publishing history of one novelist, with carefully reproduced covers, quotations pulled from the novels, and great comments about the books, the author, the publishing industry of the time, and more.  Readers of Jane Austen — no matter how new to her books — will love learning who coined the term “Janeite”, how wealthier buyers in the 1800s personalized their bound books with signature bindings, and critical comments about the book cover decisions that publishers made given the trends of the time.

Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200 Years of Classic Book Covers by Margaret C. Sullivan contains beautiful artwork, commentary, and more for Jane Austen readers, book publishing connoisseurs, and history buffs.  Using the resurgence of Austen’s work in movies to redesign book covers is just one trend that will captivate modern readers, but this volume has a lot to offer. A perfect gift for the Jane Austen lover or history buff in your house.

About the Author:

Margaret C. Sullivan is the author of The Jane Austen Handbook, (my review) editrix of Austenblog.com, and an active member of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

Filed Under: nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Quirk Classics, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Women of Valor: Polish Resisters to the Third Reich by Joanne D. Gilbert

November 12, 2014 by

Source: Gihon River Press
Paperback, 204 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

Women of Valor: Polish Resisters to the Third Reich by Joanne D. Gilbert is a collection of heart-warming, terrifying, and inspiring stories of Polish resisters against the Nazi Third Reich during WWII.  These four women have tension filled tales to tell, and they are full of bravery, luck, and serendipity.  As stated in the introductory pages and the brief history on Poland and its Jewish people, Poland was often conquered and victimized and in some areas of the nation, there was rampant antisemitism.  In fact, the country was often treated like a spoil of war, and that did not change when the Nazis began expanding their reach across Europe.  Several of these resisters mention in their stories how Jews are often considered weak and meek, but their stories clearly illustrate that these women engaged in all kinds of resistance against the Nazis and that they were not alone in their fight.

“Before the 1939 German invasion, Poland’s population of approximately 35 million included almost 3.5 million Jews, more than any other European country.  In fact, for many centuries in Poland had been considered the heart and center of Europe’s Jewish population.  When German occupation of Poland ended in 1945, over 6 million Poles–approximately half of which were Jews–had been annihilated.”  (page 17)

Manya Feldman, a nurse and fighter during the war, was considered the “crazy Jewess” when she was infected during the war and unable to walk and move.  She was forced at an early age to decide to flee the ghetto into the forest or stay with her mother and young sisters, but her decision left her haunted forever.  After joining the Kovpak partisans in the forest, she was again separated from her brother and father, but she had little time to wallow as she was expected to not only engage in village raids for supplies, but also nurse the wounded and sick.  Faye Schulman was a nurse, fighter, and photographer, and her skills as a photographer saved her from Nazi punishment more than once.  She even noted, “We all had to be off the streets at dark, which was difficult in winter when darkness came so early.  It was especially challenging for teenagers who wanted to socialize or carry on romances at night.  … I had no idea that this sneaking around would soon become a skill that would keep me alive.”  And at one point, she even found herself near the camp of the Bielski partisans, who were depicted in the movie Defiance.

“When we arrived, we were astounded to see that my possessions had been neatly packed in several boxes, and placed out on the sidewalk.  Everything was just sitting there. Apparently someone in the house had figured out that I’d be in on this partisan raid, and in the chaos of a war zone, took a chance on helping me.”  (page 81)

Lola Lieber was a young woman between childhood and womanhood who was forced to grow up quickly when the Nazis came to Poland.  Her birth outside Poland in Czechoslovakia even became an asset, not only because she knew different cultures and languages, but because the Nazis spared her and the family for a time.  As they put their artistry to the test in forging documents, Lola’s life and that of her family was constantly hanging in the balance.  Miriam Brysk was a little girl who dressed as a boy, and she took to heart the discipline she had been taught as a young girl: to always listen and follow orders.

Women of Valor: Polish Resisters to the Third Reich by Joanne D. Gilbert is a fantastic look at how these women used their intelligence and the skills they had since childhood to resist the Germans, to fight them through guerrilla tactics, and evade capture and death.  Gilbert does a great job of setting up each story so that the reader knows how these women fared after the war and where they live now.  And as many of these women, men, and soldiers are passing on, these stories from WWII grow ever more important to collect because they remind us that people’s courage should never be under-estimated.

About the Author:

Influenced as a little girl by her Grandmother’s vivid and poignant stories of the beloved family and friends who were so brutally murdered when the Nazis destroyed the Jewish People of Vilna, Lithuania, Joanne has always understood the importance of preserving Jewish History – one family story at a time. With this mission in mind, she became a professional Personal Historian in 2007, creating her own business, “Your Write Time!”

A popular Adjunct English professor at the College of Southern Nevada, Joanne is also a sought-after-public-speaker, whose presentations on both Jewish Genealogy and Jewish and Gentile WOMEN OF VALOR: Polish Resisters to the Third Reich consistently receive glowing reviews.

Joanne’s extensive travels to meet with Female Resisters and Partisans have taken her to Toronto, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Palo Alto, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Paris, where she was honored to meet with a group of women who had been in the French Resistance.

77th book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

31st book (WWII) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

 

 

27th book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; (Set in Poland/Czechoslovakia)

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter

November 4, 2014 by

Source: Hachette Books
Hardcover, 473 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter expertly combines the search for art with the internal mechanics of military operations.  These Monuments Men are struggling to justify their mission to their compatriots and superiors, even though they are given a mandate from the U.S. government, and they are forced to get creative as they are continually denied the resources they need to locate, transport, and protect the art they are searching for.  Stout at one point decides to place signs on monuments that will ensure they are not disturbed: “Danger — Mines!”  Through a series of chapters that not only delve into the fall of the Third Reich but also the confusion of orders from Adolf Hitler with regard to the Nero Decree, Edsel and Witter personalize the stories of these unassuming and dedicated men.

“But with that, the portrait was complete.  Balfour the British scholar.  Hancock the good-natured artist.  Rorimer the bulldog curator.  Posey the Alabama farmboy.  And, lurking somewhere in the back, dapper, pencil-mustached George Leslie Stout.” (page 58)

“This was not to say the job was easy: far from it.  The men had all realized that they really were on their own in the field.  There were no set procedures to follow; no proper chain of command; no right way of dealing with combat officers.  They had to feel each situation out; to improvise on an hourly basis; to find a way to finish a job that seemed more daunting every day.  They had no real authority, but served merely as advisors.”  (page 86)

These men are not only dedicated to their mission, but some are longing for home and the future they have dreamed about.  Like other soldiers in the war, their lives are at risk as the military meets sustained combat and pockets of resistance even as the Nazis retreat into the Alps.  Even after the art has been found and collected, it takes more than six years after the end of WWII before the art would be returned to the museums, owners, and countries from which they were taken.  In many cases, the success of the mission was aided by luck, infiltration of key French personnel, and the meticulous record-keeping skills of the Germans themselves.

“‘A number of our officers went up to see the camp,’ he wrote.  ‘I did not go, because much of my work depended on friendly relations with German civilians, and I feared that after seeing the horrors of the camp my own feelings toward even these innocent people would be affected. …'” (page 310)

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter brings to life a part of WWII history that had been buried and forgotten for far too many years, and it pays tribute to the modest and dedicated men who fought to preserve not only works of art but entire cultures in the face of great evil and destruction.  These men were hardly alone in their fight to save the art, but they continued to have the courage to push onward and achieve their goals in spite of the obstacles they faced.  As Jacques Jaujard, one of the integral players in France, said, “It matters little that you are afraid if you manage to hide it.  You are then at the edge of courage.”  Moreover, he said, “There are fights that you may lose without losing your honor; what makes you lose your honor is not to fight them.”

About the Authors:

Robert M. Edsel is the best-selling author of Saving Italy, The Monuments Men and Rescuing da Vinci and co-producer of the award-winning documentary film The Rape of Europa. Edsel is also the founder and president of the Monuments Men Foundation, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, and a trustee at the National WWII Museum. After living in Florence for five years, he now resides in Dallas, Texas.

Bret Witter has co-authored eight New York Times bestsellers. His books have been translated into over thirty languages and sold over two million copies worldwide.
26th book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; (Set in Austria/Germany)
30th book (WWII) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.
Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, Hachette Books, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them by Isaac Fitzgerald, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton

October 29, 2014 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 144 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them by Isaac Fitzgerald, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton and introduction by Cheryl Strayed, is fantastic for those who are interested in not only body art but personal stories.  Some of the stories behind the tattoos illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton are silly, while others are sad and some are inspiring.  The illustrations are colorful and fantastic, though readers may almost prefer to see photos of the stunning art work of the tattoos.  But that’s a minor complaint given the personal stories behind the tattoos.  It is not just that the tattoos tell a story but that these tattoos contain memories for their bearers.

Isaac Fitzgerald says in the preface, “My tales of driving trucks through small Massachusetts towns, drunk and with no license, made me who I was.  I learned that people define you by your stories.”  And in many ways, it is not just your stories that others use to define you, but it is also how you define yourself.  Tattoos are an expression of those stories and those memories you hold dear and choose to share, and those tattoos and memories also can define you.

From the introduction by Cheryl Strayed, “Each of the stories is like being let in on sixty-three secrets by sixty-three strangers who passed you on the street or sat across from you on the train.  They’re raw and real and funny and sweet.  They speak of lives you’ll never live and experiences you know precisely.  Together, they do the work of great literature — gathering a force so true they ultimately tell a story that includes us all.”

Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them by Isaac Fitzgerald, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton and introduction by Cheryl Strayed, could become a series of books with other tattooed professionals, students, and non-professionals that provide a look into not only the variety of people who get tattoos but the various reasons that people get tattoos.  How these individuals feel about their tattoos now is irrelevant to why they were added to their bodies in the first place — whether a tribute to a loved one or a passion for an unwritten future.

About the Author:

Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and been given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. He is co-founder of Pen & Ink, co-owner of The Rumpus, and the editor at BuzzFeed Books.

About the Illustrator:

Wendy MacNaughton is an illustrator and a graphic journalist based in San Francisco. Her documentary series Meanwhile tells the stories of communities through drawings and the subject’s own words, and is being published as an anthology by Chronicle Books in 2014. She’s illustrated two other forthcoming books: Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology, by Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton (Bloomsbury, 2013) and The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Wine, by Richard Betts (Houghton Mifflin, 2013).

She has degrees in fine art/advertising and social work from Art Center College of Design and Columbia University. When they let her, she likes to talk with students at Art Center College of Design, and she is an artist in residence at Intersection for the Arts.

About the Introduction Writer:

Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild, will be published by Knopf in March 2012. It will also be published in Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Her novel, Torch (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award and was selected by The Oregonian as one of the top ten books of the year by writers from the Pacific Northwest. Strayed’s writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, Allure, Self, The Missouri Review, Brain, Child, The Rumpus, The Sun and elsewhere. The winner of a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, her essays and stories have been published in The Best American Essays, The Best New American Voices, and other anthologies. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. She’s a founding member of VIDA: Women In Literary Arts, and serves on their board of directors. Raised in Minnesota, Strayed now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, the filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, and their two children.

74th book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review by Pamela Paul

October 23, 2014 by

Source: Henry Holt & Company
Hardcover, 336 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review edited by Pamela Paul, foreword by Scott Turow, is a collection of question-and-answers from The New York Times Book Review with authors, scientists, and more.  Some of these questions stay the same, like what their favorite books are, what genres are their guilty pleasures, and what books disappointed them.  Any book lover who does or does not read the Book Review (though why wouldn’t you) will want this book to get the inside scoop on writers and their writing and reading lives.

Pamela Paul knows just what questions other readers want answered from their favorite authors, and she knows that starting conversations about what people are reading can lead to some in-depth and interesting questions — even philosophical ones.  “Asking someone what she’s read lately is an easy conversational gambit … It also serves an actual purpose: we may find out about something we want to read ourselves,” Pamela Paul says in the introduction.

As Turow says in his foreword, “whether a given writer likes or abhors a given book, all writers probably would concede that … they are who they are because of every one of the books with which they’ve ‘stoofed’ themselves during their lifetimes.”  Book lovers of all ages will love this compilation because they will find something else to read, increase the size of their stacks, and experience the deep appreciation writers and artists have for one another and their work.

By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review edited by Pamela Paul, foreword by Scott Turow, is a fantastic compilation of interviews.  Some interviews are humorous, while others are more serious.  The book itself is likely to garner The New York Times Book Review a few more subscribers.

About the Author:

Pamela Paul is the editor of The New York Times Book Review and the author of Parenting, Inc., Pornified, and The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony. Prior to joining the Times, Paul was a contributor to Time magazine and The Economist, and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Vogue. She and her family live in New York.  Visit her website and her on Twitter.

72nd book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , , ,