Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

C-SPL Reader of the Month: Anderson-Bricker

Kristin and John Anderson-Bricker moved to Dubuque in 1997. A professor of history at Loras College, Kristin teaches all United States history courses, specializing in race relations, gender history and American reform movements. John is a painter and sculptor who also works as the preparator at the Dubuque Museum of Art. Along with reading, they love hiking, birding, canoeing, gardening and cooking.

(See the past Reader of the Month posts here)

Q. Can you tell us about your reading interests?

A. We share an interest in historical fiction, especially mysteries. We both read non-fiction but choose different topics. Kristin reads history, science, natural history, archaeology and cookbooks. John enjoys art, architecture, design, electronics, technology, science and gardening. We most enjoy reading at the same time in the same room with a cup of coffee or a beer (depending on the time of day). We have time for reading because we do not watch television or use social media. We find that reading relaxes us because it shifts our minds from the everyday to another world. Additionally, we like expanding our knowledge and belief system through the written word.

Q. What is the best book you have read within the last year (or ever)?

JABAnna Lee Huber, The Anatomist’s Wife

KAB - Theodora Goss, The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter

Q. What is your ideal reading environment (location, sound, snacks, etc.)?

A. We begin every day reading together with our morning coffee before getting ready for work. So, each day we share the hour between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. reading in our living room or in the garden during warmer seasons. When we can find the time we also enjoy reading after work on the sun porch or out in the garden. Because we read many of the same books, the second reader will often initiate conversations over breakfast!

Q. What book are you most excited about reading next, and what about it is most exciting?

JAB – I very much enjoy Deanna Raybourn’s series about Veronica Speedwell and her companion Stoker. Looking forward to the next installment of their adventures.

KABAndrea Penrose created a likable detective duo in Charlotte Sloane and Lord Wrexford. I am looking forward to the next book and discovering the direction of their developing friendship. We particularly like historical fiction where the main characters develop relationships with one another across the series. We favor nineteenth century English worlds.

Q. What book do you think more people should read, and why do you think they should read it?

KAB – Americans should read David Blight’s Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory because it explains why the Lost Cause narrative gained prominence and became acceptable in our cultural understanding of the Civil War. Because it is a racist ideology that convinces people that Confederate symbols are about heritage, this book is an important corrective that explains how the Confederacy was and is really about hate. 

JAB – Art lovers also concerned with the environment should read Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists’ Interpretations and Solutions, by Barbara Matilsky. This book forces you to examine your own contributions to environmental degradation and the power of art to convey that message.

Q. When do you decide to stop reading a book? In other words, do you read every book to the last page, or is there a moment when you decide to stop?

Books need to be well written for us to read. So, we give a book about two chapters. If the writing is not exceptional, we will put the book aside. We leave many books unfinished because we want more time for the good ones.

Q. Do you remember when your love for reading began?

KAB - As a child, I became a reader of fiction due to my enthusiasm for The Chronicles of Narnia, so I would say that C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most important fiction book in my life. As a graduate student in 1990 I read In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s by Clayborne Carson and it established the pathway of my career and began my love affair with non-fiction.

JAB – My love of reading began in my twenties after I completed college and I began to read art history for pleasure and professional development. Some of my favorite art history books include Gaudi of Barcelona by Lluis Permanyer, Melba Levick; Earthworks and Beyond by John Beardsley, Time by Andy Goldsworthy, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson by Anne Newlands, and Hopper by Ivo Kranzfelder.

Check out the Anderson-Bricker Favorites book list!

Apply to be the next C-SPL Reader of the Month! 

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Staff Review: Portugal by Cyril Pedrosa

“It’s as if I feel at home everywhere or nowhere at all?”

Simon Muchat bares this telling sentiment near the beginning of the newly translated graphic novel Portugal by writer and artist Cyril Pedrosa, which follows the character’s journey to reconnect with his past, present, and place in the world.

Simon, a fictionalized version of Pedrosa, is an aloof art teacher who lately feels uninspired and disengaged. The fluidly shifting languages surrounding him parallel his casual disorientation. This vague comprehension prevents him from grasping any deeper truths in others; only surface impressions.

The scenery around Simon is beautiful and alive with sounds and busy movements that blend into loose and masterfully drawn shapes. The imagery mirrors the strength Simon’s memories. Some are strong, defined, and lasting, while most wash together overlapping perfectly to illustrate the haziness and fleeting nature of memory. The colors in particular reveal Simon’s mood, ranging from calm/reflective blues and greens to the heated/intense reds and oranges. However, a serene mix of amber and yellows dominate and the book is a very relaxed and introspective read because of it.

Simon eventually confronts the source of his artistic draught, a paralyzing void inside him. This emerges as violent vision of murder during a plane ride. Simon soon determines that this void is the absence of his family in his life, previously hinted at in flashbacks. Later while repeating his mantra “Estou Perdido” (I am lost) while trying to find his way to the beach, we get the first glimpse of Simon’s transformation. His former indifference brightens (literally with brighter hues) and Simon becomes enchanted with his surroundings and strives to connect. The remainder of the story follows Simon’s reunion with his family and his investigation of his family history that reinvigorates him.

Spend an afternoon with Portugal and you may be inspired to research your own lineage, reach out to those remote relatives and friends, or just reflect on your own place in the world.

~Garrett, Circulation

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Staff Review: Feel Free by Zadie Smith

https://catalog.dubuque.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?idx=au%2Cwrdl&q=zadie+smith&op=and&idx=ti&q=feel+free&op=and&idx=kw&do=Search&sort_by=relevance&limit=
In one of the pieces in novelist Zadie Smith's new essay collection, Feel Free, she writes that knowledgeable people -- educated people who not only pursue a craft or profession, but are also connoisseurs of Baroque music, say, or Renaissance art or French wine -- intimidate her, cause her to feel an almost-existential angst.

This seems odd because the overwhelming impression one has after reading Smith's new collection is "How can one person know so much?" Really. Smith writes (a lot), she travels, she teaches, she gives speeches, she's got a mate and a couple little kids. How does she do it?

What's even more remarkable is that she can write about so many different subjects, highbrow to low, without ever seeming pretentious, condescending, or dull. Rather, she seems down-to-earth, self-deprecating, just plain nice.

The topics of Feel Free's essays, many of which were originally written for New York Review of Book, New Yorker, and Harper's, run the gamut from Brexit to Jay-Z, British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Justin Bieber, portraitist Bathasar Denner to installation artist Sarah Sze. She writes about Key & Peele, Orson Welles, Billie Holiday, and Mark Zuckerberg. There are also book reviews and essays on joy, despair, optimism, climate change, writing, gentrification, and more.

Smith's a wonderful writer and her essays are engaging and personal because she's passionately engaged with life and acutely worried about the state of the world. If you're like me, reading her collection may make you feel like a bit of an underachiever, but you'll know a lot more when you finish than you did at the start and that's a small achievement in itself, right?

~Ann, Adult Services



 

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Staff Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

https://catalog.dubuque.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?ln=en_US&q=christina+baker+kline
Christina Baker Kline, author of the runaway bestseller Orphan Train, is back with a fine new novel, A Piece of the World. The impetus for this new work was Kline's interest in painter Andrew Wyeth's relationship with a considerably older woman, a native Mainer named Anna Christina Olson. Christina, as she was known, is the subject of Wyeth's most famous painting, 1948's Christina's World, and in her new novel, Kline brings the enigmatic Christina to life.

She does a bang-up job of it too, alternating chapters that propel us through Christina's young adulthood with chapters narrating her initial introduction to Wyeth (when she is 46 and he just 22) and their ensuing friendship. At age 46, Christina's life is solitary and hard. She lives without electricity or running water and has suffered since childhood from an undiagnosed condition that eventually reduces her to crawling on her arms, dragging her legs behind her.

Crushed by a huge romantic disappointment in her youth, Christina spends the bulk of her days caring for her crumbling old farmhouse and her brother Alvaro, who works their farm. Their days are not often visited by joy. Enter the energetic and idealistic Andy Wyeth, who is artistically intrigued by the Olson house, its occupants, and the surrounding landscape. Soon he is painting there every day, which he continues to do for the next thirty years, often painting Christina and Alvaro. Not included in the book but adding to its poignancy is the fact that upon his death at age 91, the famous and wealthy Andrew Wyeth, happily married with his own large family, chose to be buried beside Christina and Alvaro in their humble family plot.

Kline paints her characters with the same magical precision Wyeth's paintings are known for. She paints the landscape uncommonly well too, vividly evoking the sometimes-harsh, always beautiful Maine coast. Most touching of all, Kline imbues the physically disabled Christina with dignity and grace, the very qualities Wyeth ascribes to the awkward woman in his paintings. Christina's life was difficult, her days filled with pain, but she enjoyed 30 years of friendship with a remarkable man and was immortalized in one of the world's most famous works of art.

~Ann, Adult Services

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Cover Trend: Circles

Ann's recent review of My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead gave me a case of déjà vu. I could swear that I had seen that cover somewhere before. A quick conversation with my colleagues, and we had a list of books whose cover designs left us spinning!


Can you think of any other books with similar cover designs that we missed? Share them in the comments!

~Sarah, Adult Services

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Nine Unexpected Craft Books

Crafts can be an amazing way to relieve stress. The creativity, the focus, the repetitive actions -- the entire process can create a calming atmosphere that makes your daily cares seem miles away. Although, these are exactly the same reasons that you might find your typical craft projects unbearably boring. Never to fear! We've gathered a few of our newest (and quirkiest!) craft books together to help you find your crafting inspiration.

DIY, Dammit!: a practical guide to curse-free crafting by Joselyn Hughes
(745.5 HUG) A comedian-turned-crafter, and creator of the popular web series DIY, Dammit!, shares what she's learned the hard way, in a full-color illustrated guide to DIY crafting that includes 35 projects -- including a dog bed, "Cutie Pie" pillows, and a beer poncho -- as well as a helpful list of resources.


The Organic Artist: make your own paint, paper, pigments, prints, and more from nature by Nick Neddo
(702.84 NED) It's time to go back to basics! If you're interested in art, but find that it's becoming an increasingly expensive hobby, The Organic Artist is just the book for you! It encourages us all to return to those days when art was made with all-natural materials, such as charcoal and birch bark. Immersing you in the natural world, The Organic Artist seeks to inspire creativity by connecting you to your organic roots.

Little Felted Dogs: easy projects for making adorable pups by Saori Yamazaki
(745.5924 YAM) Whether they adore their pugs, or wish they had a Pomeranian, dog lovers of all stripes will fall in love with these miniature versions of two dozen beloved breeds. Simple needle-felting instructions require only a small amount of wool and are easy enough for crafters to customize an homage to their own adorable mutts.

Handmade Lampshades: beautiful designs to illuminate your home by Natalia Price-Cabrera
(745.5932 PRI) This book is bursting with inspirational images, tips and ideas. Sixteen contemporary projects are covered in useful step-by-step tutorials.

Animal Heads: trophy heads to crochet by Vanessa Mooncie
(746.434 MOO) A collection of trophy animal head patterns to crochet to add whimsy to any room in your home. Featured are 10 faux taxidermy projects and detailed hand-drawn charts for each, along with a comprehensive techniques section to help you learn all the skills necessary.

Ancient Worlds, Modern Beads: 30 stunning beadwork designs inspired by treasures from ancient civilizations by Mortira vanPelt
(745.5942 VAN) In Ancient Worlds, Modern Beads, ancient inspirations meld with contemporary styles to create stunning jewelry projects for today's beading enthusiast. Author vanPelt offers readers 30 craft projects that are just perfect for both novice and experienced beaders.


The Art of Paper Weaving: 46 Colorful, Dimensional Projects by Anna Schepper
(745.54 SCH) Originating in Germany and refined in nineteenth-century Denmark and Norway, the charming, time-honored craft of paper weaving has been transformed by virtuoso paper crafters Anna and Lene Schepper into a modern art form with an amazing array of creative possibilities.

Subversive Cross Stitch: 50 F*cking Clever Designs for Your Sassy Side by Julie Jackson
(746.443 JAC) Tired of cheerful little bears and angels on frilly bookmarks and samplers that just don't do your sense of self-expression justice? Jackson has just the solution with her in-your-face cross stitch designs.

Knit Your Own Dinosaur by Sally Muir
(746.432 MUI) Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne are back with a new title in the Best in Show series. This time they have turned back time and delved into the fascinating prehistoric world with a collection of new patterns for dinosaurs and other creatures.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Nine Cat Books for Cat Lovers


It's a bit of a cliche that librarians are cat people, but it's definitely true that cats and libraries are a great combination. So whether you're a cat fanatic or just someone who thinks they're cute, we've put together a list of nine books that we think are purrfect!
You Need More Sleep: Advice from Cats by Francesco Marciuliano
(818.602 MAR) Our feline friends have spent eons observing, napping, pondering, napping, and taking notes about the human condition. In between naps, they've realized that we humans could use some catlike guidance when it comes to handling the ups and downs of life. In this book they've condescended to share their invaluable wisdom in short advice columns.

(818.602 CAT) Fifteen writers, all addressing not just our fascination with cat videos, but also how we decide what is good or bad art, or art at all; how taste develops, how it can change, and why we love or hate something. It's about people and technology and just what it is about cats that makes them the internet's cutest despots.

(133.5 CON) Brand-new cat owners, or those who have lived with a feline companion or two for years, need only look to the stars to demystify cat behaviors. This zodiac collection delves into the inner lives of cats, exploring each sun sign and offering character traits, lifestyle insights, and relationship inclinations to help cat owners learn to live in harmony with their unique pets.
Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu by Junji Ito
(MANGA Ito) Master of Japanese horror manga Junji Ito presents a series of hissterical tales chronicling his own real-life trials and tribulations in becoming a cat owner. Junji Ito has recently built a new house and has invited his fiancée, A-ko, to live with him. Little did he know ... his blushing bride-to-be has some unexpected company in tow: Yon, a ghastly-looking family cat, and Mu, an adorable Norwegian forest cat.

Cats Galore: A Compendium of Cultured Cats by Susan Herbert
(759.2 HER) Susan Herbert's delightful feline reimaginings of famous scenes from art, theater, opera and film have won her a devoted following. This unprecedented new compilation of her paintings provides an irresistible introduction to her world of cats, featuring previously unpublished images as well as a wide selection of her best-loved pieces.
Tiny Hats on Cats: Because Every Cat Deserves to Feel Fancy by Adam Ellis
(745.54 ELL) A fun and creative book for cat lovers, crafters, and pop-culture devotees alike. Readers will learn how to craft colorful and creative feline headgear from the book's step-by-step instructions. And in case you can't get enough feline haberdashery, you should also check out Cats in Hats: 30 Knit and Crochet Patterns for Your Kitty by Sara Thomas.

Shake Cats by Carli Davidson
(636.8 DAV) The fur flies in this irresistible third installment in the bestselling Shake series by popular pet photographer Carli Davidson, featuring adorable and hysterical color photographs of more than sixty cats caught mid-shake.
Catify to Satisfy: Simple Design Solutions for Creating a Feline-Friendly Home by Jackson Galaxy & Kate Benjamin
(636.8 GAL) In this book, Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin show cat guardians everywhere how to use home design tricks to address everyday cat care issues. Featuring the amazing projects cat guardians from around the world have shared with Jackson and Kate -- design strategies for solving even the most daunting kitty challenges -- this book is the ultimate guide to creating a happy home for cat guardian and cat alike.

Simon's Cat: Off to the Vet by Simon Tofield
(741.5 TOF) In this brand new book we see Simon’s Cat face any feline’s most dreaded scenario – he’s off to the vet. And he’s not at all happy about it.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Victorian Survival is Just Weird

I enjoyed the article "125 years of a LEGACY: Local artists, aficionados celebrate Grant Wood" by Tia Carol Jones in yesterday’s Telegraph Herald. Here's some more info.

On February 18, 1942, a few days after Grant Wood died, the TH described how years earlier the Carnegie-Stout Public Library Board purchased The Appraisal for $350 and Victorian Survival for $800.

At that time in 1934, the article says, the library board also had the opportunity to purchase Wood's satirical painting, Daughters of Revolution, but they decided it was too controversial, and actor Edward G. Robinson ended up buying it.

Daughters of Revolution

While The Appraisal below doesn't seem controversial, the library board might not have known that the woman holding the chicken in the painting was actually a man, Cedar Rapids gallery director Ed Rowan.

The Appraisal
 Ed Rowan

The other painting, Victorian Survival, was one of Grant Wood's favorites. He would only sell it to the library board if they agreed in advance to lend it back to him for future exhibitions. Thankfully, they agreed.

 Victorian Survival

There are different theories about Victorian Survival. The main one seems to be that the old-fashioned lady resents the new-fangled telephone. But could it be the other way around? Is she trying to hide her fondness for it?

Art professor R. Tripp Evans puts it this way in his 2010 biography of Grant Wood:
Lying in shadow behind Aunt Tillie, whose concealed right hand itself indicates a note of treachery, the telephone is more accomplice than opponent--an offstage voice, whispering something salacious (and apparently mortifying) into Aunt Tillie's overscaled ear.
I agree with Tim Olson's assessment, "Victorian Survival is just weird." Weird and cool! And we're so lucky to have it in Dubuque!

~Mike, Adult Services

---

Note:

Grant Wood visited Dubuque several times. Here's an announcement of one visit from the TH arts column, "'Mid Pallettes and Clefs," from March 6, 1932:

'Mid Pallettes and Clefs,” Telegraph Herald, March 6, 1932

I wonder if this irregular column, which sometimes was signed by "Be-Be," might have been written by John Mulgrew, the original "Jazbo of Old Dubuque."

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

July Magazines of the Month: Smithsonian & The Sun

Our July magazines of the month celebrate the culture and history of this great nation. The Smithsonian is a national collection of museums, archives, and research centers covering everything from history to space exploration. The Sun is a literary and photography magazine that began publication in a North Carolina garage in 1974.


The Smithsonian magazine is available to read through our Zinio collection on your tablet, smart phone, or computer. The magazine began publication in the 1970s, and issues are released monthly. You can learn more about the Smithsonian Institution here: www.si.edu and the Smithsonian magazine here: www.smithsonianmag.com


Sy Safransky is the man behind The Sun, and is in many ways a reflection of his ideals, including its dedication to physical print and keeping its pages ad-free. You can learn more about The Sun on their website: thesunmagazine.org

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Popular Photography and The Artist's Magazine are our May Magazines of the Month

Get inspired and explore your artistic side this spring! Carnegie-Stout has a broad collection of books dedicated to painting, woodworking, and any number of other crafts. To fit with this theme, our May magazines of the month have a creative bent.
https://catalog.dubuque.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=10968&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20artist%27s%20magazine 
Popular Photography began publication in 1937, and is today the most popular photography periodical on the market. They cover information for beginners and experts, traditional film photography and modern digital methods. You can check out the latest print issue or borrow a digital issue through Zinio 

More monthly features and tips are available on their website: www.popphoto.com


The Artist’s Magazine is celebrating their 30th anniversary of publication in 2014. Each issue is devoted to the work of visual artists, primarily those interested in painting. In addition to advice and interviews, they offer competitions and contests.

More features, including videos, can be found on their website: www.artistsnetwork.com/the-artists-magazine

Friday, December 6, 2013

Staff Review: The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

One of my favorite books from this year is The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. One look at the beautiful cover showing a Degas painting and I was hooked on this story about three sisters living in poverty in Paris in the late 1800s. Their father has died due to poor working conditions and their depressed mother has slipped into an absinthe addiction to escape the drudgery of trying to take care of her family as a laundress. The girls are forced to work as dancers at the Paris Opera, earning just enough to survive, but the competition is fierce and the oldest sister, Antoinette, loses her position and falls into a relationship with a young man who is accused of murder.

The other sisters are also working as dancers with 14 year old Marie showing the most promise. She is naturally gifted but has trouble asserting herself over the other dancers. When the painter Degas takes notice of her, she finds another way to earn money and begins posing for him in his studio and must walk the line between her desperation and moral standards.

The book is told from both girls’ point of view and portrays the seamier side of Paris and the struggle between survival and maintaining your dignity in a society that values only beauty and opulence. The descriptions of the city and Parisian life are both beautiful and horrible, but the Van Goethem sister’s tenacity and spunk will keep you engaged throughout the book.

~Michelle, Circulation

If you're looking for more works of historical fiction inspired by the works of great artists, check out this read alike post for The Painted Girls.

Friday, May 3, 2013

A Review of A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and Philippe Otie



In one of my favorite passages from the graphic memoir A Chinese Life, young artist Xiao Li and his wife Fengfeng go to see old Bureau Chief Wang and his wife in their cramped room in the night-shift dormitories of the Yunnan Ribao newspaper. It's a friendly visit, but Xiao Li and Fengfeng are obviously checking out the room, since they'll likely be assigned to live there after Chief Wang gets a bigger place.

The young couple tries to be optimistic about the dorm, but gangs of kids are running wild, smoke is pouring out of one of the rooms, the halls are cluttered with junk, laundry is draped across indoor clotheslines, an old man is bathing in the open near a woman who's chopping vegetables, another woman is screaming and throwing dishes, and someone else is frantically searching for a lost chicken.

In A Chinese Life, illustrator Li Kunwu and French writer/diplomat Philippe Otie present the history of modern China to Western audiences from Li's intimate perspective as a "Chinese everyman." While they offer a sweeping view of China, the view is sharpest when focused on ordinary, everyday life.

A Chinese Life more or less covers major Chinese events from about 1950 to 2010, including Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, the famines of 1958-1961, the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, urbanization, and increasing prosperity.

But even at 700 pages, some historical details in A Chinese Life are sketchy. Li admits, for example, that he doesn't know anyone who was directly affected by 6/4, the Chinese name for the Tiananmen Square protests which were violently suppressed on June 4, 1989. During the crackdown, the Chinese military killed hundreds if not thousands of students and civilians.

Li skims over 6/4 by saying he believes many Chinese people value stability and order over human rights because of the earlier decades of famine and political upheaval which killed tens of millions of Chinese. Li's portrayal of the "indescribable torments" of those earlier decades is powerful. One of his uncles literally ate dirt while trying survive the Great Famine, and his father was publicly denounced during the frenzy of the Cultural Revolution and was forced to perform manual labor in re-education camps for ten years.

It is remarkable that a member of the Chinese Communist Party would be so forthcoming, and that this is happening in a graphic novel. To some Westerners though, Li's depictions of such events may seem more like an apparatchik's apologia than a critical attempt to understand what happened.

More so than the grand historical overview, intimate scenes like Xiao Li and Fengfeng's visit to the dormitory are what make A Chinese Life worth reading. With a subtle mix of humor and sadness, Li examines his strained relationship with his larger-than-life father, describes an awkward moment when he asks his girlfriend if she would pose nude for his drawings, and recalls helping his elderly mother make dumplings.

Besides being a great storyteller, Li's artwork is brilliant. A Chinese Life is illustrated almost entirely in black and white. The contrast is stark and the composition is striking. Fascinating, energetic lines reveal austere landscapes, earthy villages, and chaotic cities. Characters' hands and faces are especially expressive. Some of the most compelling panels lack dialogue; they are simple portraits of children at school, soldiers in barracks, villagers in markets, and workers in factories.

Page 275 from A Chinese Life © Kana (DARGAUD-LOMBARD s.a.) 2011, by Li Kunwu, P.Otie. Published in English by SelfMadeHero. Used with permission.

Li describes his own style as "rough," but "bold and playful" is a better description. The illustrations appear to be done in brush and ink, and they look like extensions of the flowing Chinese calligraphy which Li includes on most pages.

A Chinese Life was originally published in France in several volumes. It was translated from the French by Edward Gauvin and published by SelfMadeHero in 2012. Some transitions between passages and stories in the English edition are abrupt, but the work as a whole is easy to follow. The book is hefty at about 700 pages, but it doesn't seem long when read. Instead, it ends far too quickly.

Michael May


Friday, March 29, 2013

Look Alikes: Silhouettes

Sometimes books have surprisingly similar titles, and sometimes they have rather similar cover designs. Today we've gathered nine recent books that feature a silhouetted face on the cover. Cover design often give readers a hint about the sort of story can be found within their pages. The books gathered here tend to be character-driven, serious in tone, and have a setting that is historical, international, or both.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
Novelist and memoirist Rachel Simon's 2011 novel tells the moving story of love, family, and discrimination. In 1968, Lynnie, a white woman, and Homan, a black man, meet and fall in love as residents at the Pennsylvania School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. When Lynnie becomes pregnant, they escape and while on the run she gives birth to a daughter. The officials catch up with the young family hiding in rural home with a retired teacher, and the family is divided.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Cleave's moving second novel is the story about two very different women, who alternate narrating the cataclysmic intersection of their lives. Little Bee is a Nigerian refugee who came to England in a cargo ship with Andrew O’Rourke’s business card. Sarah is Andrew's widow. Cleave pays great attention to the voices of his characters in his moving novel. The story is often dark, but you’ll also find humor and hope.

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri
Iranian American author Dina Nayeri's most recent novel, A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, is a lyrical and character-driven coming-of-age story set in a seaside village in 1980s Iran. When she is eleven, Saba's twin sister and mother disappear, and Saba spends years imagining the life they must be living in distant America, an escape from the bleak reality of Saba's life in Iran.

The Healing by Jonathan Odell
Mississippi native Jonathan Odell is the author of two richly detailed and character-driven novels about his home state's troubled past. The Healing is an atmospheric story of the complex relationships between a plantation owner and his slaves, as told by Granada midwife, former slave, and inhabitant of the former plantation in 1930s.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
Ms. Vreeland is the author of several lyrical novels that illustrate the worlds and minds of artists and their art. Her titles are well-researched, leisurely paced, and character-driven. Clara Driscoll, of Clara and Mr. Tiffany, was an employee of Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the creative mind behind the iconic Tiffany lamp. This lushly visual novel explores the life of the little known artist and the dynamic period at the turn of the century.

The White Garden: a novel of Virginia Woolf by Stephanie Barron
Ms. Barron is the author of intricately plotted historical fiction and mysteries, including the Jane Austen Mystery series. The White Garden is a fast-paced and suspenseful tale of gardening, suicide, and the literary world of Virginia Woolf. Jo Bellamy came to England from America to study the gardens of Vita Sackville-West, and her grandfather who worked in the gardens prior to his tragic end.

Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
Canadian novels Suzanne Desrochers applies her research into Canada's history in her first novel, Bride of New France. A richly detailed tale that doesn't shy away from the grim realities of life in 17th century Canada, the story follows Laure Beausejour on her journey from Paris to the wilderness.

In Darkness by Nick Lake
Winner of the 2013 Michael L Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature, In Darkness is a gritty and character-driven novel of life after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. The story is told from the perspective of Shorty, a 15-year-old gang member trapped in the rubble. Author Nick Lake weaves the story of Haiti's fight for independence in 1804 with Shorty's life in the slums.

The House Girl by Tara Conklin
Tara Conklin's debut novel, The House Girl, is a thought-provoking look at slavery's lasting impact in the United States. This compelling and lyrical tale is split between 1852 Virginia and modern New York City. Lina Sparrow is a lawyer working to build a class-action suit to gain reparations for the descendants of slaves. Josephine Bell is a 17-year-old house slave who cares for Lu Ann Bell, an artist. A moving story of redemption, justice, love, and family.



Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!