Book Reviews

Title: Love Walked In
Author: Marisa De Los Santos
Progress: Finished

Review: Well, if I can put down my Kleenex I'll type. I just finished this book in a day. It was romantic, but not predictably sappy. It was brutally honest, without being too edgy or bitter. I believed my characters. See, I even called them "mine". That's how attached I got and how immersed I was. Just like the old fashioned romantic movies De Los Santos draws on, this book pulled me in and made me cheer for a happy ending. (I'm not telling.) And it also made me believe the story is continuing even though the book is done. What more could an author ask for?

Oh, you want a synopsis? Not just mushy "i loved it" stuff? Here is an excerpt from the back to give you the particulars.

"When Martin Grace Enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia rown manages, her life changes forever. .....Meanwhile, across town Clare Hobbs, eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother, goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the cafe, and the two form an improbable friendship that carries them through th unpredictable currents of love and life."

Honestly, I didn't think I'd go for that whole "adults- life- is -changed- by -a -child" thing. Sometimes that plot ploy seems a genre of its own. But De Los Santos was seamless. I suppose it could be argued that the book is a bit too much like an old Hollywood glamour film. Naive and hopeful. Sigh. Yup. And I keep watching those old movies over and over again.

Title: National Geographic's
Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography

Progress: Finished

Review: A delightful coffee table book and then some...

I'm not sure where I got the love of maps from. It certainly wasn't school. Maps in school confused me. I didn't understand "what all" was purchased in the Louisiana Purchase and I never quite figured out where Belgium was in relationship to anything else. And really, isn't that just like a typical American? I can safely say that below is what my "map view" of the world was like.

But maps themselves fascinate me. The idea that one person (or country) is laying down their whole known world. In relation to themselves. What do maps tell us about the person who made them? Their state of mind. Their....well...worldview.

Mapping the World is as interesting as it is beautiful.  And opened a whole new world of cartography to me.  The  book is broken down in sections: Section One: Emergence of Mapping Traditions. Section Two: Charting the Age of Discovery and Exploration. Section Three: Maps for Royalty, Nobility, Clergy and Merchant Princes. Section Four: National Surveys and Thematic Cartography.  Section Five: Maps for Everyone. Section Six: Satellite Imaginig, Digital Mapping and Virtual Reality.

As can be expected with anything by National Geographic the pictures are delicious. It deserves your perusal and for the map history lover in your life, it deserves to be bought.

Book Review

Title: Mouse Guard: Fall 1152
Author: David Petersen
Progress: Finished

Review: Ms. D loved this book for a number of reasons. First of all, it was about mice. As her own illustrations are mostly having to do with mice, this was right up her alley. Next, it was easy to read. It's in comic book format, but it's oh-so-much-more than a mere "comic" style book. Thirdly, The Illustrations are beautifully rendered.The colors are rich and warm. Last, Ms. D loves history. In particular the Middle Ages. And the Mouse Guard is the adventures of a world of mice in the Middle Ages. Let me just let the book jacket tell you:

"Mice struggle to live safely and prosper among...predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed. ....They are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another.

Follow the adventures of three of the Guard's finest-Lieam, Saxon and Kenzie-as they seek to uncover a traitorous plot against the Guard."

I thought that this might be a bit "dark" in nature to someone of Ms. D's constitution. She seems, for a 10 year old, to be very sensitive to anything with a great deal of "scary" suspense. She found this just the right mixture, however, of suspense and entertainment.

Mouse Guard will have a series of four follow up "tales" (heheh) to this book. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152. You can buy the tales separately right now, or wait for the release of the book.

If you are further intrigued, check out David Petersens Mouse Guard website: Mouse Guard.

Book Review: The Star Machine

Title: The Star Machine
Author: Jeanine Basinger
Progress: Haven't Finished

Review: Do I have to actually finish the book before I can review it? This isn't The New Yorker so I think I'm safe. I think a book review only need to arouse a passion, either love or hate, in order to be reviewed. So, shall I begin?

I haven't finished this yet. I may not. But I love it. The book is about the "machine" of the Golden Era of Hollywood. Of course, there are many books about this subject. The 533 pages here, go a bit further, however. This is a study (with a capitol "S") of what made the factory that churned out stars in the early days of Hollywood (and beyond) tick. I'll let the last paragraph of the first chapter say it better:

"This book is about the "star machine" Hollywood created with which to manufacture their silk purses. It's a somewhat scary story about how a really tough-minded business would do pretty much anything to make money......"Star Power" was, for the film business, just a salable illusion.....That something as evanescent, as memorable, as durable as a Garland could be the product of a cut-and-dried business process is truly fascinating--and very mysterious. The "star machine" was the process Hollywood used to invent some Judy Garlands--or at the very least, to be able to recognize one when they saw her even before they knew who or what she was or could be."

But this book is much more than just a dry study. It's chock full of delightful asides, minutiae and fascinating footnotes. Not the titillating "tell us all the dirt" type footnotes, but the fascinating objective look at little known facts. And what else would we expect? The author "is the chair of film studies at Wesleyan University and the curator of the cinema archives there." Jeanine Basinger has also written nine other books on film. In particular A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, which I think would be a fascinating read. Meanwhile, another excerpt to get your interest further piqued:

"In the "golden era" of Hollywood, filmmakers knew that stardom required personalities like Crosby and Sinatra. Finding such stars was what the studios did. But how did they do it? Was there a formula? No. But there was a process. The hard part was that the process cost a great deal of money, and it was fraught with potential disasters. No matter what they did, no matter how smart they were about it, it could go wrong, because no one knew for sure what they were doing."

Now if that sort of film making history doesn't grab you, what does?

Title: Mouse Guard: Fall 1152
Author: David Petersen
Progress: Finished

Review: Ms. D loved this book for a number of reasons. First of all, it was about mice. As her own illustrations are mostly having to do with mice, this was right up her alley. Next, it was easy to read. It's in comic book format, but it's oh-so-much-more than a mere "comic" style book. Thirdly, The Illustrations are beautifully rendered.The colors are rich and warm. Last, Ms. D loves history. In particular the Middle Ages. And the Mouse Guard is the adventures of a world of mice in the Middle Ages. Let me just let the book jacket tell you:

"Mice struggle to live safely and prosper among...predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed. ....They are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another.

Follow the adventures of three of the Guard's finest-Lieam, Saxon and Kenzie-as they seek to uncover a traitorous plot against the Guard."

I thought that this might be a bit "dark" in nature to someone of Ms. D's constitution. She seems, for a 10 year old, to be very sensitive to anything with a great deal of "scary" suspense. She found this just the right mixture, however, of suspense and entertainment.

Mouse Guard will have a series of four follow up "tales" (heheh) to this book. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152. You can buy the tales separately right now, or wait for the release of the book.

If you are further intrigued, check out David Petersens Mouse Guard website: Mouse Guard.

Title: The Star Machine
Author: Jeanine Basinger
Progress: Haven't Finished

Review: Do I have to actually finish the book before I can review it? This isn't The New Yorker so I think I'm safe. I think a book review only need to arouse a passion, either love or hate, in order to be reviewed. So, shall I begin?

I haven't finished this yet. I may not. But I love it. The book is about the "machine" of the Golden Era of Hollywood. Of course, there are many books about this subject. The 533 pages here, go a bit further, however. This is a study (with a capitol "S") of what made the factory that churned out stars in the early days of Hollywood (and beyond) tick. I'll let the last paragraph of the first chapter say it better:

"This book is about the "star machine" Hollywood created with which to manufacture their silk purses. It's a somewhat scary story about how a really tough-minded business would do pretty much anything to make money......"Star Power" was, for the film business, just a salable illusion.....That something as evanescent, as memorable, as durable as a Garland could be the product of a cut-and-dried business process is truly fascinating--and very mysterious. The "star machine" was the process Hollywood used to invent some Judy Garlands--or at the very least, to be able to recognize one when they saw her even before they knew who or what she was or could be."

But this book is much more than just a dry study. It's chock full of delightful asides, minutiae and fascinating footnotes. Not the titillating "tell us all the dirt" type footnotes, but the fascinating objective look at little known facts. And what else would we expect? The author "is the chair of film studies at Wesleyan University and the curator of the cinema archives there." Jeanine Basinger has also written nine other books on film. In particular A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, which I think would be a fascinating read. Meanwhile, another excerpt to get your interest further piqued:

"In the "golden era" of Hollywood, filmmakers knew that stardom required personalities like Crosby and Sinatra. Finding such stars was what the studios did. But how did they do it? Was there a formula? No. But there was a process. The hard part was that the process cost a great deal of money, and it was fraught with potential disasters. No matter what they did, no matter how smart they were about it, it could go wrong, because no one knew for sure what they were doing."

Now if that sort of film making history doesn't grab you, what does?

Comments

[Lorna]

Mapping the World sounds like such an interesting book. Thank you for your excellent review of it.