Illustration Books

The contents of this book can best be explained by the opening first sentence: "The Greeks had no pornography since what would be called obscene today then had its accustomed place in literature and art". The fifty (50) color plates cover almost as many different human situations that occur between the sexes. Infidelity, hypocrisy, entertainers, the military, royalty, the rich and poor, young lovers, dirty old men, abductions, seductions, voyeurism, nuns and priests, murderous cuckolded husbands, and inattentive husbands all have their role to play. As this art was created at the beginning of the 19th century it is difficult for us today to pass judgement. Know that most of these are part of the notorious George IV collection at Windsor Castle and other specimens are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the British Museum. The thirty nine (39) page introduction by Gert Schiff will take away the initial shock of opening the illustrated pages. Rowlandson liked to poke fun at people and no one is spared in this book. I would advise the buyer to look at it in private and then decide who in your circle of family and friends may also see it without becoming offended. Certainly the children and other innocents should be protected. I still enjoy it every time I open it again and many of you reading this may agree with me; it's a bit of art history not offered in high school where nowadays you will probably find far worse materials.

This lovely book illustrates common flowers and herbs with anecdotes from pilgrim's diaries. The combination of historical perspective and herbal uses brings our heritage to life. The flowers and herbs are depicted with delicate line drawings. Highly recommended!

I saw a documentary on the Mosquito bomber the other night and it mentioned a raid on a prison in Amiens that was quite successful. Not having heard of it and being a student of history, it intrigued me and I found this gem at my local library. I got much more than I hoped for.

This book tells an interesting and complex story about the Amiens raid, the reasons for it and the very different people involved. In 1943 the French Resistance was taking a hit from the Gestapo collaborating with treasonous locals and intelligence preparations for D-Day were being compromised. Many key members of the Resistance were captured, being tortured and awaiting execution. The resistance urgently requested a raid and the British, not wanting to bomb allies, were hesitant but soon realized a raid was the most prudent thing to do. And they did it in bold and spectacular fashion; just a day before many were scheduled to be executed.

What I enjoyed about this book is a description of the people involved and their motives. One immediately takes to the masterminds of the local resistance, feels sympathy for the petty criminals in the prison, hatred for the betrayals and you gain an appreciation for the British Mosquito crews. I especially liked how the locals outwitted the Gestapo while risking their lives daily and the lives of their families. Interesting is the portrait and stories of wartime forgers, safe crackers, shoplifters and prostitutes - truly enlightening.

One can't help but admire Flight Commander Pickard (and his remarkable sheep dog Ming) and the bravery of the war tired flight crews. And, of course, the book details the great versatility Mosquito bomber.

It was difficult to keep the story smooth as there were more than 400 prisoners in the jail (some to escape prosecution by the Gestapo on more serious charges!), each with their own interesting story but Fishman did a commendable job and writes in an easy prose. But you'll need to refer to the index to keep track of some characters. Of course more maps would have made this better but it's not a story of logistics but a story of humanity and their love of freedom. Reading how the true criminals bonded together while in the caves was surprising but there are many other surprises in this superb book.

Great great story and you'll understand more about how the French resistance operated and what life was like under German occupation in a typical French town. This should be a classic.

A lot of people like Angel Cage, but I currently have both illustration books but I find Lost Angel to be much better. Even though it is in Japanese, it has extensive character bios at the back, and the real translations of the character's names.

ANGELA'S ASHES tells the story of the author's childhood from his earliest memories in New York, his return to that America as a nineteen year old and the intervening years in Ireland. His parents Angela and Malachy McCourt had met at a dance and we forced into marriage due to the imminent arrival of the author. Neither parent was up to the task of caring for a family, it is implied that their families had been quite happy to see them emigrate to America and were less than thrilled at their return a few years later with children in tow.

The McCourt children were left from an astonishingly young age to raise each other. As the story opens four year old Francis and his three year old brother are responsible for their year old twin brothers. Their father is usually out of work, a victim of the Depression, his Northern accent - unpopular in southern Limerick, his lack of education and his pride. On the rare occasions that he does manage to get work he inevitably will lose the job by the third week, along with the pay envelope in the nearest pub. Angela is perpetually pregnant, bringing the children into the world handing them over to the older ones to tend as the family sinks further into poverty.

As McCourt grows up his perception of his life changes, as a young child he sees his parents as all powerful beings struggling to care for the family in a hostile world. As McCourt grows up he realizes that not all children have only sporadic meals of tea and bread, live in filth or have fathers that drink up money meant for food or rent. By the time he reaches his teens McCourt has also come to recognize that his mother also is not the long suffering innocent victim that he had seen her as earlier. The reader is able to see the family decline over the years to increasingly worse housing, fewer meals and yet continue to survive as the children struggle to escape their background.

There are tender and even funny moments in this childhood memoir as well. Malachy tries to show his children the glories of the Irish past, both parents attempt to put the best light on their circumstances possible, referring to the flooded lower floor of their apartment as 'Ireland' and the relatively warmer drier upstairs rooms as 'Italy'. McCourt describes the happier moments of his childhood as well, the wild games in the streets, the exciting highlights of Confirmation or bits of enlightment when he gets a glimpse of life beyond the slums of Limerick.

McCourt's style is a bit unusual, many of his sentences go on to seeming infinity, making a rather slow reading at time. The effort pays off though as he turns the bleak grimness that he describes into a sort of poetry. This is one of those books that celebrates the indominatable human spirit, the power that some have to rise above the worst of circumstances to succeed in life.

ANGELA'S ASHES is a book that belongs on everyone's book shelf, a book that needs to be taken down and read again and again.

This is a good collection of hard to find imagery. The book is good size with large images. Nice reference.

Unlike a lot of books on Native American symbolism and meanings, this one makes sense! It is an alphabetical guide to the most common animals and what an encounter can meant to you in your life. It differentiates between a good encounter and a bad, and what the different meaning could be. And you can't beat the price!!

This Dover book/CD-ROM and the one on books, reading & writing are my two favorites (well, I like the food one too...and the Egyptian....) All the animals are from 19th C. illustrations. The volume is a terrific addition to the expanding Dover CD-ROM library.

This book has beautiful and simple step-by-step illustrations and instructions on rendering animals with ink in the Japanese style. It provides a good introduction for beginners. I teach watercolor and like to show my class examples of sumi-e for the lovely brush work. They always enjoy this book and others by Mr. Yamada.

I actually read a different edition, but on the assumption that they are nearly identical, I'll repeat the review here.

I must admit that it has been quite a while since I read this. It was always my favorite biography of Anne Boleyn - I thought it brought her to life more than most that I have read. Bruce has some very interesting speculations and insights. I was quite impressed at the care she took in placing certain incidents which other writers have inserted, apparently almost at random, during or after Anne's life. The prime example is the conversation between Henry VIII and Jane Seymour regarding their future children - this is often placed after Anne's imprisonment or death, but Bruce carefully locates it before any accusations were even made against Anne.

This has now be superseded by Eric Ives' The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, but it is still very much worth reading.