France Books

Michael Jecks is a very, very accomplished writer. He brings the Edward and Isabella period to brilliand life. I recommend everyone who has interest in mistery and medieval history to read his books as soon as possible and, just like me, to crave for the next installment of the series

This is the first book in the series that fails to deliver on an enjoyable mystery. The author almost apologizes for the radical change in his crafting of this story. Mr. Jecks does a wonderful job of weaving his character into the historical backdrop of the English-French conflict and provides a solid story line to follow. It is however not his typical work that builds details and characters to a climax of understanding who the culprit is. I would recommend it as a good read for someone who is like the time period of the setting, as the story touches on many of the little known facts of the events, just not a good mystery.

I can only apologize to Michael Jecks for not having written a review before now. Although I had the long wait, it arrived earlier than originally expected. I pledged to wait and finish the book that I was reading at the time by an excellent author. But, the flesh is weak and before I knew it, I was carefully taking the dust jacket off the precious tomb and finding it most difficult to put down despite a set back in health. Jecks has been good, no excellent before now. Then he wrote outside of his "home ground" and one or two nay sayers where there to chide him for leaving home as it were. I could not agree! He grew and his character development grew apace. Now Jecks has proven to me that he can weave a great story in a most complex web while one enjoys every minute of reading not just the "who done it," but absorb the historical period at the same time. I will leave it at that because I don't plan on telling the story. But, Jecks, you had best get the next one on the shelves soon. I am also glad to see that the book stores are keeping his older works on the shelves as never before that I have seen in this part of the U.S. I certainly hope that British readers appreciate what they have in this author and give him credit. The book is good enough that I over looked the few typos that I don't credit the author with, but his publisher should take greater care for Jecks. I am looking forward to the release of his friend, Bernard Knight's, latest work. I hope for earlier than expected release here.

First, I'll admit to two of my biases: I have enjoyed all of Michael Jecks' books, and I love medieval mysteries in general. And I hate the fact that these are sold as being "Knights Templar" mysteries, because that is hardly their main focus.

That being said, this book is more Templar-oriented than most, and Jecks is as scrupulous about history as always. I also love the fact that the title is in some ways a potentially misleading riddle.

For those who are used to seeing Jecks' characters in the English countryside, this novel, which is set mostly in France, will be new and different. I applaud Jecks for branching out geographically, while keeping the characters with whom I was comfortable. It is another book that teaches a lot of history painlessly while amusing us with interesting characters and a good mystery.

This book was my son's (age 7) introduction to the "classics". We read it together, a few pages a night. He really got hooked, and is now eager to read more books like it. I highly recommend it. The content is written in a way that a young bright child can follow it, but is not too babyish for an older child. It has a black and white drawing on the right side of each written page, which helps keep the child interested. We loved it!!!

The Three Musketeers is a great book. It has a lot of action and mystery. The story is about a young man named D'Artagnan who wants to become a Musketeer. He joins up with the Three Musketeers even though he isn't a Musketeer, yet. In the end he becomes a Musketeer. It is a great book!

The Three Musketeers is a unique book. History and political events are woven into the plot of this clever book. I find the characters fasinating and feel like I already know these noble men. The loyalty of them is overwhemling. I am in the middle of Dumas's next book, "Twenty Years Later" and am enjoying it too.I have read many books, and this is one of my personal favorites.

The Three Musketeers
By: Alexandre Dumas, et al
Reviewed by: E. Kim
Period: 2

The book is about that a young cadet, D'Artagnan, goes to Paris to be trained as a King's musketeer, who teams up with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Cardinal Richelieu and his spy, Milady de Winter, are trying to thwart the evil schemes to save the Queen's honor. Milady de Winter has poinsoned D'Artagnan's true love and gets revenge on Richelieu and Milady de Winter. There, an another spy of Richelieu, Count Rochefort, was part of this evil scheme. There D'Artagnan was having a sword battle with Rochefort and there Rochefort got stabbed by D'Artagnan's sword. Then Athos, Porthos, and Aramis called upon an executioner to execute Milady de Winter. Then D'Artagnan was called upon Cardinal Richelieu and promotes him lieutenant of the King's musketeers.

I liked the book because it is an action/adventure book that all children and adults would really enjoy. I really loved that quote,"One for all, and all for one!" because that quote saids that we must work together as a group or with a friend. In this book, it saids that they say this quote every time they fight or they did it beacause they are fighing as a team. I think that if everyone did this book as their project, they would get As or Bs. Then they will be very happy.

There will be no people rejecting this book, because they think that this is the best action/adventure book published by Alexandre Dumas. The people should get this book, it tells about the medieval period, help on your history homework about what it is like during the medieval period, this chapter book can help you with your comprehension skills.

My favorite part of this book is when that D'Artagnan and Rochefort are fighing at the church, because the sword fighing has the same technique has the medieval period. The least favorite part of this story is at the beginning of the book, because, it tells the boring stuff, no conflict, etc. The middle and the ending part is okay, but the beginning is verry dull and it doesn't tell you what happens next. So, I really enjoy this book and you might enjoy it too.

The colorful book, Through Georgia's Eyes, was excellent. Georgia, a young girl, learns to paint and discovers she can be an artist despite what her siblings say. The bright illustrations portray Georgia's feelings. Strong in talent, she paints large flowers that make people "feel like real butterflies flitting through out the unvervise of her garden." Painting pictures in my head, the authors action words excited me. The story, super and wonderful, was entertaining. I would give it ***** stars. Jodilyn

Rachel Rodriguez and Julie Paschkis have teamed up beautifully and sensitively to glean the essence of Georgia O'Keeffe's life and paintings. Rodriguez writes almost in a haiku-like prose: simple yet distilling O'Keeffe's life and work to its heart and soul. The book should be a delight to children to read and be read to and encourage young and old alike to follow their dreams.

My sister recommended the book to me and I bought it for myself and all of my friends with children. Everyone loves it! The illustrations are beautiful and draw children into the story about Georgia O'Keeffe's life and accomplishments. It encourages children to be creative and value their individuality -- and naturally leads to conversations about the importance of seeing and appreciating the colors and beauty around us, taking pride in our individual talents, and exploring our creativity. I highly recommend this book. Buy it for your friends with children too. They'll appreciate it!

Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings have always captivated me. As a college student, I had a poster print of one of her paintings---a sinuous sandstone fissure---pressed on to a cheap foamboard backing, and toted it around from dormitory room to apartment to apartment until it was gouged and beaten up. Something about O'Keeffe's color palette, and her eye for natural lines of beauty, provoked within me a stillness even in unstill times.

Somehow Rachel Rodriguez and Julie Paschkis have succeeded in conveying the contemplative beauty at the heart of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings and life. The prose is spare and reflective, mimicking the cadences of the natural world: "A canyon calls her. From the bottom at dusk she sees a long line of cows above, black lace against a dusky sky." The illustrations, cut-paper collages, mate the vibrant intensity of O'Keeffe's artistic vision with the simplicity and wonder of a child's.

The first time I visited New Mexico and marveled at the quality of the light at daybreak and sunset, I couldn't help but wonder whether Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings had perfectly captured colors that are indescribable, or her paintings had so colored my perception that I saw the world through her eyes. This book brought a slice of that warm southwestern sunshine into my gray northwestern spring.

I highly recommend "Through Georgia's Eyes." It is simply enchanting.

Transparency is Frances Hwang's debut collection of short stories. While her writing is a bit rough around the edges, there is no mistaking that she has a passion, and a talent, for telling the human story.

In many of Transparency's stories, the mechanics of writing are not that strong. Word choice is at times awkward, leaving the reader mystified (instead of surprised) by what the characters are doing. In several stories, the protagonist seems to be no different than in the previous story, and the reader wonders if there isn't really a novel lying beneath the surface of the collection.

The two notable exceptions to this weakness are the title story, Transparency, and the final story, "The Garden City." Here, the characters leap off the page and sear themselves into the reader's memory. Overall, these two short stories are far superior to the rest of the collection and will surely find their way into anthologies. These two stories are proof that we are being entertained by a writer of enormous talent, and I was left hoping that Hwang will continue writing.

Regardless of the mechanical weaknesses, the territory that Hwang covers in each of her stories is deep and rich and worth contemplating. As an entirety, this collection speaks to themes of identity and relationship. The reader ponders the connections between isolation and intimacy, family and friend, lover and stranger. The juxtaposition of generational gaps and generational ties is also beautifully laid out in this collection. Often, the backdrop to these themes is the tension between first- and second-generation immigrants and between Eastern and Western cultures.

Hwang's writing shows that she has the courage to write about the human story, even in its naked weakness. She does well writing about how life is instead of how it ought to be.

Armchair Interviews says: This book will leave you pondering some of the more meaningful and painful aspects of being a daughter, a friend, a lover, a stranger--of being human.

Reviewed by Deb Shunamon for Reader Views (6/07)

Frances Hwang's "Transparency" will appeal to anyone who enjoys well-written and thoughtful glimpses of life. This wonderful collection of short stories is promoted as having a focus on the generational and cultural challenges of Chinese immigrants and their American-born children, but I found these insightful tales to be equally about the search for meaning and direction in all people's lives.

"Sonata for a Left Hand" was my favorite; a lovely presentation of our innate human need for connection and belonging. Other topics involve women negotiating life as best they can; and the younger generation's lack of idealism and search for meaning in their lives, often times thinking they are (or are trying their best to be) different from their parents, but not realizing that the values they were raised with tie them closer to their families than they realize. It was only when I was reminded that the characters were Chinese-American that I found myself paying attention to this cultural group, and in stories such as "The Modern Age" and "Transparency," the reader learns that cultural changes are not an easy thing for anyone, at any age. However, even these stories still spoke to me of common experiences between people, and families, beyond this one community.

Frances Hwang has a very relaxed style of writing. She eases you into her stories and they flow effortlessly along, and before you know it, you find yourself very anxious to learn what will happen next. She also never disappoints in providing realistic endings that encourage the reader to stop and think before continuing on. In "Transparency," Frances Hwang offers readers a diverse array of general, and Chinese-American, experiences as people make their way through modern life. I really enjoyed my time with this book.

Each story is a delicate collision: between family, friends, cultures, generations. Frances Hwang chronicles believable characters in complex situations; her sly prose weaves turbulent emotions underneath a patina of decorum. Transparency is a remarkable collection that will engage a wide range of discerning readers.

These stories are moving (but not sentimental), deeply revealing, and gorgeously written. I loved the whole batch.

Very interesting book, it gives the reader information about the world of the impressionists in a new way. The photographs are a wonderful complement to the text. It is a pleasure reading it.

Photographer Neil Folberg has gotten into the minds of the Impressionists to ask: If they had today's color photographic processes, how would they have expressed themselves? Photography can be as much about light, color and mood as an oil painting. Folberg's images, and Lin Arison's words, present the world of Impressionists as no book ever has. There are scores of sumptuously illustrated books with reproductions of the Impressionists' work; this is most assuredly NOT another entrant in that category. Rather it's in a space by itself: a fresh take on the artists you thought you knew.

It's also worth taking a look at both Folberg's and Arison's other works as well.

In 2000, shaken by her husband's death, Lin Arison traveled through France with her granddaughter and discovered a new world of art with her skeptical teen relative. Thus began a personal journey and collaboration with photographer Neil Folberg to bring Impressionist works to new life, reflecting both her journey to discover the paintings and lives of the Impressionists and an effort to translate this inspiration to new young American artists. A memoir, travelogue, and art history thus blends under one cover to provide art libraries and general-interest holdings alike with a special, more modern approach to Impressionism than is usually provided.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a treasure. Aside from being a joy to look at, it is a pleasure to read. I am definitely putting this on my Christmas list. It is a new slant on the Impressionists with personal touches, new information about them and they become living and breathing people. The photgraphs are superb as well as being inventive. The book, paper, format, offer a beautiful presentation.

This is by far the most difinitive and best work I have ever seen on the subject of medieval history. Without it, the entire discipline would suffer, as it has for centuries up until the publication of this book. It makes books like Ermengaard of Narbonne pale and hide behind their little awards. Easy to read and highly enjoyable, I recommend everyone buy this book.

This is by far the most difinitive book on the subject of medieval history i have yet encountered. Easy to read and highly enjoyable, I recommend it to everyone in the entire world, whether or not they have any knowledge at all of medieval history. Without this book the discipline would be stuck in an intellectual dark age, as it had been for centuries up until this publication.

This book was truly stunning in its comprehensiveness and ease of reading. I was amazed and could not put it down until I had read it cover to cover. Unlike many books in its field, it focuses on important information, not convoluted thoughts like the use of bear paws. I recommend this book to everyone.

Having taken several courses on Medieval History, I find Daileader's book to be very insightful. It is amazing how similar his insights and conclusions are to those of my professors. I believe this work is truly a great addition to the field.

In this fine novel Jacqueline Pelham brings together a cast of characters who find themselves enfolded in a plot of intrigue and suspense set in the arena of Nazi-occupied France.

Drawing from her knowlege of the despair of a vanquished nation now under the heel of an arrogant conqueror, Pelham weaves a fabric of diverse circumstances that bring a shy young girl onto the stage of a massive plot to plunder the pricless art treasures of the homeland.

With tender precision the author creates a love story set in the scene of one of the most dramatic eras of the twentieth century.

Danielle Delacroiox, the stories heroine, finds herself under the domination of an SS colonel whose sinister motives paint a malevolent background to this tantalizing drama.

This is a story with an evolving plot that embraces the epic theater of the darkest years of World War II as seen through the lens of a cast of characters that portray the best and worst of the human experience.

The author's intimate knowledge of the mid-century art world coupled with her careful delineation of the life style of the upper echelons of French aristocracy paint a vivid fesco that captivates the audience with its authenticity.

Pelham, in her inimitable style, reminds us how unconquerable the individual soul can be and by deftly probing the minds of her characters she skillfully brings her story to a climax that embraces the extraordinary courage of the human spirit and leaves us spellbound from beginning to end.

UNDER THE ROSE by Jackie Pelham is a suspenseful multilayered tale set in France during World War II with chilling international intrique. As Danielle is compelled to catalog great art acquistions for the Nazis, she is secretly working with the resisitance and the man she has grown to love. But fate in the guise of those she both trusts and fears throws almost insurmountable obstacles in her path and it is uncertain if she can survive. Pelham's chracterization throughout the novel is rich and endearing. Her language in telling the story is marvelously gifted. I recommend this novel to anyone who loves to read as one they will not be able to leave unfinished.

Against the background of Nazi-occupied World WarII Paris, Jacqueline Pelham weaves an engrossing tale of intrigue, love,and courage.

Her characters are so alive that I felt chilled with fear for Danielle,the courageous young heroine who becomes a spy for France. The Nazi colonel who tries to seduce her is cold and menacing in his campaign to possess her and her family's fortune in art. Even secondary characters are finely drawn, with frailties and strengths that make them so real you'd recognize them anywhere.

The suspense that ends one chapter only builds in the next. The danger is unrelenting, a constant in the lives of Danielle, her enigmatic lover, and the father and friends she loves.I found myself deeply invested in hoping that there would be a happy outcome for them all.

This book is a great read. Save it for when you can devote long stretches of time to savoring its excitement, because you won't want to put it down.

Set in France during the darkest days of World War II, Under The Rose by Jacqueline Pelham is the riveting story of Danielle Delacroix, a female French aristocrat and her struggle to keep her body, her soul, and her family's artistic treasures safe from the ruthless plunder of the Nazis. Under The Rose is highly recommended as an intense and passionate saga fairly brimming with emotion, blood, betrayal, as one woman strives to preserve works of history and beauty.

First of all, my new engagement calendar arrived in pristine condition, very sturdy cover, heavier quality than I expected, with beautiful pages of Tuscany. The added treat was lovely sayings, recipes, and quotes throughout. The scenic photos carry one away to a glorious place. Pages also of great quality! I will love carrying this dreamy calendar around to sooth me during each and every day this year.

Wonderful, inspiring, soul lifting pictures.

Always one week and one picture open.

Lays flat.

This is a beautful calendar. Has lots of room to write on each date. If you loved her books you'll enjoy owning this too.

How wonderful to get yet another Tuscan diary from Frances Mayes- 2008.
I have been buying Under the Tuscan Sun diaries since 2000.
Come September I am checking on Amazon to see if it is available.
It is truly such a magic moment when it arrives in my postbox!- all those great pictures and words of wisdom and joy in life.
I have read/ own all Frances Mayes' books- imagine my delight when on a trip to Italy some years back I FOUND her villa--and took my own pics of this beautiful house!
The yearly diary is such an ongoing reminder of my travels in Tuscany and indeed of so many things Italian.

One of the most beautiful, complex works of art that remain with us from the middle ages, the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters Museum in New York City are a priceless treasure. Their monograph on the tapestries is a beautifully produced, meticulously researched, and well-written overview of the techniques used to weave them, the selection of colors, the symbolism of the figures and flowers, and the possible meaning of the entire sequence. To this day, no one knows for certain for whom they were woven and what they truly signify. If you haven't had a chance to see these wondrous tapestries in person, consider putting them on your list of things to do before you die. If you have been fortunate enough to make a visit, this book will certainly increase your understanding and appreciation of this masterpiece. We are fortunate to have them, though they probably truly belong in France or Belgium.

I absolutely love the unicorn tapestries, and I fulfilled a childhood dream when i saw them at the Cluny museum in paris. The colors are vivid and beautiful and do justice to these awesome tapestries.

I recall seeing these tapestries for the first time as a teen, when my high school class made a bus trip to the Cloisters Museum--deigned as a medieval castle--in the uppermost park in Manhattan. As I recall, I was on crutches at the time. Through the shallow, spiral stairs tested my coordination, however, the fabulous textiles, rich in color and mythology, completely distracted me from my injury.

I've been back a few times over the years to see these priceless treasures, and each time, they have induced silent awe.

Margaret Freeman's volume provides a great record of the collection, including fine pictorial details, and scholarly (but engrossing) explanations of the tapestry themes and motifs.

This is an art book you'll be happy to have.

If you can't see these gorgeous tapestries in person, ***this book is a great way to view them up-close. Each tapestry, circa 1500, is shown in full (in color!) and in detail. All of the brilliant colors are from three dyes: madder (red), woad (blue), and weld (yellow). The hunt of the unicorn theme is possibly an allegory for love, marriage, even the death of Jesus Christ.

These now-famous works of art apparently belonged to François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, in the late 1600s. They were taken from his chateau and later used by peasants to protect their food from frosts. Fortunately, they were recovered in 1850 and later (1922) purchased by John D. Rockefeller who gave them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I was fortunate enough to see them last October. My fiancé and I made the trek from Times Square, via subway, to Fort Tryon Park, where The Cloisters are peacefully nestled. We crawled from the sub-terrain and entered the lush, fragrant park. It's a bit of a walk up to the museum, but the garden atmosphere astonished us. We couldn't believe we were in NY! The Cloisters were quiet and uncrowded in the morning. There's a center court complete with bubbling fountains and plants from the Medieval era that is open to the sky. We crossed this courtyard and entered into the small room where the tapestries occupy their personal space. I will never forget the experience. They took my breath away.