Georgia Books

if anyone ever considers visiting this area, this book is a great wayt to remember it. much better photos than you will be able to take and very nice writing.
when in Charleston eat at Hymans, Saltus River grill in Beaufort, and El Pasticcio in Savannah.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I first read it at about 11 or 12 years old and I continue to re-read it from time to time and I am nearly 30 now.

The book is about Ludell, a little African-American girl who lives with her maternal grandmother because her own mother has left for the big city. She often laments her life as her grandmother is "old timey" and is much more strict with her than the other children she grows up with. The book covers Ludells life over 14 month or so time period. It is a time in her life when she will experience her first kiss, cotton-picking, and abandonment -- so many milestones that show her transitioning from childhood to adolescence.

Full of suprises and humor, Ludell is a great book and truly deserves much more renown than it is given. A truly gifted piece of writing.

This is an excelent piece of litterature. It delves deep into the persecution of the african-american population during the Jim-Crow south. This is an excelent piece of litterature. Do not hestitate to purchase this fine book.

This is a powerful book, much more than a story of one city. It's an AMERICAN story. Highly recommended for anyone interested in race relations in the USA.

Ron Marlar (a retired USAF officer, college professor, school teacher, living currently in Florida)

Composed with love, knowledge and talent by James Barfield, Conie Mac Darnell, Sterling Everett, Julie Lange, Chuck Leavell, Jennifer Shermer Pack, Karen Di Prima and others the Macon Sketchbook is a beautiful, poetic and moving work of history.

I am a son of the South. I have passed through often, stayed in before, and visited recently in Macon, Ga. On the most recent visit I took the time to tour many of the historical sites. I understand and appreciate the excellent artwork, words, photography of, at least behind, the Macon Sketchbook. I grasp the love, knowledge, talent and care that those named above and many others put into this book.

Produced especially by those of the South who worked on the book and published by a publishing house based in Macon, the Sketchbook captures a part of the South that may have been lost if not for this book. That the book publisher is in Macon recommends the book to aficionados of such a book as described by me and others, the others on some sites listing this book being community or company reviewers.

The Macon Sketchbook is most affordable at the lower end but expensive at the top range of the prices. It is well worth the money for one who appreciates excellence in artwork, history of the South and the US, poetry that actually rhymes, and valued material from other good to great works.

Out of print now but available in limited copies, new and used, through reputable booksellers like those that Amazon.com lists, I consider the Macon Sketchbook a rare find for collectors of fine books. I would like to see all remaining copies of the Macon Sketchbook bought and gracing the homes of those who appreciate such excellent work. The Macon Sketchbook is a treasure to be shared with future generations of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Only one thing troubles me about the listings of the book but not enough to deter me from recommending it highly. In some listings an editor is credited as author of the book. That certainly is not the case given all the others who worked on this book, the truly talented historians, artists, illustrators, writers, photographers and publisher.

One must wonder really what exactly would an editor have to do with, for, in or on a book given all the roles of the many others credited for this book? I am thinking of the editor only in a sort of continuity role, like one in a movie production who insures consistency from one scene to the next so the cowboy always rides either a paint or some solid-colored horse.

Such confusion, obfuscation, contradiction and claims to fame that defy easy verification or verification at all are not unusual for work in which the editor is involved. Please see my review of Buckhead: Atlanta's First Address, another book by Indigo Custom Publishing and also available through Amazon.com. See especially the Comments section, all 12 posts as of Nov. 29, 2007, following the only review of that book as of the date of my review, Oct. 1, 2007. Please see also my review of Relics in the Closet since it connects to the editor as revealed in the Buckhead review.

Apparently I am the only independent, reader reviewer of the Macon Sketchbook. I do so even at this late date because I recommend the Macon Sketchbook so highly. I do not recommend the other books - Buckhead or Relics in the Closet.

Actually, I wrote the book! The last I heard Windsor Press has gone out of business and there were 10 copies left at that time. I believe copies are still available at the Middle Georgia Historical Society on High Street in Macon, GA, and maybe at The Golden Bough, a specialty bookstore in Macon, GA. K. Simm

This is real macho poetry by a gifted poet and Montana resident who happens to have the heart and mind of a rough stock rider and outdoorsman. Zarzyski writes of hunting, fishing, rodeo, castrating horses, going to mountain oyster feeds, all with a kind of enthusiasm that also embraces the sentiments that go with appreciating the turns of seasons, toboggan riding at night, the picking of huckleberries, the sound of a shovel ringing in winter wheat, the ache of a good friend's injury, and the ironies of Minuteman missile silos. There are 31 poems in this collection, each written with the hard, tough-minded, and generous edge of a man in boots and Wranglers, who seems shot straight from the heart of the West.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Howes, the author, has written an easy to understand and easy to follow book that includes all types of decorative screens.

First, Howes describes the basic instructions for each type of screen. Howes shows how to create frame screens and solid panel screens. Then, she gives instructions and materials for particular projects, as well as how long it should typically take to finish each project. Howes includes various design styles for each type of screen. Plus, you can easily make your own projects using the author's basic instructions. She also includes patterns you can blow up to create the unique shape of each screen.

Some sample projects are a country style frame screen made with gingham and chicken wire, an upholstered solid panel screen, a music score solid panel screen, which has the shape of an old music stand and is painted and decoupaged.

I have been looking for a while for a book like this one on making decorative screens. Let me save you the trouble. Buy this book!

I read this autobiography in college, and it took my breath away. White, who was executive secretary of the NAACP until his death in the mid 1950s, writes candidly of his work and life in the fight for civil rights. The book title is a play on his last name and the fact that his mixed ancestry left him with light skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. He used his appearance to help him get evidence in lynching investigations, and was successful because the lynchers thought he was white (being born and raised in Atlanta didn't hurt either!) The man was no saint (ditched his wife to marry another woman, a practice I don't endorse) but you cannot read this book without having some kind of change in your thinking on race relations--then or now.

This tour de force historical perspective of nature leads the reader into a provocative search for understanding the human role on Earth. Not for the narrow-minded and/or Jerry Falwell.