Sad Guitar

Remember those hearts I made for Valentine's Day? Well, I think I have a crush on book page mosaics now.

I also have a crush on sad guitars.

Sad guitars, you ask? Yeah, like the ones Karen Carpenter used to sing about. Or George Harrison. Or Brian Pounds.

So book page mosaics + sad guitars = this new creation.

It's a lot bigger in size than those 8x8" hearts were. This baby measures in at 30x15".

I used the same combination of book pages that I used for the hearts for the face of the guitar, but the other parts needed some color, so I used some RDCB pages with pictures for the sound hole, bridge and pick guard. It was fun going through pages trying to find just the right colors to use in my "palette."

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I've got stacks and stacks of pages that are primarily black. But the cool thing is that when I tore them into pieces, the edges are white. I thought it was such a neat effect on the neck of the guitar. They almost look like frets.

So sad guitar = happy Stephanie. I've got tons of ideas for new mosaics now, and I can't wait to get started!

Mid-Century Madness

Everybody is complaining about the weather. In Houston we aren't getting the snow that everyone else is, but it is downright gloomy. So gloomy, in fact, that this weekend Captain America said, "Hey, you wanna go to the antique mall?"

I know, right?!?

After checking his forehead to make sure he didn't have a fever or anything, I said, "Heck yeah!" Our antique mall is 85,000 square feet of goodness and it would be possible to spend several days happily perusing the aisles, but I knew I only had about an hour before Captain America woke from his hallucination that he liked antiques and made me leave.

I actually ended up getting a whole 90 minutes to play, because it turns out our antique mall has great hot dogs, so that kept him busy for an extra few. By that time I had picked out these beauties. Aren't they spectacular!

The best part of the deal was that the blue decanter was on half price and we didn't even know it until the gal rung it up on the cash register. Score! 

And so, we walked toward the front door--Captain America with his arms full of a box of glass and me with a face full of smile. But wait! What was that in the front window?? 

Oh. My. Goodness. How did I miss that on the way in? It's orange. It's mid-century. It screams "Stephanie!" AND it was the same price as half of the blue decanter, which basically meant it was free, right? (Someone check my math. Wait...don't.)

So we got them all home and look how fabulous they look together. They make the shelf pop!

Heck, they make the whole wall pop!

Speaking of popping. The other day I was in Barnes and Noble and found this book. Check out the pop of color on the cover. I had to have it! It also was screaming, "Stephanie!" (Did I say Captain America hallucinates? Well, maybe it's me. Don't judge.) 

The book is meant to be used as a coloring book for adults. Apparently that's a thing now--and it could totally become my thing, because check out the cool shapes inside. 

I became so inspired that I grabbed some book pages and my paint pens and got this. 

And then I took my markers...wait I don't think I ever told you. Guess what Captain America got me for Christmas. THIS!! Isn't he fabulous??

So I took those and my white paint pen and made this.

And when you add a frame and a little glass, these guys take me to my happy place.

Book Review: Stoner

Title: Stoner
Author: John Williams
Format: Audible
Reading Dates: 31 Jan 2015 - 13 Feb 2015
Rating: *****

I was about halfway through Stoner when I realized how much it reminded me of The Bridges of Madison County. They both are stories that aren't action packed or driven by mystery, but in the end they pack an emotional punch as you realize the enormity of a simple life told in a simple way. 

Stoner is a farm boy who comes to the University of Missouri to learn farming only to be taken with literature and never leaving the college, choosing a teaching career over that of a farmer. He takes few risks in life and almost all of them after careful deliberation. He makes mistakes, but makes no excuses. He gains no great reward or honor during his life, but neither does he end up a derelict. He lives his life with a quiet, slow dignity that carries him through until the end.

Robin Field does an excellent job with the voices on this recording. Spot on.

Recommended!

Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See

Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Format: Audible
Reading Dates: 18 Dec 2014 - 29 Jan 2015
Rating: *****

What more can you write about World War II? Hasn't everything been said already? Apparently not, and good for us, because Anthony Doerr has written a jewel of a book about a blind French girl and a orphaned German boy who struggle to deal with a war not of their choosing in All the Light We Cannot See. Woven into the narrative is the legend of the Sea of Flames, a rare diamond with deadly powers.

Doerr's book explores the ideas of good and bad/dark and light. Is anyone ever just one thing or the other? When faced with impossible choices, what do you choose? How do you face the world falling apart around you when you can't even see the world around you? Are you the brave one or the one who lives to tell the tale?

As the book jumped back and forth in time, I began to think of it as a constant cliffhanger--always leaving me wanting more as it quickly picked up the last story. That made it a true page-turner, although in this case I was listening to an audiobook and finding excuses to keep driving.

Really great book. Highly recommended!

Book Review: The Court-Martial of Paul Revere: A Son of Liberty and America's Forgotten Military Disaster

Title: The Court-Martial of Paul Revere: A Son of Liberty and America's Forgotten Military Disaster
Author: Michael M. Greenburg
Format: Kindle
Reading Dates: 09 Dec 2014 - 18 Jan 2015
Rating: *****

I guess if you grew up taking Massachusetts or Maine History classes in high school, you might have heard of the Penobscot Expedition, but otherwise, it’s probably nothing that hit your radar. In short, it was a disastrous foray of Americans from Massachusetts into the Penobscot Bay in Maine, the purpose of which was to forcibly remove a British garrison that had established itself on the Majabigwaduce peninsula and had begun building a fort.

The Massachusetts men comprised both an army and a navy and the officer in charge of the artillery was none other than American hero and Son of Liberty, Paul Revere. Despite outnumbering the Redcoats, the Expedition ended in an all-out rout of the Americans and the destruction of the entire Expeditionary Fleet. After the troops’ ignominious return to Boston, the blame game began and many fingers were pointing at Paul Revere, accusing him of disobeying orders, being generally lazy, and being a coward.

Author Michael M. Greenburg has created an altogether readable book on the entire affair beginning with Revere’s famous ride, its aftermath, his part in the Penobscot Expedition, and the court-martial that followed. The book is obviously well-researched but it doesn’t end up reading like a textbook. Instead, it is a gripping account of the doomed siege and its players and paints Revere in a different light than what you might have been brought up to believe.

I enjoyed Revere's story, but I also liked this book because it’s been a long time since I’ve read any history on the Revolutionary War. Greenburg does a really fine job in describing the general events that led to war and then placing the particulars of the Penobscot Expedition in context.

If I could change one thing about this book, I wish there was a good map of the area around Majabigwaduce. Greenburg includes some hand-drawn maps contemporary with the Expedition, but a larger, more readable map would have helped me better place the action he describes.

A well-done history book! Highly recommended!

Ten Word Novel

The End.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Favorite Books of 2014

We are already well into February and I realize that most of you have not been able to sleep because you have been waiting for My Favorite Books of 2014 post. Blame Captain America. He has been home a lot lately and I have been entertaining him instead of writing blog posts.

I notice as I look through my records that I didn't review a whole bunch of books toward the end of the year. Blame Captain America for that, too. I don't know why, but I blame him for most things, so he won't notice one more.

The past several years I set a goal for myself to read so many books and usually felt so rushed to do it that I got kind of crazy at the end of the year. In 2014 I told myself to slow down and read some long books. That was a good idea, because I read some great ones. Interestingly, I ended up reading twenty books in 2014 just as I did in 2013. That has everything to do with the boss saying we could no longer work from home and had to come back into the office. Thank you, Audible, for helping me keep my sanity.

So here are my top books of 2014. As always, these are books I read in 2014, not necessarily published in 2014.

5-Star Books

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

 

I loved this book and can't believe that it has been around since the 1950s and I had never heard of it. It has everything a great audiobook should have--an epic story and a wonderful narrator. I couldn't imagine when I started the book how exciting it would be. I expected a rather dry, scientific tome with lots of snow and ice and cold, and it was anything but (well, there was a lot of snow and ice but the cold didn't seem to bother them as much as it would bother me).

As Shackleton and his troop try to get back to civilization after being stranded on a expedition to the South Pole, they faced seemingly impossible odds. Just when I would think that things couldn't get any worse, they would. I would catch myself saying out loud in my car, "Oh my God!" and a few minutes later, "Oh my God!" And yet despite each setback, they soldiered on. If you're looking for one audiobook to get with your next credit, this should be it.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

This is a small jewel. As an audiobook it's only 6 hours long, but it packs a lot of emotion into those few hours. Christopher, the book's narrator, is an autistic boy trying to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, Wellington. As he conducts his investigation, the more he finds out, the more he finds his whole world unraveling. A must-listen!

Roots by Alex Haley

I've done a full review on this one here, but suffice it to say it's as good as I remember the TV show being. And that's good!

Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review which you can read here. It is a quirky little book that taught me a bit about medicine back in the day. Neat read!

4.5-Star Books

A Christmas Carol by Tim Curry

I've had this one in my library for a couple of years, but decided I finally needed to listen to it. I've seen several TV and movie adaptations of the book, but I don't believe I've ever read it before ths. Tim Curry is amazing as a narrator. Listening to this book was a great way to wrap Christmas presents!

One of my favorite books of all times is Tess of the D'Urbevilles. I like it for the same reason I like Everything I Never Told You--because one decision, one circumstance causes a chain reaction that lasts for years, and you're left playing the "what if that never happened" game in your head for a long time.

I received this book as part of the Ford Audiobook Club. Soon after it was chosen by the
Amazon editors as the Best Book of 2014. It's easy to see why. I thought the characters were really well drawn and believable. You know from the first sentence that Lydia is dead, and yet as the book progressed I kept hoping that something would break that chain reaction--but it had started long before Lydia was born. Great narrator, too!

Young girls living through the horrors of World War II seems to be a popular theme in books these days (I'm looking at you, All the Light We Cannot See), and The Book Thief shines as one of the best. You can read my full review here.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Everyone was reading The Goldfinch, especially after it won the Pulitzer. It still makes me dizzy to think about. You can read my full review here.

We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

I started the year off with We, the Drowned and it set a high bar for all the books that followed. I was looking to read an epic, and I got it. You can read my full review here.

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So there you have it. Nine books that got either 4.5 or 5 stars this year. There were others that came close with just 4 stars and some that didn't come close at all. You can check out the full list on LibraryThing.com.