The ShamRocker says _it's Book Review Time.Here's a couple I thought I'd share_because my reading is a daily,ongoing affair.So,let's get to it!
Dicey Deere
Now,maybe you've not heard of her.Can't remember how I was introduced to her writings...but a friend gave me one of her books for a Christmas prize_it was on my Christmas List.I could not put this book down_
It's a page turner if you like "WhoDunnit Mysteries"!I loved it because it reminded me of another adventure with my main man_Hercule Poirot(Agatha Christie's fictional Belgian detective).It's a see-saw...maybe he did,no she couldn't have,aaah,I know....all to be surprised in the end.All the action takes place in Ireland_on the great Estates,the landscape,the people,their character,the food & drinks_AND Torrey Tuner_sleuth(an unknown to the community)_that's always poking her nose in police work and other people's business!BUT,she's always on target..I love her.Finished that one _ordered this one_
Read like a crazy woman through this second book!It was so good.I like the way the Writer brings "YOU" the Reader into the scheme of things....twist & turns,complicated plots,interesting characters,a new discovery on each page_Dicey Deere is skilled at throwing red herrings your way every time! So,she hasn't written very many books_ lives in an eighteenth-century whaler's cottage in Sag Harbor, New York. In May or October, she can usually be found at a bed-and-breakfast in Ireland.Not much on the Internet about her.BUT,SHE"S GOOD!!!!!!!!!! Ordering her other books...NOW.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/diceydeere
Tracy Chevalier
Finally,got around to reading this one after viewing the movie of the same name a dozen times or more!I love this story line. Could it be my secret love affair continues? Read my Blog post here:
http://sagebookwhisperer.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-secret-holidayepic-entanglementwith.html
Anyway,there was much more to love in the book.Tracy blends history and fiction into an artistic Old World Masterpiece,today!
Somewhat in the same vein as reading Susan Vreeland's_
I've considered reading it again and again.Art and the Human experience,throw in Vermeer and I'm in! Again,I've watched the movie called "Brush With Fate"several times_never ever get sick of it!
Ayana Mathis
My girlfriend was over during the Christmas Holidays for a "MOVIE DAY".We watched movies from 10am until 7pm with snacks in between,etc.What a day.So,she enticed me to read the first couple of lines from this book on her Kindle!Ah,I'm old fashion,I like to actually hold books that I read,underline,tag pages,etc..so,I don't have Kindle! Anyway...the first couple lines:
"1925.Philadelphia and Jubilee!"August said when Hattie told him what she wanted to name their twins."You cain't give them babies no crazy names like that!"Hattie's mother,if she were still alive,would have agreed with August.She would have said Hattie had chosen vulgar names;low and showy,"she would have called them.But she was gone,and Hattie wanted to give her babies names that weren't chiseled on a headstone in the family plots in Georgia,so she gave them names of promise and of hope,reaching forward names,not looking back ones."
Mmmm,this peaked my interest_so I purchased the book.Come to find out it was on Oprah's Book Club list.It was interesting but I got all tangled up trying to keep up with the 12 tribes_her children's lives.Philadelphia and Jubilee died as babies_Hattie had nine more,doesn't equal 12,right? I soon got the hang of it. It turned out to be a compelling story of the human spirit in the face of many trials and tribulations of life.
John Cleland(1709-1789)
I am almost finished with this one! And,I say that in a very light manner.First off,I was challenged by all the fuss over "Fifty Shades of Grey"_ 2011's erotic romance by British author E.L.James! This was the rage,the "it" thing last year...young women having a hissy fit,swooning over every details,with adult toys being in demand all over the country,probably world! I wrote this blog on the subject matter:
http://sagebookwhisperer.blogspot.com/2012/06/50-shades-of-greyscandalousmaybereallyn.html
My contention was that Fifty Shades was NOT a new idea! This kinda stuff goes back ...way back,even during Biblical times. So,I challenged myself to read the MOST CONTROVERSIAL book of it's time in English Literature...I'm what you called ADDICTED TO READING...that's a good thing!Off I go with this little number _got the "Wordsworth Classics Edition",thinking Classic,maybe this will be a classy copy.WRONG! First page and throughout the book and ILLUSTRATIONS_as they are called,ah,well,maybe ,NOT_ that would make modern adult sites look like "an Immature First Love"!Seems the Privy Council of England charged the author with INDECENCY shortly after publication in 1749.I'm on page 169 of 203.I WILL BE SO GLAD TO FINISH THIS ONE! If I have to read another "highly descripitive" encounter of her jollies & follies,these living room parties where every couple present takes part to demonstrate their skills in ....Ima just have to say to myself_"Ma'am Step away from the book! Heck,I had a hard time finding a DECENT picture of the book without changing my blog to an adult site.ENOUGH said. Did I say_this book is EQUIVALENT to"Fifty Shades of Grey" ON POWERFUL STEROIDS X's 10!!
There_You have it...Food for thought on a couple Books to read or NOT!
Lots of fun coming in March....it's time to get my Irish on....can't wait.See Ya!!
What began as an innocent tete-a-tete escalated into an "Epic Entanglement" of the heart!Okay_so I have a vivid imagination! Johannes or Jan_as in Johannes Vermeer(1632-1675),was a famous Dutch Painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class life.He lived in Delft,a city in Amsterdam,now Dutch Republic(Netherlands). It is an historical Dutch towne center with canals(just like Venice,Italy),Delft Blue pottery and the Dutch Royal family,the House of Orange-Nassau.
"View of Delft" by Vermeer(1660-61)
View of Delft_Today!
What would his works say to me? How would I respond? Will I be able to resist this brilliant man's hold on me? The thing is_at our first dalliance, Jan's back was to me_so I wasn't able to know this Creature.He sat painting...
..as I noticed the carefully slashed doublet jacket's back and sleeves_a costume of his times.Although,I'd wear a jacket(doublet) of this style today_a fashion statement,indeed! Is this really Johannes self -portrait of his back no less!Some believe it so.I peered a little closer to reveal...
..YET,another famous painting of Jan's_"The Art of Painting"(1666-1673).The woman wears the crown of leaves,holds a trombone in her right hand and a book in her left.Ahhhh,yes that is a symbol for_"Clio The Muse of History"! It is rather thought of as a painting depicting an historical event as opposed to the praise of the art of painting.The map on the wall depicts old Netherlands,the golden glittering chandelier with a double-headed eagle is a symbol for sight,the manipulation of the folds,tucks and textual qualities of her blue dress,his use of a camera obscura(a precursor of modern photographic camera)in the not so in focus folded fabrics and the use of a drawn-back tapestry _enticing me to pull the curtain back a little farther...How clever of you Johannes!
The first week in December was when this tete-a-tete started.I read the fictional novel "Girl in Hyacinth Blue"by Susan Vreeland,followed it up with the movie based upon the novel,_"A Brush of Fate"(Glenn Close,Ellen Burstyn,Thomas Gibson)_then I completed the book "Vermeer(The Complete Paintings)" by Norbert Schneider_followed that up with the movie,_"Girl With A Pearl Earring"(Colin Firth,Scarlett Johansson)all in the span of two weeks! Both the Books and Movies were Holiday gifts from a girlfriend and my husband_they know I love Vermeer! Now,I'm reading "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier_AND_ "Luncheon of the Boating Party "by Susan Vreeland based on the Auguste Renoir's masterful painting of the same name...I smell another "affair of the heart" coming on!
Now this...
BUT,Still no face to the man whose paintings have intrigued me for years! I fell in love with Johannes many years ago_in the early 70's, when I first laid eyes on ...
"Girl with a Pearl Earring",c.1665
Johannes portraits of women_young women_were mostly in a narrative situation.Activities such as musical instruments,scales,playing the Virginal,etc.The above painting plus two others lack those situations.
THE GIRL, above is sat against a neutral,dark background,nearly black 3D effect.She gazes at us,lips slightly parted_as if to speak,head inclined to suggest a girl in thought_yet she has a very keen gaze!Dressed in an unadorned,brownish-yellow mustardly jacket,shiny white collar contrast,blue turban,lemon -yellow,veil-like cloth falls from the peak of the turban_all give an exotic effect.Turbans were a popular fashionable accessory in Europe as early as 15th century.BUT_a large,tear-shaped pearl hanging from the girl's ear with a golden sheen_is the standout,the focal point!
From that day forward this Mustard color combined with the Cornflower Blue became my favorite colors to wear.It is still a fashionable color today! We can learn about fashionable color combinations and dress from the Old Master Paintings! The PEARLS_well...that's another story.I've loved Pearls since as a small child my Grandmother said,"A Lady is not dressed properly until she has on Pearls". I prize my sets of pearls..especially the "Black Pearls" my husband gave me for an Anniversary present one year! My favorite to wear is the triple string of Pearls_I gave myself one year after a "very,very"successful year in Medical Sales!
"Tahitian Black Pearls"
Vermeer's painting always depicted some form of symbolism for the time.Women were painted doing some sort of chore,i.e."The Milkmaid",The Lacemaker"_to teach the virtue of work,or they might demonstrate their skills in music as in_"The Concert" or "Lady Seated at a Virginal"_or the more devious behaviour as in "Girl Asleep at a Table" or genre painting of women in brothels! Musical instruments were popular during this time.Jan even painted a "Girl with a Flute"_ an instrument associated with orgies and erotica...who knew that about the Flute! And_guess what? The wearing of pearls symbolized a negative attribute in a female_considered to be a vain person...WTH? Come on Johannes,really?
Finally,in what some consider a Self-Portrait in his painting of "The Procuress"(1656)_oil-on-canvas shows a genre scene in a brothel_one of the two women is the eponymous procuress,while the figure on the left has been identified by some as Johannes..my main man!
The "Brothel Paintings"_a subcategory of Dutch genre paintings_ proved to be a fascinating theme for many Painters of that time.They were meant to teach a lesson_to convey norms and valuable lessons of moral living!
The drinking of Wine,the table parallel to the frame acting as a barrier between the observer and the participants in the scene,the young woman in yellow,her flushed cheeks,holding a glass of wine,as the creature above rest his hand on her bosom area and the reveller on the left sits in dark clothing suggest_everything can be bought,including LOVE! Her tipsy smile,the open hand to receive the coins in payment of her services from the cavalier with his decorous feathered hat & vermillion jerkin_as the procuress,the old woman in black looks on to perhaps to the completion of her successful scheme_Head Madam if you will! Moral lesson learned....fill in the blank space provided:______________________________.
Enough I proclaimed! I had fallen deep into Johannes compositions,the depiction of light and his gentle brush techniques_that gave such a high degree of realism I clung to his beautiful slashed doublet as if for my life! I imagined a Duel between Johannes and John(my husband)_choice words were spoken_weapons of mass destruction were chosen...John has many "Marksmanship Ribbon Awards" while in the military...I was not worried!
The duel being based upon a code of honour..not so much to harm the opponent as to gain "satisfaction"_ to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it all...just for ME!
It seems I'd fallen into a deep,deep sleep with Vermeer (The Complete Paintings) book laid across my chest...his complete works open to my Soul.
My abyss...bottomless pit to my heart was tumbling,tumbling fast...
Until...Awaken from the throes of this moment of reckoning_I heard a distant voice..at first I couldn't make out the voice, I'd heard it before I was sure..what were those words?????
"Honey Doodles,What's for Dinner"?
And so my "Epic Entanglement Ended"...Saved by "My John".
That's a Good Thing!...because,I was trying to figure out how to be a Stepmother to Johannes 15 children...
And it was not a pretty picture! But,I am...
Forever Yours Johannes!!!!!!!!
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