Category Archives: Project 366

A Year in Books/Day 50: Free Love

Posted on February 23, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Free Love
• Author: Annette Meyers
• Year Published: 1999 (Mysterious Press)
• Year Purchased: 2002-2004
• Source: Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company
• About: This period murder mystery (the best kind, in my opinion) features an Edna St. Vincent Millay-esque heroine. She composes poetry, acts for the (Provincetown) Playhouse, is shockingly frank and solves a crime. Sounds familiar, except for that last bit. After reading this book, I could pretty well be convinced that the flesh-and-blood inspiration was a bad-ass detective, too.
• Motivation: Although I’m rather picky when it comes to mystery novels (I don’t like them except when I love them), the blurb on this one sucked me in: The era. The main character. The atmosphere. Sold, sold and sold.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 2: “It was a mistake; the water was cold and sloshy. Still, there was no way I was going to impart this and have him say “I told you so,” so I took my time sloshing through it. Oh, prig or not, he probably wouldn’t have gloated because he’s a better person than I am.”
• Happiness Scale: 8

 

A Year in Books/Day 49: Hollywood Dressed & Undressed

Posted on February 18, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Hollywood Dressed & Undressed A Century of Cinema Style
• Author: Sandy Schreier
• Year Published: 1998 (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.)
• Year Purchased: 2002-2004
• Source: Unknown
• About: With the attention to detail of an insider and the adoration of the most giddy fan, designer Schreier takes us on a 100 year tour of film-land’s most famous and enduring costumes.
• Motivation: I’m an ex-actress (stage) and write extensively about early cinema. I’m just one ridiculous movie nerd. I also love fashion in all of its iterations, from the silly to the avant-garde to the iconic.
• Times Read: Countless
• Random Excerpt/Page 2: “Costume designer Edith Head, Hollywood’s most prolific designer, reflected on the Golden Age of costuming: ‘Then the designer was as important as the star-when you said Garbo, you thought Adrian; when you said Dietrich, you thought Banton. Their magic was part of selling a picture.'”
• Happiness Scale: 10
  

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A Year in Books/Day 48: Seeing Europe with Famous Authors

Posted on February 17, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Seeing Europe with Famous Authors Vol. II Great Britain and Ireland Part Two
• Editor: Francis W. Halsey
• Year Published: 1914 (Funk & Wagnalls Company)
• Year Purchased: September, 2010
• Source: Springfield (OH) Antique Show & Flea Market
• About: This tiny book was one of a ten-volume compilation series culled from previously published travel essays by famous authors. On hand are pieces by Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Boswell, William Makepeace Thackeray, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and others. Even in 1914, some of the essays were decades old. Now, they all read like history as well as travel-they remain fascinating word-gems of a time long ago surpassed by the frantic rhythms of our modern world.
• Motivation: I bought this perfectly preserved first-edition copy while shopping for vintage lovelies for my December 2010 nuptials. It was too adorable and cheap ($3.00) to pass up. History and literature is a heady mix for this girl.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 54: “It is doubtful whether the name of any lighthouse is so familiar throughout the English-speaking world as the “Eddystone.” Certainly no other “pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day,” can offer so romantic a story of dogged engineering perseverance, of heartrending disappointments, disaster, blasted hopes, and brilliant success.”
• Happiness Scale: 7 1/2
  

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A Year in Books/Day 47: The Girl from the Fiction Department

Posted on February 17, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: The Girl from the Fiction Department A Portrait of Sonia Orwell
• Author: Hilary Spurling
• Year Published: 2002/This Edition: 2003 (Counterpoint)
• Year Purchased: 2010
• Source: My Mom
• About: A thoughtful, even-handed biography of George Orwell’s controversial second wife (and widow). Although it was written by a later-in-life friend of Sonia’s with the stated goal of setting the record straight, it’s the real deal: well-researched, compassionate and honest.
• Motivation: My Mother knows me well! Biography + complex woman + literary theme= winner!
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 87: “This was the Sonia who bewitched others all her life, and whose abrupt disappearance invariably came as a shock. Maurice didn’t care for the second self who replaced the first, the wary, reticent Sonia whose uncertainty made her overbearing, the Sonia who could never trust herself or anyone else, especially not someone who seemed in retrospect to have surprised her into an intimacy she feared and could not sustain.”
• Happiness Scale: 8

A Year in Books/Day 46: Scotch Whisky

Posted on February 15, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Scotch Whisky A Liquid History
• Author: Charles MacLean
• Year Published: 2005 (Cassell Illustrated)
• Year Purchased: 2009
• Source: A dear friend.
• About: The history of Scotch, covering the years 1494-1994.
• Motivation: This book was a thank you gift from a close friend. My (now) husband and I love Scotch. In fact, my appreciation of and knowledge about the beverage helped him fall in love with me. Although this is the stuff of another story or ten, our mutual love of the drink has been a pretty constant thread in our relationship. Aw, romance!
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 37: “In 1707 Scotland was one of the poorest and most backward countries in Europe. Agriculture was at the stage it had reached centuries before; manufacturing, as we understand the term, did not exist. Even the gentry lived in relatively straitened circumstances-an average gentlewoman would possess no more than three or four fine dresses throughout her lifetime.”
• Happiness Scale: 9 1/2

 

A Year in Books/Day 45: Haunted London

Posted on February 15, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Haunted London
• Author: Richard Jones
• Year Published: 2004 (Barnes & Noble Books)
• Year Purchased: 2005
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: A photograph-rich travel book that blends traditional history with paranormal research.
• Motivation: I’m a history-mad Anglophile with a penchant for off-the-beaten-path adventure.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 23: “A forerunner of London’s grand hotels, the Langham Hotel was built in 1864. Its Victorian splendor was host to such famous names as Mark Twain, Arnold Bennett, Napoleon III of France, and the composer Dvorak -who managed to offend the sensibilities of the management when, in an attempt to save money, he requested a double room for himself and his adult daughter.”
• Happiness Scale: 9

A Year in Books/Day 44: Good Old Index

Posted on February 13, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Good Old Index The Sherlock Holmes Handbook
• Author: Thomas W. Ross
• Year Published: 1997 (Camden House)
• Year Purchased: 2002/2003
• Source: Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company
• About: Every single thing you could ever want or need to know about Sherlock Holmes, except, perhaps, which actor best embodies the timeless sleuth.
• Motivation: Although I am not an obsessive Holmes fanatic, I am quite the ardent reader. I also love lists and encyclopedias.
• Times Read: Cover-to-cover: 1/As consulting tool: countless
  

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• Random Excerpt/Page 62: “Epithets, for Holmes, hurled at him by scoffers: see busybody; cocksure; jack-in-office; theorist; clever.”
• Happiness Scale: 7

A Year in Books/Day 43: The Big Bam

Posted on February 13, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: The Big Bam The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
• Author: Leigh Montville
• Year Published: 2006 (Doubleday)
• Year Purchased: 2010
• Source: History Book Club
• About: A first-rate biography of Babe Ruth, written by a first-rate sports writer, Leigh Montville (‘Ted Williams’). A good biography is easy enough to find. If you can manage to locate one that combines in-depth research with a nuanced understanding of human psychology, all blended together with sports knowledge and the ability to tell a damn fine story, then you are likely in the presence of greatness.
• Motivation: I grew up watching baseball with my Grandpa (the Indians, not the Yankees). It remains one of my favorite past-times, evoking fond memories whilst simultaneously creating new ones. I love a good character study and, wow, is Babe Ruth’s life perfect fodder for that!
  

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• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 122: “The Los Angeles Times reported that this was the biggest national rumor since the famous “Fake Armistice” story of November 7, 1918, which at first sent people into the streets in celebration of the end of the world war, then resulted in a number of riots when the news turned out to be false. The Babe rumor, while it did flash through poolrooms and boardrooms everywhere in the country, had a much quieter finish as baseball officials immediately denied it.”
• Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 42: Vermeer

Posted on February 11, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Vermeer The Complete Paintings
• Author: Norbert Schneider
• Year Published: 2001 (Taschen)
• Year Purchased: 2002/2003
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: Mid-way between a coffee table book and scholarly treatise, this small, slim volume is a surprisingly stunning study of the legendary Dutch master’s entire output (35 paintings). Norbert Schneider has serious chops as an art historian, yet manages to present technical details, sociological factors and biographical information in a straightforward and engaging manner. He takes you considerably deeper than ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. His beautifully nuanced precision is well worthy of Vermeer.
• Motivation: I have wildly eclectic taste. Though my preferences twist and turn, slither and lurch to a thousand and one different places, doubling back before shooting off in another hundred seemingly random, sometimes contradictory directions, one thing is always indisputable: I like what I like. And I like Vermeer. In fact, I have an overall fondness for Dutch painting. A quick thumb-through of this lush little gem and I was sold.
• Times Read: Countless
• Random Excerpt/Page 36: ” A peeled lemon in ‘Woman and two men’ lies on a silver dish next to a jug which has been placed on a white cloth in an arrangement which is almost like a still life; the purpose if the lemon was to reduce the effect of love potions.”
• Happiness Scale: 10++
  

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A Year in Books/Day 41: Mary Queen of Scots

Posted on February 11, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Mary Queen of Scots
• Author: Marjorie Bowen
• Year Published: First Edition-1934/This Edition: 1971 (Sphere Books Limited)
• Year Purchased: 2001
• Source: Book Harbor, Westerville, Ohio
• About: A fine biography that gives the Scots queen her full due. A true classic.
• Motivation: I have a largish collection of Tudor-themed books. Although I have never been strongly attached to Elizabeth’s cousin, I thought it was time to give a few feet of shelf space to the House of Stuart. I’m glad I did.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 200: “It was Sir Henry Killigrew who brought the official warning and the secret complaint to Edinburgh. He had his notes to make on the affairs, domestic and politic, of the young Queen of Scots who should, by the birth of her son, have been at the height of her triumph.”
• Happiness Scale: 10
  

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