The Natural World, Past and Present

Last weekend I participated in about half of the 24 in 48 Readathon. (The second day I just couldn't get interested in reading for some reason so I only got 11 hours done.) The first two books I read were ones sitting on my non-fiction TBR that I wanted to be able to mark as read.

The first is one I just got this past Christmas -- Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery by David Attenborough, Susan Owens, Martin Clayton, and Rea Alexandratos. It focuses on five natural history artists--Leonardo da Vinci, Cassiano dal Pozzo, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sybilla Merian, and Mark Catesby--and their works that are now held in the Royal Collection. They each represent a period in time, from about 1470-1730.

I am intrigued by natural history artists and actually have five prints hanging over my tv (that are rotated in from a collection I have -- right now they are a squid, a crab, a pineapple, an octopus, and molluscs). It was interesting to read about the diverse backgrounds of each of these artists and about what inspired them to draw. This isn't a super comprehensive natural history art book but more a snapshot of the works of a few prolific pioneers.

Then I read Jane Goodall's 50 Years at Gombe, which has been on my shelves for a few years now (the 50 years was in 2010). If you are a Goodall fan, most of the information and history in the book will be a review but it's a nice collection of some of the National Geographic photographs that brought Jane to the world's attention and some more recent photos of the land and the current chimps. (I happen to own the original August 1963 Nat Geo that first featured the chimpanzees.) This book is great for a basic overview and a call to action. It lists many of the organizations that are supported by the Jane Goodall Institute and the ways for people all around the world to make a difference in the lives of the chimpanzees and the humans around them. I was extremely happy to hear that my best friend donated to the Institute this year instead of sending me Christmas presents. (I donated to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary instead of shopping for her.)

Have you read any great nature/natural history books lately?

Returning to the roots,

K

Pretty, Pretty Alice

I try not to hoard different editions of books but there have been so many different, beautiful editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the past couple of years that I've ended up with more copies than I intended. I hadn't yet had a chance to really explore this Anna Bond-illustrated edition from Puffin so I spent the last couple of days enjoying it from cover to cover.

First of all, I took a peek under the already-lovely dust jacket and found this SPLENDID cover. Even the headband is a sparkly gold that is awesome.

Then I opened the front cover and found these lovely monochromatic endpapers, full of all of the highlights of the story.

Finally, I enjoyed the lovely insides of the book, with lots of bright and beautiful illustrations. They definitely were inspired by the Disney film but, as it is one of my favorite things in the world, I loved it.

All of these images and more are at the Rifle Paper Co. website where Anna Bond is creative director. If you scroll to the bottom, you'll also see her Puffin in Bloom series, including such titles as Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. But I don't need more editions of these books, right? I don't need more ...

With failing resolve,

K

Holiday Giving on My Mind

As I sit here browsing websites for gifts for my friends and family, there are a couple of standouts that I want to share with you.

1. Art of ... Books
Not everyone is into books and that's okay. Luckily, some of those people are into film.

With the lovely Disney-Pixar film Coco coming out later this week (we'll be seeing it in 3D on Weds), it is a great time to celebrate Day of the Dead with the first animated film to take us into the world of the dead -- Art of The Book of Life by director Jorge R. Gutierrez. This is one of Z and my most favorite films with beautiful music, a gorgeous style, and a heart-warming story. And the art style is so unique that you can totally get lost in this book while you're trying to wrap it for someone else.

Chronicle Books has just released The Art of Aardman, featuring sketches, early models, and movie scenes from all of their stop-motion hits. It will not only remind you of all of your favorite Wallace and Gromit moments but will let you finally see all of the little jokey props that you missed in the rich environment of The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists! even though you have seen the film dozens and dozens of times (oh, is that just us?). It would be perfect for a youngster who is thinking about a career in animation and wants to see the process from the bottom up.

And there are so, so many of these "art of film" books. (Chronicle even has one for Coco!)

2. Collectors' Editions

Sure, pretty much everyone who wants to read Harry Potter has already, but do they have their own house-colored edition of Philosopher's Stone? There are also paperback editions in solid house colors but I think these hardcovers with the tie patterns are the best. If you are in the U.S., you can get them from The Book Depository. I already gave my niece a Ravenclaw edition for her 11th birthday this summer and she almost died when she realized it came from the U.K. and was the British text!

Also, lots of books have beautiful new editions out -- like the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and the Neverwhere Illustrated Edition. I'm asking for more clothbound Penguins to fill out my collection!

3. Bookish Swag

I know everyone has their own places that they like to go for swag, from your local indie bookshop to the neighborhood Barnes & Noble but I just wanted to remind everyone that you can support small businesses by heading to Etsy. There you'll find goodies like magnetic bookmarks from Wrecking Ball Design (also, you may recognize the owner when you click over there)! Just search for any author, title, or item and you'll be sure to find lots of surprises and treats.

Is there anything you want to add to the list? Something you are asking for or are gifting this year?

Spendin' cheese,
K

#MarchMagics - Favorite Fan Art

Because I am not an artist, I love going to look for artist's interpretations of my favorite characters after I'm done reading a book. My favorite place to do this is on DeviantArt. Here are some of my favorites related to the DWJ and Pratchett reading I've done this year. (You can click through for bigger versions.)

 

Tiffany Aching: books by Ner-Tamin on DeviantArt

Oook Tribute to Terry Pratchett by maiarcita on DeviantArt

Derkbabies by Kecky on DeviantArt

Empty your pockets, Chant! by monotogne on DeviantArt

Terry Pratchett Nation by Ullbors on DeviantArt

Where do you go to find fan art? Have you ever tried making your own?

In awe of talent,

K

#MarchMagics - Favorite Bad Covers

When I was thinking of prompts, Favorite Book Covers came to mind. But then I started thinking about how we always complain about the worst of the DWJ covers and decided to put the Favorite Bad Covers twist on today's post!

There have been some gorgeous cover redos for DWJ lately but some of her old ones are so bad they're good --

This one is the perfect combination of Mig and the wolf and just what I think Aunt Maria would look like but IT'S SO UGLY!!

This looks like it's a novelization of V -- you know, the 80s show about the lizard aliens? -- but the collar looks just right. Also, there's no indication what the "three" could possibly mean except through the cheesy tag line. 

This is actually the newest cover, I think, and it's so silly and creepy that I love it. The title font is all satanic and the doll is just bizarre.

I decided not to go with any of the older Discworld covers because they are just plain bad. I'm trying to find newer covers for as many of those as possible!

What are your favorite so-bad-they're-good DWJ or Pratchett covers?

Cringing but smirking,

K

#DWJMarch: Fan Art Friday 4

For this last Fan Art Friday, I want to share some of the Diana Wynne Jones memorial fan art that I've seen.

Of course, my favorite piece is Granny Diana by yellowcrayolacrayon. She was so kind to let me use it for the event button when I asked. I love that she put Diana between Sophie and Howl.

Artist jetblac has done this RIP DWJ piece that I adore --

He says that for "those having trouble guessing we have Helen, Joris and Jamie from Homeward Bounders, Howl, Calcifer, Sophie and Morgan from Howl's Moving Castle series, Jonathan from Tale of Time City, Ann, Hume, Mordion and Yam from Hexwood, Janet, Rodger and Cat from Chrestomanci series, Erskine, Fifi and Howard from Archers' Goon, Millie, Cherestomanci, Julia and Tacroy, Ella, Lunkin, Olga, Ruskin, Claudia and Felim from Year of the Griffin, Hafny and Gair from Power of Three and Luke from Eight Days of Luke".

Finally, this piece from Deus-Marionette simply remembers a young and happy and healthy Diana --

We miss you, Diana!

#DWJMarch: Fan Art Friday 3

Yesterday's featured book was Fire and Hemlock and there is a lot of fan art out there around Polly and Tom (and fire ... and hemlock).

Fire and Hemlock by Budotty

Polly and Hemlock by ladyrhiannon

Tom Lynn by ki-chan

polly and mr lynn by madis-hartte

I like the last one the best, I think. It looks the most like they do in my head.

#DWJMarch: Fan Art Friday 2

Welcome to the second Fan Art Friday. Today I want to feature a couple of my favorite pieces of DWJ fan art.

I've always loved this first piece by chirart (Jayd Aït-Kaci of Canada) that has Christopher Chant and Throgmorten the cat (who does indeed say "wong")--

Chirart has other Chrestomanci pieces too that are all amazing and perfectly capture his style as described by Diana.

I also adore this piece by Kecky called Derkbabies --

It's Shona and Kit and all kinds of cute!

Finally, I found this painting by gyldenstjerne showing Cat, Klarch and Syracuse from The Pinhoe Egg --

I apparently have a thing for DWJ's griffins -- how about you?

#DWJMarch: Fan Art Friday 1

Today is the first of four Fan Art Fridays. Perhaps by the end of the month I will have attempted some fan art of my own but today I want to feature an artist who I met during DWJ March last year, Goldeen Ogawa. Here is her deviantart profile, her blog and a couple of her DWJ fan art pieces.

The Homeward Bounders

Nursemaiding A Baby Griffin

Howl's Moving Castle

I'm hoping we see some new DWJ art from Goldeen this year. She's a true Diana Wynne Jones fan and a fantastic artist!

DWJ March: Odds and Ends #1 (+Giveaway)

I've decided to write up these small Odds and Ends posts when I have a few pieces of information to share with you for DWJ March. If you have a blog post, a link or fan art or anything else you would like to share with other Diana Wynne Jones fans, please email it to me (webereadingATgmail) and I'll include it!

We have a giveaway from Ana of Things Mean a Lot. One lucky reader will get a copy of Fire and Hemlock. The giveaway is open internationally and the winner will be chosen in one week. If you haven't read this one yet or if you just don't own a copy, head on over and enter!

And Goldeen Ogawa has written a fantastic post about Howl's Moving Castle. If you're still not sure about reading it with us, her post will hopefully convince you that it's worth picking up.

She's also done a fan art piece with watercolors for Howl's Moving Castle that I love. (Click on the image to see a larger version.)

Chasing down destiny,
K

A Week of Gift Ideas: For Collectors and Nature Enthusiasts

Today's offering is one that I requested from Sterling without quite realizing what it would be. When it arrived, I was floored by what a gorgeous product it is.

This is actually the front of a hardcover case that contains both a book of essays and dozens of printed plates. Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library has something special for students of natural history, history and art.

From the publisher --

For the first time, Natural Histories allows readers a privileged glimpse of seldom-seen, fully illustrated scientific tomes from the American Museum of Natural History's Rare Book Collection. Forty essays from the museum's top experts in a variety of natural science disciplines, from anthropology to zoology, accompany and discuss each rare work's unique qualities and scientific contribution. Packaged with 40 extraordinary prints suitable for framing and facsimile items inside bound-in envelopes, this deluxe edition will fascinate both natural science and art lovers alike.

If you have someone in your life that you think would appreciate this sort of thing, this would be a unique and thoughtful gift. As for me, I will be shopping for frames soon as I plan to choose my favorite prints for a wall collage. I might even include one or two of my own drawings (which I would share with you if I could find them but alas, I seem to have "put them away" somewhere).

Celebrating the art of science,
K

A Week of Gift Ideas: For Those With Big Imaginations

Today I have a pair of gorgeous blue books. I'm not sure why they're both blue and without dust jackets but it's kind of cool. And they would be the perfect gifts for that cool person in your life.

The new gift edition of Stardust by Neil Gaiman comes in a cloth case and you can even find a deluxe signed edition online for $150. If you don't have quite that much to spend, the unsigned edition is only $30 and is still fabulous and full of features like pretty blue drawings at the start of each chapter by none other than Charles Vess, a new Wall story and an additional sentimental postscript from Neil himself. And, of course, it still has the same enchanting story inside that I've already recommended before. In fact, I'll be sitting down with this gem in front of a cozy fire sometime soon for a re-read. And although this is a beautiful gift edition, I might just be gifting it to myself.

Out next week, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 2, a collaborative effort from the HitRecord community, is perhaps not as quirky as the first volume (which I loved) but instead is more melancholy and frequently touches on such things as loneliness, loss and suicide. There are contributions from some tremendously talented artists and with each read I discover something new and my appreciation for this tiny book grows. Paired with the first volume, this would be a thoughtful little gift full of ever-expanding ideas and one lucky person in my life is probably going to receive them under the tree.

Gearing up for a blue Christmas,
K

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

A couple of years back, we took a family vacation up to Victoria, BC and I was lucky enough to meet up with a fellow blogger at the gorgeous Munro Books. I didn't buy many books there though because they cost so much more in Canada than in the US (even though the currencies are almost equivalent right now). But, they had this UK version of Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on the remainder table and I liked the cover more than the standard paperback in the US and so I grabbed it. It's a book I knew I should read but it took me until now to want to read it. Now I fully regret waiting so long because it's a masterpiece and is not just for comic book fans (though there are fun tidbits in it for those fans).

This is the story of Sam Clay (Samuel Klayman) and his Hungarian cousin, Joe Kavalier (Josef). Following them from childhood through middle age, these cousins who become close friends and brothers, are the creators of the superhero The Escapist. But Joe is never free from the feelings of obligation toward the family he left behind in Prague at the start of WWII and Sam is never free from the weight of his absentee strongman father.

This is simply an incredibly well-crafted novel. Though its subjects and locales are diverse, I think there will be some aspect to speak to almost any reader. I never felt that I couldn't relate to these boys whose lives were so incredibly remote from my own. In fact, I felt that I learned a lot about the Jewish experience in New York during the War and about the history of comic books and about magic and art and so many other things. The blurb on the front of my copy from Tom Payne (Daily Telegraph) says "Perfection. There are perhaps four other books I've loved this much, and none that has made me cry more." I was feeling a bit cheated because I didn't cry while reading the book and I'm quite well-known for getting emotionally involved in stories. But then, on page 633 of 636, there was one single line of dialogue that had me weeping because it revealed one of the inevitabilities of parenthood, one that I think about sometimes with sadness. This connection is one I hope to find again the next time I read Chabon.

In awe of amazing,
K

New Release: The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 1

I don't usually start a post with a video but this one is the perfect introduction for this original little volume. hitRECord (said like you're pushing a button on a recording device, not like a popular song on the charts) is a collaborative online art community that's headed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who you might recognize as an actor but he goes by RegularJOE online. This first volume, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 1 represents the work of 67 writers and artists. Most of the stories are a single sentence (and at most three) and are truly flash fiction.
Here are a couple of the stories in the book that I liked --

Not all of the stories are so dark in tone though. In fact, there are some that are quite uplifting and beautiful. My favorite story, one that I'm sure you all will also love is this one --

His hands were weak and shaking
from carrying far too many
books from the bookshop.
It was the best feeling.

Another cool thing I saw in the fine print at the beginning of the book is this --

The work may be further edited, sampled, or remixed at www.hitRECord.org according to the posted terms of service.

I love the idea that, as this was a collaborative effort in the first place, the collaboration never truly ends. One idea may spark another or a different artist may want a chance to illustrate a story in a whole 'nother way. Art doesn't have to be static and lonely and I like that.

So, if you're interested, go out and buy this palm-sized gem and support a whole community of writers and artists as 50% of the profits go to the contributors. And if you're even more motivated, go to this page on the hitRECord site to submit an entry for Volume 2!

Her heart rejoiced at the beauty of the tales but sank a bit at the final closing of the tiny book --
K


Yes, I received a copy of this book for review but my thoughts are honest.

Painting Your Friends

One of the picture books that made it to many "Best Of" lists last year was Art & Max by David Wiesner. Z got a copy for Christmas and has had a great time exploring this story of friendship and art.

Little lizard Max interrupts the sizeable Arthur while he is painting a picture of a friend. Max insists that he is also an artist and yet he can't decide what to paint. Art suggests "Well ... you could paint me." Max takes that a bit too literally and starts splattering Art with all different colors of paint. Art is less than pleased by this and he literally bursts from frustration -- his skin flies right off his body and he becomes a wispy figure of rainbow colors. When the colors start blowing and washing away, the lines come loose and Art loses his substance, Max has to recreate him. Arthur ends up different than he was originally but he's happy with the change.

While I've heard that younger kids have been a bit scared and worried while reading this book, Z loved it. The simple words and bright colors excited him and got him thinking about art. He even decided to write up his own version of the story. Enjoy!

"This is Arthur. His pictures are great. Max ran into Art-thur. Max can paint too. "What should I paint?" he asked Art. "Paint me." Art said. Max painted Arthur. "Art's a rainbow!" the lizards said.

Painting the world with our love of reading,
K and Z


Support our site and buy Art & Max on Amazon or find it at your local library. We bought our own copy of this book.

New Release: The Swan Thieves

After loving The Historian a few years back, I couldn't wait for Elizabeth Kostova's next novel. Though it is about quite a different subject (Dracula versus Impressionist painters), I enjoyed The Swan Thieves as well. This is a novel with multiple narratives, one in the past and one in the present. While some other recent novels that used this technique have suffered from one weaker story, I felt that there was more of a balance of quality in this novel.

Andrew Marlow is a psychiatrist and amateur painter who has taken on a new patient as a favor to a friend. The man, semi-renowned painter Robert Oliver, was caught right as he was attacking an Impressionist canvas at the National Gallery of Art. Though Marlow's talent lies in getting people to talk, Oliver's decision to not speak a word foils his treatment. Instead, Marlow has to figure out for himself what events led up to Oliver's art-defiling outburst. Through interviews, research and a bit of luck, he not only reveals the demons haunting Robert Oliver but also solves a mystery from the past.

Told mainly through letters and interviews, I enjoyed the flow of this novel. I thought the story in the past was strong and touching. I haven't mentioned it in the summary because I think it is best experienced without any spoilers. All I will say is that it is the story of a female artist in late nineteenth century Paris. I thought the language and actions seemed authentic. I also thought the writing in the modern story was strong although some elements of the plot were not. It was hard to believe that a professional psychiatrist would realize that his actions were unhealthy and most likely unethical and yet continue with his choices. There was nothing he did that was terrible but I just found myself annoyed in a few places. Overall, though, I thought this was a good read but not as strong as The Historian. I will definitely be looking forward to Kostova's next novel and hoping that the wait is less than five years long this time!

Remembering to stop and stare at the canvases,
K


Support our site and buy The Swan Thieves on Amazon or find it at your local library. We received a review copy from the publisher.