strange and random happenstance

Death by Misadventure by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Once Cécile du Lac invites you into her charmed circle you will forever be in her orbit. And you will adore every minute of it. Cécile and the Baroness Ursula von Düchtel have been fast friends since they commiserated over losing an auction for an early Manet that went to someone nowhere near worthy. Ursula's art collection is eclectic, to say the least, with her collection encompassing objects from across the centuries, with Renaissance art sharing space with Gustav Klimt. For years she has been dreaming of building a house worthy of her collection and the Villa von Düchtel situated in the Bavarian Alps with the barest glimpse of Schloss Neuschwanstein in the distance is finally ready for guests. A striking modern villa of mosaic glass and concrete with a long wide gallery for her collection. For the occasion Ursula has invited friends, neighbors, artists, art dealers, journalists, critics, and poets. Sadly the family also showed up. Cécile, knowing that Lady Emily would never forgive her if she didn't extend her an invitation to see Ursula's ancient art has arrived with Emily and of course Colin in tow. It always pays to make sure one is surrounded by attractive men. At the gathering Emily wonders if it's beyond the pale to contemplate murdering a house guest who is boorish and a lout just so she can go talk to the intelligentsia. Yes, she does know it's morally wrong, but whomever made up the rules had clearly never met Kaspar Allerspach, Ursula's odious son-in-law. Ursula regrets every day that her daughter Sigrid married Kasper and not the delightful Max Haller who is a virtuoso on the tuba. Max has also been invited, because one never knows. In fact once the reception is over they will be a reduced house party indeed, made up of just family and a few hangers-on. Kaspar has brought his best friend Felix Brinkmann and socialite Birgit Göltling who may or may not be involved with Felix. But Liesel Fronberg is the most out of place, being an art dealer from Berlin, and being more servant than guest. So while Cécile was hopeful of an intellectual gathering, the likes of which Ursula is known for, it's a gathering brought low by the uncouth Kasper and company. Though the reception has one more surprise in store before the masses depart, Kaspar is approached by one of the journalists in attendance and is informed that they were told to come to the Villa von Düchtel for the wake of Kaspar Allerspach. At first Kaspar is taken aback, but then he decides it must be nothing more than a joke. The first attempt on his life happens when they are all out skiing, Lady Emily failing spectacularly at it. The second attempt is when they are visiting Schloss Neuschwanstein. Someone takes a pot-shot at him. As the winter weather worsens, Emily and Colin realize that the escalation of events is quite concerning. They are virtually trapped in the Bavarian Alps so the culprit who wants to put the wind up Kaspar must be one of their party. Things take a deadly turn when out on a sleigh ride with his wife Sigrid is murdered, not Kaspar, the killer apparently missing their mark. But was Kaspar the intended victim? The campaign of terror would indicate as such, but what if it was all a ruse? What if there's something more at play? To solve this mystery Emily will have to look to the past, to a King who was either insane or eccentric, who was either murdered or died by his own hands, and who had a love of German legends and Wagner and built Schloss Neuschwanstein while bankrupting Bavaria.

Each and every installment in Tasha Alexander's beloved series makes me fall more in love with the characters and with Tasha's writing. There's just such a wonderful balance of mystery, art, culture, and history. Here we lean a little more into the art and culture, but I think that is perfectly wonderful for a story set in the land of fairy tale castles. Also, for the mystery lovers among us, I think this is Tasha's most Agatha Christie book yet. All mysteries owe a lot to Agatha Christie. Even if a story is just using the same basic building blocks that many people have, if Agatha did it, Agatha is the one who gets credit. I can't help but think of a book I loved, Sofia Slater's Auld Acquaintance, which was lambasted by critics because it was a fun retelling of And Then There Were None. They might have omitted the "fun" part. So walking the "Agatha Christie" edge is a delicate balance. Too much and you're ripping her off, too little, and obviously she would have done it better. So there's no avoiding Agatha Christie when talking mystery, and while some might point to Lady Emily's trip down the Nile in 2022 as her most Christie mystery, personally I think Secrets of the Nile was way more Amelia Peabody. But to each there own. The point of all this is that Death by Misadventure is just deliciously Agatha Christie enough to draw the reader in; oh, a beautiful house in the Bavarian Alps you say? And trapped by snow with these reprobates? Oh, intriguing. And then it's all a wonderful locked room mystery after that. In fact I also have to thank Tasha for this book because it was part of three books I read back-to-back that finally pulled me out of a serious reading slump. It was so horrifically bad I was choosing to play FarmVille or sleep over reading. And if you want to avoid a similar fate, never ever ever read Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada. OK back to happy thoughts! Bavaria! OK, here's the thing about me and history. If it's US history, I know it, if it's British history, I know it, if it's French history, I'm OK, but anything else to do with Europe prior to WWI, well, it wasn't taught to me in school and I didn't take any extra classes once in college so I'm very vague with it. I know Germany wasn't a united country until sometime around WWI because of the saying how every time Germany united we got a World War. So I'm going in basically blind, though I did just watch a seventies miniseries, Fall of Eagles, which was decent on the German history and the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns, but I literally just watched that so when I read this I was totally in the dark. I just knew they had pretty fairy tale castles, not that the fairy tale castles had this amazing backstory of King Ludwig II bankrupting the country to build them and his fascination with Wagner and how he "killed" himself and how this was all happening just as Bavaria was about to become a part of Germany. Damn. Bavaria, you are one fascinating country. I need to learn more about you and your "mad" king who really is responsible for how much tourism you now have. Thanks to Tasha, I have a starting off point. Because that's what great books make you do, want to learn more, read more, see more. They expand your worldview and Tasha excels at this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alps, Art, Baroness Ursula von Düchtel, Bavaria, Cécile du Lac, Death by Misadventure, History, King Ludwig II, Lady Emily, Murder Most Foul, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Tasha Alexander

Death by Misadventure by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 24th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Once Cécile du Lac invites you into her charmed circle you will forever be in her orbit. And you will adore every minute of it. Cécile and the Baroness Ursula von Düchtel have been fast friends since they commiserated over losing an auction for an early Manet that went to someone nowhere near worthy. Ursula's art collection is eclectic, to say the least, with her collection encompassing objects from across the centuries, with Renaissance art sharing space with Gustav Klimt. For years she has been dreaming of building a house worthy of her collection and the Villa von Düchtel situated in the Bavarian Alps with the barest glimpse of Schloss Neuschwanstein in the distance is finally ready for guests. A striking modern villa of mosaic glass and concrete with a long wide gallery for her collection. For the occasion Ursula has invited friends, neighbors, artists, art dealers, journalists, critics, and poets. Sadly the family also showed up. Cécile, knowing that Lady Emily would never forgive her if she didn't extend her an invitation to see Ursula's ancient art has arrived with Emily and of course Colin in tow. It always pays to make sure one is surrounded by attractive men. At the gathering Emily wonders if it's beyond the pale to contemplate murdering a house guest who is boorish and a lout just so she can go talk to the intelligentsia. Yes, she does know it's morally wrong, but whomever made up the rules had clearly never met Kaspar Allerspach, Ursula's odious son-in-law. Ursula regrets every day that her daughter Sigrid married Kasper and not the delightful Max Haller who is a virtuoso on the tuba. Max has also been invited, because one never knows. In fact once the reception is over they will be a reduced house party indeed, made up of just family and a few hangers-on. Kaspar has brought his best friend Felix Brinkmann and socialite Birgit Göltling who may or may not be involved with Felix. But Liesel Fronberg is the most out of place, being an art dealer from Berlin, and being more servant than guest. So while Cécile was hopeful of an intellectual gathering, the likes of which Ursula is known for, it's a gathering brought low by the uncouth Kasper and company. Though the reception has one more surprise in store before the masses depart, Kaspar is approached by one of the journalists in attendance and is informed that they were told to come to the Villa von Düchtel for the wake of Kaspar Allerspach. At first Kaspar is taken aback, but then he decides it must be nothing more than a joke. The first attempt on his life happens when they are all out skiing, Lady Emily failing spectacularly at it. The second attempt is when they are visiting Schloss Neuschwanstein. Someone takes a pot-shot at him. As the winter weather worsens, Emily and Colin realize that the escalation of events is quite concerning. They are virtually trapped in the Bavarian Alps so the culprit who wants to put the wind up Kaspar must be one of their party. Things take a deadly turn when out on a sleigh ride with his wife Sigrid is murdered, not Kaspar, the killer apparently missing their mark. But was Kaspar the intended victim? The campaign of terror would indicate as such, but what if it was all a ruse? What if there's something more at play? To solve this mystery Emily will have to look to the past, to a King who was either insane or eccentric, who was either murdered or died by his own hands, and who had a love of German legends and Wagner and built Schloss Neuschwanstein while bankrupting Bavaria.

Each and every installment in Tasha Alexander's beloved series makes me fall more in love with the characters and with Tasha's writing. There's just such a wonderful balance of mystery, art, culture, and history. Here we lean a little more into the art and culture, but I think that is perfectly wonderful for a story set in the land of fairy tale castles. Also, for the mystery lovers among us, I think this is Tasha's most Agatha Christie book yet. All mysteries owe a lot to Agatha Christie. Even if a story is just using the same basic building blocks that many people have, if Agatha did it, Agatha is the one who gets credit. I can't help but think of a book I loved, Sofia Slater's Auld Acquaintance, which was lambasted by critics because it was a fun retelling of And Then There Were None. They might have omitted the "fun" part. So walking the "Agatha Christie" edge is a delicate balance. Too much and you're ripping her off, too little, and obviously she would have done it better. So there's no avoiding Agatha Christie when talking mystery, and while some might point to Lady Emily's trip down the Nile in 2022 as her most Christie mystery, personally I think Secrets of the Nile was way more Amelia Peabody. But to each there own. The point of all this is that Death by Misadventure is just deliciously Agatha Christie enough to draw the reader in; oh, a beautiful house in the Bavarian Alps you say? And trapped by snow with these reprobates? Oh, intriguing. And then it's all a wonderful locked room mystery after that. In fact I also have to thank Tasha for this book because it was part of three books I read back-to-back that finally pulled me out of a serious reading slump. It was so horrifically bad I was choosing to play FarmVille or sleep over reading. And if you want to avoid a similar fate, never ever ever read Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada. OK back to happy thoughts! Bavaria! OK, here's the thing about me and history. If it's US history, I know it, if it's British history, I know it, if it's French history, I'm OK, but anything else to do with Europe prior to WWI, well, it wasn't taught to me in school and I didn't take any extra classes once in college so I'm very vague with it. I know Germany wasn't a united country until sometime around WWI because of the saying how every time Germany united we got a World War. So I'm going in basically blind, though I did just watch a seventies miniseries, Fall of Eagles, which was decent on the German history and the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns, but I literally just watched that so when I read this I was totally in the dark. I just knew they had pretty fairy tale castles, not that the fairy tale castles had this amazing backstory of King Ludwig II bankrupting the country to build them and his fascination with Wagner and how he "killed" himself and how this was all happening just as Bavaria was about to become a part of Germany. Damn. Bavaria, you are one fascinating country. I need to learn more about you and your "mad" king who really is responsible for how much tourism you now have. Thanks to Tasha, I have a starting off point. Because that's what great books make you do, want to learn more, read more, see more. They expand your worldview and Tasha excels at this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Alps, Art, Baroness Ursula von Düchtel, Bavaria, Cécile du Lac, Death by Misadventure, History, King Ludwig II, Lady Emily, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Secrets of the Nile, Tasha Alexander

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Published by: Library of America
Publication Date: 1968
Format: Hardcover, 900 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Earth is a radioactive wasteland. There are cities where you can eek out a life but those that can have emigrated off planet, where they've been given an android servant to help with their new life. Every once in a while an andy escapes Mars and it's indentured servitude and comes to Earth and needs to be hunted down. This is where Rick Deckard comes in. He is a bounty hunter who tracks down the androids and retires them. He gets a sizable bounty for each andy he puts down and all he wants to do with that money is replace his electric sheep. At one time he had a live one and it was everything to him, his status in society secured. But it tragically died and he secretly replaced it with a replica. With the bounties from the six escaped Nexus-6 androids he could replace his sheep or maybe even get a goat. The problem is the Nexus-6 is next to impossible to distinguish from humans, and an andy already got the drop on his senior officer. Therefore his boss thinks it's wise that he visit Rosen Associates, the creators of the Nexus-6, to make sure the test capable of determining if an android is an android short of checking their bone marrow, the Voigt-Kampff test, still works. There he meets Rachael Rosen, the heir to the company, and, surprisingly, an android. Her ability to almost pass the test and his stirring of emotions for her confuse him. Could the line between human and android be thinner than he's ever thought? At least he's able to retire his first target without a problem. The second target once again makes him question his job. Luba Luft is a famous opera singer, and an android. A clever one who turns the tables on him and gets him arrested. At the police station he starts to question everything. Who is in power? Are androids secretly among us? Is that their master plan? Could even he be an android with implanted memories? After Luba Luft is taken care of Deckard administers the Voigt-Kampff test on himself. He is human, but has empathy for the androids. But what does that matter now that he has the money to buy a goat? But will the goat satisfy Deckard and his wife? Or will he still think of Rachael. There are also three more androids to account for...

If you are not a reader of science fiction you most likely know Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? as the book that became the film Blade Runner. That's why I picked it up to read over twenty years ago. I read it straight through without sleep on an overnight train to New York City and it confused the hell out of me because it was nothing like the film. And I'm including all the versions of it out there. It's best to take the book on it's own terms. Because if you read it through the lens of the film you will be disappointed and confused. They are akin to each other but feel like distant cousins. In fact this is a weird instance in which both the book and the film have amazing cultural impact on their respective fields but are two disparate stories. Yet both stories can be boiled down to the question, what is it to be human? And Dick posits that what makes us human is empathy. But how do you quantify empathy and success in Dick's world? That's through the owning of an animal. If you are poor you can only afford a cheap electric imitation animal, but if you have a real animal you are not just showing that you have money, you are showing that you are a more successful human. The fact that characters painstakingly poor over the pages of Sidney's Animal and Fowl Catalogue like gambling addicts at a horse race is both amusing and tragic. They are junkies looking for their next hit of upward mobility. To prove that they are worth something. Which is why the revenge of the android Rachael is so perfect, she emasculates Deckard by taking the one thing he truly loves, his goat. Proving that it's the androids who understand what it is to be human more than the humans. Deckard wanted the goat to prove something, whereas the androids don't want anything other than to experience what it is to live. Luba Luft is the prime example of this. She's an opera singer who goes to a museum to take in the Edvard Munch exhibit. She is part of and an enthusiast of culture. If art is the purest form of the human condition Luba Luft is just as human if not more than Deckard who only wants a goat. And as for the religion? Mercerism? I'm not sure how even Dick himself felt about that. He was drawn deeply into religion and in the book it's a way to connect to other humans. It's really the one thing that the androids can't experience. And yet it is a lie. So will people willingly believe a lie to feel connected? I think as we see with Deckard and his toad that people will believe anything if they are desperate enough.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Androids, Art, Blade Runner, Bounty Hunters, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Empathy, For the Love of Book Clubs, Goat, Luba Luft, Philip K. Dick, Rachael Rosen, Religion, Rick Deckard, Voigt-Kampff Test

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Gollancz
Publication Date: June 21st, 2012
Format: Paperback, 375 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It's the week before Christmas and PC Peter Grant is working with the big boys, he's been assigned to the murder squad. It's almost a thrill to be working with other coppers again. Being assigned to the Folly means his coworkers are his boss and hopefully soon his old partner Lesley. But not today, today Christmas has come early. He was called in to the Baker Street Underground station to see if he could pick up anything uncanny about their newest corpse. The corpse though was surprisingly clean. No magic. The broken piece of pottery shard that ended the life of James Gallagher is anything but. And now Peter's looking into the murder of an American art student who just happens to be the son of a U.S. Senator. The victim, James Gallagher, was not untalented, he had an eye for street scenes and capturing life. It was almost old fashioned in it's precision. But his art had started to change of late, becoming darker. One of his teachers worried that he might be suicidal. Peter assures him that James Gallagher's death was indeed murder. At his studio Peter learns that his victim was interested in Ryan Carroll, an artist who road the Celtic Tiger all the way to the Tate Modern. Ryan Carroll's artwork, an assemblage of mannequins and found pieces, exude magic. Much like the murder weapon. And much like a bowl found at James Gallagher's apartment. Because magic is the reason that Peter was allowed on the murder squad it's his job to look into the pottery. For that he'll need the help of James Gallagher's roommate, Zach. Zach had obviously been living rough prior to moving in to "help" James discover the real London. Zach though is only passingly familiar with telling the truth. He is definitely more than he looks and when he discovers that Peter is in league with the Nightingale, he's almost more obstreperous. Which Peter doesn't have time for. He has an FBI agent breathing down his neck, an unexpected snowstorm, a trek through the sewers, and who knows what other hell before Christmas comes and all the while there's the looming threat of their "Little Crocodiles," black magicians illegally trained at Oxford that are trying to make his and Nightingale's life a living hell. Couldn't Zach give him the smallest of breaks? And not another broken bowl thank you very much.

What's interesting about the Rivers of London series is that Ben Aaronovitch has created a series with a strong connection to the arts. The first installment was about the world of the threatre, the second installment was about the world of music, in particular jazz, and this third installment brings us to the art world. Oh my, it's like this series was made with me and the various stages of my life in mind, from the piano lessons I started in first grade to the Bachelor's degrees I got in art and theatre as an undergraduate. But when you think about it while the arts are viewed as something rarefied, especially to those with pretensions who I was occasionally taught by, we all have a connection to them, be it a school play we were in, a song we've loved, or something we've drawn. Through our development from child to adult even if it's only tangentially, we've experienced the arts. So while some might think these themes lofty, I think of them as the basic human condition, these are what separate us from the animals, the ability to create and enjoy wonder. But going back to my time as an undergraduate, the student studios that Peter tours are priceless. I mean, it was so spot on I could barely contain my glee. The pretentious concept pieces to James's very traditional art, I've seen it all and Ben Aaronovitch brought it all back to me. Oh and I can't leave out Ryan Carroll, a man in it for the money, who views that his art should speak for itself. Do not get me started on people who think art should speak for itself. Nothing is beyond verbalization. Your "act of creation" or whatever you want your process to be about in the forming of clay or what have you should be able to speak for itself BUT you should be able to talk about the what and the whys of it. An artist who can not explain their art isn't a true artist, they are a poseur. Which is very interesting as to how the pottery angle works in. I don't know if other people experienced the mystique of pottery as I did. Two hippies ran my pottery classes and it was a weird clique. They "knew things others did not." Therefore to have this mystery of the pottery just made me nod my head sagely and go, "yes, pottery is the greatest mystery." And it's a mystery that Peter is able to solve to the delight of artists and urban explorers everywhere.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Baker Street, Ben Aaronovitch, Christmas, Little Crocodiles, London Calling, London Underground, Murder Squad, Music, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Pottery, Theatre, Urban Explorers, Whispers Under Ground

Bookstore: University Book Store

Location: Near West Side Madison, Wisconsin

Why I Love Them: For most of my life the University Book Store was the only book store around. Not that there was anything wrong with that. If I could only have one book store I was thankful it was a good one. One where I have many lovely memories of hours browsing or hanging with my friends. They had lovely dark bookcases that looked like they came from some fancy library, sliding library ladder included, and they even had their own children's store for awhile at Hilldale. Oh, and during the days they ran a remainder store? I was in heaven. I followed that remainder store to three different locations over the years and was sad to see it go, but thankfully by that time I was a student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and I had found the used book section near where I went to buy my textbooks. Because all my textbooks were bought in the basement of their man branch right on library mall in the heart of the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus, which luckily was also right next to the art building. Especially lucky because they had a huge selection of art supplies so I didn't have to leave campus to get the tools of my trade. While I might complain that in recent years they've gone more to the branded apparel end of the spectrum, forsaking books, they haven't forsaken books completely and they always get in rare signed editions and books you can't find anywhere else. I have yet to check out their new store at Hilldale but can not wait.  

Best Buy: On Harry Potter's birthday in 2016 the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out. While no book store in town was having a midnight release party, I know, I'm just as shocked as you are, I couldn't wait for morning to come and to trek out to Barnes and Noble, where I'd gone to all my Harry Potter release parties, and come home and spend the day devouring this new Harry Potter story. Only I got to Barnes and Noble and THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT! They hadn't ordered enough copies, which in itself should be considered a crime, but what was worse was they were rude about it! They were hostile to me and I found out later to many of my friends who went there seeking the book. Their buyer fucked up and instead of taking the fall the blame was placed on the customers clamoring to get a copy. As you can see, two years later I haven't quite forgiven them. But this is the part in the story where everything turns out all right. I racked my brain and decided I'd try the University Book Store. Not only did they have a huge display, that I was allowed to search through for the perfect copy, but they were so nice. They were happy for my patronage and happy to be of assistance. In other words, they behaved like a wonderful book store should and I shall never forget that. As for the book itself? Yes, I would rather have seen the show, especially now that it's stateside with the original cast (I love you Alex Price!) But the book is a great little piece of fanfic. I don't consider it canon necessarily, but it's a wonderful little what if.  

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Price, Art, Birthday, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hilldale, J.K. Rowling, Midnight Release Party, School, Support Your Brick and Mortar, Text Books, University Book Store, UW-Madison

The Collectors by Philip Pullman
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: September 22nd, 2015
Format: Kindle, 24 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

On a winter's night at Oxford College Horley sits in the Senior Common Room with his guest Grinstead. As the room gets colder and the hour gets late the other occupants slowly leave while the two talk about Horley's recent purchase of a painting and it's link to another piece of art, a rather terrifying bronze monkey. The painting Horley bought because it was a rather arresting portrait of a young women with an enigmatic air whose expression seems to always be changing. The dealer he bought it from had already made the sale so the story that came with it appears to be genuine. The painting has never been in one owner's hands for long. But wherever it goes the bronze monkey is soon to follow, though occasionally it is the monkey that arrives first and the painting shows up later. These two objects have some connection that cannot be broken as the provenance of the two pieces has undoubtedly shown. As it so happens the monkey has just arrived in Horley's possession as payment for a debt just after he purchased the painting. He hasn't even opened the packing case but the fact of it's arrival proves the story to be genuine. At this point Grinstead almost demands of his host that the time has come for Horley to show him these two pieces. They return to Horley's rooms where things take a turn. Grinstead has not been entirely honest with Horley and the story that was told wasn't new to him. These two pieces have a storied past steeped in mysteries from a distant world. And their subjects? They might just be pleased at the fate of these two men.

The Collectors never registered on my radar when it was first released in 2014 because it was an audiobook and while I am a fan of books in all forms there's something about audiobooks that I just tune out. Therefore my recent discovery that it was released as a short story for Kindle was a joyous surprise because it took me back to the beginning of Lyra's story in The Golden Compass and reconnected me to what I loved best, Lyra's life at Oxford before her journeys began. If there's one image seared in my brain from His Dark Materials it's Lyra sneaking into the Retiring Room at Jordan College. That musty and fusty domain of the male teachers that holds so much interest to the young girl and also catapults her into her destiny. With Horley and Grinstead I felt I was back in that room hearing about the adventures as the true armchair traveler that I am. I was totally absorbed until the story went a little too Douglas Adams and I felt Dirk Gently wandering about. But issues aside, what Pullman does here is to tap into the zeitgeist of the traditional English ghost story and deliver his own spin on classics like The Turn of the Screw and The Woman in Black. There's not just the mystery surrounding these two pieces of art which is almost timeless, but something akin to an ancient Egyptian curse. Something about these kind of tales that fascinate people down through the generations. Why else would people still talk about the curse of Tutankhamun?

This story taps into something primal with this idea of worlds touching and bleeding into each other and through this we get another way to look at ghosts. When I was little I had an imaginary friend. Years later I started to wonder if he was actually imaginary. I remember when we moved across the street I told my parents that Robbie couldn't come over anymore. Later I learned that the previous owner of our old house had hanged himself in the garage, right near where I saw Robbie. What if Robbie was a ghost? Or, here, what if he was someone from another world who slipped through and played with me until one day he couldn't. Maybe it was his ghostly tether or maybe it was his doorway into this world. Whatever it was this story showed me another way to look at the world. Yet this little glimpse into the fluidity of worlds was nothing for what I felt for the connection the two pieces of artwork had for each other. The painting was of Lyra's mother, Mrs. Coulter, before her marriage, and the bronze was of her daemon. While within Pullman's stories these two are morally ambiguous characters leaning towards being unrepentantly evil their connection even after death is so touching to me. That their link was so strong that inanimate objects that are basically their totems or avatars must always be together shows the power of love. They had each other and would always return to each other. So while yes, this is a ghost story, true ghost stories always, deep down, highlight something more, something human, and here, it's the power of love.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Different Kind of P and P, Art, Daemons, Ghost Story, His Dark Materials, King Tut, Love, Lyra Belacqua, Oxford, Philip Pullman, The Collectors, The Golden Compass, The Turn of the Screw, The Woman in Black

Still Life by Louise Penny
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2006
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Life in Three Pines is about to change forever. Jane Neal is a doyenne of Three Pines and just one of the many eccentrics loved by the residents. But Jane Neal has a secret. She has painted her whole life but she has never let anyone see her paintings, let alone invited them into her house beyond the kitchen. Jane has decided that the time has come to show the world her art, and in particular her small group of friends. But just two days after being accepted into the area's prestigious juried art show she is found dead in the woods. Her death looks like it might be a hunting accident, it is afterall Thanksgiving Weekend and the bow hunters are out in force. But Chief Inspector Armand Gamace of the Sûreté du Québec who is called in early on that Thanksgiving morning isn't sure Miss Neal's death is an accident. The aim of the arrow is too accurate and the murder weapon is missing. Beneath the placid surface of Three Pines Jane wasn't the only one with secrets to hide. After a shocking gay bashing a few days before Jane's murder, it looks like this small town is going into some kind of revolt and it's up to Armand Gamace and his team to bring back the peace.    

I've heard about Louise Penny and Chief Inspector Gamace for a few years now. But a cozy murder mystery series tends to be a comfort read for me so this book has been on a back burner, waiting, while my bloggerly duties took over my reading. A little over two years ago when they announced that this first book was being adapted for television starring everyone's favorite brooding detective, Inspector Lynley, ahem, I mean Nathaniel Parker as Gamace, I made a note that I should definitely move Still Life up the "to be read" pile. Yet it wasn't until my mother's book club chose it as one of their monthly reads that I finally bit the bullet and devoured Still Life. This book is not a masterpiece, not by a long shot, and falls prey to many problems of the first time writer, but there is something homey about it, something about the community created with the cast of characters that makes me feel deep in my bones that this is a series that will get better as it goes on and I want to read those further stories.

The cast of characters is both the book's strength and weakness. Penny is creating a community that we will want to return to. To me it's like the Candian Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, obviously without the supernatural element. But the thing about the Sookie books is that the mysteries were secondary, it was spending time with this well-rounded cast of characters that made you keep coming back for more. The problem with the cast of characters in Three Pines is that they have potential, but are not well rounded. They are very much the stereotypical cast of characters. The gay couple who run the bistro and bed and breakfast and say "Bitch please" and "Slut" but in a "loving" manner. The large black lady who is a fount of knowledge and down home advice. The kooky artist with the flyaway hair. I could go on and on. But all I'd be doing is listing superficial two-dimensional traits. Yet that's all these characters have! Going forward Penny will have to flesh these characters out because people aren't so superficial and can't be summed up in a catchphrase. Which is why I'm more excited for the future books than I was while reading this one.

The character who harmed this book the most though is Gamace's subordinate, Agent Yvette Nichol. I hated her more than the killer. Yes, I spent an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about her death, that's how much I hated her. Even if she was the red herring baddie used to distract us while Penny waited to reveal the true villain, she was such an annoyance that I could almost not read any part of the book she was in. We've all known people in our lives whose sole outlook on the world is how everything revolves around them. They are in their own little microcosm of unreality where they are the center of the universe. Anything that doesn't matter to them or would inconvenience them is pushed aside and forgotten as being irrelevant. I have sadly even had some close friends who lived in their own little world where I felt like an intruder in their very self-centered life story. This is Agent Nichol. Any advice Gamace gives her obviously doesn't apply to her, because she knows best. Nothing sinks in, nothing latches on. The murder would have been wrapped up right away if not for her unwillingness to be a team player. She can't be on a team, because that would mean she's not the star. Plus she views her mistakes not as her fault but the cause of others, making her view herself as a victim. Could someone please make her a victim, the kind in a body bag with a toe tag? Because seriously, if she's in the next book I don't think I can read it.

Leaving Agent Nichol far far behind and going back to the other characters, an overall trait they all had which was an annoying foible in Still Life was the overuse of patois. Local sayings and even Quebecois swears were scattered throughout the book like pixy dust. Instead of adding flavor and color to the book it seemed forced into the narrative at random moments like we might be on the verge of forgetting the book is set in Quebec so here's a short sharp reminder. The patois didn't come naturally from the narrative, like it should. It felt like a gimmick. Like a mediocre substitute to actually bothering with some worldbuilding. Why would Penny bother to show us the world of Quebec when she could just tell us with a few words? This is where her greenness as an author shows. It's show not tell, not the other way around. Again, my hope is that as she grows she learns more how to develop her story and her world. Right now her world is very two dimensional when what we need and want is three.

Yet, despite all these nagging issues, they could all easily come under the heading of issues experienced by first time writers. They can be fixed in time. The core of her book, the mystery and the life of Jane, these ephemeral things that trip up even experienced writers succeeded here, making me hopeful for the future. But it's Jane's home that captured my imagination the most. I wanted into that house that even her closest friends were barred from so badly that every time there was a delay I almost audibly cried out. For us readers outside Canada we might not get the connection between Jane's house and the Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis. She is beloved in Canada and their answer to Grandma Moses, only with more cats. I was lucky enough to visit Nova Scotia over a decade ago and see her artwork that is on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. More importantly I was able to see her house which is situated fully in this Gallery. While I won't spoil the reveal in Still Life, let me say that Maud Lewis and Jane Neal had very similar decorating schemes and I think they would have gotten along marvelously.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Canada, Cats, Chief Inspector Armand Gamace, Grandma Moses, Inspector Lynley, Louise Penny, Maud Lewis, Nathaniel Parker, Nova Scotia, Patois, Quebec, Sookie Stackhouse, Stereotype, Still Life, Three Pines

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by: Tor
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Jane and Vincent have become quite the powerful couple. Working side by side they have elevated Vincent's art, their art, to a new level. The Vincents are the toast of London, with the Prince Regent throwing a dinner in their honor in recognition of the magnificent grotto they have created for his opulent New Years festivities. Yet being a woman Jane is confined to societal expectations, and the lack of recognition that goes with it. Even newspapers articles praising the work done for the Prince Regent omit her entirely. Jane doesn't want to be easily pushed aside after dinner when the men sit and talk and the women "retire." Jane has no desire to retire! She wants to be next to Vincent discussing magic and politics and all the things that matter in the world, not shut up in some parlor till the men deign to come to them! These after dinner traditions make her realize more then anything how lucky she is to have found Vincent, who views her as his equal.

The question of how to follow up their success leads them to consider a different path. They have some freedom at the moment and they never did have a honeymoon... With the continent recently open for travel with the exile of Napoleon, Vincent suggests a visit to his fellow glamourist, M. Chastain in Belgium. Not only has M. Chastain created a school for glamourists, but he has created a new technique that Vincent longs to see for himself. To travel with her husband and be surrounded by others able to work their craft and to perhaps learn more than she was able to learn herself is a dream come true to Jane. Though the journey there is not without peril. The continent is not as safe as they had hoped. Troops are rallying for Napoleon and it is rumored that he shall escape Elba and make an attempt on reclaiming his throne.

Being surrounded by glamour is inspirational to Jane and she stumbles upon an idea while playing with M. Chastain's daughter on the steps inside the house. What if you could capture a glamour in glass, thus making it portable? In particular, what if they tried it with Vincent's Sphere Obscurcie, which makes a person invisible, but only in a fixed location. The Vincents don't see this revelation as anything that could be used as a tactical benefit in armed combat, but others do. This discovery could mean defeat or victory at the hands of Napoleon. A discovery the Bonapartists would gladly kill for. Though the return of Napoleon isn't the only hitch that has been thrown into Jane's world. She has discovered she has a condition that will not allow her to work glamour. She is with child. Will Vincent still love her if they are no loner able to work side by side and she where to become a more traditional wife? As she quickly sees, Vincent is already keeping secrets from her and not confiding as much as he used to now that she is no longer with him at all times. Yet, when Vincent is threatened Jane might be the only one able to save him.

The declaration of my adoration of Glamour in Glass that started the first review I wrote of this book almost three years back now hasn't changed. As I return to this series I am even more enamoured of the world these books have created. Each installment in this series just finds me more and more enthralled. Instead of just continuing on the trajectory she created in Shades of Milk and Honey, making more Austenesque books, Mary instead delves deeper into the time creating a richer tapestry then Jane Austen ever did. While the mix of magic and the Regency world was what captured me initially, Mary has added in a level of French history that I am always drawn to, ie, the despotic wacko, Napoleon. How could you not love magic and deceit and Napoleonic spies? Napoleon and his hundred days, sigh. It is literally in my blood to be drawn to his time period. My great great great however many greats needs to be there, relative was a high muckety-muck for Napoleon, François Joseph Lefebvre, the Duc de Danzig. Family legend always had it that he had actually abandoned Napoleon during the hundred days, turns out, that wasn't quite the case... but, well, would you like to say you rallied to him? At least François's portrait is still at Versailles...

But the history is just a richness and plot contrivance that aids the deeper themes of the book; that of love and passion. As Vincent has shown to Jane, the most wonderful, the most true art is seated in our passions. The true artist thrives on their emotions and is driven by them. This passion makes us artists capable of things we didn't even think we could do, and I'm not just saying pulling a week of all-nighters sewing beads on a David Bowie puppet, though I have done that. Glamour in Glass pointedly shows how much our passions are able to push us beyond what we thought we could endure and achieve. Being driven by their passions leads to Jane and Vincent's new discoveries and new techniques, such as literally incising glamour into glass to create a portable invisibility field. But the heart of the matter is in their connection, their passion for each other. Because of this Jane is able to save her husband's life, quite literally. She is driven to create an elaborate and ultimately successful rescue attempt for Vincent all by herself because her ingenuity and drive is powered by her passion.

It is this love and passion that is so achingly perfect. When I think of what true love means, the marriage of true minds, it is the love embodied by Jane and Vincent. Jane is chaffed by the restrictions of her sex, she is a modern and amazingly capable woman who is not of her time. Vincent sees this and loves this in her. They are a modern couple who defy the expectations and mores of the time they live in. Vincent is even willing to buck the Prince Regent so that Jane can partake in after-dinner conversation instead of retiring to her designated seat in the parlor with the other women. They rely on and support each other in a way that makes the heart ache to have something so precious. Their love is so strong that they aren't shoved into the stereotypical romance tropes where the damsel in distress is rescued by the knight on a white steed in shining armor. Their love allows Jane to be the rescuer.

It is this love and passion that is what will last of their legacy. Because what interests me about their chosen art form is it's transient nature. A Glamoural is almost performance art. It is pulled from the ether and will one day return. It is fixed, it cannot move, and is meant to be an adornment that can easily be changed, almost as easy as redecorating. I can't help but think of the three months that Vincent and Jane spent creating the grotto for the Prince Regent's ball. It is a one night spectacle. Created for a single event and then it will be torn asunder. Gone in a flash to be replaced by the next sensation. The thing that always drew me to sculpt and build and paint was that after you were done you had something physically left over. Some tangible proof of your exertions. But then I started doing theatre, and in theatre you build something, you sweat and toil and in the end, after the run, you tear it all down. This was so hard for me to accept. To willingly destroy what you had made because the time limit was done. So while I ponder the inevitability and the end of all things, at least the love of Jane and Vincent lives on in Mary's "Histories". Their love is one for the ages.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Duc de Danzig, Glamour in Glass, Glamoural, Jane Austen, Jane Vincent, Love, Magic, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mr. Vincent, Napoleon, Passion, Regency, Regency Magic, Shades of Milk and Honey, Spehere Obsurcie

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by: Tor
Publication Date: July 26th, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Jane and Melody Ellsworth are as different as two sisters can be. Jane is starting to accept the inevitability of her spinsterhood. At 28, there is no hope of finding a husband, particularly when Mr. Dunkirk, the man who holds a special place in her heart, is also the object of Melody's affections. Jane knows her beauty is no match to Melody's. Even if Jane is adept in the magical arts and can make the most fabulous glamours and illusions, she herself knows that men prefer beauty over brains. But more importantly, she would never stand in the way of Melody's happiness. Soon the small group of friends in Dorchester receives a few additions to their ranks. Mr. Dunkirk's younger sister Beth arrives, but the withdrawn and sallow young girl with a mysterious past is nothing to what is happening at the Viscountess's. Not only is her favorite, and need it be said, dashing, nephew, Captain Livingston, is arriving after years away, but she has also hired the famous Glamourist Mr. Vincent to make a wooded wonderland of her dining hall.

Soon everyone is coming and going between the homes with dinners and strawberry picnics, and all manner of enjoyments. Jane starts to hope that perhaps her sisters affections for Mr. Dunkirk are waning, as Jane befriends his sister and starts to hope that he might indeed have feelings for her, not Melody. The course of love never runs smooth though, neither does felicity between sisters. Melody and Jane have a falling out because Melody is willing to do anything to ensnare her man, even fain injury. Can talent and brains when out over conniving beauty? Or will the answer to true happiness be something and someone different than Jane ever thought.

Shades of Milk and Honey is like the best possible Jane Austen mash-up, drawing threads from her entire oeuvre. It's like if Elinor and Marianne had a major falling out with secret engagements to multiple parties. Then on top of everything, throw in some magic! The book is very much a slow burn. For a long time you just enjoy the routine of the characters very much pulled from the pages of Austen. The domesticity of everyday life is here on the pages for us to fall into. But instead of just painting or working on embroidery, the characters are using magic to enhance the world around them. There are the dances, there are the grand diners, and there are the arguments over fabrics at the modiste. Yet under the guise of Jane Austen fanfiction, like the threads of ether invisible to the naked eye used in a glamour, Mary Robinette Kowal is not only building an ending that packs a punch with the sheer number of Austenian endings happening simultaneously, but a deeper story about art and passion and love.

The magical element has this book being categorized as in the vein of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. While I can see the connections, one couldn't with two books both set in Regency England and employing the use of magic, but I think they are truly very different. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has a far more faerie aspect. But more then that, for all the comparisons to Austen, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a far more masculine book with female undercurrents. Whereas Shades of Milk and Honey is derived more directly from Austen and stays within the female sphere. In fact, I will assert that, despite being of the same subset genre of the other Regency Magic books out there, Shades of Milk and Honey is so uniquely its own that it sets itself apart by the cunning deviations of magical usage.

In all the books I've read over the past few months set during this time and dealing with magic, the magic itself has practical applications. The magic is used for defeating foes, vanquishing Napoleon, this is, after all, the prime time to vanquish him, and other active endeavors. Now I'm not saying that the magic system here won't try to embrace this down the road, I have after all read this series before, but in this first volume the magic doesn't have many practical uses, magic is just art. Magic, or, as I should say, glamour, is just another womanly art, to be lumped in with embroidery, painting, and playing the piano. In fact glamour can enhance these already existing arts with subtle touches. Glamour is a home art, and is a skill that is recommended for a good wife to have. A way to add those special touches that make a house a home. The fact that it is womanly, finally giving a legitimate reason for women to swoon, is also why Mr. Vincent's chosen profession as Glamourist causes consternation to his family.

But Mr. Vincent understands the heights to which glamour can reach, and it's Jane's embracing of this revolutionary knowledge, to her, that calls out to the artist in me. The truth is anyone, given time, can become proficient in art or music. They can be technically wonderful, but that is all there is. Every key may be hit, every brushstroke executed to perfection, and yet there is something missing. This is what Mr. Vincent sees in Jane's art. Her studying and her interest in dissecting Vincent's work has given her technical perfection. But without the passion, without the raw emotions channeled into the art, then it can never be moving, it can never take a good artist and make them great. That passion inside you is what makes you strive, makes you see something and be inspired. Makes you always trying, learning, doing. There's a reason the greatest artists are caricatured as being passionate and emotional people, because deep down, if you don't have this, you won't make it.

The love and passion of art that the character of Mr. Vincent embodies is what pulls you into the story. It's as if Darcy and Elizabeth where dueling artists where their passion was expounded upon more, a Regency Zelda and F. Scott if you will. Jane's development from a retiring spinster to passionate artist because of the revelations gleaned from Mr. Vincent's journal literally took my breath away with it's beauty, simplicity, and passion. The scene where Jane gives way to all those bottled up emotions and creates the grove of trees in her room, it brought tears to my eyes. Taking an art form that during this time period was just an accomplishment for a young lady to possess as she is made the prefect meek wife and channeling that into a way to express all those bottled up and repressed emotions makes passionate glamour perhaps the most magical discovery of all.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Elizabeth Bennet, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Glamour, Glamoural, Jane Austen, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Vincent, Passion, Regency Magic, Shades of Milk and Honey, Zelda

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments Book 4) by Cassandra Clare
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: April 5th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Every action has it's consequence. There is a price to pay for bringing Jace back from the dead, as there is for Simon being a vampire who can now walk in daylight and repel attacks on his person because he bears the mark of Cain. Yet when Jace was brought back or when Clary traced the mark onto Simon's forehead, none of them thought that the punishment for that one action would be so severe. They all are trying to resume their normal lives and are planning for Clary's mom's wedding to Luke when the repercussions start to be felt. Simon has apparently the most to deal with, what with his mom finding out about him being a vampire, resulting in his being kicked out having to move in with one of his band mates. But that family squabble could happen to anyone, minus the vampirism, it's the threats on his life that are more disturbing, as well as different factions of supernaturals having an unhealthy interest in his ability to walk in daylight. Though it's Jace's problem that could be their undoing. Nightmares seem like a mundane concern when stacked up against Simon's problems. Though the nightmares might be what undoes them all.

Have you ever been reading a book or a series of books that just turns you off reading altogether? There's just something or a lot of somethings that piss you off so much that the thought of picking up another book and reading any written word makes you panic and flee into fits of hyper productivity in anything other then your "to be read" pile. This is a rare occurrence for me, the last time happened to coincide with the final Twilight book and put me off reading for the entire month of August. I'm thinking that I can overcome this malaise quickly... or at least I hope I can because I really have other books to read, but in the meantime, well, my office is getting clean!

As you have probably guessed I am not the biggest fan of this series, even if I have been taking a sort of gleeful revenge by writing scathing reviews. Yet after this forth book I almost think I can't take it anymore. And there's two more books! OK, I am getting a little twitchy thinking about those final two volumes. Power through, power through. Yes, I have developed a mantra in an attempt to just get done. Also, it's not that these Mortal Instrument books are the worst I've ever read, it's just lazy writing (how can a windowless room have a stained glass window later in the scene?) with predictable plots, like, stop hitting me over the head with you "subtle" foreshadowing Clare! I just don't like these books. There. I've said it. I. Don't. Like. These. Books.

I shall now illuminate my reasoning like a window magically appearing in a windowless room, seriously, editors, how could you not fix that. I had hope with City of Fallen Angels because the book did shift it's primary focus off the angtsy Jace and Clary (have I mentioned before how much I hate these names?) and Simon has became our protagonist, and I was all hyped. Simon, someone different, a geeky little vampire and how he's handling his transition... which somehow became the most boring story ever. One is that Simon's vampirism has made him sexy so he's juggling two girls, please, no. Stick to who he is. The other is that there are SO MANY good becoming stories out there about newbie vampires and this one didn't even come close. I think my common refrain for this series is just go watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and leave it at that. But other great shows with becoming stories... how about Being Human? I'm talking UK NOT US people. If it wasn't for the fact that I know there is so much great literature, films, and television shows about vampires, this series would have sworn me off them for good. As it is, I could do with a supernatural reprieve for a few months. Thankfully I swore off True Blood awhile ago otherwise I wouldn't be able to watch it's final season.

But nothing is getting to me as much as Clary and her budding artistic abilities. Thank Lilith that Clary has stopped talking about the sky, it literally made this book shorter by a hundred pages. As an artist, illustrator, and designer myself, I have one thing to say: Get the Terms Right Clare! It is very apparent when someone is writing about things outside their skill set and they don't bother to do the research. This gets on my nerves. I'm sure that everyone who has a specific trade or knowledge of something will cringe when it's wrongly applied. I sometimes catch it with things I have a passing knowledge of, but like when I'm watching the new series of Father Brown, I'm not the person on the message boards posting about how his vestments are wrong for the time period. Also, this guy does exist, go check out the imdb boards!

However, on art, I'm going to call you out! Firstly, art terms and writing terms aren't interchangeable. So while artists sometimes use the word "draft" it rarely means the same thing, but I'll let this one slide, because sometimes common vernacular ends up trumping actual meaning. But you're not getting away with Clary calling her drawing of Jace an illustration. It could be a drawing, a sketch, or a portrait, but NOT an illustration. See, an illustration is an image that accompanies text. I mean just look at the freaking definition in a dictionary! An illustration is "something that illustrates, as a picture in a book or magazine." Unless Clary is writing some erotica about Jace that she needs an illustration of his sleeping body for IT IS A DRAWING. I'd say do better Clare, but after four books, I see you can't do better, it's the same thing over and over again. I'll finish your series, but then we're done.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Being Human, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cassandra Clare, City of Fallen Angels, Clary, Father Brown, Illustration, Jace, Mortal Instruments, Simon, Summer Series, True Blood, Twilight, Vampires

On Art and Life by John Ruskin
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: September 2nd, 2004
Format: Paperback, 97 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
Out of Print

"Oh, Ruskin. So groundbreaking in his aesthetic. Such a nightmare in his personal life. One of the things I love about this time period—and the Preraphaelites in particular—is their revolutionary ideas of beauty. Flinging aside the constraints of classicism, they (to misuse Shakespeare) found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Ruskin laid the groundwork for their upheaval in aesthetics and was one of their key champions. Even if, in his home life, he was a complete mama’s boy who took to his bed with a sniffle—and couldn’t consummate his marriage with his young wife. But that’s next week’s book….

Ruskin pops up in cameo appearances in That Summer, a tall, thin man in his signature blue coat. I took the liberty of borrowing his childhood home on Herne Hill (which he describes quite eloquently in his autobiography Praetorita) and using it as the basis for my heroine’s house.

Thanks, John Ruskin!" - Lauren Willig

The world around us should be our inspiration for art. There is a reason why art and architecture varies by climate. The materials available and the surrounding environment should feed art and make it of it's place, not attempting and hence forcing it to being something it's not. Yet if the labourer who is to create these masterpieces doesn't have any artistic freedom his work is just that of another cog in the industrial revolution. Man can either be a tool or a man. To make a truly great society there needs to be expression allowed in each and every man's work, otherwise society is failing. There needs to be heart in work. Hand, heart, material working in harmony will bring about the artistic revolution that is needed to offset the industrial revolution.

This slim volume contains the chapter "The Nature of Gothic" from Ruskin's The Stones of Venice and a talk he gave on "The Work of Iron, in Nature, Art, and Policy" in Tunbridge Wells in 1858. This book is part of the Penguin Books series of "Great Ideas." Penguin has always been an innovator when it comes to reissuing books of note. As the blurb on the back says "Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them." With the way Ruskin's writing fed the Pre-Raphaelites and their Brotherhood, I think we can safely say that this is one of the books that have enlightened and enriched our lives. Given that art is a difficult and nebulous topic to write on, Ruskin's clarity of vision shines through in such a way that anyone interested in art should pick this up if they can... the Brotherhood certainly did, in more ways then one. Who knows if without Ruskin's vocalization of his beliefs if the Brotherhood would have been able to settle on a cohesive ideology and change the face of art. But more then that, his support of them gave the movement credibility.

Ruskin has such a way with words you can see why the Pre-Raphaelites took him and his writing to heart. He has a way of illuminating the everyday and rising it above the mundane. Through his words you can see a Utopian society for the betterment of man is possible. Yes, these ideals might be romantic, but that is what the Pre-Raphaelites where all about. Ruskin easily breaks down what is wrong with Victorian society. Art and craft are moving towards the mass produced, cookie cutter houses where the decoration in the homes are done by rote, not by feeling, one wonders what he would make of today's subdivisions. A society enslaved by their industrialized homes with the same wallpaper and the identical rosettes lining the walls and ceilings. That is why Ruskin embraces Gothic Architecture. In the Gothic he sees aspects that show the originality of the craftsman. He believes that there is a Gothic Heart that needs whimsy and naturalism among other things in order succeed. Of course the Utopian aspect (ie unrealistic) is where he believes that a society would move away from convenience and back to this time of buying custom objects wherein the maker was able to express themselves and therefore break free of being just a tool, a slave of modern industrialization.

Ruskin's beliefs are impractical but worthy. Ruskin needed the Pre-Raphaelites as much as they needed him. Without someone to latch onto his treatises there was no way to see if they were feasible, even on a small scale. The early doctrine of the Brotherhood believed in genuine ideas, naturalism, empathy, and quality. This tailors so well to all that Ruskin has written. In his talk at Tunbridge Wells he said that hand, heart, and material needed to work together in harmony. Add in Ruskin's belief in this Gothic (literally Northern from "Goths") Heart that believes in changeableness and naturalism and truth, ie, truth to nature, and it's a perfect fit. This naturalism/truth to nature of listening to ourselves as well as our abilities that feeds into our choice of medium aligns the man and the Brotherhood into one.

The nature of your location and the environment creates how you express yourself, but some things can only be done in certain materials. Don't ever try to use a material in a way that is not conducive to what you want to do. If something is light and airy, don't use marble. Each man must believe in truth and beauty. Truth to the world, the materials, the subject, and himself. Each to his own means and own thoughts, the master to perfection, the average man to imperfection, but take joy in both and look for nothing less. The artist shall use his skill to make everything to the best of his abilities, even down to making his own paint. You read these tenets and everything clicks. This is what the Pre-Raphaelites believed. This was their code like the Musketeers, "One for all and all for one." Ruskin was the chronicler and inspiration for them... a little bit ironic though when you realize that Ruskin thought all art should be of it's time, whereas the Pre-Raphaelites loved to paint classic allegorical subjects using real artifacts... but not everyone can agree all the time.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Art, Brotherhood, Lauren Willig, Musketeers, On Art and Life, Penguin, Praetorita, Pre-Raphaelite, Ruskin, That Summer, The Nature of Gothic, The Stones of Venice, This Summer, Tunbridge Wells, Utopia

The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: January 21st, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Anna Madrigal senses her time is coming. She has lived a long and blessed life and has surrounded herself with her logical family, but it might be time to leave them soon. Though there is something in her past, out there in the shadows of the whorehouse where she grew up a he, out in Winnemucca that must be laid to rest before she is. The mass exodus of San Francisco to Nevada takes the disparate souls in different directions. Michael, Ben, Shawna, Jake, and a few surprising others are head to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert, while Brian, his new wife Wren, and Anna are headed to Winnemucca. Will their journeys be transformative? Anything might happen in a world where we just follow the road laid out before us to the life we're meant to lead.

Even though Barbary Lane is long gone, sold off by Anna Madrigal, returning to the Tales of the City books is like checking in with long lost friends. They might have moved, they might have aged, but they are still your family. While I didn't really discover these books till recent years, I feel like I have known the characters all my life... so it was hard to say goodbye. The truth is, I really don't want to let them go, but I will always admire an author who decides when to end a series properly versus having the decision forced on him by time or circumstances. That being said, I didn't really like the ending because it wasn't really an ending at all. I get that Maupin is trying to mirror life and life doesn't have neat little endings tied up with a bow. But despite the roman à clef nature of these books, they are books. I personally like a little bit of bow tying in my books. Just a little...

Anna Madrigal, that mysterious anagram, has always been the locus of this rag tag group. With her getting ready to go it makes sense that now is the time to let go gracefully, and thankfully for us she gets ready to go in style, unlike the medical crises that marred the endings of the previous two books. We learn more about Anna's past then we ever could have hoped for. She has always been an enigma, little bits and pieces of her life hinted at here and there. While the picture is not complete, there is a feeling that we know all the secrets that she is willing to part with. Also, I love how Maupin handled the infamous anagram. In a strange twist of fate "Anna Madrigal" can be rearranged to form "a man and a girl." This was unintentional on Maupin's part, and while I liked this little take on happenstance giving us an answer, I never thought that this was the real reason for Anna choosing this name. While it might have been felicitous, it never felt like the truth, just another half truth from Mrs. Madrigal's lips. Finding the truth out after all this time... it was satisfying. Perhaps that was my bow...

But what has always made these books appealing to me is that the characters feel like family that are giving you a glimpse of a different life to your own, a chance to connect with different people and experiences, and vicariously live through them, and yes, they do satisfy a deep seeded need of mine to go back to San Francisco. In particular regard to this newest book I'm actually not talking about San Francisco, I'm talking about Burning Man. Sometime when I was in college I first heard about Burning Man, mainly because my friend Orelia was going one year and I vaguely remembered a TA of mine talking about it as well. Seemed like an interesting concept, didn't really leave much impact on me other then I knew a few people who went and loved it. Years have gone by and even more people I know have gone, so, I'm a little more interested, but that's about all, I have a vague idea of what goes on, but other then that, it's peripheral to my life, I'm interested in blog posts about outfits people are making, but, whatever.

Enter The Days of Anna Madrigal. For the first time in my life I get it, I understand Burning Man. Maupin placed me there on the playa with the alkali flats and the dust swirling around me so that I can't even see. I can see why it would appeal to him and how the world created there has the same twists of fate and bizarre coincidences that his world in Tales of the City has always embodied. I also love that it is an event that celebrates creation and makers. Art that is made just to be made, it's the act that is important, not the finished product. This experience I was vicariously living showed me just how opposite this world is to my own. I try to live in a very organized, clean, structured world that relies more on the end result of my labors then the labor itself. I have tried to open myself up to other experiences, art forms, like letterpress, wherein the act of creating is just as important as what you create. But at the end of the day, I liked having this experience from a distance. This is an experience I realized I can do without in my life, much like Michael learned. But am I different from learning about it? Yes I am. But you can call me Couch Lady.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anna Madrigal, Armistead Maupin, Art, Barbary Lane, Black Rock Desert, Burning Man, Michael Tolliver, Nevada, San Francisco, Tales of the City, The Days of Anna Madrigal, Whorehouse, Winnemucca

Another semester of school. More long days and nights and lack of sleep... why do I do it? Because everyone has the potential to be better at what they do. You never stop learning. Books, computers, art, everything! We learn in a thousand different ways everyday. So forgive me I'm scattered for awhile here... who knows what shape my brain will be in when I trudge my weary body home after my classes and sink into my chair and loose myself in a book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Art, Books, Brain, Computers, Knowledge, Norman Rockwell, School, Wet Paint