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I ENJOY...
Books
Art Books to Check Out:
Maxfield Parrish: The Masterworks (Hardcover)
Maxfield Parrish is one of my favorite artists. The colors he used captured my imagination as a child. They still do as an adult. His brilliant blues and purples were striking. His work was often commercial so there are lots of advertisements in his portfolio but it was his paintings that blew me away.
I love to wander through art galleries and I stumbled upon his original “Jason and his Teacher”. It was his original painting, not a reproduction. I was stunned. It was a little gallery. What was it doing there? (Apparently selling for more than a house goes for these days.) But nonetheless, they let me walk right up to the painting.
I put my hands in my pockets, afraid I was going to accidentally be moved to touch it. I ended up in front of it for at least a couple of hours. His colors were amazing. It was weird to see the cracks in the paint from the age of the piece. You don’t see that in reproductions. I don’t know what happened to the original. (I was unsuccessful in my attempt to persuade my parents to sell their house to purchase a painting… “Where would we then put it?” was their lame arguement. It’s an original Maxfield Parrish! I cried. Ahh well.)
Since we all can’t enjoy the painting in person, I recommend this book. You can click on the link of the name and see more about it on Amazon.com.
Check it out. —MoGo
Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion (Paperback)
I love optical illusionary art. Dali never did much for me but this book has some really fantastic artists. I love the work of Scott Kim, Shigeo Fukuda and Rob Gonsalves. Kim works with typography so his work is close to my heart for I love type as well. My father got me a signed book of his work with my name done in his style (so you can read it right side up and upside down). It is spectacular. Gonsalves I mention below as well for the two books of his works that have been turned into narratives. And for Fukuda, I can’t begin to figure out how he makes his art “work” for it requires thinking in a space my brain doesn’t easily follow
Imagine a Day
by Sarah L. Thomson (Author), Rob Gonsalves (Illustrator)
“imagine a day . . . . . . when you can dive down through branches or swim up to the sun…”Imagine a Night
by Rob Gonsalves (Painter)
“imagine a night . . . . . . when snow white sheets grow crisp and cold, and someone whispers”
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Science Fiction to Check Out:
Cordelia’s Honor by Lois Bujold
This is my favorite author and this is the first 2 books of the Miles Vorkosigan series contained in one paperback. (Shards of Honor, Barrayar).
I started reading these in college because a friend lent them to me and since then have made it my mission to get as many people hooked on this series as possible. So far my plan is working. Ninety five percent of the people I share these with turn into rabid fans. These books are fabulous science fiction/space opera books.
The books are fast paced, fun and smart, but not “hard” science fiction. There is enough detail to be interesting without feeling the need to describe what everyone had for lunch. (Some authors feel the need to drown their audience in uninteresting minutia.)
One of the other things that makes this series so cool is that the main character just keeps getting cooler as he gets older. Some series start to tank after the first couple but I have to say in general I think they just get more interesting. And “Civil Campaign” has one of the best most disastrous dinner parties ever written. I laughed so hard I honestly had tears. I can’t recommend these enough! Definitely check them out!
I am putting the whole list of Miles Vorkosigan books here:
Falling Free (200 years before Miles, same universe, earlier time, stand alone book)
Cordelia’s Honor (contains Shards of Honor & Barrayar)
The Warrior’s Apprentice
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos (not a Miles book but related to him via one of his crew)
Brothers in Arms
Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance Won the 1995 Hugo Award for Science Fiction. One of her best.
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign (By far my favorite of this series!)
Diplomatic ImmunityWhen I am stressed these are the books I reread. And to my utter joy I recently got to meet Lois Bujold, and to my levitation, had the privilege of having dinner with her. Sometimes one will meet an author or artist whose work one enjoys and be disappointed. Not the case with Mrs. Bujold. She was very sweet and fun to talk to about a variety of subjects.
Lois Bujold also writes Fantasy. I like the Miles series the best but I do really like her recent American fantasy The Sharing Knife. Check them out.
She also has a blog, www.dendarii.com
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