The Gryphon: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Rediscovered [Bargain Price] (Hardcover) Review

Never tireing to read over and again.Great price, and great fast shipping.Thank you.

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Pua Polu: The Pretty Blue Hawaiian Flower [Hardcover] Review

A children's picture book in English and Hawaiian, accompanied by a spoken word CD with the story told by Nona Beamer and slack key guitar by Keola Beamer

"Pua Polu, the Pretty Blue Flower" is a 32 page children's picture book for young readers. Pua Polu is a story about family and the cycles of life told from the point of view of a koali, a morning glory. Author and Hawaiian elder Nona Beamer blends her experience of the natural world of Hawai'i with songs and bits of information she has gathered through her life. Written in English with a Hawaiian translation, Pua Polu acts as a Hawaiian primer.

A koali vine starts growing on the title page of the book with the invitation for keiki, children, to "follow this way." The vine meanders through every page of the story, separating the English text from the Hawaiian, encouraging young readers to follow along and see where it goes.

After the story, Nona speaks directly to the readers, explaining how the story of Pua Polu came to be. The book ends with a brief description of the block prints in the story and the ancient Hawaiian block printing technique called ohe kapala.



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Morning, Noon and Night (Paperback) Review

I stumbled upon a discount copy of Spalding Gray's Morning, Noon and Night and was morbidly compelled to read it. Basically, he recounts a day in his life when his youngest son was still an infant.
Other of his works are better written and with sharper wit and insight, and to plod through this one - to get it - you have to hear Spalding tell it in your head, see his expressions and mannerisms.
This memoir is something of a reflection on parenthood, and, well, everything, in true Spalding fashion. The book is full of sentiments that everyone confronting parenthood can relate to. I found myself angry at him for saying some of it though (OK, so I'm not finished with my anger just yet). Toward the end he writes:
"Here it is only ten-fifteen in the evening and I'm wasted, and I didn't even go to work. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how people raise families and work at the same time. What's more, why would they want to do it? With only one life to live, why bring more life into the world to be responsible for? It's absurd. It's ridiculous, I think. Why complicate your life with more life that you are ultimately responsible for? I love my children, but they could only be accidents born out of a kind of blind passion. I could never have had a child if I had to think about it."
Although he didn't go to work, he didn't do much parenting either. His girlfriend, working from a home office, also cooked, managed the household renovations, tended to the baby. He was selfish and spoiled - yoga, bike-ride, drinking.
But in the light of his death this work also sketches a portrait of a very sad, confused, scared - desperately scared - childish man. (Lots of inky water imagery too.) The humour and the wonder had already started leaving him.
http://magnificentoctopus.blogspot.com

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The Leaving Morning (HBJ Treasury of Literature) [Paperback] Review

Suitable for 4-8 yrs. More authors, or college Enlish Composition courses should pay attention to this author. Angela Johsnon has a way of expressingmountains of information using few words. She has a rare gift for helpingthe reader to really identify, on a personal level, with the story.
Thestory is about a moving day for a family. That's it. But, the author tellsthe story in such a compelling way, that it will surely evoke a dialogueabout this, or similar experiences between parents and children.

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Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper (Paperback) Review

Art and life.Life and art.The lines pf demarcation aren't' visible in this richly imagined story of the relationship between Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt (1847 - 1926) and her older sister, Lydia, who sometimes served as Cassatt's model.Using five of the artist's paintings as springboards the author offers a moving story of courage and creativity, while she renders a fascinating study of the times in which the women lived.
Although suffering painfully, from a terminal illness, Bright's disease, Lydia continues to model for her sister, relentlessly scanning each finished portrait as if it foretold her future.Chessman conceives of Lydia as a study in patience and resignation, imagining thatpainter Edgar Degas, who often visited the sittings, said to Lydia, "You show me how to live, if only I could do it as you do."
In addition to exploring a unique sibling bond "Lydia Cassatt Reading The Morning Paper" suggests aspects of Cassatt's daring life, hints at a liaison with the dynamic Edgar Degas, and presents thumbnail sketches of her interaction with such artists as Renoir and Caillebotte.
Lydia, we learn, died in 1882 while Cassatt lived to create for over thirty more years.
Rather than a sad reflection on a too short life, Chessman, with pitch-perfect prose, has penned a celebration of family, love, and art.
- Gail Cooke

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The Morning Star: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Illuminated [Bargain Price] [Hardcover] Review

Frankly, I'm disappointed. The original Griffin and Sabine series had a wonderful spark of originality. This series is just too derivative.
I wanted to like this new trilogy. I like Bantock's art. There is so much in each picture that I can barely pull myself away for the text. I like the new plot elements that Bantock introduced. The cat with a name, Isabella's roar - these could have been rich new elements in the G&S mythology. They never went anywhere though, and left us re-reading the G&S story in somewhat different words.
If you're new to Bantock, the first G&S trilogy is your best bet. It's fresh, mysterious, and exciting. I just wish that this series could have deepened the mystery or sustained the excitement.

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