Living The Life Of A Fabric-aholic by Sandy Gervais

 

Living The Life

Of A

Fabric-aholic

by

SANDY GERVAIS

This book is a little short story that is colorfully illustrated and meant to cheer up and poke fun at over spending on fabric.  Some quilters get carried away with their fabric purchases. It is easy to accumulate quite a bit and not realize what all you have.   A couple days after I got home from Cleveland Clinic a package arrived in the mail.  My brother and sister in law had sent it.  Included was a darling hand made pillow case in which the fabric had frogs wearing scrub suits and a Sandy Gervais's book, Living The Life Of A Fabric-aholic.  It took me less than thirty minutes to read the book and was good for several chuckles.  It is a thoughtful gift book to give to your quilter friends.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.  The video is a bit long but is an interview of the author explaining how she develops her fabric lines.  

Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini

 

Circle of Quilters

by

Jennifer Chiaverini

When I arrived home from Cleveland Clinic following my open heart mitral valve surgery last week, a package was waiting on me.  A good friend since childhood had sent me a couple of books to read during my convalescence.  One of the books she sent was a novel named Circle of Quilters from a series by Jennifer Chiaverini called the Elm Creek quilts.  While it is a different genre than I normally read, I found it a very refreshing story.  Elm Creek Quilts is a fictional quilt retreat center outside of Pittsburgh where people come and stay and take classes.  Staying several days they gather and chat while they sew.  Ideas are exchanged and it is a popular spot for quilters.  In this particular novel of the series the quilt retreat is losing two staff members and the board is interviewing for their replacement.  The stories of five of the applicants are included in the book with each of the five sections concluding with their interview.  The last chapter reveals who was selected and why.  It was a fun read and a quick read.  I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun book. Please click on the author's name and book title above and enjoy the video that follows.  The video is about another book in the Elm Creek Quilts series but talks some about Chiaverini's writing in general.  

The Stolen Lady by Laura Morelli

 

The Stolen Lady

by

Laura Morelli

I finished reading The Stolen Lady by Laura Morelli late on the 14 of this month in a VRBO in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  It is now ten days later and I feel well enough to write the book review.  Open heart mitral valve surgery is accompanied by a substantial recovery period.  I am just beginning my convalescence after my 5/15 surgery. The Stolen Lady has three story lines, all of which are good reads.  One of the story lines is the story of Leonardo De Vinci during the time that he was painting Lisa.  I did not realize he was so unreliable.  He ended up leaving the painting to the king of France to hang in the royal bath house upon his death.  Lisa's husband, who hired Leonardo to paint her, never got to own the painting.  Another of the story lines followed the woman who was Lisa's personal maid. It was rooted in the political history of Florence during that time frame and some of the core religious beliefs related to those political powers.  Also included are the details of Lisa's depression which was rooted in her loss of two infants.  Although she did have other children who grew to adulthood, Lisa blamed the rich way her family lived for the loss of the two children which she lost.  Leonardo De Vinci worked hard to draw Lisa out of sadness and did manage to capture her eventual smile.  The third story line of the book takes place during WWII and follows the story of an archivist who works at the Louvre.  She travels with the Mona Lisa and other works of art throughout the war to hide the art in various places of the free zone.  Eventually she ends up working with the resistance.  I enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.  

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

 

Company of Liars

by 

Karen Maitland

This novel sucked me in immediately and kept me reading.  After checking it out on my kindle less than two weeks ago, I stayed up late last night finishing it.  It is the story of nine people who are living  during the time of the plague in mid 1300s England.  They are traveling toward the north to leave the cities and coastal towns where the plague began, hoping to arrive in more rural towns with the cold weather which normally kills disease.  Although strangers,  nine travelers band together to make their journey safer and help each other along the way.  Each of the nine people have a secret from their past.  As their trip continues their secrets become known and they begin to be killed off one by one.  I found the beliefs and superstitions described in the novel about disease during medieval times very interesting.  Click  HERE  for  further content from the author's historical research.  Click on the book title and author's name above  for more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.  I highly recommend this book.  I will definitely read more of Karen Maitland's work.  

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Death at La Fenice

by 

Donna Leon

Normally I am a fan of historical fiction.  But sometimes I switch gears because I want a quick read.  At those times one of my go to authors is Donna Leon.  She writes mysteries in a Venetian setting.  Each of her novels addresses a social issue and her first novel, Death at La Fenice is no exception.  Written in the early 1990s, the issue chosen for this book, unfortunately remains an issue.  The mystery revolves around  a famous opera conductor who  is found dead in his dressing room between acts.  He was poisoned.  He was very talented and renown and in his early seventies.  During the investigation it is revealed that he is very strict with the conduct he allows in his singers and instrumentalists.  He is especially hard on homosexuals who he threatens to and sometimes does destroy their careers and their personal lives.  This comes out fairly early in the investigation and brings to the surface quite a few suspects.  But the police investigator continues to dig and finds out that this highly thought of man is a real creeper.  He has a taste for girls about age twelve who are usually sisters or daughters of women he establishes relationships with.  Therefore, over the course of his life, he has left a string of very angry and vengeful women.  This book has a good lesson for women to never let down one's guard where the safety of the girls around them are concerned.  This book also has a lesson for men who are sexual predators.  Sooner or later someone will likely make sure you get your just deserts.  The problem of our youth being victims of sexual violence continues. Today, one in nine girls are victims of sexual abuse or assault.    Click HERE for more information.  This novel is an easy read and a quick read.  I highly recommend it, or any of Donna Leon's books, for those that like a good mystery.  Please click on the book title or author's name above to follow the link. for more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.  

The Happiest Man On Earth by Eddie Jaku

 

The Happiest Man On Earth

by

Eddie Jaku

The year before his death in 202, one hundred year old Eddie Jaku wrote his memoir.  It is a quick read and outlines his life along with his formula for happiness.  Eddie was a Jewish man who survived the concentration camps during WWII.  After the allies took him to a hospital, near death, he was experiencing some anger and bitterness about all he experienced at the hands of the Nazis.  As his life progressed he was able to let go of hate and embrace love as a lifestyle.  He attributes his survival of the death camps to some important factors.  One is the relationships he had with friends and family.  Even though his parents were killed in the gas chambers,  his sister remained alive as did one of his best friends.  Relationships with them and other friendships he developed were an important ingredient of being able to continue living in the death camps.   Another thing he mentions that was important to his survival was hope.  Without hope people ran to the electric fence and grabbed on thereby electrocuting themselves.   Hope kept Eddie going.   A third thing that was important was helping others.  Eddie believes a life that includes service to others is necessary to survive in a community.  Those that survived the concentration camps did so by helping each other through it.  One hundred year old Eddie Jaku believed the secret to happiness is love, hope and cooperation.  Eddie volunteered at the Sydney Holocaust Museum and did a lot of speaking at schools and churches.  He was even invited to do a TED talk.  Eventually he wrote his book.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more about Eddie.   And enjoy the video of his TED talk that follows.  We could all use a good dose of Eddie Jaku.  

Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt by Barbara Brackman

 

Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt

by

Barbara Brackman

Well known in the quilting world for her non fiction, historical books about quilting, Barbara Brackman's book, Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt, does not disappoint.  She presents twelve short biographical sketches of women who lived in the mid 1800s.  Some are well known women such as Teddy Roosevelts mom and Mary Todd Lincoln.  And some are women who are not as well known but nevertheless lived interesting lives.  Each biographical sketch is paired with a period quilt square and directions for that quilt square.  The book is delightfully illustrated with period photographs and pictures of the various ways to put together the same blocks, creating much different presentations with changes in color and arrangement.  Barbara Brackman has written several books, including her encyclopedia of blocks that has been digitized and  is part of the Electric Quilt software as an add on called "Block Base+".   This book is about autograph quilts from the Civil War era.  The author noticed civil war autograph quilts that were signed by northern and southern women alike so she began to research how they were connected.  Often southern young women were sent north for finishing school.  And it was not uncommon for southern families to spend the hottest part of the summer in the north to avoid diseases carried by insects in the heat of summer.  Friendships were formed and romances kindled that grew to marriages and intermingling of northern and southern families.  During the war years feelings of closeness didn't just disappear.  This book teaches us a lesson that is pertinent to today.  Relationships can continue in spite of very fundamental differences in belief systems and political opinions.  This book is a quick read and I enjoyed it very much.  It combined my interests of genealogy, social history, and quilting.  I highly recommend this author and intend to enjoy more of her work.  Please click on the links above and enjoy the video that follows.