Origin

Origin is the 5th installment of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series.  However, unlike the earlier books this one had a boring start, mediocre middle and a strong finish.

I have a rule that if a book does not grab my attention by the first 50 pages I put it down.  It didn't grab my attention but I kept reading anyway because this is a Dan Brown book.  In the first 3 pages there was talk about a new scientific revelation that scientist Edmond Kirsch discovered that would upend all religions. For the next 100 pages there was only talk about what it could possibly be. There was no action nor any statement about what this new revelation was. Kirsch was planning on revealing his discovery at an event at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain that would be live streamed to millions.  However, Kirsch was murdered during his presentation but before he could state what his discovery was. As his former teacher, Robert Langdon was invited to the event and witnessed the murder.

The story then picked up as it alternated between Langdon's attempt to find out who killed Kirsch as well as figure out what his discovery was and the scene at the Spanish Royal Palace where Prince Julian, assumed to be a staunch supporter of the Roman Catholic faith, is about to ascend the throne.

This book did not read like a Dan Brown book. The sentence structures were different. The suspenseful chapter endings were not there. There was no treasure hunt or emphasis on symbols as in prior novels but rather just a murder mystery. It seems like Dan Brown did not write this novel. That is how different Origin is from his prior books.

I was disappointed with Origin. While the plot premise was good, the writing was not. Let's hope he gets it right the next time.

Kaffe Fassett's Bold Blooms

I have read a few of Kaffe Fassett's books and even had the good fortune to take a 2 day quilt workshop with him 5-10 years ago. I love his fabrics and have used them in several quilts. Bold Blooms was not only eye candy for me but inspiration as well for future quilts that I am dreaming up.  I am counting this book as a selection for the 2018 Creativity Reading Challenge.

The book begins with Kaffe's story as an artist. He moved from California to London in the 1960s and began sketching items he saw in the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in England's estate homes. Photos of his watercolor sketchbooks are included in the book which I found interesting as I never knew he used that medium. From those sketchbooks he began his design career, initially in knitwear, oil paintings, tapestries and then quilt fabric design. However, all along he was inspired by floral patterns, the larger the better. He is also a colorist, by that I mean he uses color intensely and combines colors in ways that most artists would not.

I have never used large scale prints in a quilt before but Kaffe shows how it is done. He includes cutting and sewing instructions for several quilts.  I am interested in making 3 of them but 2 use both traditional piecing and applique methods.  I am not good with applique so I am hesitant to try to make them.

As I said earlier this book is eye candy for an artist, quilter, etc... There are large scale photographs of his paintings, tapestries and fabrics as well as his muses from the London museums and estate homes. You also see him working in his glorious colors while knitting, painting, doing needlepoint and designing a quilt on a quilt wall. For those of you who do not quilt, we plan our quilts on a flannel fabric design "wall" that is held against a wall in our sewing room that is large enough to hold fabric pieces for the entire quilt.  Here we try out fabric colors to see what works together before actually sewing the pieces together. You can also see what the whole quilt will look like before sewing and if it isn't pleasing to the eye you can make changes.

The colors in the photographs are inspirational on their own. As an artist my heart begins to swoon when I see color used this way and I can see in my mind not only quilts I could make but colored pencil drawings too.  The big question for me is whether I need  to buy this book.  Probably. While I took it out of the public library it really belongs in my home library for future inspiration.

Highly recommended for artists and quilters!

Zahra's Paradise

Zahra's Paradise takes place in Tehran in 2009. The author and illustrator have chosen to remain anonymous for political reasons and are known only as Amir and Khalil. This is a graphic novel.

The story is about a mother, Zahra, searching for her son, Mehdi, after one of the biggest street protests that took place in Tehran after an election. Mehdi has disappeared.  His mother and his brother Hassan, a blogger and the book's narrator, search for him at all of the city's hospitals, prisons and at the morgue.  They plead with corrupt politicians for information on an almost daily occasion, showing them all a copy of Mehdi's photograph. Hassan even hacks into one of the regime's most notorious prison's computer system with the hope that he will find him there.

This story primarily shows that a mother's love has no boundaries. However, it also shows how Iranians engaged with each other at that time period, which was not so long ago, just 9 years ago.  We westerners have been taught by the media that Iran is solely Muslim yet Zahra's best friend since the 3rd grade is Miriam, a chain smoking, drinking Armenian Christian. The title of this book "Zahra's Paradise" is also the English translation of the name of the largest cemetery in Iran, located in Tehran. Those interred there include people who both supported and opposed the Iranian Revolution as well as the current regime. Also, the regime buried Jews there that they caught and murdered. This story is showing a more diverse Iran than I am accustomed to hearing about with Jews and Christians living there alongside Muslims.

The artwork is composed of black and white drawings with varying degrees of grey shading which I assume reflects the desperation felt by Medhi's family. The comic is formatted in a traditional comic book page spread.

This story is an important one to tell. It shows what life is like in Iran at this time period. While this is a book of fiction, real life events took place in its pages. The election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 as President of Iran resulted in days of protests. The arrest, torture and murder of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi is part of the story. Also, the hanging of 2 gay men was mentioned. I remember reading about this in the newspaper. What surprised me was what the Iranians in the book thought about the execution of these 2 men. They wondered why their leaders could not wait for God's judgment on them and why they felt that they had to be the judge and executioner.

Highly recommended!

Plum Tea Crazy

Plum Tea Crazy is Laura Childs' 19th Tea Shop Mystery.  The series takes place in historic Charleston, South Carolina.  I have read all of the books in the series and have loved them.

The story opens with Indigo Tea Shop owner and amateur sleuth Theodosia Browning viewing a Gaslight and Galleons Parade from friend Timothy Neville's mansion.  A local banker, Carson Lanier, falls from a rooftop and impales himself on an iron fence. Some observers thought they heard a shot before he fell. However, it is later discovered that Lanier was shot with a bolt from a  medieval crossbow before he fell.  At the request of her friend Timothy Neville, Theodosia becomes involved in the investigation into Lanier's death.

I think this series needs a shot in the arm.  The same events happen in the same order in every book.  While I applaud the author for always having the crime committed in the first chapter so that the entire book is devoted to the whodunnit, after that the book is stale.  We series readers know that secondary character Delaine Dish will host a fashion show where 2 women will have an argument and Delaine will then have a tantrum that can only be soothed by Theodosia. We know there will be 2 extravagant tea events in her shop, although those tend to be rather interesting. We also know that the Heritage Society, chaired by Timothy Neville, will be the place where the crime or a crime will be committed. Usually it is where the crime to be solved in the book occurred. The murder place should be varied.

The main characters are great. Theodosia, her tea blender Drayton Connelley, her cook Haley and police detective Bert Tidwell are awesome. Some of the regular secondary characters are no longer interesting, especially Delaine, and the author should create some new ones. Theodosia has some eccentric relatives that maybe should become more prominent characters. Theo uses her secondary characters to help her solve murders so it is crucial that they not only be interesting but grow as characters.

I was disappointed with this installment of the series. I will give the series one more chance but if the author doesn't mix things up a bit I will stop reading it.

Rosalie Lightning

Tom Hart's story of his 2 year old  daughter Rosalie's death is memorialized in his graphic novel Rosalie Lightning.

He talks about the things she loved, her favorite sayings and activities.  He also goes into great detail describing the grieving process he and his wife shared after her unexpected death just days before her 2nd birthday.  All of his best memories became nightmares after she was gone.  He asks the question "what do you do after your child dies?"

This is a sorrowful book. Anyone who has suffered a loss will appreciate this book.

Brazen

Penelope Bagieu's graphic novel Brazen is subtitled Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. It contains 30 short biographies of women who challenged the norms of their eras and made changes to society.  As a feminist, I could not help but love this book.

With the exception of Wu Zetian, Nellie Bly, Josephine Baker, Hedy Lamarr and Mae Jamison I had not heard of any of  these women. One in particular surprised me. Agnodice was a female gynecologist in the B. C. era. I didn't know there were gynecologists back then let alone women gynecologists.  She had to masquerade as a man to practice because prior women gynecologists were accused of performing abortions and women were then outlawed from working in that profession. Some things never change do they?

Be prepared to be inspired to dream big and learn how to persevere to reach those dreams of you read Brazen. I recommend this book as a must read for all girls for this reason.  Us older gals like myself could use a good dose of inspiration to either keep us on track or be inspired to find another path as a few of the rebel ladies did.

The artwork is done in a traditional comic book page layout using primarily colored layouts but occasionally black and white drawings. What strikes me about the drawings is how well the author captures women's emotions on their faces.  When a rebel lady gets treated badly or gets bad news, the author has drawn the perfect expression on her face.

Highly, highly recommended!

Public Library Haul

I just came home from the Chicago Public Library with 9 books which is all my briefcase would hold.  There were 5 additional graphic novels concerning the Jews and the Holocaust in a special display area that I wanted to check out but there was no room for them and I probably couldn't carry them all home on the bus anyway.

So, what did I get? I got one cozy mystery: Laura Childs' "Plum Tea Crazy." I also got 3 graphic novels: "Brazen," "Rosalie Lightning" and "Zahra's Paradise." There is one art book in the bunch by Kaffe Fassett who designs quilt fabric and textile patterns. A newly published religious book on being a disabled Christian by Shane Clifton titled "Crippled Grace" caught my eye as I, too, am a disabled Christian. Dan Brown's new mystery "Origin" and a historical fiction novel titled "The Essex Serpent" by Sarah Perry was checked out.  Finally, Ken Follett's latest novel "A Column of Fire" was also checked out.

I have 3 weeks to read all of these books and do not know how I will ever have the time. I felt compelled to bring them home with me just the same.