NURSE DRAWINGS by JENIFER K WOFFORD

Dear Son,

We know you enjoy graphic novels so you may appreciate this book: NURSE DRAWINGS by jenifer k Wofford (Wofflehouse Editions, 2014).  While the book presents drawings from Wofford’s “Nurse” project  — do click on the link — the compilation of the drawings into a book also serve to create a narrative that transgresses prose by (1) being influenced by the reader as much as the author, and (2) transcends words.  We're not experts on graphic novels but your Mom learned recently that such also can be the effect of such graphic novels as those made by Marjane Satrapi and Shaun Tan.

Anyway, do enjoy this book.  We are so happy to have it as we've long admired this series for, among other things, a deceptively minimalistic approach that yet so effectively — and elegantly! — encompasses the density of implications from its references: what the artist calls the "multiple narratives of gender, subservience, power, care-giving, and immigration."  Observe, too, the impact of Wofford's thin line in so convincingly creating a "dough-y" and "goo" effect.  The artist considers that "goo," by the way, as "both flesh and border."  Such is why Wofford's work is so admired by not just the eye but the brain.

You’ll, of course, recognize the work on Page 11 as it references the drawing hanging by the library:

That “Nurse” drawing is hung next to another Wofford drawing, “Bangka” which means “boat” in Filpino:

Here, indeed, is a jenifer k Wofford corner in the house:

Living with art and books is a gift, Mi HIjo.  Let us treasure art, books, and books about art.

Love, 

Mom and Dad

HORATIO HORNBLOWER!

Dear Son,

Before the movie “Master and Commander” starring Russell Crowe and its writer Patrick O’Brian, there was Horatio Hornblower, a fictional Napoleonic Wars era Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C.S. Forester. He was later the subject of films, radio and television programs.  You can read more about these famous tales HERE.  

What we have in our library is a First Printing of the first three novels  (the series has 12 novels) collected as a three-volume edition in a slip case.  All published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1939.  Here are photos of each volume’s Title Page facing a drawing by N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), a painter and illustrator who's most famous, as an illustrator, for his work featured in the Scribner Classics.

We hope you will enjoy reading about Horatio Hornblower -- may he inspire your imagination!

Love,

Mom and Dad

GALATEA RESURRECTS POETRY!

Dear Son,

As you know, your Mom is a poet.  But she is also an editor and critic.  Both of those activities encouraged her to found an online poetry review journal, GALATEA RESURRECTS (A Poetry Engagement) or GR.  The journal is another way for her to "give back" to the literary community -- an example of an important life lesson: for any bounty we receive, we give back or pay forward...

Anyway, GR receives a lot of review copies from poetry publishers.  Some of those review copies end up in our family library when your Mom chooses to review them.  As of this writing and GR's 23rd issue, this accounts for 216 poetry or poetry-related titles.  That list -- which is updated with each issue -- is available HERE.  They generally reflect poetry that your Mom has much appreciated. What's great about this is that, in the future, if any of these titles interest you, you also can go to the review (or "engagement") that your Mom wrote for one person's view of that title's merit.  

Some of the books Mom reviewed for GR #23: Linda Hogaqn’s DARK. SWEET. NEW & 

SELECTED POEMS; Reb Livingston’s BOMBYONDER; Michelle Detorie’s AFTER-CAVE; 

Hsian Yu's SALSA; Janet Stickmon’s CRUSHING SOFT RUBIES; Richard Berengarten’s 

MANUAL and IMAGEMS 1; and Joseph Massey’s TO KEEP TIME.

Explore Poetry, son!  You don't have to be a poet to be interested in poetry.  We once visited the CEO of a major company and noticed poetry among the business books on his office bookshelf.  This may explain why that executive was so successful -- for poetry, among its many possible uses, encourages out-of-the-box thinking, which is something that can be applied in many ways in one's life.

Love,

Mom and Dad

THE TALLY: NOVEMBER 2014

Dear Son, 

At the end of each month, we list the books we addressed for that month.  I only did one November post and so was only able to note five books.  This means that, so far, we’ve noted 574 titles.  If 7,000 is the estimate for the number of books in the library, that means we only have 6,426 books to go!  As ever, we’ll be reading for a long time!  Which is a good thing!  Here is November’s U.S. Civil War-centric List:

MAPS AND MAPMAKERS OF THE CIVIL WAR by Earl B. McElfresh

THE MAPS OF ANTIETAM by Bradley M. Gottfried

THE MAPS OF GETTYSBURG by Bradley M. Gottfried

THE MAPS OF FIRST BULL RUN by Bradley M. Gottfried

THE MAPS OF BRISTOE STATION/MINE RUN by Bradley M. Gottfried

Enjoy!

Love,

Mom and Dad

MAPPING THE U.S. CIVIL WAR

Dear Son,

As we've said, (1) to study history, to create a history collection, one should have primary sources, secondary sources, personal narratives, philosophies, political and military strategies and so on; and (2) we have a wonderful U.S. Civil War collection.  This collection includes a number of wonderful books presenting maps.  The first, as illustrated above, is MAPS AND MAPMAKERS OF THE CIVIL WAR by Earl B. McElfresh (Abrams, New York, 1999).  Historynet.com offers a good description, including the following excerpt:

In Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War, McElfresh sought to achieve two objectives: to reveal the artistic dimension of mapmaking and to demonstrate the importance of the mapmakers' work. The book achieves both, making it a welcome addition to the scholar's bookshelf. Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War is an atlas with a twist, however, as McElfresh does not allow the maps to stand by themselves. By supplying valuable contextual material, especially excerpts from memoirs, he brings out the experience of Civil War cartographers. His work sheds light on the behind-the-scenes work required to wage four bloody years of Civil War. 

The other books in our collection come from the well-regarded map series put out by Bradley M. Gottfried.  These are:

- The Maps of Antietam

- The Maps of Gettysburg

- The Maps of First Bull Run

- The Maps of Bristoe Station/Mine Run

Click on the links above for useful information about these books:

We hope you enjoy learning about the U.S. Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in U.S.-American history.  Beats zombies anytime!

Love,

Mom and Dad

P.S. Dad wants to remind you of the fancy word for map-making: "cartography."

THE TALLY: OCTOBER 2014

Dear Son,
At the end of each month, I list the books we addressed for that month.  For the second month of this project, October 2014, we noted 156 books. So, so far we've noted 569 titles.  If 7,000 is the estimate for the number of books in the library, that means we only have 6,431 books to go!  We'll be reading for a long time!  Which is okay as, Son, that's a sort of Heaven in itself.  Here is October's List noted under each post's title:

OCTOBER

On The Sex Lives of the Great Artists

On The Sex Lives of the Great Artists by Nigel Cawthorne

THE AWAKENING: A Long Poem Triptych & Poetics Fragment by Eileen R. Tabios

The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Easton Press, 17 volumes, 1994)

HISTORY: CIVIL WAR

Barber, Lucius W., Army Memoirs of Lucius W. Barber, Company 'D,' 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 1894

Beaty, John, The Citizen-Soldier; or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, 1879

Beers, Mrs. Fannie A., Memories, A Record of Personal Experiences and Adventure During Four Years of 'War,' 1888 [To Come]

Billings, John D. Hardtack and Coffee, or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life, 1887

Cooper, Lieut. A., In and Our of Rebel Prisons, 1888

DeLeon, T. C., Four Years in Rebel Capitals..., 1890

An English Combatant, Battle-Fields of the South, From Bull Run to Fredericksburgh..., 1864

Fremantle, Lieut.-Col. Three Months in the Southern States April-June 1863, 1863

Gordon, Gen. John B. of the Confederate Army, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 1903

Goss, Warren Lee, Recollections of a Private, A Story of the Army of the Potomac, 1890

Headly, John W., Confederate Operations In Canada and New York, 1906

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Army Life in a Black Regiment, 1870

Hitchcock, Frederick L., War From the Inside, The Story of the 132nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry... 1904

Kidd, J. H., Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War, 1908

Jones., J.B., A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, 2 Vols., 1866

McCarthy, Carlton, Detailed Minutiae or Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1882;

McKim, Randolph H., A Soldier's Recollections, Leaves From the Diary of a Young Confederate, 1910

Moore, Edward A., The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson, 1907

Pittenger, Lieut. William, Daring and Suffering: A History of the Great Railroad Adventure," 1863

Porter, Gen. Horace, Campaigning With Grant, 1897

A Richmond Lady, Richmond During the War..., 1867

Stevens, George T., Three years in the Sixth Corps..., 1866

Stillwell, Leander, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865, 1920

Taylor, Richard, Destruction and Reconstruction:..., 1879

Townsend, Geo. Alfred, Campaigns of a Non-combatant...,1866

Watson, William, Life in the Confederate Army, 1888

Wilkinson, J., "The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner," 1877

Williamson, James J., Mosby's Rangers: A Record of the Operations of the Forty-third Battalion Virginia Cavalry, 1896

Worsham, John H., One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry..., 1912

TWO BOOKS PUBLISHED DURING THE U.S. CIVIL WAR

Down in Tennesse, and back by way of Richmond by Edmund Kirke, a pseudonym for James R Gilmore

The True Story of the Barons of the South; or, The Rationale of the American Conflict by E.W. Reynolds

CHRISTMAS (2013) BOOKS

BOOKS MOM RECEIVED AS HOLIDAY PRESENTS:

CHASING CHAOS: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid by Jessica Alexander 

FERRAN: The Inside Story of El Bulli and The Man Who Reinvented Food by Colman Andrews 

I’LL DROWN MY BOOK: Conceptual Writing by Women, Eds. Caroline Bergvall, Laynie Browne, Teresa Carmody and Vanessa Place 

The Hemingway Play by Frederic Hunter 

BACK FROM THE CROCODILE'S BELLY: Philippine Babaylan Studies and the Struggle for Indigenous Memory, Eds. S. Lily Mendoza and Leny Mendoza Strobel 

Club Without Walls: Selections From the Journals of Philip Pavia, Ed. Natalie Edgar 

Revelator by Ron Silliman 

Another Path by Gladys Tabor 

Stillmeadow Seasons by Gladys Tabor 

The Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Tabor 

BOOKS MOM AND DAD GAVE MICHAEL:

THE SECRETS OF MENTAL MATH 

PANORAMIC COLOMBIA, photographs by Miguel Salazar Aparicio and text by Enrique Pulecio Marino 

BOLIVAR: American Liberator by Marie Arana 

AFRICA UNITED: Soccer, Passion, Politics and the First World Cup in Africa by Steve Bloomfield 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (Easton Press. Books from Easton and Loeb are primarily to encourage a collector's library) 

THE HOUSE OF HADES by Rick Riordan 

THE COMEDIES by William Shakespeare (Easton) 

THE TRAGEDIES by William Shakespeare (Easton) 

THE HISTORIES by William Shakespeare (Easton) 

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (9th printing, Sept. 1939) 

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951 Book of the Month Club printing) 

Mastering the Fundamentals of Mathematics, Prof. James A. Sellers 

BOOKS DAD RECEIVED AS HOLIDAY PRESENTS:

The Official Record of the WAR OF THE REBELLION 

AESOP’S Fables (Easton) 

St. Agustine Confessions, Trans. by William Watts (Loeb Classical Library) 

St. Agustine Confessions, II, Trans. by William Watts (Loeb) 

The Confessions of St. Augustine, Trans. J.G. Pilkington (Easton) 

THE DIVINE COMEDY OF DANTE ALIGHIERI, Trans. Arthur Livingston, with drawings by William Blake (Easton) 

BOLIVAR: American Liberator by Marie Arana 

The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks 

OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigating of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Easton) 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte (Easton) 

THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler (Easton) 

CICERO on The Republic of the Laws, Trans. Clinton W. Kayes (Loeb) 

CICERO ORATIONS, Philippics 1-6, Ed. & Trans. D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Revised by John T. Ramsey & Gesine Manuwald (Loeb) 

CICERO ORATIONS, Pro Caelio De Provincii’s Consularibus Pro Balbo, Trans. R. Gardner (Loeb) 

CICERO: Tusculan Disputations, Trans. JE King (Loeb) 

CICERO: IX Orations, Trans. H. Grose Hodge (Loeb) 

CICERO: DE SENECTUTE DE AMICITIA DE DIVINATIONS, trans. W.A. Falconer (Loeb) 

CICERO: ON THE NATURE OF THE GODS - ACADEMICS, trans. H. Rackham (Loeb) 

CICERO: ON THE ORATOR, trans. by E.W. Sutton and H. Rackham (Loeb) 

CICERO: LETTERS TO ATTICUS, Vol. II, Ed. & Trans. D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Loeb) 

CICERO: Letters to Quintus and Brutus to Octavian / Inventions Handbook of Electioneering, Ed. & Trans. by D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Loeb) 

CICERO: Orations Philippics 7-14, Ed & Trans. by D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Revised by John T. Ramsey & Gesine Manuwald (Loeb) 

CICERO: Letters to Atticus, Vol. I, Ed & Trans by D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Loeb) 

CICERO: Orations in Catilinam I-IV, Pro Murena – Pro Sulla – Pro Flacco, Trans. C. MacDonald (Loeb) 

CICERO: Orations Pro Quinctio Pro Roscio Amerino Pro Roscio Comoedo On the Agrarian Law (Loeb) 

CICERO Orations Pro Archia Post Reditum In Senatu Post Reditum Ad Quirites De Domo Sua De Haruspicum Responsis Pro Planco, trans. by MH Watts (Loeb) 

CICERO XXI, Ed. Jeffrey Haderson (Loeb) 

CICERO IV De Oratore, Book III De Facto Paradoxa Stoicorum Partitiones Oratoriae, Trans. H. Rackham (Loeb) 

CICERO Orations Pro Milone – In Pisonem – Pro Scauno – Pro Fonteio – Pro Rabirio Postumo – Pro Marcello – Pro Ligario – Pro Rege Deiotaro, Trans. N.H. Watta (Loeb) 

[CICERO] Rhetorica Ad Herennum, Trans. Harry Caplan (Loeb) 

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (Easton) 

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (Easton) 

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (Easton) 

How The Crusades Changed History, Prof. Philip Daileader (Great Courses) 

The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin (Easton) 

GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens (Easton) 

The Short Stories by Charles Dickens (Easton) 

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco 

THE MILL ON THE FLOSS by George Eliot with illustrations by Wray Manning (Easton) 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett 

In Flagrante Collecto (caught in the art of collecting) by Marilyn Gelfman Karp 

FAUST by Goethe (Easton) 

THE MAPS OF ANTIETAM by Bradley M. Gottfried 

THE MAPS OF THE BRISTOE STATION AND MINE RUN CAMPAIGNS by Bradley M. Gottfried 

THE MAPS OF FIRST BULL RUN by Bradley M. Gottfried 

THE MAPS OF GETTYSBURG: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign June 3-July 13, 1863 by Bradley M. Gottfried 

Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Easton) 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Easton) 

HESIOD The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, trans H.G. Evelyn-White 

THE ILIAD by Homer (Easton) 

THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER (Easton) 

PASSIONS: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson 

A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce (Easton) 

SHERMAN: A Soldier’s Life by Lee Kennett 

HOW MUSIC AND MATHEMATICS RELATE, Prof. David Kung (Great Courses) 

The Prince by Machiavelli (Easton) 

Caesar’s Women by Colleen McCullough 

ANCIENT SHORES by Jack McDevitt (Easton) 

LANGUAGES A to Z, Prof. John McWhorter (Great Courses) 

Moby Dick or The Whale by Herman Melville (Easton) 

WIRED FOR WAR: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by P.W. Singer 

IVANHOE by Walter Scott (Easton) 

The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Easton) 

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (8th printing but replica cover) 

CALIFORNIA: A History by Kevin Starr 

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Easton) 

The Alhambra by Desmond Stewart and the Editors of the Newsweek Book Editions 

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (Easton) 

TACITUS Annals, Books XIII-XVI, trans. by John Jackson 

TACITUS Agricola Germania Dialogue, Trans. M. Hutton, W. Peterson; Revised by RM Ogilvie, EH Warmington, and M Winterbottom 

TACITUS, Histories IV-V, Annals I-III, Trans. by CH Moore and J. Jackson 

TACITUS The Histories, Books I-III, Trans. by CH Moore 

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Easton) 

TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA by Jules Verne (Easton) 

REASON AND FAITH: Philosophy in the Middle Ages by Thomas Williams 

DOG HEAVEN by Cynthia Rylant

DOG HEAVEN by CYNTHIA RYLANT

Dear Son,

As you know, it was such a shock when our beloved dog Gabriela left us unexpectedly.  But she is also commemorated in our library through a book sent to us by Harry and Barbara L. for comfort: DOG HEAVEN, written and illustrated by Cynthia Rylant (Blue Sky / Scholastic, New York, 1995).

This book has been a source of comfort with such pages as:

When you see this book in the library in future years, I know you also will remember Gabriela, and all the GREAT times we had with this great dog!

Love,

Mom and Dad