Bronwyn
I'm not sure what to make of this. It was beautifully written as is everything by Waugh, and even the story wasn't too bad, but the ending was heavy handed. I liked it better than I thought I would, but I'm still not sure I really liked it.
I just wanted this to be more than it was. It was a light and fluffy pop history type examination of red hair. I wanted more sources and analysis. I wanted more of why there are these associations with red hair that she just didn't provide. She tried, but didn't succeed for the most part. I also didn't really need all her personal comments and stories. It was sometimes interesting though. It's a good jumping off point. I want more.
What a sweet, beautiful book. The illustrations are wonderful and the little adventure story is wonderful.
This isn't nearly as heart wrenching as Code Name Verity, but I did cry a few times. I feel like I need to reread both books to get how inter-woven they are. (I didn't even remember one character in this from CNV until I read one of the reviews here and it made me go “Oh! Right!”.) Elizabeth Wein really knows how to tell a story.
I really wanted to like this. I should've liked it. But I just couldn't. I didn't care for the writing or the transitions between topics. Things that should've been interesting just weren't. I'm still glad I read it because there was good, new-to-me, information in it, but I just didn't really care for it.
I wish this book was less about designing just sweaters and more about design in general, but a lot of the ideas and techniques discussed can be adapted to fit other sorts of designs. There's a lot o good information even if you don't want to only create sweaters.
This is such a beautiful and sad book. I knew part of it was based on an actual event (though I won't say which one because, spoilers), but had forgotten until it came up. I just loved it. It's roughly about Willie Maryngton and how he's too young for WWI and too old for WWII and how he deals with it. I've read other things by and about people at the time who felt similarly, and reading this account just brought that all into sharper focus for me; what would that have been like? The writing is gorgeous, and it was really amazing. I'm so glad to have read it. It's a new favorite.
Interesting book. It's really an introduction to the fight for woman suffrage. I'd like something a bit more detailed and in depth, but this was a fine starting point.
Such a wonderful set of books. I can't wait to read the rest of them! They're just so sweet and nice and perfect. :)
Listened to the LibriVox recording.
This was a decent story. Not amazing, or it wouldn't've taken me forever to finish listening to, but it was good.
A lot of interesting thoughts about Disney, fairy tales, American Girl, etc. I enjoyed a lot of the book but wished it went into more depth in certain points (at least there's an extensive bibliography). The idea that when women were more restricted to the home allowed them to actually have more freedom (in terms of appearance mainly) was interesting. I would like an updated copy talking about Brave and Tangled since she briefly mentions they will be happening in the future at the end of the book. I think she was a bit dismissive of American Girl (though I am biased in that I love AG), focusing too much on its consumeristic aspects and not really dealing with how much of the change was due to Mattel taking over. That's a pretty minor quibble though. All in all an interesting book about things I do worry about if I ever have a daughter.
This had everything I love in an old/er book. Emily was so relatable; her successes and failures were like your own; she was sort of a plain Jane, but not overly so; and she wound up happy. All of the other characters were so lovely too. Grandpa, Cab, even Don and Annette, and of course Jed. The children were lovely; I loved Kalil, Yusuf, and Layla. I loved the little cameos from Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, and Winona. This was just such a charming book. So like some of the Anne books in so many ways, but better in other ways. I just loved it.
I wish I could do 3.5 but goodreads doesn't do halves... It was too slow and dragging for too much of the book and too much was crammed into the last 40 pages or so. In the end it was good though. Just not great.
I only have an ARC, but apparently the actual book doesn't include a map either. It's really needed. Looking on the publisher's site for the book though, there is an interactive map online. This ought to have been included.
The book itself is very well written and fascinating though and I can't wait to finish.
What a fascinating and sad book. The way the investigation was conducted and the lengths Werner went to to try and find the truth... Fabulous book.
I wouldn't have bought this full price, honestly. I wanted it, but not that badly for all it is. But it was on clearance and I had a double discount day at work, so I did. Finally getting around to looking at it.
Won through feelingstitchy.com
I really enjoyed the various interviews. Some more than others. I don't necessarily care for the patterns provided, though some are good. Mostly, the interviews gave me more ideas for projects than the projects themselves inspired in me.
This was alright. Not as good as I'd hoped. The Persephone site talks about how the end will make you want to re-read it immediately, but for me it didn't. The writing is beautiful, and I quite like the back and forth between the past and the present, but I couldn't really care for any of the characters and so it was hard to want to finish. Luckily it's a short book and I finished easily, but not for wanting to know what happens next. This, like the Poirot books, makes me wish I knew French because there are interjections in French and I have no idea what they say...
Copied from a review I wrote for class:
“Karl Jacoby's Shadows at Dawn is an attempt to make clear the events surrounding the Camp Grant massacre in Arizona in 1871. Jacoby describes the circumstances that led to the clash from the points of view of the four parties involved: the O'odham (the Papago), los Vecinos (the Mexicans), the Americans, and the Nṉēē (the Apache). Jacoby attempts to show how differences in point of view can alter how an event is portrayed and remembered. By examining the story from multiple points of view, Jacoby allows for a better understanding of the full story of a not well documented event.
“Shadows at Dawn is broken into three segments, each describing a different part of the story. The first section describes each group's involvement in the Arizona territory from the time first recorded, the second section is brief and describes the trial of the perpetrators, and the last section tells what happened to the involved parties afterwards. In breaking the events up this way Jacoby creates a coherent story of each group's involvement in the area over time.
“In relating the story of the Native Americans involved, Jacoby discusses the problems faced due to mostly oral traditions. He addresses this well though, by using the passed down oral stories and through the O'odham's calendar sticks, in addition to the written records of the outsiders to the groups. In relating the stories of the Mexicans and the Americans, the story is much easier to relate because of the prevalence of written records. Jacoby addresses the issues with written records that may not be truthfully recorded by comparing records of the same event from different sources within each group and by comparing them to those of other groups.
“Jacoby relates these events very well and his writing is very easy to follow. In each section Jacoby refers to things in that group's language; therefore, the same group of people can be referred to in different ways throughout the book: depending on the Apache referred to they are called the 'O:b in the O'odham's language, apaches mansos or apaches de paz in Spanish, Apache in English, and Nṉēē, Bāāchii in the Apache's own language. This can lead to some confusion at first, but is easily caught on. The only issue with using the various languages is that there is no pronunciation key anywhere in the book and so the reader can only guess.
“With the story there is little confusion. There are a few times of slight confusion of who is being referred to, and possibly some mixed up names in a few places, but this does not detract from the story. Jacoby's narrative is well told and easy to understand. He makes no real suppositions except where one might expect. There are a few instances where he may overestimate the importance of some events, but as the narrative expands, the importance makes sense. The importance of the Civil War and changing troops in Arizona seemed extreme at first, but by the end of the book, or even of the section, the importance becomes clear.
“In addition to depicting the events surrounding the Camp Grant massacre, Jacoby also manages to give insight into the issues surrounding Native American relations and the idea of reservations, as well as continuing issues of the strained relationship between Arizona and Mexico. Whether or not this was another goal of the book, it definitely sheds light on issues that still plague the United States.
“Overall Jacoby's story is well researched and well told. It provides great light on an event that is not well known. In general histories of the Native American populations are not often told in the history of the United States and Jacoby's book attempts to correct this in some small degree.”
Maybe more like 3.5 stars, but I'm not willing to bump this one up to 4 like I have some others... This was a very interesting book and parts of it were really interesting and enjoyable. I really enjoyed reading about early 20th century Vienna, Adele, and Klimt. The battle for the painting at the end was really interesting too, but I wound up coming out of that hating everyone... Other parts just dragged on and on and was very redundant at times. I couldn't always keep track of who was who because there were so many people. And there were some very poorly worded sentences and paragraphs; some I had to reread a few times to understand properly. There were also a lot of typos that I would have hoped would've been caught before a second printing... A pretty uneven book for me. It had its good parts and its bad, but I am glad I read it.
I did really enjoy this but it seemed uneven, so only 4 stars not 5. Each chapter is a different topic and the topics were almost all very interesting (and those that weren't to me were because of my interest in the topic, nothing on the author's part). It just seemed to jump around a bit which decreased some of my enjoyment of it.
Saw this at work and had to have it! A book that combines history (and mainly women's history at that) and knitting is like a dream come true. :) Finally getting around to looking at it.
Like Hedy's Folly this book was interesting but I felt misled. It's supposedly about Dido and the Lord Chief Justice. It's not really. It's mostly about Lord Mansfield and the cases he oversaw that probably helped lead to the abolition of slavery in England.
Most of the book, like I said, deals with Lord Mansfield's life and career. We're also introduced to others who were against slavery in England. Byrne also discusses slavery in the British West Indies, and what slave ships were like. She gives us some information on other free blacks and those of mixed race to hypothesize what it was like for Dido in England because we just don't have the information to know for sure.
What is actually about Dido? Well, there's the opening chapter looking at the paining of her and her cousin. I found that really interesting, breaking down all the symbolism within the painting. There's also the last chapter that discusses Dido's life after Mansfield's death based on marriage records, etc. Again very interesting. But if you're looking for a book about Dido, this really isn't it, even though it's still an interesting book.
ARC. This was fine. I can understand its value and that some kids may enjoy it, but I didn't care for it. It seemed overly simplistic even though it address difficult issues. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and give it three stars.