Max Ginsburg Retrospective

Max Ginsburg, one of the most respected and highly accomplished realist painters today, presents for the first time, a collection of his paintings from 1956 to 2010. Exquisitely presented on 192 pages of high quality paper (11x12x1), this publication chronicles Max's prestigious career as a fine artist, a teacher and illustrator.

The book cover shows one of his paintings.  I'll bet you can guess the title after a quick look at the picture.  After guessing the title, Bus Stop, you'll want to go back for a longer look.

I think that's one of the gift's of Ginsburg talent - capturing human nature doing regular day-to-day activities.  Looking at his artwork is like looking at a photograph of friends or family or ourselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Ginsburg, learning more of his life and his art, and dwelling on the pictures.  This is a wonderful book for the coffee table.

* I received a copy of Retrospective  from NetGalley in exchange for my review.  No other compensation was received.

A Wilder Rose

by Susan Wittig Albert

I was familiar with this author through her China Bayles mystery series.  Those mysteries are well written and enjoyable, so when I saw this book by her on Net Galley I was interested.  That and the fact that this book is about the author/s of the Little House books.

The focus is on the relationship between Rose Wilder Lane and her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Rose was a strong, independent woman and writer who moved back to her home in Missouri.  Both Rose and her mother were short on money, so Rose hatched the idea of Laura writing a book that told of her early years growing up on the plains.

The idea was a good one but publishers weren't happy with Laura's writing.  Rose had to do a great deal of work with her mother's manuscripts to get them acceptable to the publishers.

The tumultuous relationship between these two strong-willed women was further complicated because of the mother's old-fashioned ideas and the daughters liberated, worldy ideas and life style.

I liked this book and would recommend it to others who grew up reading or watching The Little House books or tv series.  Or anyone, actually.  I thought it was well-written and informative.  I always enjoy a book that informs while it entertains.

* I received a copy of A Wilder Rose  from NetGalley in exchange for my review.  No other compensation was received.

The Air We Breathe

by Andrea Barrett

     Autumn, 1916. America is preparing to enter WWI, but at Tamarack State Hospital, the danger is barely felt. Here in the crisp, mountain air where wealthy tuberculosis patients recover in private cottages and charity patients, mostly European émigrés, fill the sanatorium, time stands still. Prisoners of routine and yearning for absent families, the inmates take solace in gossip, rumour and secret attachments.


      One enterprising patient initiates a weekly discussion group, but his well-meaning efforts lead instead to tragedy and betrayal. The war comes home, bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilante sentiment. Andrea Barrett pits power and privilege against unrest and thwarted desire in a spellbinding tale of individual lives in a nation on the verge of extraordinary change.

      I love Andrea Barrett.  My favorite is her short story Ship Fever.  She brings the progression of scientific inquiry and development to life. 

A Fatal Likeness

by Lynn Shepherd

Unseen

by Karen Slaughter

Why haven't I been introduced to this author before?  If Unseen is a good indication of her work, and I have every reason to believe it is, I should have been reading every book she's ever written.

This is my kind of mystery.  There's a main plot but then there are several subplots going on that are equally intense.  The characters are real, 3-dimensional, flawed yet likable, and strong-willed.  

Here's the write-up from Karen Slaughter's webpage:

Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling novels featuring detective Will Trent are utterly riveting and masterfully drawn. Her latest thriller, Unseen, pits detectives, lovers, and enemies against one another in an unforgettable standoff between righteous courage and deepest evil.Will Trent is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent whose latest case has him posing as Bill Black, a scary ex-con who rides a motorcycle around Macon, Georgia, and trails an air of violence wherever he goes. The cover has worked and he has caught the eye of a wiry little drug dealer who thinks he might be a useful ally. But undercover and cut off from the support of the woman he loves, Sara Linton, Will finds his demons catching up with him.Although she has no idea where Will has gone, or why, Sara herself has come to Macon because of a cop shooting: Her stepson, Jared, has been gunned down in his own home. Sara holds Lena, Jared’s wife, responsible: Lena, a detective, has been a magnet for trouble all her life, and Jared’s shooting is not the first time someone Sara loved got caught in the crossfire. Furious, Sara finds herself involved in the same case that Will is working without even knowing it, and soon danger is swirling around both of them.In a novel of fierce intensity, shifting allegiances, and shocking twists, two investigations collide with a conspiracy straddling both sides of the law. Karin Slaughter’s latest is both an electrifying thriller and a piercing study of human nature: what happens when good people face the unseen evils in their lives.

For my reference, and anyone else's who wants to read these mysteries from the first, here's a list of Slaughter's books that feature Will Trent:

1. Triptych*

2.  Fractured

3.  Undone*

4.  Broken*

5.  Fallen

6.  Snatched

7. Criminal

8.  Busted

9.  Unseen

I just checked my book shelves and I already own the 3 title with an asterisk by them.  I must have read a review in the past that piqued my interest enough to order her books.  Why didn't I get around to reading them sooner?   My only defense is 'too many books, too little time.'  Now that I know I love her work, these books will get read!