Books – Page 10 – …on the B.L.

The Black Book

February 8, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 224
Quick Review A heartbreaking history of Africans’ struggle to gain humanity, recognition, rights, and the hope for equality in America from 1619 through the 1940s.

wp-1581016286017 — The Black Book is a devastating history lesson. | Dress | Sweater | Purse | Glasses | Shoes |

The Black Book is absolutely soul crushing and devastating. I read it through tears and fought back bouts of nausea. It is incredibly affecting. I have too many feelings and a lot of guilt during and after reading. I can’t get the words or the images out of my mind.

Tony Morrison prefaces the book with an incredibly powerful piece. It took my breath away, and I was only on page one.

History is white-washed more often than not. We have a tendency to romanticize and paint a much prettier picture than the realities people endured. This is particularly atrocious throughout American history and the treatment of the black community. The Black Book is dedicated to an honest history and depiction of life and society. Though it’s not a happy picture, it’s a picture deserving to be told and heard and taught. If history is not learned, it’s doomed to be repeated. We cannot repeat the history contained within these pages.

The book contains first pictures, news articles, poems, songs, advertisements, excerpts, laws, myths, patents, facts, sports, legends, religion, and so much more. History is being told through the lens of the time period. There is no explanation. The editors give the reader the information and allow them to take away what they will. Although, it would be hard to read it without having a horrible view on history. The editors do not edit or politically correctisize (it’s a word now) the word usage. Racist words and expressions are kept to reflect the times and the hatred the black community faced.

Death is better than slavery was a recurring theme throughout. There are stories of men and women fighting back, running away, supporting one another, and standing up for themselves and their community. For all the awfulness throughout The Black Book, there is more time spent highlighting the successes and brilliance of the black community than the nightmares imposed by the white people who dictated society.

There is no part of society that has not been touched and improved by a black person. Throughout history they have fought for the basic right to exist and fought their way into every sphere of culture. Not only were they a part of these spheres, they excelled when everyone told them they couldn’t and weren’t allowed. The Black Book is a testament to black excellence in the face of oppression, violence, and subjugation. For the few who found success, changed culture, opened minds, and affected the law, there are thousands upon millions more who never received the chance. History is a horror, but it can teach us to learn from the mistakes already made.

I have no doubt, you will be haunted by The Black Book if you take the time to read it, and I highly suggest you do. I finished it with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart. The world is changing. Not as fast as it should, but it is changing. Maybe someday, The Black Book will be a distant memory, but that day is not today. We can still feel the echoes of history loudly in our culture.

Memorable Quotes
“Steal away, steal away, steal away home. I ain’t got long to stay here.”
“They failed to ask my name and called me negro.” Henry Dumas

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Black Book
Editor: Middleton A. Harris, Morris Levitt, Roger Furman
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781400068487

Books, NonFiction

The Ice at the End of the World by Jon Gertner

January 31, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read YES
Length 448
Quick Review Greenland is more than ice. It’s even more than a history of the world and a predictor of the future at the top of the world. It is a call to action.

wp-1580503729772 — The Ice at the End of the World by Jon Gertner in Minnesota. | Skirt | Sweater | Boots | Socks |

I love science. I love history. I love when they intersect, and intersect they did in Jon Gertner’s Ice at the End of the World. It’s more than a book on science and history; it’s a call to action. I read it and my emotions were on the scale of in awe and on the verge of an existential crisis.

For much of history, Greenland has been an impenetrable ice sheet. The Norse settled it in the 1400s, but the settlement disappeared with no trace. The Inuits were the only people to survive there for an extended length. Over the last two centuries, it has become a location of great interest. At first, it lured explorers aching to discover and conquer what lay beyond the coast. Over the past hundred years, it has become a hub for exploration of another kind. Deep within the ice, the world’s secrets are locked away for scientists to discover and explore. Jon Gertner makes the knowledge of Greenland accessible in The Ice at the End of the World.

Split into two parts: Explorations and Investigations. Gertner chronicles the explorations and discoveries of notable Greenland explorers: Fridtjof Nansen, Robert Peary, Knud Rasmussen, Peter Freuchen, Alfred Wegener. They all made great discoveries, but not all of them were good people. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to cross the ice sheet in 1888 “The crossing, he would later joke, was “just a little ski trip,” but it was a ski trip that could demonstrate humanity’s ability to overcome nature’s most formidable obstacles.” He had the genius to go about it in a way no other explorer had, which is why he was the first success story because he was not the first to attempt an ice sheet crossing. Knud Rasmussen was the first ethnographer to explore the people of Greenland. He made quite the impression on Greenland and vice versa, but he would go on to be a world wide phenomenon. Alfred Wegener lost his life on an expedition in Greenland. He was more than an explorer, he was one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century and penned the theory of continental drift, which is more popularly known as Pangaea, between trips to Greenland.

Gertner has an amazing way of making complicated exploration and scientific processes accessible to all readers. He pulls the reader in with feats of humanity and tales of darkness while also delivering a deeper message of earthly desperation. Weaving facts with excerpts from the diaries and published accounts of explorers and scientists, Gertner brings the reader along on a wild adventure. It is simultaneously logical and profoundly emotional.

wp-1580503729868 — I do love snuggling animals of all kinds and sizes.

The Ice at the End of the World is a story of the stark and uncomfortable realities explorers and scientists face every day on the ice sheet. Gertner has an uncanny ability to reinforce the atrocities of the Arctic by separating the worst case scenarios into one sentence paragraphs to drive home the difficulty of survival.

Greenland is melting. Scientists have been marking this change for decades. As the ice sheet melts into the ocean, sea levels will rise. Slowly and then at increasing rates. Until the past fifty years, it was believed climate does not and cannot change quickly within one lifetime or even many lifetimes. As research progressed, the results did not always agree with this belief, and “The scientific community tends to respond to unanswered questions about research results with a call for more research.” As scientists continue their research on ice cores taken from Greenland, it has become obvious: climate can and has changed drastically in a matter of years. It happened about 117,000 years ago, and it’s happening again today. The world’s climate is changing. And it’s changing quickly. Greenland is melting, and it affects the entire world.

The Ice at the End of the World may not be the ice at the end of the world for long. As climates warm, the ice sheet is disappearing at unprecedented rates. Not enough is being done to combat it. Gertner points out, even if there is a drastic change, it might not be enough.

I loved reading Gertner’s The Ice at the End of the World. I devoured it, but it also left me with a sense of hopelessness. I also have a new found desire to go back to school to become a glaciologist. If you are at all interested in history, science, climate change, or the urgent state of affairs, this book was made for you.

Memorable Quotes
“This book is mainly about Greenland’s ice sheet – the vast frontier that “conceals a thousand secrets” and is among the most remote and inhospitable places on earth.”
“Was he more an explorer than a scientist? The distinction – largely a contemporary one and often used to distinguish men of ego and obsession from men of research – is perhaps beside the point.”
“Ice scientists are detectives at heart.”
“Breakthroughs don’t necessarily happen because of one big technological jump. More often it’s because a cluster of new technologies and ideas suddenly coalesce around a difficult problem, along with a headstrong person.”
“It seems as though history becomes scenery, and scenery becomes data.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Ice at the End of the World
Author: Jon Gertner
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780812996623

Books, NonFiction

The Cartiers by Francesca Cartier Brickell

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 656
Quick Review Not only is it a history of an incredible family, it’s a history of the world and how they changed it through their creative genius, and kindness.

wp-1580254640861 — *The Cartiers* by Francesca Cartier Brickell talks about drawing inspiration from the world, and I’m always inspired by animals. | Flannel Shirt | Sweater Dress | Hunter Boots | Headband |

Cartier has come to signify opulence and timelessness. The brand continues to be one of the most globally recognizable. It all started with Louis-François Cartier in Paris in 1847. The family history of the great jewelry brand is told in The Cartiers by one of the founders direct descendants. Francesca Cartier Brickell is the great-great-great granddaughter of Louis-François Cartier and granddaughter to the last Cartier to control the family business. The book began when Brickell found a long lost box of letters hidden in the wine cellar at her grandfather’s birthday party. Brickell began reading and piecing together her family’s history like the beautiful mystery it is.

Cartier had humble beginnings. Louis-François Cartier grew up poor and learned the trade before fighting to open his own store. His son Alfred joined the business, helping it grow into something larger and more renowned. Louis, Pierre, and Jacques, Alfred’s three sons, joined the company; they would be the people who took the company from nationally beloved to a global powerhouse.

The reason Cartier became Cartier is because of their dedication to kindness and discretion. Kindness was of the utmost importance from the company’s origins, “”Be very kind,” Louis-François would advise his son, Alfred, outlining a key tenet of his life’s philosophy.” A willingness to adopt new technologies also played an integral role, “Cartier was one of the first firms to have electricity in Paris.” They were able to create new technologies, which enabled them to create stunning jewelry never seen before. It also helped that the Cartier children made advantageous marriages within the fashion and aristocratic elite. The atmosphere also created the company, “Cartier became like an extended family as staff were united by their shared experiences. It wasn’t just the designers, craftsmen, and salesmen who became close, but their wives and children too.” Fathers and sons would work side-by-side in the workshops and sales floors. The Cartiers were able to find talent and nurture it in each other and their craftsmen.

Family came first in the Cartier family, and they were unified. The company lasted three generations. The fourth did not grow up together, so they did not have the same affinity for family unity their fathers had. It would eventually be their downfall.

Francesca Cartier Brickell does an amazing job pulling the reader into the story. Her personal investment in the history she told seeps through every word. She talks about her ancestors with compassion and reverence even when she tells the uglier sides of the story. She shares amazing anecdotes about the clients who frequented and who famously did not. There is a focus on the third generation with the three brothers and their contributions. Louis, Pierre, and Jacques were all visionaries in their own right. It was the generation which made Cartier iconic, but it is also the generation she had a connection to. Her grandfather was the eldest son of Jacques, and she learned much through conversations with him.

The book contains beautiful moments of insight into the family’s life. Brickell excerpts from letters between the family and other significant people in their lives. There are boxes containing “Conversations with Jean-Jacques,” Brickell’s grandfather, the last Cartier to run the business. These moments give Jean-Jacques’ personal opinions, thoughts on jewelry pieces, the family, business, history, and more. They are poignant and beautiful. Cartier is known for spectacular jewelry worn by the wealthiest and most important people in history. Jewelry spotlights discuss some of the most unique, challenging or memorable pieces they made.

One of the most repeated phrases in the book was the phase upheld by the company and the family, “Never copy, only create.” They drew inspiration from the world, history, and other cultures, but they never copied or drew inspiration from other jewelry or designers. Creating was their purpose in life, and they did just that.

The Cartiers is a story of the world’s elite social and political life as much as it is the story of the Cartier family and business. Francesca Cartier Brickell paints a beautiful story of a complicated family who defied the odds to become the greatest craftsmen in the world to create for Kings and Presidents and Sultans and the wealthiest men and women in the world.

Fun Fact The New York office, still standing and used today, was traded for a pearl necklace. The necklace was traded on behalf of Maisie Plant by her husband Morton Plant in 1916. The necklace would go on to be a fraction of the price a few years later because cultured pearls were created. The trade for the building on 5th Avenue was one of the savviest business deals made by Cartier and possibly in history. “…it wasn’t as absurd as it sounds today. Buildings, after all, could be built or rebuilt, but finding a perfect natural pearl could take months, even years. And finding enough good-quality perfectly matched pearls for a necklace, well, that could take decades.” Jean-Jacques Cartier

Memorable Quotes
“Every piece was unique.”
“Despite the widespread changes in society after the First World War, an innate snobbery persisted in blue-blooded aristocratic circles.”
“Never copy, only create.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Cartiers; The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire
Author: Francesca Cartier Brickell
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525351614

Books, NonFiction

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists by Mikki Kendall and A. d’Amico

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read ABSOLUTELY
Length 208
Quick Review A fun and educational graphic history of women existing in the world. It’s empowering and honest. I absolutely LOVED this one.

wp-1579228612902 — Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists by Mikki Kendall and A. d’Amico is amazing. | Dress | Red Heels | Purse | Watch | Necklace | Earrings | Red Lipstick

I have always had a thing for historical women. My entire childhood and adolescence was spent searching for the women in history who did more than marry and have babies – there is nothing wrong with either/both of those things. I wanted to see women in power, women creating history, women doing the things only men were allowed to do. My love of history and research was born 21 years ago when I found Queen Elizabeth I because she inspired me to reach for more. I wish Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists by Mikki Kendall and A. d’Amico had existed for childhood me because I would have loved it. It’s a compilation of women throughout history and across cultures, documenting the struggles and successes they faced.

There is so much to talk about in this graphic history, but I’ll keep to the highlights.

The narrative is set up in a really interesting way. I don’t know what other graphic novels/histories look like, so my perception of how the narrative looks in comparison to others might be completely off. There’s a class of girls (middle or high school) at school, and their teacher is AI. The girls are all different colors and cultures. The teacher takes them through women’s history starting in Sumer 3000 BCE and leads them through history around the world, recounting stories of remarkable women and cultural norms. Throughout the book, the girls ask questions, make statements, and share opinions. Sometimes there are comments marked by prejudice, which allow the girls to confront those [ill founded] opinions and resolve them. It’s such a powerful way of depicting the multitude of ways women can oppress and harm one another due to differences in education, culture, religion, race, and more. The teacher often answers the questions or tells them to wait for the answer because it will come.

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists is filled with fabulous quotes. So often they are marked with emotion, like exasperation, “So Roman rule came with the “gift” of patriarchy. Great.” Or the fact women might not have had as much limelight, rights, power, or many other things, there is the moment when their historical power was acknowledged, “There is never a moment in history in any culture where women weren’t a major force.”

History has almost always been told by, interpreted by, seen through the eyes of men. Women have been systemically oppressed for millennia on the basis of religion, thought, and philosophy, all which were dominated by men. The book points out how manuscripts were often altered or interpreted differently throughout history, which had an impact on women’s lives, and are still echoed in today’s cultures and treatments of women. Men used their power to keep their power, “Before Irene, no woman had ruled any part of the Holy Roman Empire alone. The pope counted her throne as empty and crowned Charlemagne.”

No topic is off limits. With ferocity and fearlessness Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists tackle sex, religion, slavery, education, and everything in between. The authors aren’t afraid to destroy preconceived notions instilled in us by our education systems. Abolitionists weren’t all great. They wanted the vote for women, white women. Susan B. Anthony was against black women having the right to vote. Feminism also comes under focus, especially in regards to gender, sexuality, and race. Feminism has historically only been open to white women. Black women and other women of color were excluded. I love the very intersectional approach to history and feminism. One of my favorite quotes and a motto (in various words) I have been living by for over a decade: “There’s nothing feminist about excluding people.”

Kendall and d’Amico sum up women’s history and rights in the quote, “The history of women’s rights isn’t linear. It’s complicated and different cultures had different norms.” Time may be linear, but our history, our rights, our existence has not been linear. We often took large steps forward just to be pushed back.

This graphic history is fun and colorful and educational, but it is a sweeping history of women around the world and the devastation they have faced throughout human existence. As a woman, I suggest it to everyone. It’s feminist and beautifully done, but it approaches really hard topics with kindness. I can’t help but love this book. It’s an amazing place to start for girls wanting to know about their history. I wish I had had this as a young girl, but I have it now!

Fun Fact The world’s oldest continually operating educational institution is still open was founded by a woman in Fez, Morocco. (The University of Al Quaraouiyine) I hope to visit it one day.

Memorable Quotes
“Welcome to the history you clearly never learned.”
“Sometimes rulers meant ‘over my dead body’s literally.”
“Your world is as big as you make it.” Georgia Douglas Johnson
“As always, women led the way in America and abroad.”
“You know that women are always looked upon as nothing; but we are your mothers; you are our sons.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists
Author: Mikki Kendall and A. d’Amico
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780399581793

wp-1579228613207 — I enjoyed this book. | Dress | Red Heels | Purse | Watch | Necklace | Earrings | Red Lipstick

Books, Fiction

Christmas at Thompson Hall & Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope

January 14, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 207
Quick Review A collection of stories for Christmas highlighting the beauty of family and the drama that comes with it.

wp-1578979774759 — Christmas at Thompson Hall & Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollop at River Oaks District in Houston. | Dress | Shoes | Watch | Earrings

Anthony Trollope is a fabulously creative novelist. He brings all of his intensity to the storyline and characters in the five short stories celebrating Christmas and the crazy people we love. Trollope makes a seemingly innocuous blunder become a tragic and reputation threatening incident in Christmas at Thompson Hall.

The stories are centered around simple events or moments, which turn and create emotionally charged schisms with all the pomp and circumstance anyone could dream of at Christmas. It is fabulously frustrating.

Each of the characters are completely absurd but also relatable. You can’t help but empathize with them. They all care very deeply but have self centered streaks a mile long. There are so many cringe inducing moments that make the stories absolutely enthralling and entertaining because as the reader, you know exactly what’s going to happen but can’t look away.

Trollope has amazing observations, which ground the characters and the plot in reality because everyone can identify with what is being stated. “Seats, I fancy, are regularly found, even by the most tardy, but it always appears that every British father and every British husband is actuated at these stormy moments by a conviction that unless he prove himself a very Hercules he and his daughters and his wife will be left desolate in Paris.” Ugh, it’s so true!

Even though The Mistletoe Bough was published on December 21, 1861, there are so many funny moments. “Kissing, I fear, is less innocent now than it used to be when our grandmothers were alive, and we have become more fastidious in our amusements.” No one today would probably think this about a book published over 150 years ago, but they used to have their fun too.

I loved reading these short stories. They’re such a delightfully funny look into historical Christmases.

Memorable Quotes
“But on this occasion, at this Christmas of 187-, Paris was neither gay nor pretty nor lively.”
“We know how prone the strong are to suspect the weakness of the week, – as the weak are to be disgusted by the strength of the strong.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Christmas at Thompson Hall & Other Christmas Stories
Author: Anthony Trollope
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9780143122470

Books, Fiction

Christmas in London by Anita Hughes

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Meh
Length 288
Quick Review Two women spend Christmas in London to make a cooking show, and their lives find new purposes.

wp-1578169065977 — Christmas in London by Anita Hughes at Levy Park in Houston. | Green Dress | Red Heels | Sapphire Necklace | Sapphire Earrings | Fossil Watch | Pearl Bracelets |

Christmas in London by Anita Hughes has a lot of things you want in a Christmas story, but it falls short in just as many ways.

Louisa is a small time pastry chef working in New York City. Kate is a producer for a local cooking show. They spend Christmas in London to be a part of a holiday cooking show. Louisa grows close to an assistant from New York, and Kate revisits people from her past.

I’m fairly ambivalent about this book. It’s not bad. It’s definitely not great, but it’s what people want and expect during the holidays. Loads of ridiculous romantic stuff and drama for no reason. Hughes writes in the third person and switches between Louisa and Kates’s point of views throughout Christmas in London. It’s mostly told in the present, except for when Kate has flashbacks to the past for a muddy subplot. Honestly, the writing is really boring and cliché. There is an abundance of similes. Hughes is overly descriptive to the point of monotony. It became so repetitive when as the narrative said in one way or another “a man showed up and she realized it was Trevor/Noah.” Yuck. It doesn’t build suspense. It’s just boring and a waste of ink.

I could get past the writing if the characters were more believable or even likable. Louisa and her love interest felt like they were in high school more than adults starting out in a romantic relationship. Kate is more mature but not by a lot. I have a hard time identifying with adults in relationships who are completely lacking in mature communication skills. At the same time, their conflict resolution comes far too easily after they’ve bungled the whole situation from poor communication skills. They’re also not very likable. The parallels drawn between Louisa and Kate are not subtle; they’re basically living the same story arc.The male characters are the worst. Honestly, I don’t know why either woman put up with it? No man is better than any man.

Anita Hughes’ Christmas in London is a decent mindless read to keep you busy instead of spending time with the in-laws or family. It’s not great, but it could be a lot worse.

Memorable Quotes
““But there isn’t time to be passionate about more than one thing. If you want something in life, you have to sacrifice everything else to get it.””
“She had never been able to separate love and attraction.”
“That was the problem with sex; it made it impossible to think.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: Christmas in London
Author: Anita Hughes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9781250145796