Book 662: An Unfinished Woman

An Unfinished Woman, by Lillian Hellman, 1969.

I don't like all of Lillian Hellman's work, but I did enjoy reading this book.  It is a collection of short stories and diary entries that give a glimpse into the live of creatives from the late 1930s to the late 1960s.

Book 661: George vs. George

George vs. George, by Rosalyn Schanzer, National Geographic, 2007.

I bought this book for my fourth-grade son, but the book looked so darn intriguing I had to read it first. 

I spend five years, from age 10 to age 15, living in England. In History class in England, we covered the "Rebellion" in about a day.  It meant the loss of some colonies with a mostly criminal element to the British.  Of course, to the Americans, it was the forming of a new country -- our country. 

This book doesn't romanticize the war or gloss over some of the barbaric performed by both sides.  It does show Washington as a hero, but it also shows the humanity of George III.

Book 660: The Most of John Held, Jr

The Most of John Held, Jr, The Stephen Greene Press, 1972.

I have loved John Held, Jr's work since I first encountered it in my late teens.  I loved his clean, spare lines and the overt humor in his drawings.  I knew who he was; I knew his work; but I didn't know there was a book about him and his work.

Now I have an almost-ten-year-old son who loves to draw comic maps in a style not dissimilar to Held's. When I was researching Held's maps to show my son, I discovered this book.  Of course I bought it, although I don't know if it for me or for my son.

Book 659: Common Sense

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, 1776.

I've owned a copy of this book for about twenty years, and I may have read it twenty years, but re-reading it now made it feel especially fresh and apropos.  Maybe we are lacking common sense these days as a nation or maybe we no longer know what causes are worth the fight, but it does seem we've lost a lot since Thomas Paine wrote this book.