The One with Leonardo da Vinci

118. Title & Author: Leonardo da Vinci by Frank Zöllner (94 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction--Art History

Completed: 10 October 2009

Summary & Review:

The life and career of Leonard da Vinci are concisely covered, including his days as apprentice to Verrochio and his time in Milan. Included with the history are numerous color images of his paintings, sketches, and studies.

Zöllner's insights and comments were interesting and enlightening. While the book was fairly short and there was no time for Zöllner to fully expound on Leonardo's immense range of interests and doings, it was still an intriguing glimpse into the life and career of my favorite artist.

Rating: 8.5

The One with Our Heritage

117. Title & Author: Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (146 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction--Religion & LDS

Completed: 4 October 2009

Summary & Review:

This short book concisely covers the history of the church from Palmyra, New York, to Salt Lake and touches on the ministries of the latter-day prophets up to and including President Gordon B. Hinckley. The content of the book focuses on inspiring stories of faith and courage as examples for modern day church members.

This book was an excellent overview of some of the amazing pioneers who accepted the gospel and paved the way for others to follow and was a nice, albeit short, review of church history. For those unfamiliar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this book would be a good introduction to it.

Rating: 8.0

The One with 500 Self-Portraits

116. Title & Author: 500 Self-Portraits published by Phaidon with an Introduction by Julian Bell (535 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction--Art History

Completed: 27 September 2009

Summary & Review:

As the title suggests, this book is a collection of 500 self-portraits by artists from 2350 B.C. to 1997 arranged in roughly chronological order. Along with the images is an introduction by Julian Bell exploring the genre of the self-portrait.

This was a fascinating book, especially because it was so intriguing to see pictures of these seemingly larger-than-life artists like Leonardo or Caravaggio. Additionally, the introduction by Bell was excellent, both interesting and insightful.

Thank you to my aunt Julie and uncle Chris who gave this to us as a wedding present.

Rating: 7.0

The One with The Bookman's Wake

115. Title & Author: The Bookman's Wake (A Mystery with Cliff Janeway) by John Dunning (432 pages)

Genre: Fiction--Mystery

Completed: 23 September 2009

Summary & Review:

Former Denver police officer and current rare-book dealer Cliff Janeway is recruited to go to Seattle as a bounty hunter to find a woman who is wanted for the theft of an extremely rare book. As he dives deeper in the legend behind the Grayson Press, the publisher of the stolen book, and its deceased creator Darryl Grayson, he soon finds that someone will do anything to protect the man's reputation and place in publishing history.

I think the most interesting part about this book was the information about book collecting. The amount of time and effort some people invest into this hobby is immense. As for the story, it was a pretty entertaining mystery even though I did not fully connect with Janeway, the protagnoist, and I am interested in reading more by Dunning. This book was a gift and recommendation from my in-laws.

Rating: 7.0