Crenshaw's Books & Decks

"I feel inexpressibly melancholy without my work to distract me, as you will understand, and I must work and work hard, I must forget myself in my work, otherwise it will crush me."

This book devoted to Vincent Van Gogh --part of the Delphi Classics series of art masters-- is what one expects a book aimed to the general public to be: affordable, informative, comprehensive, and most importantly, true to the artist. The book  has 4000+ pages and everything you need to know, to get to know and know better the Dutch artist.
  

The first section of the book contains a selection of Vincent Van Gogh's renowned paintings, with some extracted images of details in them, and a  brief introductory commentary to each one; the whole list of paintings by Vincent,  chronologically ordered and grouped by the different places where he lived and painted, follows; an alphabetical list of his paintings completes the first section of the book. The second section contains the complete unabridged correspondence of Van Gogh, 800+ letters, chronologically organised, translated into English by her sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger in 1914. Just having the complete correspondence blows my mind. The book ends with a biography of the artist written by Johanna as well. All of this for less than three bucks on Kindle format. That is a loud wow.   

Overall, this a very satisfying book for the general public, who won't be expecting or demanding a polished translation, a comprehensive study and edition of the texts, more in-depth analysis or further commentary than that already there.  Through the extensive catalogue of paintings one  obtains an overall view of the themes, palette, people, and techniques that Van Gogh used. Through his correspondence one gets to know the real man behind the popular artist, a fascinating human being who, at least to me, was as good as a writer as a painter, a man with a great depth, soul and humanity, a human being not the pop-star artist he has come to be.

Although I really recommend this book to the general public, I would like to point out a few things that you should know before you purchase it:

 > This is not a complete collection of Vincent's artworks, just of his paintings, as none of his sketches (which are some of my favourite pieces), are included.
> The quality of the images in the Kindle edition goes from very good to bad and everything in between. One can individuate each painting by double tapping the image; yet, it is not always clear, neat or of good quality. I would have loved having the images in bigger resolution and occupying a bigger portion of the page.    
> Some of the paintings were forever lost during WW2, so the only thing remaining are the black and white photos we have in the book. 
> Vincent's correspondence, although complete and readable is full of French sentences and expressions that aren't always translated.

> It would have been great having some of the paintings mentioned in the letters cross-referenced and linked back and forward to the images on this book, but they are not.   

 > It would have been great having those letters with sketches in them, which are many, being reproduced with the sketches, or at least the sketches reproduced separately and linked to the letters, but they are not.

 

I would suggest, if a second edition of this book is going to be prepared on Kindle, the following things:
> I would love having higher resolution images, and each image being reproduced in a larger format on each page.
> Preparing an analytical index of the correspondence.
> Placing the alphabetical list of paintings at the end of the book.
> Work on the lateral menu on Kindle for Android, which, in its current format, is not usable because of the huge amount of information listed there. To be usable, it should have been produced in more collapsible structured format, a big epigraph with a sub-epigraph and a sub-sub epigraph etc. Many things that should not be in that index are there.
> Prepare a short glossary with a synopsis of each of the main people mentioned in the correspondence and/or  repeatedly painted by Van Gogh. 

 

The Twits is just a delightful story about a couple of disgusting but hilarious-to-watch married couple, the Twits. They have a malicious baleful irksome behaviour towards each other and other people, and towards animals in general and the family of monkeys they keep in their garden in particular. You will hate the Twits from the very beginning because they are true mongrels; however, you will also love them because they allow you to hate them fully (they deserve it!) but they also make you laugh.  And, of course, you will cheer for the monkeys, they are the only ones with common sense in the Twit household!

Unlike other books by Dahl, the Twits is less metaphorical and fable-ish and more fun. The main two lessons you will learn in the book are, firstly, that if you are ugly in your soul, that shows in your face; and, secondly, that if you treat other people and animals without respect, you will end badly. The language used is Dahl's usual mix of straightforward narration, play of words, and whimsical adjectives and interjections.

Quentin Blake's illustrations are an essential part of this book. Unlike his illustrations for other Dahl's novels, which are secondary to the novel, those for the Twits are intertwined with Dahl's narration; thus, this book is rightly both Dahl & Blake's. The way Dahl describes the Twits and the way Blake draws them in his usual sketchy nervous-like style really go together in my head. Some of Blake's images in this book are really hilarious, like the depiction of Mr Twit's beard, or the bird pie, just to mention two.

This is mostly a book for children, but adults will also enjoy it. .

 

Ami, The Child from the Stars, is a spiritual New Age fable disguised as an adventure for young adults and adults.

Pedro, a boy holidaying in a coastal town meets Ami, who arrives in a flying saucer and spends the night with Pedro showing him some planets and teaching him the principles of the Universal love, solidarity and spiritual growth.

The book, initially written in Spanish, has been translated into different languages, English included and has sold millions of copies throughout the world since the year 1989, when first published. The book is part of a series, that continues with Ami Returns, Ami 3,  and Ami and Perlita, the latter being a proper children book.

The Authors

Not much is known about this Chilean-Venezuelan writer Enrique Barrios. I had difficulties finding  any independent professional references about him or his work, except for a short bio in a Spanish New Age site called Nueva Gaia. His website is blank. This being the case, I considered appropriate including a few notes about him, translated from his bio page. Barrios is a traveler by nature, having lived in different countries and traveled the world. He sought spiritual answers since his youth and was the disciple of an unnamed New Age guru or teacher who helped him to expand his consciousness in the 1970s. Eventually, Barrios distanced himself from his teacher and focused more on developing and finding ways of teaching his spiritual philosophy, the spread of Universal love, the principle by which he lives by. Although he always wanted to write, two elements contributed to his becoming a writer and writing the Ami series. The first, was a personal incident occurred in 1984, when he was assaulted by a gang; he was going to be killed, but all of the sudden and inexplicably the delinquents, knife in had, run away and disappeared; Barrios had a sort of epiphany. The second event happened on 17/8/1985, a strange light appeared in the sky in the central region of Chile, and stayed there without moving for several hours until it suddenly vanished; although the Press reported the fact, no satisfactory explanation was ever given. This was, precisely, the inspiration for the Ami series.

The illustrators of the Spanish version (Eliana Judith Temperini  & Marcela García)  created a lovely set of illustrations for the book. There are two defined styled, one that I really like, that is painterly and very ethereal, that applies mostly to the description of the interstellar trip; the other images are  "chunkier" more illustrative than painterly, related the parts where Pedro & Ami are in Planet Earth and  in the spaceship, and they are less of my liking.  Who is who? I don't know! 

The Message

Ami: Child from the Stars is a spiritual New Age fable full of wisdom, which conveys very powerful environmental, social, psychological and spiritual messages for young adults and adults. The message that Barrios conveys is heartfelt, and is as valid in 2017 as was in 1989, probably more so in 2017 because of some of the issues we are having with the environment, social injustice, violence, religious extremism, racism, war, and other sins of our modern world.

This is a very New Age book that presents all the beliefs that New Age Spirituality is known for: ↪ Belief in reincarnation as a path to spiritual evolution and growth, and in Karma (boomerang effect) as part of a cosmic justice. ↪ It has a holistic view of the Universe in which everything and everybody fits like puzzle piece and is intricately connected, and also a holistic view of  divinity that permeates the whole Universe. ↪ It has a powerful environmental, ecological and peace message. ↪ There a strong focus on compassion, solidarity, non-violence, diversity, acceptance, inner growth, and on spirituality not religion. ↪ The ultimate aim is a planetary order based on global unity, freedom and collaboration, self-regulated organised societies where everybody has what its basic needs covered and they can focus on their inner development. That world is not based on economic, social, racial, gender, nationalistic or regional differences but on being humans, "earthians" and part of the Universe.
All of these teachings and views of the world are in  Ami: Child from the Stars. Perhaps Barrios' main contributions are, first, his belief that  God created the Universe, and that any manifestation of love is God, and God infuses everything in the Universe through love. His second main contribution is the emphasis on emotional intelligence, as he pairs intelligence not with IQ but with smart living and relating, with solidarity and inner goodness.

Teaching young adults those things is very important, no matter the reader's religious background. Many of the things taught in the book are principles that I live by myself even though I'm agnostic. Some of the messages in the book, are priceless, these are the pearls of wisdom that resonated with me the most:

⧪ Not everything that one considers ugly is bad, and not everything beautiful is good.
⧪ When the scientific level of a world supersedes its level of solidarity that world destroys itself.

⧪ Life would have no meaning if we knew the future.
⧪ Those things we fight to get will always be more appreciated than those we get without any effort. Those who were born without problems or have had an easy life can't  adequately appreciate what they have.
⧪ Busy yourself in improving yourself not on paying attention or worrying about what other people do or seem to be.
⧪ The belief systems of the past, based on "what is unknown or different is dangerous", are still alive and reflected in laws, customs, social and economic systems that encourage or tolerate division, competition, selfishness, superficiality, dishonesty and mistrust among people, organisations and peoples. (loc. 1300-1303, Spanish version) 
⧪ Feelings need to be enlightened by the intellect to become wisdom, and the intellect needs to be enlightened by the emotions to become true intelligence.
⧪ People harvest what they sow.
⧪ Ami explained to me that when the spoken language is insufficient to express what we feel, we need of other forms of communication; then we resort to Art. (locs 3791-2, Spanish edition)
⧪ We should consider all human beings on this planet, all ethnicities and human conditions part of the same family, the human family and, therefore, we should live like a fraternal family, where everybody participates of the efforts and benefits equally,  and where each one is protected, loved and harboured. (locs 3890-3 Spanish edition).
⧪ The higher the level of evolution of an individual, the more s/he is like a child. Also, the higher the level of evolution the lesser is the power of the ego and he higher the level of solidarity.

I specially loved the Utopia Barrios creates in Planet Ophir. I thought it was very modern, very wise, interesting, peaceful, sustainable and liveable. It is certainly idyllic, but why not focus on invented worlds that are full of goodness instead of those dark, contaminated and full of wars?

✋ Although I like the message of the book, the aim of the story is to spread a spiritual message not to entertain. The book is mostly a series of monologues by Ami with some "ahas", questions and realisations by his disciple Pedro. There is some adventure, but it is more a sort of watched passive adventure than proper adventure. There are ways of conveying philosophical and spiritual messages in a novel and creating a narrative that is engaging and entertaining at the same time; in that regard, I felt that this book hadn't achieved a good narrative balance, and found myself bored at times despite the subject being of my interest. It wasn't engaging enough.

✋ The book insists over and over on the fact that God does exist and God is the creator of the Universe and that those who deny it are somewhat lesser souls. Although Barrios mentions that it is better to be a good person and not religious than a very religious but bad person, the insistence on God as creator annoyed me. It is, after all, what creationists teach, isn't it? If you are one, this would certainly speak to your heart. However, there are millions of people out there for whom this sort of preaching be a put off. 

✋ Although this is fiction, it shocked me to find a fallacy. We are told that the planet Ophir's sun is 400 times bigger than our sun, but then the planet has a similar atmosphere to ours, similar kind of people, beautiful green areas. Really?  It doesn't matter if this is fiction, for fiction to be credible needs to be based on things that are possible or might be possible, this is would be impossible. 

In Short

This a clearly New Age spiritual tale, which wonderful messages for young adults and adults, but certainly not for children, unless it is read by an adult to the child. Despite the clear New Age impromptu, the book reads well no matter your creed, and there is nothing that contradicts the basic principles of any major religion. Overall, the message is constructive and good-hearted. If you are looking for a science-fiction book, this is definitely not for you as this is a spiritual fable, the aim of which is to take you in a inner journey not into an adventure. The aim is to enlighten not to entertain, and that is, perhaps, the weakness of the book, and the thing that prevented me from fully enjoying it. The book, if you read it in Spanish, is well written, with a classic Spanish that would please most Spanish speakers around the globe, although I found some expressions unnatural in certain Spanish speaking areas that might be common in Barrios' native land.

This is a 28-page e-zine, with a collection of short stories or images that can also be found in Yumi Sakigawa's website on Tumblr. Some of the stories are drawn in colour and others in B&W, and they are mostly motivational and New Age, with some "how-to" regarding anxiety, negative people, consciousness and so on. 

The drawing style is naive and young, intuitive more than artistic, but very charming. There is a mix of text and doodling as well, like the book's cover for example. 

All of the stories have a pearl of wisdom in them, and I think they would make a nice block desk calendar if more were added. 

Perhaps because a person I know has been dumping their negativity on me lately, the advice on how to deal with negative people in the e-zine seemed especially relevant. I also liked the whimsical advice on how to get out of a  dry creative spell.

The Rendering for Kindle is outdated. As this work has just 28 pages, it is not really an issue, but not the latest rendering for graphic books I get from other graphic books.

The Hen who Dreamed she Could Fly is a modern fable for mid-aged children and adults written by the Korean writer Hwang Sun mi.

This is a short and sweet novella, that you will devour in a seating. It has all the elements of successful classic tales for children but will captivate also adults. For a start, the story is Universal as there are no location names, no human names, so the story could be happening anywhere, Korea, USA, or Spain. The story also speaks to any culture, religion or social class. The settings and characters are those of a traditional fable: a barn, anthropomorphic domestic animals; good, bad and evil characters; a hero, a subversion of the animal order of some sort, and an embedded moral lesson. Unlike classic fables and folk tales, the moral lessons in this novella are very contemporary, very 21st century.  One of the main messages of the book is explicitly mentioned:

 Just because you’re the same kind doesn’t mean you’re all one happy family. The important thing is to understand each other. That’s love! (Kindle Locations 984-985).

The reading of the book is far from linear as there are different layers and themes touched at the same time, which will appeal to people of different conditions, even to people who see the world very differently. Two major themes are obvious to me:

1/  Nature simple "is"

2/ Our nature does not always equal Nature

> Does motherhood equal womanhood?
>  Does being of a different race or of the same gender make a difference in being a good parent? Said differently, can a mother from a race or gender that is not that somebody born with make a difference in your growing up?
> Is surrogacy OK?
> Does Nature define your nature?
> What is more cruel, the cruelty of Nature or subverting Nature for the sake of personal fulfilment and getting hurt because of it?

Eventually, what you will enjoy the most about the book is the sentimental part of it, the emotions that this foolish mother of a hen called Sprout brings in you. Interracial inter-religious and gay couple will find their struggle reflected in the fable. Any struggling single mother will cry at finding her harshness and devotion reflected. The book will also touch non-mothers because the story will remind them of the abnegation, love and willingness to overcome obstacles that some mothers have, perhaps their own. 

The characters in this novella  are well drawn. The weasel is my favourite, s/he know who s/he is, his place in Nature, and doesn't  apologise for whom s/he is, what other people think of his/her way of life or the hatred s/he attracts. Sprout the hen is foolish, yet we are immediately drawn to her compassion, selfless love, and the way she stands the harshness of life, even though she put herself in that position.  

The ending is great. A great lesson. Because there are things in life you cannot change or subvert, as simple as that, you like it or not. 

The translation by Kim Chi-Young really flows. The language used is very simple, but I guess that was also in the original as this is, after all, a book mainly  for  children. Yet, sometimes I found some wording that was a bit off to me, probably because English is not my first language. However, there is one occasion that the word of choice seemed not appropriate:

One of the sentences reads "She tried not to lose consciousness, wondering what was happening." (Loc. 64).  

I thought that a talking hen would have never used this expression because hens simply don't have consciousness, something one can easily put aside because this is a fable. However, talking of a hen  in the third person, I would have simply said  "not to faint." I thought, this would be easier to understand for children as well.  This is, of course, a very personal appreciation.

I love the black-and-white minimalist illustrations by Japanese artist Kazuko Nomoto's (aka Nomoco's), who is also the author of the paperback and hardcover's covers. There are very few illustrations in the book, just at the beginning of each chapter, and a flowery line at the end of the chapter. I thought there was room for more illustrations, and that the book would have benefited from more.

As happens with other Korean books that become popular in the West, senseless comparisons to English-speaking novels immediately sprout or are summoned: Animal Farm and Charlotte's Web. Really? Why the need to say something as senseless?! Those novels have nothing in common with this book except for the fact that they have animal characters in a farm. I have never read John Livingston Seagull, which is another book frequently mentioned, so I cannot comment on that. Personally, the only influences that came to mind when reading it were European, Aesop's fables and the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, although to be fair, the script of the movie Babe, which is Australian, also came to mind. Yet, this book is quite different in mood and message from all of those.    

NOTES

~o~ The book was first published in Korean in the year 2000, and it is a modern classic there. The novel was first published in English in 2010, this edition being of 2014, way behind the date when it was translated into other major languages.

~o~The story was brought to the big screen in 2011 in a Korean animated film titled in English Leafie, a Hen into the Wild and also Daisy a Hen into the Wild, and turned into the theatre stage in 2015. The book was also adapted to a comic book.

KINDLE RENDERING
Although you can easily individuate and zoom in the illustrations, the images are not very big, they don't fit the full page in my tablet. When you double-tap and individuate the image this is still a bit small, even if you zoom it by pinch it in, and it doesn't look neat enough. This could be easily solved in the Kindle edition, so the image can be zoomed without losing quality and zoomed in more.

A WARNING
This book is not for small children and needs of parental supervision as deals with themes that aren't easily understandable to children. I would not give it or read it to a small child, unless s/he is older than 6y.o.a.

Am I Small? is a book for little children and a good one. It shows that we are what we think we are plus how  other people see us. It shows how other people's view is affected by their perspective, by the point of view on which they stand compared to us. Finally, we are many things at the same time, tiny beings if seen from space, but giants if seen by a ladybug, everyone perspective is acceptable and has some truth to it. These are great lessons to be learned by a child. It is the basis for tolerance, self-acceptance, and non-dogmatism.

Nadja Wichmann's illustrations are lovely, bright and colourful and right to the point, with a hint of fanciness.

I don't know Korean, just started to read, so I cannot comment on the translation. For what other people say it is not good, so I am disappointed!

I bought the book on Kindle, and the digital edition is just fair. It works like some Google apps books I have not like a modern kindle illustrated or comic book. The book directly turns the phone/tablet into landscape settings, and although one can individuate text and some details using double tap on the screen, but some of the writing is so small that one would need the page to be f-u-l-l-y zoomable to move around and see things properly. The book needs to be adjusted to Kindle and/or Comixology properly. Otherwise, the book it is a bit useless in this format. I would recommend buying this on a hard copy.

Yet, this is less than 1$. So let it be. 

I love Dr Seuss' books. I think they are not only good for children, but also for adults. They all teach important lessons, values, ethical behaviour, they are lay and universal, and they always ground me. Dr Seuss' books are about what life should be. Life is crazy (his crazy texts, unusual stories, and outrageous colours are just that), but it not just about what you see, it is about how you relate to people, how you see and relate to the world, and how you feel. 

"And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" is a book about the beauty of the ordinary and of savouring the small things in life. It is also a book about the importance of imagination and how imagination works. The story also captures how fables and legends were born centuries ago, how small things were put together to be turned into a unreal fantasy.

This story has aged well with regards to some points but not others, but it is more relevant than ever for modern kids. Originally written in 1937, it is obvious in 2016 that most small children in developed countries don't walk alone to/back school, not even with pals, they are driven to/from school by their  parents or accompanied by caretakers in school buses. Of course, there are countries where children walk Kms to go to school, so perhaps for those the story is as fresh as it was when it was written. On the other hand, the role of imagination in the education of children isn't as prominent  as it was 30-50 years ago -- nowadays there is an ubiquity of visual imagined worlds presented to kids  already masticated in TV programs and movies, too many kids aren't told or read stories before bed,  and too many are parked in front of TVs, tablets and smartphones numbing their imagination when they should be using it the most. 

I found this book among the list of best illustration books of 2014 chosen by Amazon's editors. Really? Unbelievable! This is an enlargement and remake of the author's blog entry, available for free on the Internet. See it here :)

I consider this one of the most appalling books I have read lately, and at rip off price of 10+ bucks for the Kindle edition. Give that money to charity! The book is not worth it.

The author is truly lost in translation, and wants you to get you lost as well. The ratings of the book seems to indicate she has succeeded.

The introduction is a clear example of pompous, vacuous well-intentioned "crappola" that says nothing and means nothing but wants to impress and fool the general public. Still, I had hopes that this would be, well, just a crappy introduction. Sadly it is not.

How did the author came across some of the non-existent words, some very translatable untranslatable words, is beyond my understanding. I came across something really similar in Tumblr a couple of years ago, and it is free and way better! (the blog is called Otherworldly). Otherwise, just google "untranslatable words into English" and you will find gazillion entries, most of them featuring the same bunch!

The Malaysian word in this book does not exist. I believe the Malaysian guy who says so in his review mostly because he/she is Malaysian and must know.

The Spanish "vacilando" (not a verb, but a verb tense, mind you) does not translate the way the author defines it. The verb "vacilar" has many different meanings, all translatable into English. You never use a gerund on its own, but within a a sentence that has another verb (or it is implicit in it), so that is always easier to translate than a noun or concept. The meaning presented in the book is not mainstream or standard Spanish. It might be slang, Spanglish or a regional/national use of the word, so, if that is the case, well, mention that instead of presenting it as a  general Spanish word. The definition is roughly translatable in English as wanderlust/ing or lurking around. A Spanish word that has no translation whatsoever is "sobremesa", for example, but that is not included in the book.

I don't know Japanese, Inuit or Norwegian, but if the Malay and Spanish words are non-existent or inaccurate, how many of the others are incorrect or understood wrongly?

Many of the words in the book can perfectly be translated into English, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, some others approximately. Just one example Commuovere in Italian is not a specific Italian word (the Spanish "conmover" has a similar meaning), and it can be easily translated into English as "being moved (by something)" as in the movie really moved me.  What makes a word untranslatable is not what it means, it is, most times, the embedded cultural meaning and use. When you use it, how you use it, who does it use it (age group, social group, racial group), the relevance of the word in the culture of a given social group or country, if it is a polite or rude word, etc. For example, you can translate the Portuguese word "Saudade" as nostalgia, longing, or as "blues", but the word has so much embedded cultural meaning in Portuguese literature and song lyrics, or even in the spirit of the Portuguese spirit, hat you cannot capture that in English. If you understand that, you also understand that the illustration in the book accompanying the word "Saudade" does not make any sense. Some words convey ways of living or thinking that are alien to the English speaking reader, so the translation has to do an U-turn to have specific words translated. The same also happens the reverse way.

The illustrations are lovely and cute, and I really enjoyed them. Very naif children's book sort of style, something that is very much my liking. However, the illustrations are there to illustrate, and they do not succeed at doing so at times because the meaning of some words is barely grasped. If this was just a stand alone book with no text, my rating would be way higher. 

I returned the book for refund. Why would I want to keep a book whose information is incorrect or wrong? Even if the book was accurate in its approach to the rest of the foreign words, it would still be a rip off and some of the definitions are questionable It takes you 10 minutes to read the 100+ "pages". What is more, there are masterpieces of illustration sold by Amazon at similar or cheaper prices!

I have to say that this book has brought more laugh to my life that anything or anybody else this year. Laughing out loud continuously while reading anything is a gift that one has to appreciate for its rarity.

God is not Disappointed in You summarises and condensates all the texts amd books contained in the Bible in 220 pages, writing the story in a contemporary "dude-whats-up?" sort of language.

Russell has an amazing wit, a a daring sense of irreverence, a profane humour, and a great insight into the incongruence of the historical figures and events the Bible presents us with. It reminds me, in a way, of the way Monty Python approached Biblical facts in their unforgettable film "The Life of Brian". However, Russell does not deform or twists the stories and behaviours or laws contained in the Bible no matter how nonsensical or farcical they might appear. We have to remind ourselves that these stories were written and compiled thousands of years ago. In the introduction, Russell says:

"It is not my intention to mock the Bible with this book, nor to endorse it, but merely to present it on its own terms in a way that is accessible and which relays the same sense of fascination I had when I truly discovered the Bible for the first time. If you want to reject the Bible as ancient superstition or digest it as the holy word of God, that’s up to you. I just thought you might like to know what’s actually in the hot dog."

Russell's approach to the Bible is not historical or contextual, but I would have been bored to death if he had tried to do that. That is not his job or intention. "God is Disappointed..." is not an exegesis of the Bible, just a funny book on the Bible's texts.

You might think that reading anything Biblical is too serious, uninteresting, or religious. You might adduce that you aren't a believer, or a Christian. It doesn't matter. Russell's book is almost better than the original, forgive my enthusiasm. The  book will especially appeal to agnostics, atheists and lax Christians and Jews with a sense of humour. I guarantee, that you will still find yourself laughing out loud. To those who are practising believers, you might be irritated by the tone of some of the language used, but you won't find anything you haven't heard before in more dramatic formal terms if you go to Mass every Sunday and listen (i.e. with full attention) to the readings.


This not a book for everybody, though, because it touches on divine matters, and that is always a sensitive pruritus to scratch. Zealots, bigots, fundamentalists and any other -ish people who take religion to the letter might be angry, upset and even deprecatory. Knowing that, please dear bigot don't make a ziggurat of an issue about the authors' enterprise if you decide to go ahead and read it. You've been warned. You are very welcome.   

The books that I found funnier and more enjoyable were, in the Old Testament, the Books of Nehemiah and Esther and the Songs of Songs; I also loved the Book of Ecclesiastes because Russell really likes it (how not to?) and condensates it quite well and with less mock than the rest. In the New Testament, I thought all the Gospels were lovely, but the wittiest to me was the Gospel of Luke.
Just three samples for your to taste, they will give you an indication if you can stomach the book or not:

 <Deuteronomy> If you’re a soldier and you have a wet dream, you’ve got to leave camp for one whole day before you come back. Also, when you’re in camp, be sure to shit discreetly in a hole. Remember, God walks among you, and the last thing you want is for him to be stepping in your shit.

 <The 1st Book of Samuel > The whole ancient world was a bag of dicks. Even God was a bit of a dick.

<The Gospel of Mark>  Jesus rolled his eyes, and said, “People aren’t defiled half as much by what goes in their mouths as by the shit which comes out.” Then he went back to eating his sandwich. The Pharisees decided they’d had just about enough of this smartass.

I was a bit disappointed with Wheeler's illustrations. I like his drawing technique and character creation, and his illustrations are funny, some of them matching Russell's inspiration perfectly. However, many of the illustrations are just OK, and are overshadowed by Russell's tsunami-like wit. The cover of the book is fantastic, very simple, stylish and expressive.

The book is for adults as it contains swearing words, obscenity, profanity, sex references and other godly but sinful events happened thousands of years ago. Blame it on History; Russell is just making you laugh.

The adjective that most describe the book is hilarious. It made it to my top five of the year, and the happy-o-meter marked very high in the Treschaud's Scale of hilariousness.

 

Tales from Outer Suburbia is perhaps the most Australian of Tan's books, and definitely very Western Australian. Tan is native from the northern suburbs of Perth WA, and the landscapes, urban furniture and fauna he depicts are just part of Perth's visual idiosyncrasy.

This book is atypical, in two ways. Firstly, Tan, usually very concise in the wording of his books and in the use of words in them, writes a lot in here, and the text is as important as the images. This is so, because this is a semi-memoir of Tan's childhood, and the stories part of his emotional memory growing up in Perth. Secondly, visually speaking, this book is eclectic in styles, because he he uses very different illustration and painting techniques and styles to accompany the different stories, which remind the reader of the ones used in his previous books. In that regard, the book is less congruent visually than his previous ones.

What is still typical of Tan is his mastery at drawing, its ability to create magic realism from the quotidian, to create visually appealing almost-touchable images, absurd meaningful scenes, and quirky funny adorable characters. I love the way he uses his images to create mock newspapers news, mock Post envelopes, mock wall-collages, how he incorporate the credits and acknowledgements in a borrowing slip library card or an envelop, his mock postage stamps, the quirky funny magical sketches that cover the inner front and back covers of the book.  

Some of his usual themes are also here, especially the concepts of foreign (how foreigners see us, how we see foreigners, what  foreign is) and of how our childhood memories never fade out in our hearts, no matter how mundane they were, because the way we lived and perceived them. 

 

The stories or chapters in the book are:
>> The Water Buffalo.
>> Eric (this is one of my favourite in drawing style and message -very similar to the Arrival- and because Eric is just the bomb!)
>> Broken Toys.
>> Undertow.
>> Grandpa's Story (Another favourite because of the narrative, and how Tan turns a real story into something really magical).
>> The other country (Because it depicts his contact with the Mediterranean culture and the magic in it. The painting is also very Mediterranean!)
>> Stick Figures (I love the visuals of this one because it depicts Perth summer landscape very well).
>> The Nameless Holiday.
>> Alert but not alarmed
>> Wake.
>> Make your Own Pet.
>> Our Expedition.
>> Night of the Turtle Rescue

To be honest, every story is wonderful.

This is a melancholic book about Tan's emotional landscapes, so it has to be read as such.

The Cat in the Hat is one of those books that little children and adults enjoy reading because it is fun, it is naughty, it is educative, and the cat in the hat is just a quirky cat! Adults can see the value of the embedded message, and kids learn that behaving and being orderly will benefit them, not just their mothers. This is a classic of world children literature, and so enjoyable that you want to buy for yourself, to remember your childhood, or to make it part of your children's childhood. Like all Dr Seuss' book, this book is shrinkingly simple in its imagery, with a very 60s pop-culture sort of colouring and style, which gives the book a sense of surrealism that makes the whole acceptable for children. 

The application format works well with Dr Seuss' books and with this one, turn it in a sort of semi-animated mini-movie. You select the way you want to read the book, by yourself, by the narrator, or you just to leave it on auto-play and the pages and voice will move at their own pace. The app automatically rotates your screen, and uses the original illustrations of the book, closing up and down on them to match the action and speeches of the characters. Background noises have been added, but they are very cute and not invasive at all; still, you can mutate them if you want. You can browse the pages on your own by using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were those of a real book.

The narrator's interpretation and reading is great. The reading comes handy if you have children and want them to read and not to watch TV, but do not have the time to seat and read to them. Genius!

A few things that I would have liked to have available in this app are: 1/ Option of female and male voice. 2/ All the objects in the screen being interactive. Some of the main elements in each image show the name when you click on them, but some of them not, like the curtains or doors or walls, or the floor, or many of the secondary elements in the image. It would have costed nothing adding those extra words!

This is a perfect app not only for English speakers, but also for for foreign children learning English, as the interactivity of the app make learning new words fun and easy.

Dr Seuss are not just fun, are strikingly pop in their imagery, they are very educative and ridiculously funny. This is the case of Mr Brown Can Moo, which is addressed to very small children, those who are learning the name and sound of different things, that is onomatopoeia formation, This is is one of my least favourite stories by Dr Seuss, because there is no story. Although I recognise its pedagogic value.

The application is fantastic, as all of the Seuss stories that Oceanhouse has turned into electronic interactive format. The app is interactive if you choose the read yourself option; you can click on any image on the page and the word will pop up on your screen and will be pronounced. From the main menu, you select the way you want to read the book, on your own, using the narrator's voice, or auto-play. The app automatically uses the landscape setting and rotates your screen, and uses the original illustrations of the book, closing up and down to focus on the action and speeches of the characters. Background noises and musical notes have been added to enhance the experience, but it can be mutated if you want. You can browse the pages on your own using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were the ones in a real book.

In a world in which children are over-indulged, over-protected and driven like cattle anywhere, Meg McKinley's wonderful story comes to teach children that walking is wonderful, that life is full of magnificent small things that brighten up our days, and that discovering them is not only part of life, it is life itself. The book is also perfect for adults who need to be reminded that mediocrity and boredom are things that you build everyday when you detach yourself from the gazillion beautiful things that life has to offer, and that opening your eyes and moving your derrière are basic for brightening your time.

The text and the illustrations are like an odd happy marriage. This is not the typical book for children with colourful illustrations and childish cute characters. Hughes-Odgers' images and characters convey well the lack of brightness of the life of a group of apathetic-looking children, who could be early teens. By using a mix of matt subdued greens, ochres, beige, blues and blacks, he creates a world that is earthy and mysterious, a sort of urban forest that is scary but exciting to walk through. I always love his characters and magic world, so I was delighted at finding him as the illustrator. His illustrations were first painted on wood panels and will be exhibited at The Place (mezzanine floor in the State Library of Western Australia) for about two months.

If you have kids or nephews, go and grab it. If you like illustration, go and grab it. If you want to feed you inner child, well, go and grab it - no money? Libraries are full of free books ;O.

A beautiful tiny book that brightened up my evening.

Children are fussy eaters, anything green or healthy is sort of no-no, refusing to eat what they haven't tried for no reason. The story is very cleaver, because the character is made fun of, like he sounds so silly, but also the character carrying the green eggs and ham. The book will teach children that you might be surprised at trying new things that seem unappealing, and those very things can become your favourite ones.

This is book is perfect for very small children, but it might not be that enjoyable for adults as other Seuss' books.

Kudos to Oceans and Hay House for doing such a great job with Seuss' books. The app is a sort of animated mini-movie. From the main menu, you select the way you want to read the book, on your own, using the narrator's voice, or you just to leave it on auto-play. The app automatically uses the landscape setting and rotates the screen, using the original illustrations to close up or down while the book is narrated. Background noises and musical notes have been added, but they are very cute and not invasive at all. You can browse the pages on your own using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were the ones in a real book.

Moreover, the app is interactive if you choose the read yourself option; you can click on any image on the page and the word will pop up on your screen and will be pronounced. They are basic words, so the app is perfect for small children learning to read, no matter English is their first or second language.

The narrator's voice and interpretation are very nice, and he uses different voices and intonations for each character, so the whole book is really enjoyable.

Horton Hears a who is a book about the importance of every living being on the planet, no matter how small it is. It is a book about the importance of the voice of any person to contribute to the good of the community. It is a book about the need to believe without seeing. It is a book about doing the right thing no matter what others think of us.

Living with a gadget is the reality of most Western Kids. Paper books are not so cool now, too bulky, too heavy, too environmentally unfriendly, too last century. Apps like this show how to keep a classic of the literature alive making it cool to the new generations of readers without losing the spirit of the original.

The application is a sort of animated mini-movie. You select the way you want to read the book, by yourself, or using the narrator's voice, or you just to leave it on auto-play. The app automatically uses the landscape setting and rotates the screen, and uses the original illustrations of the book, closing up and down to focus on the action and speeches of the characters. Background noises have been added, but they are very cute and not invasive at all. You can browse the pages on your own using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were ones in a real book.

The narrator's voice and interpretation is just fantastic, better than in the other books, and he plays all uses different voices and intonations for each character. I would have loved having the option of female and male voice narrator, though.

The Rabbits is a children's book fit for adults. First published in 1998, it is still as fresh as the day it came out.

The Rabbits is a metaphorical story on the colonisation of Australia as seen and perceived by the original inhabitants of the land. The rabbits represent the European arriving in Australia, and the Wallabies the Aborigines. Shaun Tan's illustrations are wondrous, as always, but also moody and dramatic, very beautiful and powerful in the portray of the beauty of this land, the mind of the newly arrived, and the way Nature was examined and transformed. Even the attitudes of the Europeans and the Aborigines are shown in the way they dress, look and move.

This is one of those books that should be compulsory in schools to teach Australian children the basics of the History of this country - that version that we miss from History books because those have been done from an Eurocentric point of view, not by those who were dominated. For the indigenous people colonisation is an euphemism of the destruction that they suffered. However, it is remarkable that the book is written by two non-indigenous people - it is daring today, so you can imagine how daring and controversial was 14 years ago.

Reconciliation is not just a flashy word used by politicians, it is a process of becoming acquainted with our past and giving voice to those who never had it despite being part of it. This book does just so in a very unpretentious beautiful way. The book also offers and environmental message of respect and understanding of the land as a basis to benefit from it.

This is also one of those books that needs parenting - you and you child side by side, the adult not only as reader, but also as inductor and teacher. A book that needs to be talked and discussed about, so your children grow to form a country that has a different mentality and attitude towards its History and towards Aborigines.

The Rabbits is one of my favourite Australian books of all times. So tiny, so simple and so profound. So daring in its few colourful pages.

This is a wonderful collection of short stories published by Dr Seuss in different publications. The stories, as all Seuss', are embedded with wonderful messages about ethical behaviour and good life values for the little ones, but made fun by Seuss' fanciful rhymes and illustrations. Most of them are enjoyable for adults as much as for kids.

My favourite stories, are the Bippolo seed (a modern retake on the European Folk Story of the milkmaid and the pail, but with a focus on greediness), The bear and the rabbit (an hilarious tale, very Aesop's fable in a way, about the power of your intellect to win over brute force, and also on the power of perception to condition your behaviour) Gustav the goldfish (follow the rules, even if they look silly, or you might find yourself in big trouble), and Steak for Supper (about the dangers of bragging and speaking what you are up to when you are with certain people).

I find Tadd &Todd an OK story, while The Strange Shirt Spot and The Great Henry McBride are blah to me, and to adults, but they might be appealing to children.

The application is fantastic, as all of the Seuss stories that Ocean House and Hay House has turned into electronic interactive format. The app is interactive if you choose the read yourself option; you can click on any image on the page and the word will pop up on your screen and will be pronounced. The app is a sort of animated mini-movie. From the main menu (where the icons of the different stories are shown), you click the story you want to read and then select the way you want to read the book, on your own, read-to-me option or or auto-play. The app automatically uses the landscape setting and rotates your screen, and uses the original illustrations of the book (in this case very few), closing up and down to focus on the action and speeches of the characters. Background noises and musical notes have been added to enhance the experience, but you can switch them off in the settings. You can browse the pages on your own using your fingers and the pages flip as if they were the ones in a real book.

The main downside of the application is not the application, but the fact that the accompanying illustrations were very limited originally, so the mini-movie effect is somewhat washed out. Also, one of the stories was unstable and kept crashing.