Got the book for my wife for our Anniversary. She loves art and loves scandals, so should be a hit. Thanks @SkilletHead2
OT: My book comes out October 25th
- Thread starter SkilletHead2
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Thanks a million! Love to hear her thoughts on it. Happy to send you a signed/inscribed Ex Libris sticker for it. DM me and get me your address!
Again, my thanks!
Sorry for necro thread.
Skillet - she finally got around to reading it. Loved it! She said, among other things, it really fondly reminded her of our many trips to the Met and other museums, looking and chatting about art and other things. This was early on in our relationship, so I’m sure that I used all my charms and wits on those dates. Dollars to donuts, my wooing was most likely not close as interesting as your book, but it struck a chord. So, in addition to you (on writing) and her (on reading), I’m claiming a win here too! Thanks a lot - you reminded my wife that at one point her husband had a spark of culture and interest. I’m awesome again!
Great job on the book, she really enjoyed it. I’ll have to borrow it from her.
Thanks for asking. No, we did not. They have been on the North Island, about 1000 miles from us. But now three have hit, the most recent one around 2:30 NJ time, and it was a whopping 8.0. They haven't been near population centers, but folks in low lying regions (again on the North Island) are being evacuated due to tsunami potential.
It's actually a pretty nice day here today. A bit overcast.
Skillet
Thanks, mdh! Really appreciate it! Getting a book promoted in an age of COVID is not easy.
I think if you read maybe the first five pages of the Intro chapter or the first real chapter (on Caravaggio), you might find that you really like it.
And hey! If you are reading this and are not mdh, you can go to the link below, it has a bunch of the book there. Anyone can read the whole intro chapter and a bunch more of the book. Page 23 alone is worth clicking on the link.
And my offer of a signed and inscribed sticker to put in the book if you'd like still goes!
Amazon product ASIN 153812677X
Skillet
How did you acknowledge the chickens...by name, fried or scrambled?🐥🥚
Congrats!
MO
@SkilletHead2 , please take a minute to look at this message. After you have done so, return for the discussion. 😉
So glad to see this thread pop up again. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed the book- I am about 2/3 of the way through. I think Courbet has been my favorite so far; the chapter on Gentileschi was fascinating. Your personality really comes through in your writing - if I had a nickel for every time my wife has asked what I am chuckling about. For those that may be interested, it is not an overly scholarly read, it is much more entertaining than that- but you will learn plenty. My only complaint is that some of the artwork images are on the smaller side with the details hard to discern. (But a quick wiki search addresses that.) Highly recommended.
So glad to see this thread pop up again. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed the book- I am about 2/3 of the way through. I think Courbet has been my favorite so far; the chapter on Gentileschi was fascinating. Your personality really comes through in your writing - if I had a nickel for every time my wife has asked what I am chuckling about. For those that may be interested, it is not an overly scholarly read, it is much more entertaining than that- but you will learn plenty. My only complaint is that some of the artwork images are on the smaller side with the details hard to discern. (But a quick wiki search addresses that.) Highly recommended.
Thanks so much, Bill! And I agree on the illustrations. When they are half page or larger, they are fine. And at the 11th hour I had to decide to go with 7" by 9" on the book size, or 8.5" by 11". I decided on 7" by 9" because my fantasy was to encounter somebody reading it on a plane! But I think I'm going with 8.5 by 11 for the next book. And I will go for as close to full page as possible on all the illustrations. But by all means, google any image you want to see better. With a decent computer screen, you can really get a good look at the art.
BTW, the next book is probably going to be about muses. Some of them are fascinating and it would let me have a book filled with paintings of beautiful women. What's to lose?
Yo Old Man Skillet,
I thought you would appreciate this. Last week (during our daughter's spring break), we brought our little one to the Philly Art Museum for the first time. It was last Monday in the afternoon so it was pretty dead. She is by far the best art student in her class and probably the entire lower school. She really loves it. She had a BLAST looking at the Asian art, Impressionism art, armor, and even most of the more modern art. However, when we got to Cy T's Iliad room, she literally said and I quote:
"This is not art, it's like the scribbling I did when I was 3"
That's my daughter!
#soproud
🤣
Hah! Not a big Cy Twombly fan myself. I pretty much agree with your daughter. Did you know his nickname comes from Cy Young and that his dad pitched for the White Sox in 1921?
Usually I can find something in an artist's work that I like. Twombly pushes that notion.
Great to hear your daughter is doing well in art! Would love to see some of her stuff.
Skillet
What do the illustrations look like on e-book/kindle format?
This is on my reading list to pick up once I'm done with my current reading.
Basically, they are even better than in the book itself as you can enlarge them and look at parts more closely (that is, you can enlarge the way you can with anything on your computer -- there is no special feature there). The illustrations are pretty high res. I had to get really good images for the book.
Hey, let me know what you think! And if you like it, please write a review for Amazon!
Skillet,
I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to say congrats on the book. Haven't read it yet, didn't even know it existed 10 minutes ago - LOL, but I do enjoy the writing style of Bill Bryson and how he takes some pretty complex and/or ordinarily dry subjects and turns them into interesting reads. Based on your description and the early reviews it sounds like you have done the same. Might have to give it a go one of these days.
All the best !
I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to say congrats on the book. Haven't read it yet, didn't even know it existed 10 minutes ago - LOL, but I do enjoy the writing style of Bill Bryson and how he takes some pretty complex and/or ordinarily dry subjects and turns them into interesting reads. Based on your description and the early reviews it sounds like you have done the same. Might have to give it a go one of these days.
All the best !
How absolutely WONDERFUL for you. Continued Best of EVERYTHING.
These two above are part of my answers to the question:
“If you could have dinner with a few of our fellow Board members, who would you pick?”
Hey MCY,
Funny you should mention Bryson. A number of folks who have read the book liken it to Bryson's style of writing. If you go to the link below, you can read the whole introductory chapter and most of the one about Caravaggio. That will give you a good idea on the book. Note that they have left some of the pages out, including a great image of Michelangelo's David. I guess that's fair enough.
Amazon product ASIN 153812677X
Man, you missed a great opportunity.
You could have started a thread on what message board phrase to place somewhere into the book.
Could have had a poll on which phrase had made it into the book.
Once released it would have been a friendly competition to see who could find it first. Winner gets name placed somewhere into next book.
You could have started a thread on what message board phrase to place somewhere into the book.
Could have had a poll on which phrase had made it into the book.
Once released it would have been a friendly competition to see who could find it first. Winner gets name placed somewhere into next book.
That's a great idea. This weekend I'm working on another book proposal. If it gets accepted, I will definitely generate a contest on this!
