Fun Retro Posters

I've stumbled across these posters and thought they were well worth sharing with you. These are all public safety and health posters that were part of FDR's WPA (Works Progress Administration) started to help give work to unemployed artists as well as getting "important" messages like these out to the public - some of the posters from this era are really great. There is a whole line of travel posters highlighting the different states and national parks. If you have a few minutes to spare sometime just look up "WPA posters" you'll love what you find - there are even sites that sell remakes of these old posters, I think some could be really fun decoration.

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman

I stumbled across the book, The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman while window shopping at the bookstore across the street (yes, I was so excited moving into my new apartment when I realized that I could literally walk across the street and into bookstore - heaven!).

The Zookeeper's Wife reads like a novel but is in all actuality a superbly written historical volume, complete with bibliographies and an appendix filled with further information on the subjects in the story. Ackerman tells the story of a zookeeper and his wife who hid Jews from the Nazi regime in their Warsaw zoo. Guests are given animal code names as they hide in animal cages and habitats, and animals are given human names all in the effort to deceive the occupying Nazi forces. Their story is frequently accented with intriguing nuggets of historical information on the inner workings of the Nazis and their quest for a resurgence of classical Germany - which not only included a pure Aryan race, but the little know effort to restore native German plants and even extinct German animals. The Nazis truly wanted only 'pure' Germany to remain and were working to remove any traces of human, plant or animal life that was alien.

You will be amazed not only by the wealth of research you will find in this book but by the eloquence with which it is communicated. The story is so intriguing and I am amazed that it's subject matter has not been written about before this point - and I am sure we will be seeing a movie soon in theater's about this amazing true-to-life story.

Anna and the King of Siam

I just finished the book, Anna and the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon 1943. Despite controversy over the complete historical accuracy of the book (as well as the pursuing movies, The King and I, and Anna and the King) no one can argue the amazing character of Anna Leonowens whose actions shaped an entire kingdom.

She took a post as school mistress for the 60-80 children (not to mention many of the wives and concubines) of the king of Siam. During her years in Siam she was able to intervene to the king of behalf of many of his subjects that would otherwise never have received justice. She freed many from slavery, saved others form wrongful imprisonment or beating, and was an advocate for the women of the kings harem who had next to no freedoms. She faced danger, hardship, and intrigue because she believed that she might be able to affect the future of a country by teaching it's future rulers the value of human rights.

Years after leaving Siam she received countless letters from those within Siam telling her that she would not recognize the country any longer, it's people were free, justice was being administered and education was coming to many of its citizens. One of her students had become king and ruled with justice and a belief in human freedom that was instilled their by his former school mistress, Anna Leonowens.

What an amazing true story of how one person's convictions and actions can change the world for so many.

While reading the book, I've been in the mood to watch the musical, The King and I! I think I'm going to have to get it from my Netflix account soon.

The Cellist of Sarajevo

I am extremely taken with this book by Steven Galloway, set in 1992 Sarajevo while the city was under siege. The story finds it's central theme from the true events in Sarajevo after 22 people were killed in the city streets from mortar fire while they were in a bread line. Overwhelmed with sorrow and hopelessness because of the senseless deaths, a cellist from the Sarajevo orchestra puts on his tux and sits in the hole left in the street from the ghastly attack and vows to play his cello there for 22 days in honor of each of the victims.

Beautifully written, this short book follows the lives of 4 different characters as they discover how to stay human despite the horror and hate that surrounds them. It is a timeless book, that could be set in any war torn city during any period of history. The themes of hope, humanity, hate, fear and death are beautifully woven together and create an amazing story that will definitely stay with you long after you have put the book down.

This is a book I promise you will enjoy, no matter your age or literary preference. My husband doesn't read much fiction but after he read the first chapter I had to fight him to get a chance to read it.

Read an excerpt below:

It screamed downward, splitting air and sky without effort. A target expanded in size, brought into focus by time and velocity. There was a moment before impact that was the last instant of things as they were. Then the visible world exploded.

In 1945, an Italian musicologist found four bars of a sonata's bass line in the remnants of the firebombed Dresden Music Library. He believed these notes were the work of the seventeenth-century Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni, and spent the next twelve years reconstructing a larger piece from the charred manuscript fragment. The resulting composition, known as Albinoni's Adagio, bears little resemblance to most of Albinoni's work and is considered fraudulent by most scholars. But even those who doubt its authenticity have difficulty denying the Adagio's beauty.

Nearly half a century later, it's this contradiction that appeals to the cellist. That something could be almost erased from existence in the landscape of a ruined city, and then rebuilt until it is new and worthwhile, gives him hope. A hope that, now, is one of a limited number of things remaining for the besieged citizens of Sarajevo and that, for many, dwindles each day. Read Full Chapter

John Adams

"Well, posterity, you will never know what it cost us to preserve your freedom. I only hope that you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."

~John Adams~

This is the closing quote from the David McCullough, which I haven't had a chance to read yet but hope to enjoy soon.Paul Giamatti plays John Adams, and Laura Linney does an amazing job as his wife Abigail.