Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Dec 14

22

Review: Somerset by Leila Meacham

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 22, 2014
Posted in Books Read in 2014 • Historical Fiction  | Tagged With: , , , | 5 Comments

SomersetBook Description:

One hundred fifty years of Roses‘ Tolivers, Warwicks, and DuMonts! We begin in the antebellum South on Plantation Alley in South Carolina, where Silas Toliver, deprived of his inheritance, joins up with his best friend Jeremy Warwick to plan a wagon train expedition to the “black waxy” promise of a new territory called Texas.

Slavery, westward expansion, abolition, the Civil War, love, marriage, friendship, tragedy and triumph-all the ingredients (and much more) that made so many love Roses so much-are here in abundance.

My Thoughts:

I love both historical fiction and family sagas and ‘Somerset has them both.  Silas Toliver’s brother inherited the family plantation which has left Silas as pretty much just a worker there with no title.  When opportunity comes for him to put together a wagon train to Texas, with his best friend, Jeremy Warwick, they decide to do it.  If they make it there, it means free land and a fresh start at building their own plantations.  However, first Silas must raise some funds for the trip.

Meanwhile, Jessica Carson, the daughter of a plantation owner, is helping slaves to escape to freedom, until she is caught.  Her father gives her an a ultimatum.  He also give Silas an offer that is hard to refuse but if he accepts, he will be forced to marry Jessica instead of his fiancé.

Somerset is the prequel to the bestselling book ‘Roses’.  I have had ‘Roses’ on my tbr for a long time.  I usually don’t enjoy prequels to books I have read.  I prefer to read in chronological order, so reading Somerset first made perfect sense to me.  I am really glad I read it!

Somerset is a great historical saga.  It capture the time and place beautifully.  The lush working plantations in the south and the drama within, the action/adventure of the wagon train journey to the west, a budding romance, and the set up and running in a new land, Texas.  It has it all!  There is really something for everyone.  Highly recommended!  I hope to finally read ‘Roses’ in 2015.

5/5

I received the ebook version from Net Galley for my honest review.

 

Dec 14

15

Review- Another Side of Bob Dylan: A Personal History on the Road and Off the Tracks by Victor & Jacob Maymudes

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 15, 2014
Posted in Bob Dylan • Books Read in 2014 • Memoir • Music  | Tagged With: , , , | 4 Comments

Another Side of Bob DylanBook Description:

A Los Angeles Times Best seller!

August 2014 marks 50 years since Bob Dylan released his fourth album,Another Side of Bob Dylan. Recorded in one night, in the middle of a turbulent year in his life, the music marked a departure from Dylan’s socially-conscious folk songs and began his evolution toward other directions.

During the years they spent together, few people outside of Dylan’s immediate family were closer than Victor Maymudes, who was Dylan’s tour manager, personal friend, and travelling companion from the early days in 1960s Greenwich Village through the late 90’s.

Another Side of Bob Dylan recounts landmark events including Dylan’s infamous motorcycle crash; meeting the Beatles on their first US tour; his marriage to Sara Lownds, his romances with Suze Rotolo, Joan Baez, and others; fellow travelers Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Wavy Gravy, Dennis Hopper, The Band, The Traveling Wilburys, and more; memorable concerts, and insights on Dylan’s songwriting process.

On January 26th, 2001, after recording more than 24 hours of taped memories in preparation for writing this book, Victor Maymudes suffered an aneurysm and died. His son Jacob has written the book, using the tapes to shape the story.

The result is a vivid, first-hand account of Dylan as an artist, friend, and celebrity, illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, and told by an engaging raconteur who cut his own swathe through the turbulent counterculture.

My Thoughts:

Victor Maymudes was the tour manager for Bob Dylan on and off in the 60’s and then again 1986-1996.  They became friends in the early 60’s and basically had an on/off friendship and working relationship.  St. Martin’s Press signed him up to write his memoir but he died before he could complete it.

He had recorded over 24 hours of tape about his life and relationship with Dylan and his son, Jacob, used them to complete the book for him.  He basically transcribed the tapes into print and put in his two cents.

I especially loved Maymudes’s view from the early days of Greenwich Village and the early days when Dylan was still developing his style.  I questioned some of Maymudes actions, like the time he had his two small children in the van when picking up Dylan at Universal Studios.  Dylan had a hard day of work there and the kids annoyed him with questions.  When he told Victor to deal with it, he left his kids in the parking lot, alone for 3 hours at night, while he drove Dylan home.

There were a few places I would have liked a bit more information, yet a few places that were a bit repetitive as well.  I think it could have used a bit more editing.  However, I found the book quite touching, especially with Jacobs interjections at the end of each tape.  Victor Maymudes wasn’t around much when Jacob was growing up but I could tell that Jacob loved his father despite that.

3.5/5

I received an advance reading copy of this book for my honest review.

About the Authors:

VICTOR MAYMUDES was Bob Dylan’s tour manager at the beginning of his musical career in the early 1960s. After a brief hiatus in New Mexico, Maymudes rejoined Dylan as his tour manager from 1986 to 1996. He died in January, 2001.

JACOB MAYMUDES is a writer, director and visual effects supervisor working for the Mill in Los Angeles, California.

 

Dec 14

6

Review: The Writer’s Garden by Jackie Bennett, Photos by Richard Hanson

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 6, 2014
Posted in Books Read in 2014  | Tagged With: , , , | 5 Comments

Writers GardenBook Description:

Great things happen in gardens. No one can doubt the importance of the garden in Roald Dahl’s life as it was here where he worked, and here that he created James and the Giant Peach. And where would Jane Austen have been if she had never seen a ‘walk’, an ornamental lake, or a wilderness?

Gardens hold a special place in many author’s lives. For Beatrix Potter, Hill Top house was made possible by the new found freedom and wealth that a literary career can bring; for Sir Walter Scott, laying out his garden at Abbotsford was a way of distracting himself from mounting debts.

In this book of 18 gardens and 20 writers, the author examines how the poet, writer, novelist derived a creative spirit from their private garden, how they tended and enjoyed their gardens, and how they managed their outdoor space.

My Thoughts:

Jane Austen, Rupert Brooke, John Ruskin, Agatha Christe, Beatrix Potter, Roald Dahl, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Laurence Sterne, George Bernard Shaw, Ted Hughes, Henry James, John Clare, Thomas Hardy, Robert Burns, William Wordworth, Walter Scott, and Rudyard Kipling each have their own chapter in this book.  What do they all have in common?  They all loved and got inspiration from their gardens.

The Writer’s Garden is a coffee table style book stuffed full with pictures of the author’s gardens.  I know some coffee style books are best for browsing rather than reading but believe me, if you are a literature lover or fans of any of the authors in this book, you will want to read it!

Jackie Bennett talks about each author’s garden but also about the authors themselves.  For instance, she talks about Jane Austen’s childhood, siblings, and the one man who “left a deep impression on Jane- it was to be her only true affair of the heart.”   She covers the authors from childhood to death.

The photographs by Richard Hanson, left a lasting impression on me.  I felt like I was walking in each garden with the authors I read about.  The photos and writing go together seamlessly.

I love this book so much that I already ordered a copy for my mother in-law.  She loved classic authors and I know she has read several of these.  It will be the perfect gift for her.  My one and only grip with it is that I find coffee style books hard to hold and get comfortable with to read.  I would love a companion book that has just the written part.  Something I can curl up with.

Highly Recommended! It would make the perfect gift for literature lovers!

5/5

I received this book for my honest review.

Buy ‘The Winter’s Garden:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository

About Jackie Bennett:

JACKIE BENNETT is a former editor of The Garden Design Journal, the English Garden Magazine and Gardening with the National Trust. She began her career in television, producing gardening and natural history programmes before become a full time writer. In 1990, she won an award for nature writing in the BBC Wildlife Magazine Awards and her books include The Wildlife Garden Month by Month (David & Charles 1990 – reissued in 2011), The Cottage Garden andWild About the Garden (1997 a Channel 4 tie-in book for the TV series presented by Carol Klein).

She won the Garden Writer’s Guild Gardening Column of the Year 2009 for a series about her own Norfolk garden. Jackie has studied garden design and landscape history. She runs writing workshops for the Society of Garden Designers and for the Cambridge and Oxford Botanic Gardens.

About Richard Hanson:

RICHARD HANSON’S work has appeared in books and magazines and he has photographed in the gardens of well-known garden writers such as Helen Yemm, Ursula Buchan, Francine Raymond and Ronald Blythe.  His photography has been featured in The Garden Design Journal, and Gardening with the National Trust.  His seasonal photographs of Houghton Hall in Norfolk were published monthly in The English Garden Magazine in 2010.

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