The War Bride's Scrapbook

The War Bride's Scrapbook

Caroline Preston

When I read this graphic novel a couple weeks ago it was all I could do to stop myself from waving it in everyone's face and telling them to read it. 

The author, Caroline Preston, is an American artist who has had a passion for collectable scrapbook items since her teenage years. With an education in history and a serious interest in manuscripts and ephemera, she has worked as an archivist at the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Peabody/Essex Museum and Harvard's Houghton Library.

In addition, she has won awards for her work in preserving and showing her collections, in the process, creating scrapbooks for publication. The War Bride's Scrapbook is her second such scrapbook, the first being The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, which my local library sadly doesn't have. Yet. Because I intend to recommend that they purchase it asap.

With The War Bride's Scrapbook, author Caroline Preston has created a story of a fictional couple who, after an extremely short courtship, married shortly before the groom left for the action of the Second World War. The groom, Perry Weld, was a good-looking, intelligent and thoughtful person with aspirations of going to architecture school upon his return from the war. Lila, a young woman fascinated by "skyscrapers, chrome chairs and cubist women" found any plans she might have had derailed by the war effort. 

The book consists mostly of the correspondence between Lila and Perry, interlaced with photos of relevant scrapbook items - photos, postcards, V-Mail, movie flyers, menus, hotel bills, buttons, food stamps, labels off cans and packages and so on. Life for Lila at home in the US is never dull and Perry spends his war days as a combat engineer building bridges. Perry returns from the war and the story has a bit of a surprise ending. The scrapbook concludes.

The fictional scrapbook was tucked away and then found many years afterwards by Lila's daughter who has been cleaning out her mother's house. Preston's book ends with an interview of Lila by her daughter as part of a college assignment. 

I so want to tell you how it all turned out! But I won't. You just have to read it yourself. 

In the meantime, check out Caroline Preston's website where she has posted photos of many of her collectables.

Getting to the Top

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Taylor Jenkins Reid

My family knows I’m the last person you’d think would be interested in a book about movie stars and their romances, dalliances, gossips and intrigues. (Eye roll) I rarely go to movies and even more rarely watch them at home. I’d rather open a book.

A week or so ago, I brought home The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. In a prior weak moment, I had added it to my “Read Later” shelf at the library, probably thanks to a recommendation in a book section of a newspaper.  I opened it up to take a quick look and to my surprise got lost in the antics of 50’s, 60’s, up to modern-day Hollywood.

The storyline is like a catapult directed toward the last few pages of the book. So compelling is the fictional tale of larger-than-life Evelyn Hugo that once started, it was difficult to put down.

Evelyn Hugo, actress, has come to the end of her career. Everyone she has loved has died. Now she wants someone to write her biography, someone who will give an honest account, who will not gloss over some of the not-very-savoury details of Evelyn’s life. She chooses Monique, a young journalist who works for a New York magazine. While the details of Evelyn’s life make up the bulk of the story, the real story is why she has chosen Monique.

This book was great fun to read. The writing style is excellent – the author is not writing what could easily have been chick lit. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo would be an excellent choice to read on the beach or in the hospital. Great escapism. 

Christian Moullec

There's good news and bad news.

I'm sorry to do this. Bad news first:

Bill Lishman was a Canadian innovator and artist who first flew with migrating birds in an ultralight (inspiring an autobiography about these adventures, Father Goose and a movie Fly Away Home) There was a post about him two years ago on this blog (Bill Lishman, A Bird's Eye View). Sadly, he passed away way too early on Dec. 30, 2017. Obituary here.

Now the good news: 

Christian Moullec is a former French meteorologist who raises various species of birds from birth and trains them, as Lishman did, to accompany him when he flies his ultralight. He then accompanies them on their migration. 

He sits in the back of the craft and allows guests (you or I!) to accompany him on a 30-or-so-minute flight. The photos are stunning. See some here.

And here's a video. Note that part of it occurs over the fantastic Mont-St.-Michel in France. He allows the passenger to touch the birds in flight which I find a bit off-putting. What do you think? Are you brave enough to go up in an ultralight? Would you really feel the need to touch a bird working so hard?

Sansevieria Flower Update

Here's a progress report on the Sansevieria flower from Jan. 11. The stalk has grown but the buds haven't opened yet.

It's hard to tell from the photo but there's a drop of dew on the underside of each axil.