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The ABCs of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond by Steven Charney and David Goldbeck
At Her Majesty's Request by Walter Dean Myers
Bleach Volume 14 by Tite Kubo
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Castrato by Michael Collins
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Chronicle of the City of Havana by Eduardo Galeano
Color for Thought by the 5th grade class of Coast Episcopal School
Crescent Moon Volume 1 by Haruko Iida
The Cuba Journal by Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
Cuba Revisited by Martha Gellhorn
Cuban Childhood by Fidel Castro and Frei Betto
Diary of the Boy King Tutankhamen by June Reig
The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
Dora's Backpack by Sarah Willson
Dreaming in Cuban (excerpt) by Cristina Garcia
Dreamland by Clarence Budington Kelland
Fables from the Mud by Erik Quisling
Fergus by Mary Patterson Thornburg
The Ghost of Lizard Light by Elvira Woodruff
The Girl Genius Omnibus by Kaja and Phil Foglio
Go Green by Nancy H. Taylor
Image of Josephine by Booth Tarkington
Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock
The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
Litany by Rand B Lee
Local Rites by Paul Daffey
Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
Monkey See... by P. E. Cunningham
Nature's Children: Ostriches by Merebeth Switzer
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda
No More Monsters for Me by Peggy Parish
OPEN Brand by Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins
Operation Ghost by Jacques Duquennoy
Ophie Out of Oz by Kathleen O'Dell
Our Man in Havana (Excerpt) by Graham Greene
Peacocks by Ruth Berman
Picture Purrfect Kittens by Erika Tatihara and Masaru Mizobuti
The Pigeon Loves Things That Go by Mo Willems
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D. by Al Michaud
The Sea Shack by Mark McNulty
She Who Hears the Sun by Pamela Jekel
Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
Shoes by Debbie Bailey and Susan Huszar
Show Me Your Smile by Christine Ricci
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
State Birds by Arthur and Alan Singer
Still Hot by Sue Mittenthal and Linda Reing
A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
Tundra Swans by Bianca Lavies
The War with Spain (excerpt) by Henry Cabot Lodge
Where's the Big Red Doggie? by Norman Bridwell
What to Wear by Consuelo Hermer and Marjorie May
Wheels, Wheels and More Wheels by Ed and Ruth Radlauer
Wild Turkeys by Julian May

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Image of Josephine: 06/28/08

Image of Josephine

Let me start by saying I loved Image of Josephine by Booth Tarkington and that I'm surprised not to see more written about it online. It's one of the last two novels by a Pulitzer Prize winning author (The Magnificent Ambersons, 1918 and Alice Adams, 1921).

Who is Josephine? The most intimate portrait we get of her comes in the four chapters (34 pages) when she's an a typical American teenage girl, though one of means who is probably oblivious of the Great Depression. We learn that she will be taking over as director of her grandfather's fledgling art museum and for reasons never given she is the best choice for the job.

The remainder of the book we never get as close to her again. She's now in her late twenties and the director of the museum. She is revered, feared and loathed by her staff and yet she's fiercely loyal to her grandfather's original vision and continues to live in his home which shares a hallway with the museum.

Instead of seeing the museum through Josephine's eyes, we see it and her through a soldier and distant cousin, Bailey Fount. He has been sent to work in the museum on medical leave after a horrific event on the front line where Bailey was the only survivor. Through his shell shocked eyes we rediscover Josephine Oaklin.

Josephine may be the title character but Bailey is the driving force of the book. I've read a number of novels written during WWII but Bailey is the first character I've come across who comes across as a realistic and broken individual. He's not just a prop for Uncle Sam.

If you can find a copy of this book, read it. It's one of the best I've read this year.

Read it online Google Books Comments (6)


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Comment #1: Sunday, June, 29, 2008 at 08:55:27

Greg Wright

Good to see someone reading this book, and writing about it!"



Comment #2: Sunday, June, 29, 2008 at 19:55:11

pussreboots

You're welcome. I'd like to read through all his books some day."



Comment #3: Thursday, July, 3, 2008 at 04:31:05

clarence

I was attracted just to the title, and your review makes me want to read it even more. I hope they have it at the library."



Comment #4: Thursday, July, 3, 2008 at 20:23:10

pussreboots

If you can't find a copy at your library or local used book store, you can read it online Google Books."



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