3.5 stars
Book of quotations and ink drawings
compiled by Kenny Luck
illustrated by Jay Luke & Ren Adams
Provided for review by the Tribute Books
So I have mixed feelings on Thoreau. The man has wonderfully insightful sayings, and yet I can't help the feeling that he was a little hypocritical. The whole return to nature thing isn't quite real if you're THAT close to civilization and can walk into town whenever you please.
But like I said, he did have some great things to say, and this is a great compilation of quotes.
I have just a couple complaints that kept me from loving it. The style of the quotes (font, size, color) was somewhat distracting to me. I like the idea of some words being large and others small and such (picture those cool vinyl quotes people put on their walls), but in some places it felt like they were done a little haphazardly. Like the wrong words were being emphasized. That could totally just be me, though.
My other thing was the illustrations. Don't get me wrong, they are BEAUTIFUL!! Absolutely lovely. More than one I thought, wow, that would look awesome on my wall. But they don't always feel like they go with the quotes. Some are very asian in style and subject, which rocks, but doesn't really fit a book of Thoreau. (Or maybe I missed some facts about Thoreau in my American Humanities course... I might have been asleep... lol.) And a couple of the drawings are repeated, which annoyed me, but I think mine could be a galley, so that might not be true in the final.
Definitely an excellent choice for any Thoreau-lover, though.
Here's the book trailer:
And you can learn more at any of the following sites:
Sample Illustrations:
http://www.tribute-books.com/thoreau/photos.html
http://www.tribute-books.com/thoreau/photos2.html
Cover Illustration:
http://www.tribute-books.com/thoreau/photos3.html
Excerpt from book's Introduction:
http://www.tribute-books.com/thoreau/author.html
Kenny Luck Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=77501977&ref=ts
Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com/
Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176
Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks
Do you love quote books?? I have a serious quote book addiction!!
I read the same book and I think it was a very interesting read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Britt for being a part of the blog tour for 'Thumbing Through Thoreau' and for sharing the book with your readers.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are a lover of quote books and enjoyed the selections contained in this volume.
In terms of the typography design, we were looking to achieve an ombre effect found in fashion - or the feel of a flowing river. The intent was never to highlight any particular words but to have the shift from large/small and dark/light as a flowing progression throughout the book.
Yes, Ren Adams does work with an Asian-inspired influence. While Thoreau himself was not Asian (of course), we thought he would approve of the Zen-like vibe behind Ren's work.
Best wishes,
Nicole
Tribute Books
I concede the Zen feel. :)
ReplyDeleteMy brain insists on emphasizing words that are in a different size or different font, so that's just me.