I, like millions of otherwise worldwide, thoroughly enjoyed James Cameron’s film Titanic (tho am in the probably far smaller subcategory of viewers who certainly didn’t expect to!) I cried my way through much of the last twenty or so minutes of the movie, as the scale of the tragedy unfolded on-screen. Of course, the romance …
Category: History
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/07/magical-history-tour-vol-9-the-titanic-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
May 22 2022
The Invention of Russia by Arkady Ostrovsky
The subtitle to The Invention of Russia — From Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War — unfortunately now has to be followed with a question: which one? Even when the book was published in 2015, his wars were already plural (Chechnya and Georgia) but the author clearly means Russia’s seizure of the Crimean peninsula and its proxy war …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/22/the-invention-of-russia-by-arkady-ostrovsky/
Apr 27 2022
Magical History Tour Vol 8: Vikings by Fabrice Erre & Sylvain Savoia
Another enchantingly educational installment in the terrific Magical History Tour series! I wonder if I can eventually get all these in a boxed set for my kids: that would be super rad. Volume 8 focuses on the legendary Vikings, taking them out of the realm of myth and placing them squarely in the known history …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/04/27/magical-history-tour-vol-8-vikings-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
Mar 19 2022
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
In How the Word is Passed, Clint Smith recounts his visits to seven locations as part of what he calls in the book’s subtitle “A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.” Monticello Plantation. The Whitney Plantation. Angola Prison. Blandford Cemetery. Galveston Island. New York City. Goréee Island (Ghana). Along with a prologue in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/19/how-the-word-is-passed-by-clint-smith/
Jan 26 2022
Magical History Tour #7: Gandhi, Soldier Of Peace by Fabrice Erre & Sylvain Savoia
I’ve found the Magical History Tour series to be incredibly intelligent and moving to date, but I did not expect to cry quite as much as I did while reading this seventh installment, and particularly over the life and times of a figure who’s become so familiar, I almost take for granted that I already …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/26/magical-history-tour-7-gandhi-soldier-of-peace-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
Nov 30 2021
Madly Marvelous: The Costumes Of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel by Donna Zakowska
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has long been on the list of shows I’d watch if I had more time in my life, so I was immensely grateful to receive this book so I could make the time to watch at least the pilot episode. Even as someone unfamiliar with the show, I’ve long been a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/30/madly-marvelous-the-costumes-of-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel-by-donna-zakowska/
Nov 24 2021
The Last Jews Of Penang by Zayn Gregory & Arif Rafhan
Hey, everyone, my very talented friend Arif Rafhan has illustrated a(nother) terrific book! The Last Jews Of Penang is a slight volume suitable for all ages, that highlights a little known corner of Malaysian and Jewish history. A small but thriving Jewish settlement existed on the island of Penang for well over a century, building …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/24/the-last-jews-of-penang-by-zayn-gregory-arif-rafhan/
Nov 23 2021
The Bird: The Great Age Of Avian Illustration by Philip Kennedy
So for real, I spent every few pages of this gorgeous, luxe volume either exclaiming or sighing, “So beautiful!” I hardly expected anything less from a book billing (ha) itself as a retrospective of the golden age of avian illustration, but I honestly did not expect a volume so hefty and extraordinary, and for only …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/23/the-bird-the-great-age-of-avian-illustration-by-philip-kennedy/
Nov 20 2021
The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts
Fittingly, if annoyingly, I have mislaid my copy of The Lost Pianos of Siberia, so this will have to be from memory, just like many of the stories that Sophy Roberts collects over the course of the book. The conceit of the story is that Roberts was spending most of a summer with a German …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/20/the-lost-pianos-of-siberia-by-sophy-roberts/
Oct 10 2021
To the Lake by Kapka Kassabova
In Border, Kapka Kassabova traveled to the corner of Europe where Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey meet to find out how the region had changed since the Iron Curtain had ceased to divide these three countries that have so much shared history. To the Lake takes her further west to where Macedonia, Albania and Greece meet, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/10/10/to-the-lake-by-kapka-kassabova/