Beautiful Things

Just finished this book and I loved the book.  Thought the cover fit the book well and it definitely made me want to pick up to read.  It is a book about displaced lives of immigrants from Africa who live in Washington DC along with some locals who could be described as displaced.














Found two other covers.

This one fit the book well but wouldn't necessarily make me pick up the book - not as "beautiful" or mysterious.

I definitely did not like this cover - much too literal as to the items in the book.

Elegance in Unlikely Places

While I have been reading allot - I haven't done my book cover postings so I figured it was time. 

Last night I finished "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery.  I enjoyed the book, but will say it is not for everyone.  Long passages on philosophy that I admit I found myself skimming through; but I did enjoy the story.

The picture above is the one from the edition I read.  I did not like the cover but picked up the book anyways since the book was an Europa edition, and I have liked many of the covers. I know, I know - you are not supposed to just a book by its cover - and that seemed to be one of the themes in the book.  While the doorway fit the book - I couldn't picture the younger protagonist looking that way.

The cover that I found that I thought fit the book the best was this one:

I was able to find many others:

A Vermeer Sort of Day

Since the Vermeer painting that is on loan to the DIA is only on display until tomorrow we went down to see it.  It was displayed next to two other Dutch paintings from the same timeframe - you could really see why Vermeer is so revered.   The painting was in the entryway to the Dutch gallery so you could see it across the courtyard - it glowed even from the distance.

Always fun to people watch.  There was a lady holding up two different pictures of the painting in front of the picture - first one, then the other.  Don't quite know what she was looking for.  I do not believe a picture can capture the glow of parts of the painting.

So I go home and read the next chapter of the book I am reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and I come across these sentences:  "Even Vermeer can't convince me to hold life dear.  He is sublime, but he is dead."    I don't agree with the first sentence but do agree that his paintings are sublime.

The other exhibit we took in today was an exhibit of prints from the DIA collection done by Picasso and Matisse.  Matisse is one of my favorite artists.  I was very impressed with what Detroit has in their collection.  And it was so good to see so many people viewing the exhibit.