Reviewer: Joanna Daneman
artist & amazon.com top 10 reviewer

This extremely handsome and unique book is billed as a "hello to a new generation of readers and writers." It's a book that's hard to classify; author and designer Valerie Kirschenbaum has poured heart, soul and a considerable amount of artistic talent into a book that is a delight to hold and read.

Each set of pages is a story, in a graphical design form (like a webpage..or magazine page) about a literary topic. For example, there is set of pages asking "Should We Women Writers and readers ..debate the male-designed book?" The article exhorts women to learn InDesign and Photoshop to create a book design from a woman's unique viewpoint. George Eliot (!) or as she is less-well-known-as, Maryann Evans is pictured on the page. The book has pages about ancient Egyptian writing, Mayan writing, Chinese, Arabic, Hindu and Buddhist. Each set of pages is lavishly illustrated and cunningly laid-out.

My absolute favorite was the chapter on Chrstine de Pisan, a woman who was deemed "one of the greatest writers of medieval Europe." I am embarrassed to say I knew nothing of her. But Kirschenbaum's biography of Christine and her poignant story was riveting. As a widow, beset by debt-collectors who chased her for her late husband's bills, Christine had few prospects and faced almost certain early death in a time when single women without rich means had few options. She was designer, author, diarist and illustrator. Her works were avidly collected even 100 years after her death. Yet today, only a few of her books are in print though many copies are extant and on display in the best museums and libraries. This woman was a Renaissance woman before the Renaissance, and for this chapter alone, I'd get this book. It's fascinating.

Speaking of recommendations, who would benefit from this book? Anyone self-publishing their own book, web designers, book designers, graphic artists, readers and lovers of art in literature. I also would recommend this to librarians, especially in schools, and to instructors in courses about design. This is a superbly created, one-of-a-kind book that is an absolute treasure. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

< back to reviews