Who knew that people spend months/years developing fonts by hand? Not me! Never once have I thought about a font being anything but a computer-generated style of writing. There must be a very small population with this particular skill set! It sounds like very tedious work. I am detail-oriented for sure, but this would put me over the edge.
Not only did I not know that people develop fonts by hand - and have them critiqued by font specialists - but I had never heard of STO. I have read so many books about World War II - fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction - but I have never read a book about the French men that were forced laborers in Germany at such major companies such as Daimler, BMW, Siemens, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Kodak and Hugo Boss, to name a few. They were forced to leave their families in France to "work" in Germany, yet their accommodations, food, clothing were only marginally better than the prisoners at the concentration camps. They were promised leaves that never happened. They could be sent to one of the "extermination camps" at any time for any infraction. Since they were living in Germany, they were bombed by the allies toward the end of the war. It's incredible that some of them survived.
The perseverance of Carolyn Porter to find out whether Marcel survived the war was pretty amazing. Even more amazing was the network of people that formed around her in this mission to find Marcel and his family. This ten year project resulted in some pretty awesome discoveries - and friendships. (As a side note, her husband was extremely patient during this process - and I loved how much they loved their dogs!)
In the end, this is a love story between Marcel and Renee. I am happy that Carolyn and Aaron got to meet their daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren - although I am sad that there is a rift in the family. Hopefully that will be mended. They all seemed like wonderful, caring, loving people.
I will now be on the lookout for the P22 Marcel Script! I still don't understand what "kerning" is, but I hope Carolyn is satisfied with her development of this skill. ;)
Wendy's Rating: ****
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Monday, March 5, 2018
Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson
I wanted to read this book because it was written by Ronald H. Balson and I loved Once We Were Brothers. What I didn't realize is that Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart are characters in this book too! It reads more like a series now, especially since Sophie (from Saving Sophie - RHB's other novel) is mentioned at the end of this book. I really like Catherine & Liam, so I am fine with that.
I really didn't like Arthur at all. I tried to put myself in his shoes, and believe that he only cared about the well-being of his mother, but it didn't really come across that way. He seemed like a jerk to me. Trying to get his polished and well-spoken mother - who certainly did not have any memory issues associated with old age - legally labeled as "mentally disabled". Honestly. And I detested his lawyer!
I hate secrets!! I want to know what the secret is asap - and then let the story unfold. Waiting until the very end to find out what Lena was hiding was painful. The conclusion was the only thing that makes sense though. There would be no other secret that would affect Arthur - so I didn't understand why Lena was holding back information - until I knew what the secret was. I DID cross my mind earlier in the story that Lena was the mother to the twins, but I moved on from that idea due to the way Lena told her story. I still want to know whose idea it was to throw the girls from the train. I guess is makes sense that it was Karolina, since she is the one who could not live with the decision afterward. Plus, as a mother, you would want to hang on to your children as long as possible, which Lena did with Rachel. It's complicated though because Catherine (or Liam? I can't remember now) said to switch the actions/events between Lena & Karolina. So who knows really.
This was actually the 5th book I have read about the Holocaust/wartime in 2018 - and it's only March 5! It's weird how certain subjects get lumped together without intent. And I still have one more to go (Marcel's Letters). Anyway, stories about Nazi Germany are incredibly disturbing. My mind has a difficult time accepting that people could treat each other that way - even though I know it is still going on today in other countries. Again, I read these books not because of the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis, but because of the incredibly brave men and women (including Germans) that worked with the resistance, hid Jewish people, fed them, helped them escape - despite the risk to themselves and their own families. It's astounding. All of it.
Wendy's Rating: ****
I really didn't like Arthur at all. I tried to put myself in his shoes, and believe that he only cared about the well-being of his mother, but it didn't really come across that way. He seemed like a jerk to me. Trying to get his polished and well-spoken mother - who certainly did not have any memory issues associated with old age - legally labeled as "mentally disabled". Honestly. And I detested his lawyer!
I hate secrets!! I want to know what the secret is asap - and then let the story unfold. Waiting until the very end to find out what Lena was hiding was painful. The conclusion was the only thing that makes sense though. There would be no other secret that would affect Arthur - so I didn't understand why Lena was holding back information - until I knew what the secret was. I DID cross my mind earlier in the story that Lena was the mother to the twins, but I moved on from that idea due to the way Lena told her story. I still want to know whose idea it was to throw the girls from the train. I guess is makes sense that it was Karolina, since she is the one who could not live with the decision afterward. Plus, as a mother, you would want to hang on to your children as long as possible, which Lena did with Rachel. It's complicated though because Catherine (or Liam? I can't remember now) said to switch the actions/events between Lena & Karolina. So who knows really.
This was actually the 5th book I have read about the Holocaust/wartime in 2018 - and it's only March 5! It's weird how certain subjects get lumped together without intent. And I still have one more to go (Marcel's Letters). Anyway, stories about Nazi Germany are incredibly disturbing. My mind has a difficult time accepting that people could treat each other that way - even though I know it is still going on today in other countries. Again, I read these books not because of the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis, but because of the incredibly brave men and women (including Germans) that worked with the resistance, hid Jewish people, fed them, helped them escape - despite the risk to themselves and their own families. It's astounding. All of it.
Wendy's Rating: ****
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