Pick of the Litter: Quiltscapes by Rebecca Barker

Many of you who read my blog regularly know that I'm slowly purging my books. But no matter how much I do purge, there will always be books with which I refuse to part. This is what "Pick of the Litter" is all about. Once in a while, I get a wild hair to share a book with you that is a favorite of mine, and one which will never be swapped, donated, sold or gifted.

One genre of books that is a particular favorite of mine is Art Books. I love art, and I have favorite artists that span the centuries. I decided that I would share one of my favorite art books with all of you, but then came the dilemma of deciding which one to share.

Then the light bulb went off over my head. (Don't you just love it when that happens?) I've already mentioned that many of us who are voracious readers also seem to be fond of yarn and stitching of some sort. My preferred stitches are in the world of needlepoint. Many of you knit or crochet, and then there are those of you who quilt. All needle arts are exactly that: Art, but I have to admit a particular fondness for quilting, and that was the deciding factor on which art book I would share with you.

Quiltscapes by Rebecca Barker is absolutely marvelous, and now that I know that a Volume II has been published, I'll be wanting to buy it, too. Each painting is named after a quilt and is a blend of both the quilt pattern and a realistic depiction of the pattern, which you can see on the book cover itself. (The painting on the cover is called Corn and Beans-- right out of my childhood in central Illinois.)

It would be impossible for me to choose one favorite from this book. There are so many examples of Barker's art that catch my eye, draw me right in, and set me to daydreaming.

How can I choose when there are marvelous works of art like "Fish" that shows two children in a small boat fishing on water that reflects the clouds in the sky as well as the quilt pattern?

Or "Streak of Lightning" that shows a lightning bolt guaranteed to bring you straight out of bed in the middle of the night?

Rebecca Barker has a splendid eye for detail, but it's what her art does for my imagination that really makes me smile. I can quite literally lose a couple of hours by taking this book off the shelf and slowly turning its pages.

I even remember how I discovered the artist. I'd chosen a Christmas gift for a friend who is a quilter: address labels showing a stack of various colors and patterns of fabric. (Murphy thinks of fabric the same way I do about books.) When I received the labels and was getting them ready to mail to her, I noticed the artist's name at the bottom of the art on the label. When I googled Rebecca Barker, I was off and running. She also has her own website where you can see many more examples of her art, as well as buy calendars and notecards. I hope you indulge yourself, or if you have a quilter on your gift list....

People who can spark my imagination the way Rebecca Barker does should be encouraged as much as possible. That's why she's my Pick of the Litter today!

Pick of the Litter: To Marry an English Lord

One of the things that makes this entire book-loving community so wonderful is its diversity. I love crime fiction. Mix in a splash of dystopian fiction, a pinch of historical fiction, a flake of biography, a seed of time travel, and a dash of history, and I'm in Nirvana.

One thing that's guaranteed is that my Nirvana is someone else's idea of Hell, and you know what? Neither one of us is wrong.

At one point I had over 4,000 books on 28 bookcases in this house. I was running out of room, and I'd made myself a promise that I would never go back to having piles of books on the floor and every other flat surface available. (I also refuse to doublestack.)

That's one of the main reasons why I joined Paperback Swap. I could maintain a steady stream of the books I wanted into the house, but at the same time, I was weeding out my books shelf by shelf.

I now have a little over 3,000 books in the house, and you know what? I know that the thought of me getting rid of at least 1,000 books is like a dagger in the heart to some of you. If I could, I'd invite y'all over for a weekend's Weed-a-Thon, but I can't.

Moving right along, I thought that it might be fun, from time to time, to show you one of the books on my shelves that will never be weeded out, swapped out, sold, or donated. This is the real purpose behind Pick of the Litter. Hopefully I'll choose a book that appeals to you and makes you try to find it at your local library or to buy your own copy. The genres will vary from one post to the next, and so will the age of the book.

It was fun to make my first choice:


Title: To Marry an English Lord or, How Anglomania Really Got Started
Authors: Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace
ISBN: 9780894809392
Publisher: Workman Publishing, 1989
Trade Paperback, 416 pages

In the years following the American Civil War, there were industrialists and financiers who were making money by the pot full. Unfortunately snobs were in control of New York City, and the snobs were insisting that these nouveau riche be kept out of all the right sort of places.

Many of these new millionaires had darling daughters, and what father doesn't want his daughter to make a brilliant marriage? If the blue bloods on Fifth Avenue were turning up their noses at their little girls, there was only one thing to do: take them someplace where (1) they would be appreciated, and (2) where even more brilliant marriages were to be found.

Since most Americans always have been a bit lax about speaking languages other than English, England was The Place for American heiresses to go in search of Happy Ever After. In 1895 alone, nine American heiresses married into the British peerage (among them a duke, an earl, three barons and a knight).

What MacColl and Wallace do with such finesse and delight is tell us just how these young women traded dowries for titles. This is one of the first books I remember owning that is filled with essays, sidebars, fact-filled boxes, anecdotes, portraits, drawings, and photographs.


Sometimes I get certain feelings about a book, and the feeling I got from To Marry an English Lord was that the two authors had a blast writing this book and gathering together all the materials. Reading this was a joyful experience for me. Popular social history is one of my favorite genres, and this book is a wonderful example. Not only did I have fun while reading it, but I learned a great deal, and went on to use the bibliography to learn more. If this subject interests you at all, I urge you to find a copy of this book and read it.

As for my own copy, it's staying right here with me. It's my Pick of the Litter.