The most recent read is "Eight Girls Taking Pictures" by Whitney Otto. Otto is best known as the author who wrote "How to Make an American Quilt." Her "Eight Girls Taking Pictures" is an homage to her favorite women photographers. It reads like a collection of short stories starting from 1917 to current day. Each character must come to terms with personal, professional, and even moral conflicts in their lives as they try to balance family with their art. My favorite chapter has a woman having to decide what her greatest love is; staying content with her husband and children, running away to a old lover that beckons from afar, or becoming a famous photographer. Each chapter leads with a photograph that draws you into the stories.
The other books I actually read back in May. They are "Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued From the Past" and "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" both written by Ransom Riggs. Ranson Riggs collects old photos from garage sales, flea markets, antique stores, but only ones that have something written on them. In "Talking Pictures" he shares some of his collection. In "Miss Peregrine's" he bases his novel on select photos to create a fantastic story of time travel and orphaned children with special powers. Both very cool in that in one book you imagine the stories behind the captioned photos and in the other Riggs' imagination, based around his photos, takes you to a fascinating world.
Every picture tells a story. Whitney Otto and Ransom Riggs literally do.
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