Beatles For Sale

Beatles For Sale: Howe Everything They Touched Turned to Gold by John Blaney

This book was, in basic terms, the biography of the popular band Beatles. However, unlike most this book focused on an aspect of the Beatles: their money. Or to be more specific, the business. Most other biographies focus on the musical end. However, by focusing on the business aspect, John Blaney showed us a new insight to the Beatles. 

Surprsingly, you learn a lot of their seemingly personal decisions was influenced by money. Blaney's new insight also includes Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles, and how he pioneered the modern music industry. At the same time, you barely even realize that half of this book is a business book because of how skillfully Blaney weaved the history of Beatles and the Beatles' money together. 

The book begins with the Beatles' first shows as the "The Quarry Men" to the infamous Apple brand court battles in the 21st century. This book shows how by trying new things never done before, how the Beatles got extremely famous and well, rich. 

I thought the best part about the book was that for the first time, there were actually a lot of information on the last and invisible member of the Beatles: their manager Brian Epstein. We get to see more  of his background and how he met the Beatles and how he helped their business which was pretty fun for me. I also loved the quotes from the Beatles about money in the cover of each chapter. Between the newly delved topic, through research, and great writing, I'd give this book 5/5 stars.

The Art Book from Phaidon

I. Seriously. Hated. The. Cover.

Looking for a good book about art, I saw the title on the spine, "The Art Book" and thought, 'Perfect!'
And then I looked at the .......kindergarten at best, cover and thought, 'Oh hell. Nevermind.'
That saddens me that I almost put this book off because, well, the inside? Amazing.

For a quick intro to art, or a basic art reference book, or if you're just looking to read/look about art like me, this book is perfect. At 512 pages, it may seem large but it was a perfect amount. There were enough pages to feature those rare, not very well known artwork, yet not big enough that there were way too many boring artwork that I honestly did not appreciate or care about.

I liked that unlike the last art book I read, 501 Great Artists, it wasn't bogged so down by useless information. This book actually pages devoted to the actually artwork and anaylzing the technique, symbolism, colors, author's intent, and why it was well-recieved (or not so well recieved) by the critics and the public. Each paragraph is well thought out, well written, and has the perfect amount of information. Not only that, it also has snippets of the artists' lives without being too detailed. The best part? It even featured similar artists!

It also featured some of my favorite artists, and their favorite artwork. The style and time periods all varied greatly throughout the history of art! I loved this book. I originally picked it up from the library, but now I think I'd like to buy the book.

Aptly named The Art Book, I think the one word that would describe this book would be: Fabulous.

Priceless by Robert K. Wittman

Well, the full title of this book would be:
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman: Founder, FBI Art Crime Team

I'm kind of obsessed with art, so when I saw this memoir on art crime? I had to buy it.

The book reads almost like a crime thriller, with great insight and background information to support the plot, here and there. The book was simply fascinating, well-written, suspenseful, a definite page-turner, just plain amazing, and is an actual autobiography. I don't think I have enough good things to say about this book.

The one thing is, I could not get into the character's skin like I usually do. However, I think that's actually a good thing in this case, since I wanted to read about Robert K. Wittman, not a story where I could imagine myself as a character.

Hidden videos, bugged meetings, lies, betryals, plot twists, and gansters. It reads almost like a story, except by the time I was finished with the book, I learned so many things. Art history. Various international art crimes. How much the FBI and other international agencies are doing (or not doing, in this case) to prevent these crimes. How the black market operates. The FBI.

The book also covers his experience as a Japanese-American, how he came to work for the FBI, and how he worked there to uncover art crimes.

This books gives critical insight on the severity of international art crimes, that could be happening right now, under our noses! Usually, I dislike "True Crime" or myseteries in general. But this book, I would read all over again.

501 Great Artists

Like the title not-so-subetley suggest, this giant book at 640 pages introduces the readers to 501 artist that left the greatest impression in mankind, stretching out from Fan Kuan (from pre-1500) to Shirana Shahbazi in 1974. Each artist, including painters, sculptors, mixed media artists, photographers, and installation artists, is introduced in a smiliar fashion with:

• Name
• Birth & Death
• Artistic Style
• Masterworks
• Education
• Few other "fun facts"
• A few photographs of the artwork (most of the time)

all in concise, to-the-point, well written paragraphs.

Some of my personal favorite artists from the book were Leonardo Da Vinci, Edvard Munch, El Greco, Jan Vermeer, Theodore Gericault, Adolph Menzel, Edgar Degas, Van Gohn, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Singer Sargent, Wassily Kandisnsky, Picasso, Giacomo Balla, Egon Schiele, Stanely Spencer, George Grosz, Rene Magritte, Arshile Gorky, Dorothea Tanning, Jackson Pollock, Leonora Carrington, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Shirana Shahbzi.

Yeah. It's a pretty long list. But can you really blame me with 501 great artists to choose from? ^__^

Personally, I don't think this would've made a good reference book because of how difficult it is to pinpoint a single artist. It's not suitable to read for fun either, since the standarized format can get pretty boring at 600something pages. However, I think the book is one of those that you should keep on your bookshelf so you can simply flip to a random page at anytime to read about the artist. Though it kinda got a bit thick at time, I enjoyed this art guide to the world's 501 great artists.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The novel Of Mice and Men is based off on the poem "To a Mouse", almost exactly. The poem is from the author's POV, apologizing to a mouse for accidentally ruining its house while farming. From the novel, the mouse can be surprisingly seen as Lennie, who is a giant and may seem to be the human.  The farmer, on the other hand, would be society itself and the greedy, selfish mankind that ruins others while only thinking of themselves.


The novel set in the time of the Dustbowl  is about two immigrant workers: Lennie, a simple and gentle giant with fearful strength that loves to pet soft things, and George, Lennie's best friend as well as his caretaker as the brighter and more sensible of the two. The two has a simple American dream, to have their own little farm, a place the can live peacefully without worries for money. The two ends up working at a large farm, often tormented by the owner's son Curtis who has an inferior complex, and Curtis's wife who often flirts with the workers to stir up trouble. The pair almost reaches their dream when an old man with land gives out a deal, when tragedy strikes. Curtis's wife tries to seduce Lennie, opens up to him, and lets Lennie stroke her hair. However, panicking when she realizes how mighty Lennie's strength is, she freaks out, causing Lennie to panic and accidentally break her neck. George, knowing the villagers were going to bring Lennie a brutal, painful death chooses to end things himself and shoots Lennie.


It might seem cruel of George to kill his own best friend. But the truth is, George, knowing the painful path that awaited him shoots Lennie out of love. George knew Lennie would die happier talking about their dreams and killed quickly. And thus, their friendship and American dream ends.


Throughout the novel, forewarnings are scattered everywhere. Lennie's love for soft things kills small animals before, such as the mouse, preluding to Curtis's wife's death. Also, Lennie's death is forewarned when the old farmer's dog has to be shot so it doesn't have to be in pain anymore.


Overall, yes this was a depressing novella. But I liked the realism of  the novel and the choice George makes to shoot Lennie out of love.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

4/5 stars

I admit I did not really like this book at first because of the slow beginnings.
But since it was for English class, I sludged through it. And when I got to part two? I was glad I read this book.

Like stated before, this book is pretty slow. The first 117 pages (Part 1) is mainly compromised of introduction to Pi Patel, a unique indian boy who believes in three different religions and has lived with animals thanks to his father's zookeeping job. Yeah. 117 pages about an unextraordinary (other than the animals, I suppose) life wasn't exactly exciting.

And then, due to india's circumstances, Pi, his family, and the animals board a ship to Canada. However, a malfunction of the ship leads to Pi finding himself stranded in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with only a few animals: a zebra, a orangutan, a hyena, and a bengal tiger.

Obviously, things don't exactly go well for Pi.

I loved part II where everyday stranded in a ocean with animals was an adventure and a battle of wits for Pi. And it's also the part where Pi's wry humor finally shines.

Part III was relatively short, but for me it was the best part. I would explain why but because of the twist that makes you think of the book in a completely whole new way, I'd rather not explain it.


*BTW, I definitely prefer the human version. Frightening but much more realistic.*

*Also, I recommend that you read the book (Or at least Part II. You can skip Part I. XD) twice. Part III's twist makes you see the book in a completely different view. In addition, reading it again shows you so many hidden details in the book, like Richard Parker (the tiger)'s allusion of whether it really being a tiger or Pi's darker, animal side.*