Design Basics Index

I have looked for a book on graphic design basics with real practical examples for a long time. Design Basics Index by Jim Krause not only fits that need, but it is the most awesome graphic design how-to book I have seen in a long time. Not only does the book show good and bad examples, the book itself is an example of layout, color, typography, flow and more. Not all of the topics are discussed in depth, but there is enough there to spark your own creativity. Each chapter comes with suggestions for practice on your own.

This book quickly went on my Amazon wishlist. Even though I read the book cover-to-cover, I want it for my reference shelf since I am self-taught in graphic design work. The author has other books to cover topics in more depth that I plan on either purchasing or borrowing through inter-library loan.

Book rating: 5 stars, great for graphic designer newbies.

Love's Unending Legacy

Love's Unending Legacy by Janette Oke is book 5 in the Love Comes Softly series. This story is centered around Marty and Clark again. Marty must deal with the departure of her youngest son to medical school and hopes to marry off her youngest daughter, Ellie. Most of her children are grown and independent, but Marty finds herself pregnant with another child. She has a hard time accepting the situation because of her age and the fact is already a grandmother. With faith, the family learns to accept Clark's disability and the new baby that is to arrive. Ellie even finds love.

This story has been the weakest of all. There is the usual religious sermonizing too. It isn't too annoying, but you can tell the story is serving the sermon and not as integral to the story. The story isn't bad, but definitely weaker than the others. I almost didn't finish the first chapter but persisted. I ended up liking the story, but I am definitely taking a break from the series.

The movies make a huge departure with this story. There are some character names lifted from the books and assigned to others. The movie centers around Missie and her family in the west. Marty and Clark are almost non-existant. The events in the book are reassigned to Missie. I am not sure why the huge rewrite. Katherine Heigl plays Marty in the first two movies and then a new actress appears for the third. Even so, Marty is pretty much written out of the movie series. Taken separately, the books and movies are enjoyable, but compared they are two separate entities with the slimmest of relation.

Book Rating: 2 stars.

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

I am not much of a mystery reader but my local library has a rather large collection of them. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman was an unexpected, fun mystery. Mrs. Pollifax is a retired, bored grandmother and decides she would much rather be a spy than the perpetual volunteer of garden clubs. She travels to CIA headquarters and volunteers. It just so happens the CIA director needs a courier in Mexico City, a simple assignment that goes awry. Mrs. Pollifax ends up kidnapped in Albania. Her escape is entertaining, and well, unexpected.

The story was published in 1966, during the Cold War so expect to read some characterizations which would not be politically correct for our day. If you can look past it though, the story is really quite fun to read. This book is the first of a series about Mrs. Pollifax. I may read more of this series later. The Pollifax mysteries are still in print, so they shouldn't be too difficult to find.

Book Rating: 4 stars. For a mystery it is pretty good.