Enchanted by Josephine - ART & HISTORY Salon: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Lenten Art for Annunciation...

I'm a bit late in posting this, but I wanted to show you this new artwork of mine anyway... Since last Sunday, March 25th, was the day of the Annunciation, I am dedicating this special painting to Our Lady.

18 x 36, Acrylic

WINNER ANNOUNCED...

Winner of the galley copy of The Courtesan's Lover, courtesy of Sourcebooks

IS...

Shannon - ggjunk!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Please email your contact information to:

enchantedbyjosephine@hotmail.com

Monday, March 26, 2012

Galley GIVEAWAY of The Courtesan's Lover!!

Sourcebooks is offering a copy Galley Giveaway to one of my Canadian or US followers!!!

To Enter:

1) You must be a follower of this blog
2)For more chances: Post on Twitter, FB, or your blog (as often as you like!) and then come back to post each link, each time in my comments section.

Winner announced this coming Saturday- Good Luck to all!!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Louisa of Prussia on Josephine Bonaparte...

How delightful to find another precious antique book containing chapters on Josephine. You can download this one for free here: Louisa of Prussia and Her Times, by Luisa Muhlbach

Author Louise (Luise) Muhlback (1814-1873) was an historical fiction writer born in Germany. She wrote several novels on monarchs, including one on Henry VIII. Reading up on her, I've gotten the feeling that she may have been the Jean Plaidy of the time...Anyone else have any information on this author? Please let me know!

Chapters 18 to 20 are dedicated to Josephine especially- but of course Napoleon is part of this book throughout. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 19:

Bonaparte had scarcely deigned to glance at the French ambassadors and their ladies, who had received him at the foot of the staircase. All his thoughts centred in Josephine. And bowing slightly to the ladies and gentlemen, he had impetuously rushed upstairs and opened the door, satisfied that she would be there and receive him with open arms. When he did not see her, he passed on, pale, with a gloomy face, and resembling an angry lion.
Thus he now rushed into the front room where he found Josephine. Without saluting her, and merely fixing his flashing eyes upon her, he asked in a subdued, angry voice: "Madame, you do not even deem it worth the trouble to salute me! You do not come to meet me!"
"But, Bonaparte, you have given me no time for it," said Josephine, with a charming smile. "While I thought you were just about to alight from your carriage, you burst already into this room like a thunder-bolt from heaven."
"Oh, and that has dazzled your eyes so much that you are even unable to salute me?" he asked angrily.
"And you, Bonaparte?" she asked, tenderly. "You do not open your arms to me! You do not welcome me! Instead of pressing me to your heart, you scold me! Oh, come, my friend, let us not pass this first hour in so unpleasant a manner! We have not seen each other for almost two months, and--"
"Ah, madame, then you know that at least," exclaimed Bonaparte; "then you have not entirely forgotten that you took leave of me two months ago, and that you swore to me at that time eternal love and fidelity, and promised most sacredly to write to me every day. You have not kept your oaths and pledges, madame!"
"But, my friend, I have written to you whenever I was told that a courier would set out for your headquarters."
"You ought to have sent every day a courier of your own for the purpose of transmitting your letters to me," exclaimed Bonaparte, wildly stamping his foot, so that the jars and vials on the table rattled violently, while Zephyr jumped down from his arm-chair and commenced snarling. Josephine looked anxiously at him and tried to calm him by her gestures.

Another interesting bit of history:)

Thursday, March 15, 2012

For The Love of Reading! Extra Special Giveaway!

Good friend Marie Burton- from The Burton Book Review is having a fabulous Giveaway. So many books! And she wants us all to drop by and join in the fun- and spread the news:) Go on over there-fast!


For The Love of Reading! Extra Special Giveaway!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

REVIEW: The God Box

(Ok so today I'm not reviewing an historical fiction or history book...Every once in awhile if a really good book comes along- I just have to recommend it even though!)

Here goes: The other day I downloaded The God Box: Sharing My Mother's Gift of Faith, Love and Letting Go, by Mary Lou Quinlan on my Kindle (if interested, see side note about Kindle, bottom of this post).

What a beautiful story- and idea! Mary Lou Quinlan talks about how she discovered a bunch of little boxes that her mother stored away secretly throughout her lifetime. These contained years of accumulated bits of papers with prayers written on them. Her mom wrote prayers for everyone she knew; short- almost on-the-run little notes that she carefully folded into minute bitsies and put in these ‘God boxes’. The ‘letting go to God to take care of things’- experience in itself is what is also amazing about the whole process.

Mary Lou learned about her mother’s strengths, care, love and ultimate faith through this legacy her mom left behind for her. Beautifully written, I loved reading this book. Inspiring and refreshing, this idea to leave it upto God by physically writing out prayers and releasing them into the God Box for Him to take care of sounds so... relieving.

This is such a great idea- and it’s catching on fast. (See the author’s website for more info )
I really recommend you getting this book. You can go download the first chapter HERE.
Book on sale: April 17th

Just a sidenote- and not really related to this post but…just something I wanted to mention in passing. I am just loving this Kindle I got from my kids for Christmas; downloading and reading in just seconds is the way to go for this busy person…I never thought I’d get used to the idea- me who loves the feel and look of a good book. But to say the truth, I still do prefer the real thing. So in essence the e-reader is there for me only as a fast, lightweight, pragmatic, fill-her-up reading tool. It’s also an easy way to ‘delete’ books that are just not doing it for me.Completely practical - but I won't give up the precious hard copies any time soon though; this is just another reading addition:)