April 1, 2009

Review of: The Crimes of Paris

Author: Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler
ISBN: 9780316017909
Pages: 368
Published by: Little, Brown and Company (April, 2009)
Genre(s): Non-Fiction, Art History
Grade:
A-
Challenge(s):
100+ Reading Challenge - Read 'n Review '09 - 2009 Pub Challenge - Spring Reading Thing 2009 - Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge


Let me start off by saying this: Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler have written a lot of books. Seriously, check out this list.

If you read my Tuesday posts then you have been teased not once, but twice. And I'll let you know now, the reason that the man (or men) were hiding in the storage closet in the Louvre was to steal the Mona Lisa. According to the authors, there were many small rooms and hidden alcoves like this in the 700 year old building; museum officials don't even know just how many there are.

One of the earlier suspects of the theft was Pablo Picasso, yes THAT Picasso. Nineteen year old Pablo Ruiz had arrived in Paris in 1900 to see (and exhibit a painting) at the Paris Exposition Universelle. Though he left Paris after this, he would return as Pablo Picasso (his mother's family name).

There are many other crimes discussed and dissected in THE CRIMES OF PARIS; burglaries, bank robberies, murders, even the first use of a getaway car (one of the bank robberies). There is explanations of the system known as bertillonage, which was widely used in France before the discovery that fingerprints were a much better system of identification.

I do not normally read non-fiction (with the exception of biographies and memoirs), but over-ruled my initial instinct about THE CRIMES OF PARIS and requested a copy. I'm really glad I did. There were times while reading THE CRIMES OF PARIS that I actually forgot that I was reading a non-fiction book. There writing is easy to understand and the authors do not bog you down with long, dry explanations.

I'm definitely going to keep this ARC and reread it at a later time; it's that good! I'm also going to check my library for some of their other books, specifically THE IRISH AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM and THE GERMAN AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM.

Buy THE CRIMES OF PARIS @ a bookstore near you!

Buy THE CRIMES OF PARIS on Amazon.

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Five (5) lucky blog readers will get a copy courtesy of Valerie Russo! Just leave a comment here. If you do not have an e-mail link to your profile, please leave one in your comment. I will close this post to comments on the morning of Wednesday April 8th. I will use random.org to select the winners. Per publisher's rules this giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada only. No PO Boxes.

GOOD LUCK!

Creative Commons License

20 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good one! I'd love to win a copy of the book. BFish[dot]Reads[at]gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your review has me dying to read this! Please add me to the drawing.
    nancytoes (at) bellsouth (dot) net
    aka Bookfool

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks fascinating!

    saz AT chainreader DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I find these types of books so interesting. I hadn't known that about Picasso! Please do enter me into the drawing. Thank you, Kylee.

    literaryfeline AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  5. A true story that reads like fiction. Sounds very interesting! Please enter me!

    jgbeads AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd like to enter.

    bridget3420(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  7. sounds intriguing thanks for the giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would love to read this.

    Thanks,

    darkfyre1*at*gmail*dot*com

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great review. This resource will definitely help build the information on my website, Paris-Insider. Please add me to your drawing!

    Thanks!
    Beth
    Beth at Paris-Insider dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. woudl love to win this book!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would love to win this book!


    Kiki
    ParkingGoddessFTW at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Would love to read this book - please count me in!

    Thanks,
    Cheryl
    megalon22[at]yahoo[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great review. I would really like to read this.

    sharon54220@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. absolutely intriguing, please enter me.

    durberville_77(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  15. This sounds like a book I would really enjoy. Thanks for the review and the giveaway!

    bsyb100 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sounds like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. This looks so good... I love reading books where I try to figure out who, why, and how they did it

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the giveaway!
    Kimspam66(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for letting me know your thoughts and that you were here. I read all of your comments. If you are commenting on a post that is from 14 or more days ago, your comment will have to be approved before it appears.

I try to respond to all comments. I will respond either right here in the comment section of this post, on your own blog or through email. =)

~Kylee

IMPORTANT: Kylee's Journal Disclosure

In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, Kylee's Journal would like everyone to know that the books reviewed on my blog were either provided to me by the publisher/the author for free OR were purchased by me OR were borrowed from the library. Books recieved for free do not get special treatment, if I don't like something, I either will not finish it (DNF) or I will struggle through to the end; both get reviews posted here.
~KyleeJ