Over the Counter #323

What books caught my eye this week as they passed over the library counter and under my scanner? Creativeness this week......

First up is Welcome to Marwencol by Mark Hogancamp and Chris Shellen. (This one I signed out - it's a fascinating story.)

From the publisher, Princeton Architectural Press:

" In April 2000, Mark Hogancamp was beaten and left for dead outside a bar in his hometown of Kingston, NY. Waking from a nine-day coma, he had no memory of the thirty-eight prior years of his life, including his ex-wife, family, artistic talents, or military service. To reconstruct his past, Hogancamp built, in his backyard, Marwencol, an imaginary village set in World War II Belgium, where everybody is welcome---Germans, Americans, French, British, and Russians---as long as peace is kept. With 1:6 scale action figures and Barbie dolls, as well as toy armaments and meticulously built props, buildings, and clothes, Marwencol is an alternate reality, created with painstaking (and sometimes painful) realism and obsessive attention to detail. Here, riveting wartime dramas are played out and photographed in saturated hues and unflinching detail. The emotional narrative mirrors the artists own: through Marwencol, Hogancamp regained his cognitive facilities. Welcome to Marwencol is an astonishing story of the redemptive power of art---of art as therapy and act of obsession."

Next up is 100 Little Knitted Projects by Sarah Keen.

From the publisher, GMC Publications:

"The days of having leftover yarn left languishing in a cupboard are over. This book is the perfect partner to your remnants. With 100 fun, fabulous and frivolous projects to make, you’ll be spoilt for choice. These little masterpieces make the perfect gift. Quick and fun to make, they’ll appeal to all ages and abilities. Why not make them as party favours or use them to decorate a Christmas tree? You could sew brooch backs or keyrings to them, or string several together to make fun bunting. There are lots of possibilities to explore, so dig out all those little bits of yarn and start knitting these super-cute knick-knacks."

(Over the Counter is a regular feature at A Bookworm's World. I've sadly come the realization that I cannot physically read every book that catches my interest as it crosses over my counter at the library. But... I can mention them and maybe one of them will catch your eye as well. See if your local library has them on their shelves!)