MY OTHER BLOG

If you got here because I commented and you were directed to this blog, it is because Blogger will not show both blogs. So you can get to my Pat's Posts, by clicking this link..my miscellany, the first blog while this is just about books.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

More about thee Mona Lisa

 This time from History facts online about Pablo and  the Mona.  I have read at least 2 fiction novels about the Mona Lisa and posted reviews here.  Recently Stolen Lady.  

Pablo Picasso Was Accused of Stealing the “Mona Lisa”

Picasso is well known for his surrealist artworks, but the legendary Spanish painter also had a real surreal experience of his own in 1911. That year, on August 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece the “Mona Lisa” vanished from Paris’ Louvre Museum, and Picasso was deemed a suspect. Though there was no direct evidence linking Picasso to the brazen heist, the accusations stemmed from the artist’s relationship with a known art thief named Honore-Joseph Géry Pieret.

Pieret was the former secretary of Picasso’s Paris housemate, Guillaume Apollinaire. In fact, four years before the “Mona Lisa” was stolen, Pieret nabbed two Iberian sculptures from the Louvre and sold them to Picasso; the artist even used one of the statues as the inspiration for a face in his 1907 painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Upon learning that Pieret was a person of interest in the theft of the “Mona Lisa,” Picasso and Apollinaire planned to throw the stolen art that was in their possession into the river Seine, though ultimately they could not bring themselves to do so. Instead, Picasso was brought before a magistrate and lied, claiming he had never met Apollinaire. In the end, the case was thrown out and Picasso and Apollinaire were cleared two years later, when a handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia was caught attempting to sell the “Mona Lisa” to a Florentine art dealer.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

When the Rain Ends

 This is the first I have read of this author and wondered why I'd selected it.  Paperback, published in 2023 it is  326 pages.  Took until about page 120 to get my interest.  Surprised me that I kept on reading but it is light and easy reading.  It turned out to be nicely written, a decent story about grief, trials, trying to start over and romance.  It is how one woman divorced with a teen daughter is slowly going to lose her vision.  But Dani, the mother, has backbone and is one who will not wallow but gird herself and go forward..  Dani is very accustomed to cloaking her feelings and giving  the impression that everything is fine.  She dresses up, and goes forth. Pg. 194, "Even alone, she kept her shoulders back.  Posture affects attitude and as an added bonus made the clothes hang better."  That technique is so like me.  

But when her ex husband and father of  daughter, Bella, dies suddenly in an accident life has turmoil.  Bella t internalizes her grief and  mimics  her mothers way of not showing feelings.  Like mother like daughter.  Dani keeps her vision loss secret from all but her father and brother.  She runs a successful art gallery off the outer banks but decides to move inland and away,  She bought an old farm with silos and has hired a contractor known to the realtor to renovate it.  She plans to renovate the silos into a different art gallery where tourists will stop on their way to and from. . This uproots Bella from her friends and routine. 

Dani has become involved with her contractor, Jackson, but has kept the relationship a secret.  She herself is unsure.  Jackson has his own load of grief.  

Page 52, "Her mind lingered in the odd space between awake and asleep where  dreams and worries flourished."  

Pg 181, "She had  few memories but the precious few were crisp and sharp honed to a fine tip.  But memory was a tricky thing.  It changed with time, emotions and experience like the beach did with the tides."

Pg. 187, " Time.  For a long time, he'd resented the long lonely years stretching out in front of him.  Then he'd  stopped resenting the future and started searching for moments in the present.  Do not squander time, It is the stuff life is made of.,"

Pages 200-201 "..grief bubbled under the surface.  But that's what grief did.  It was patient, always lurking in the shadows, ready  to spoil a happy moment , sour a day or prompt unexpected tears." 

Pg 305, "Does it ever get better?     It never goes away.  Most days it does lose its edge.  But every so often when you least expect it grief cuts.  And maybe that's not so terrible.  The jab is a reminder that you loved her very much."

Pg 307, "Her life wasn't perfect.  Certainly not the one she'd envisioned as a kit.  But it was the one she had.,  And she would make the best of it.  Somehow., "     Another  quote that is so me.  

Pg 320. " Grief has a way of feeding off of other emotions so it's easier not to feel anything."  

Back cover

Over all I give this novel almost 4 ****.  It  did finally catch my interest and  yet it is not the kind of book I'd normally read. 


Wednesday, January 17, 2024

The Last Mona Lisa by Laura Morelli

 

First completed read of 2024 but one that I've had to be read for awhile.  Published in 2021, this paperback novel spans 461 pages and has interesting acknowledgements and  an explanation of her research, etc. by the author.  I have read others by Laura Morelli but this one was not my favorite, still it was a decent read., It switches among three main characters set in two time periods.  It opens with Leonardo Da Vinci and follows him through Italy in the 1470's and expands to the second character, Bellina a servant in the 1490's in Florence.  Bellina will interact with da ?Vinci who is commissioned to paint the portrait of her mistress, Lisa Ghiardini.  The rule  of the Medici and their  rise, fail and restoration affect much of these two characters.  The third character in a more modern era is Anne, a typist employee of the Louvre in Paris and her adventure with the rest of the staff s preserving the many artworks including the Mona Lisa from the invasion of the Nazis in World War II. 

Page 5-6 Leonardo is working for and finishing a painting for his master but wants to o more.  He is deciding to leave, and thinks" in the end we are all hiding something."

Pg 169,Leonardo again, " As much as I hate to admit it there is something comforting about returning to these old familiar places.  After months away from Florence it fels like home.  Perhaps it is when we might lose it all that we finally gain an appreciation for things we once took for granted."   

Laura Morelli does intense thoughtful research to produce her historical novels.  Her Ph.D in art history from Yale gives her a depth that would be missing if she were just a writer of fiction.   There is some very good descriptive writing on pages 265-266  1942 as the Germans approached Paris and France.  "The news had come to them the way it always did: Pierre sharing information from the wireless.  This time he was pale with shock, his usual smile beneath a scowl now wiped away.  The Germans had invaded the Free Zone at last.  After the Allies landed in North Africa and started pushing back Italian forces, the Free French--courageous citizens who refused to bow either to Nazi Germany or Viiichy, France."  The resistance will ultimately become a part of Anne's adventure, changing her life forever.  




I found this reference to books by the author in  her acknowledgements interesting.  She had written this novel during the pandemic and  could not travel to Paris or Italy instead writing at home.  So she acknowledges  the importance of books to transport us on journeys that we might otherwise not know. 
 

Back Cover

I found her pages of reflections About The Stolen Lady interesting. And she included an excerpt from  the memoir  of Lucie Mauzaric who was an archivist with the Louvre who is reference in the novel.   This is one example of how well she expands to create fiction from real events.  


  The back cover summarizes the novel.  I give this one only  between 4 and 5 stars,  Maybe I was just not into the right mood to switch amongst the characters back and forth over centuries.

  The writing is good but the book didn't resonate with me.  The research is fascinating and the inclusion of the information in the back is also interesting./  




Monday, December 25, 2023

Secret by Lee Childs and 2 bios, Musk and Kushner Catch up postings

 As year ends and time runs out I have books that I have read and not entered here, including one of my favorites, a Jack Reacher novel by "Childs.  Since  this blog is for just me, I often neglect.  My  reading has slowed as t his year I have been engaged in other online studies such as t he Catechism in a Year that divert my time.  So to get these three onto my bookshelf, here we go:

 Stated reading on my birthday Nov 13,  finished Nov    28.    Didn't read every night as I used to.  Of course another winner,  I always await new Reacher novels and am collecting the old ones now.   Sadly years back I cleared my shelf of paperbacks and the Reacher novels included. Then the Amazon series awakened renewed interest and as I began to rebuild my collection, they are harder to find now at book sales.  

   Pg 80-82 typical Reacher react ion by water boarding a jerk who threatens to kill him. "You think?" 

As before another 5 *****   



Excellent bio by Walter Isaacson, all 615 pages.  Very interesting character, not always on the side of angels but who is?  Musk makes the news and headlines consistently so it was a timely read.  More later if /when I have time.  I would like to have someone to discuss this book with but that doesn't seem to be possible.  .  5 *****

ON 1/1/2024 I saw this review in the Daily Signal and copy it here:    " What comes shining through in this book is that Elon Musk—this generation’s premier inventor, entrepreneur, sage, and futurist—is America’s 20th century Ben Franklin. That’s ironic and appropriate, in that Walter Isaacson, the top biographer of this era, has written tomes on both of these geniuses. Here we have yet another iconic spectacularly successful immigrant—from South Africa—who sees the world 50 years ahead of anyone else. He has spawned at least a dozen companies, including Space X and Tesla. The most stunning part of his story is that he had abusive parents, is bipolar, and is on the autism spectrum, but that seems to have inspired his brilliance and risk-taking. Every aspiring entrepreneur should read his story—beautifully and often humorously written—in this authorized biography.
—Steve Moore, distinguished fellow in economics"



Wow read this back in August 2022 but never posted here.  Interesting,  Lots of detail,  took 4 months to read   Now with the Israeli war and so many other issues caused by Biden debacle and the nitwits that went for him, I wonder what Kushner think   469 Pages.  Well done.  5 ***** 









Friday, October 27, 2023

My Brother, The Pope by Georg Ratzinger

 

I waited a long time for this book to be available in this country.  In 2022, late last year Ignatius Press did so and released it.  I had long been  on a waiting list and was happy to receive it sometime earlier this year.  I read it awhile back and have just not posted here .  It is about  the family life of two brothers growing up, in a Catholic family in Germany,  Joseph and Georg, both become priests.  .Joseph  would become Pope Benedict XVI in Aoril 2005.  Georg would become  Director of  the Regensburger Domspatzen for 30 years, the world famous boys chorus of Regensburg.  I was fortunate to visit Regensburg back in 2015 on my European trip with a late friend,.   Georg  has shared wonderful tales of their life and their family who remained very close all their lives and Michael Haseman wrote these down, translated by Michael Miller.   This book was originally printed in Germany  in 2011. This edition has 253 pages with photos,  plus the acknowledgements, index and bibliography.  Pope Benedict passed n December 31, 2022.,  He had resigned as Pope to Pope Emeritus status.  

There is a writing by Pope Benedict in 2008 about his brother,  Georg, used as an introduction at the beginning of the book. 



The family and especially the two brother remained close all through their lives.  Their sister Maria would become a caretaker, housekeep of sorts for Joseph and later for Georg.  They shared lifelong devotion to their parents.  

Page 75 reflects something I believe naturally  true and  hat is barely or not  acknowledged in today's progressive culture:  "Boys just have different temperaments."

Page 76, "As brothers, Joseph and I were one heart and one soul.  Naturally we also quarreled and fought, that is part of it, but by and large we were inseparable, and that remained so our whole life long."

Page 216:  Whenever there is order somewhere then there are always those who disturb that order, do not understand it, or else deliberately refuse to accept it.  I only gradually became ware of the fact that order in the sense of clarity and truth must then be created over and over again.

  This book is a keeper and will remain on my shelf.  It was a very delightful and at times iconic read.  4 ****

Friday, September 22, 2023

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George

Book
flap summary

Retrieved this off my Books To Be Read Shelf.  Printed in 1999 but one I'd found maybe a year ago at a book sale. 596 pages , timeless writing.  I have read nearly all of her books over the years and not for quite some time.   This one, as many,  focuses on the  crime solving by Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, subordinate Barbra Havers, another subordinate Winston Nkita, all of New Scotland yard,  Lynley's wife, and Simon St. James, expert forensics retired.  Familiar characters but introduction of new ones, Andy Malden retired Scotland Yard  who requests Lynley's assistance in solving the murder of his daughter Nicole.  A very well written mystery with sub plots of captivating  intrigue  throughout. Including that Barbara Havers has been demoted for disobeying direct orders from a superior in a judgement call she made to save the life of a child, her neighbor.    The ending is a twister.  

Calder Moor and pertinent locations


 .  .  
Author Elizabeth George


 Page 96 descriptive of  Lynley's philosophy in investigation of crimes and facts.  

Page 243 descriptive of the emotion in death of a child

A ***** 5 star read as with the other mysteries by Elizabeth George. 











Friday, August 4, 2023

The Hit by David Baldacci

 

Picked up this at a book sale, published in 2013 but new to me.  As always with Baldacci, a hit of a read.  I started to read it in June and finished it in a few evenings..  A 5 *****  

Right away on page 4 an  inspiring quote that  might be worth keeping in mind.  "  They were pretty good.  But pretty good did not cut it when you were up against outstanding."

This is the 2nd book featuring Robie.  Here from Amazon, a brief:     "Master assassin Will Robie must track down a deadly rogue agent, but the attacks conceal a larger threat that could send shockwaves through the U. S. government and around the world in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller.  

Will Robie is a master of killing.    A highly skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst--enemies of the state, monsters committed to harming untold numbers of innocent victims.

No one else can match Robie's talents as a hitman...no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she's gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency.

To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him.

But as Robie pursues Reel, he quickly finds that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye. Her attacks on the agency conceal a larger threat, a threat that could send shockwaves through the U.S. government and around the world."

Here is the intro in the book