Recommended Reading

I finished reading Tracy Chevalier’s book “Falling Angels” today. I always have trouble explaining why I like a book so much without giving the wrong impression to the person I’m recommending it too. That's probably why I haven't recommended any books on this blog prior to today.

My mother is the only person to whom I’ll just say “I read a great book and I highly recommend it to you” and usually she’ll go and put it on her list, which is great because if she reads it, I’ll have someone to talk it over with. Usually, you have to describe a book in terms of “what it was about” and then you end up talking about it in stark terms that can just turn people off. I feel I’m doing the book, any book, a disservice by trying to describe it myself so if you’re interested, you can read the publisher’s description over at Amazon.com. I was going to do a link, but Blogger seems a bit testy today. Anyway, I couldn’t put this book down.

This was written before her book “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” which of course became a huge success as a result of the movie starring Scarlett Johansson. I’ve also read her book “The Lady and Unicorn” and really enjoyed it as a well. I’m going through a stage where I’m reading practically anything that has a storyline connected to artists, famous works of art and art history.

I finished “Girl in Hyacinth Blue” by Susan Vreeland also a novel based on the works of Johannes Vermeer. Also by Vreeland was “The Passion of Artemesia” (a fictional account of the life of the post-Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi), and “The Forest Lover” (a novel about Emily Carr), which despite its Canadian content, I enjoyed the least of all her books.

Then there was “A Birth of Venus: A Novel” by Sarah Dunant set in 15th-century Florence. I’m going to check out what else Dunant has done. “In the Company of a Courtesan” sure looks interesting.

Now, I know they’re only novels, but through reading them, I got a sense of why someone might want to study art history. I also think that novels like these make understanding art appreciation a little easier. There’s just so much to know about one single painting.