In Between Naps

Thanks to Amy E.'s book club up in Fairwood for hosting me! Good company, good food, fun discussion--all in a house with more cobwebs than mine, albeit Debbi got to choose where to put hers, and mine are au naturel. At these book clubs there never fails to be a perspective I've never heard, and this was no exception. Jane thought no way was Phyl over Daniel by the end of the book, and Jill was amazed that Cass would go write for a video game company with no experience in the field. Hmm...

Many in the Dudley household have been laid low with mysterious sleeping sickness, so I've gotten a lot of reading done.

Latest Book to Change My Life:
William Stolzenburg's WHERE THE WILD THINGS WERE. I've referred to this in a past post and want to recommend the entire book. Forget climate change! (or at least, there's lots more to the picture...) The role top predators play in ecosystems and the havoc wraught when they disappear. Made me want to get a lynx for the backyard, but I don't know if the neighbors would be on board.

An Interesting Twist:
I also recently mentioned enjoying the art-forgery non-fiction PROVENANCE by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, so I gave THE MAN WHO MADE VERMEERS by Jonathan Lopez a try. It was a little less interesting on the the how-tos of forgery and manufacturing provenances but made up for it in art interpretation. How, for example, a successful forgery both alludes to the imitated Old Master and exudes contemporary appeal. This forger, in particular, absorbed images from Nazi propaganda and inserted them in his faux biblical Vermeers, and suddenly Hermann Goering wanted one.

And finally, Don't Call Me Frothy:
Halfway through Nancy Mitford's LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE, which also puts me halfway through the three-novel Mitford "omnibus" I checked out. I can't believe I never read her! And how I wish I had someone to read it aloud to because her writing begs to be read aloud. Talk about beach reads.