You might notice a theme in my book selections this time.....
A Season for the Dead - David Hewson
This book was much different than the last Hewson I read in Book Review #6. Based in modern day Rome it was a lot like The Da Vinci Code....I say that even though I haven't read that book. It was pretty violent in places but I just 'fast forwarded' to the next paragraph when that happened. I love how Nick Costa has a passion for Caravaggio. If you want a modern day, page turner, detective story, read this.
The Passion of Artemesia - Susan Vreeland
Definitely the best book I've read all year. (Well, since May 2010 actually.) A historical fiction based on the life of one of the first female painters in Italy to be taken seriously. Her paintings are super intense - lots of people getting their heads cut off. Really well written, I'm excited to see some of her paintings in Florence!
The Lost Painting - Jonathan Harr
A good read, not totally well written but worth reading if you like Caravaggio. I took all four of these books from the library at the same time, so I was anxious to get them all read. Brad started this one and was halfway through it when my bookmark appeared near the beginning. He was choked that I was rushing him through the book. He did finish before me because.....
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Irving Stone
Holy crap this is a monster. 750 pages of historical fiction about Michelangelo. I love this book and I'm still reading it while reading new books. If you want to be absorbed in the life of an absolute master of art - read this. It's given me so much insight into his art I know I'm going to burst into tears when I see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And his sculptures - ridiculous. How could one person have that much talent?!
So lots of Italian content. I'm taking a break from Italy reading right now, but I might go back for more before our trip. What do you guys think - what should I read when we're in Italy??
You know what's fun? Planning a trip to Italy.
You know what is also fun? Buying new shoes for the trip!
Last weekend I popped into my favourite shoe store, just to see what they had....and walked out with three pairs. All for Italy.
The ones in the middle are for the opera. I have HUGE plans for my wardrobe for that night and I can't wait to share it with you guys.....but you will have to wait a little longer.
I love Project Runway. When it first came on I worked with my good buddy R. and we used to dissect it every week at work. Even though we don't work together anymore, we still email about it every week when it's on. But we've never watched it together!
On Saturday I went into Vancouver and we finally watched it together. R. taped the last four episodes and we watched them all at once. We had chocolate, tea, snacks, chocolate....it was The. Best.
On my way home I took transit to get to the ferry. As I was sitting on the first Skytrain I started to look around and realized how many people were clamoring around. Everywhere.
Then I remembered what my bestie said when she moved away from Vancouver in March*. "There are too many people with too many intentions. I have to get outta here." At the time I didn't understand what she meant but now I do: everyone is climbing all over each other to get around, to get by, everyone is going in different directions all at once.
After these totally foreign (to me) thoughts started going through my head I started to freak out a little bit. You guys know how I feel about Vancouver....
I wanted to distract myself so I decided to put my ipod on. It was on full blast and I. couldn't. hear. it. I realized that my 'full blast' in Victoria is a lot different than my 'full blast' used to be in Vancouver. I used to be part of that crowd, blend in, flow with it. Now I feel like I stick out, like I don't belong.
I freaked out some more.
Then I realized that I can't imagine commuting to work like this anymore. I like my short walk to work where I listen to La Boheme and think about going to the opera in Rome**. I like the little 5000 square foot office I work at. I like my 12 workmates, rather than the 150 workmates I had in Vancouver. I like the slow pace of Victoria.
All of this is now okay with me.
The next thought that quickly flashed through my mind.....so brief I wasn't even sure I had it:
"I don't think I want to live in Vancouver anymore."
Gasp!
Then this image:
I started to get super emotional. Then I realized that I couldn't wait to get back home to Victoria.
Saturday April 9, 2011 - I finally had my breakthrough about Vancouver. It only took 2 1/2 years.
*more on this later, I have some catching up to do
** yes, I do this every morning
I have TMJ. In other words, I clench my jaw.....or something.....when I sleep. I think?
Anyway, I've had it for a long time and massage therapy does wonders but I haven't been keeping up with it. So when it's bad (like now) I can't open my mouth very wide at all. Which means no giant sandwiches with that extra piece of bread in the middle, no giant hamburgers, no jawbreakers - you get it.
So today I had to pick up three engineers and take them to a job site. I hadn't met these guys before and I was kinda nervous. Everything was fine of course - they were really nice guys.
After we were done on site, we decided to grab a quick lunch - sushi right across the street! Yay!
While browsing the menu, I thought "Okay the yam rolls are sometimes really big so no yam....the salmon rolls though - those are always small and manageable. Yup, salmon roll it is."
What are the chances that this restaurant of all places serves giant salmon maki?!I've never seen such giant salmon rolls.
A Season for the Dead - David Hewson
