Books Read in January

The Conjurer's Bird by Martin Davies


This was an enchanting mixture of history and romance although I thought
that the story's ending was a let-down. A young naturalist sets out to find
out the truth about a famous bird discovered by Joseph Banks in the South Seas.

The book was based on historical fact and certainly made me more interested in
Banks. His life was apparently fairly mysterious in some aspects.

Here is my review of : Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani.

With Violets by Elizabeth Robards

This is a beautifully written novel about the ambitious, young woman artist, Berthe Morisot, and her love affair with Edouard Manet. The prose does descend into the 'purple' sometimes, I feel, and the dialogue is a bit contrived at times, but I enjoyed it very much.

The characterization is very good. Berthe is a very likeable young woman, torn between trying to please her mother who wants her to marry well, and her love for a married man. She is also an excellent artist.

Edouard Manet is also well-imagined. He is handsome and charming, but has a certain ruthlessness. I also liked the character of Degas, who seems to be either understanding or annoying because of his sarcasm.



The struggles of the Impressionists are interesting. Morisot is very determined to have her art respected, and this is always difficult for a new style of painting. Robards writes well about the problems that the Impressionists faced.

The Women in Black by Madeleine St.John


This was a charming book about women who worked in a
department store in the sixties in Sydney.
It contrasts the innocent Aussies with the more sophisticated European
migrants very well and St.John's characters are
very realistic.

The central character is young Leslie who changes her name to Lisa in order
to seem more grown-up and confident.
(You can see why I liked it! lol) Magda, a Hungarian migrant, takes her
under her wing, and helps to transform her into
a young woman with poise and grace, who knows where she is going.

This novel is based on the famous Sydney department store of David Jones and
reminded me of shopping there when I was young.
It used to have a Food Hall and a piano player (sometimes) and always seemed
very glamorous.

Comments

Abigail Rogers said…
I see that you have England listed as one of your interests! Perhaps you would like my blog:

http://picturesofgreatbritain.blogspot.com/

As often as possible I will post photographs of glorious vistas, charming close-ups, and interesting tidbits of life in Great Britain for the pleasure of Anglophiles everywhere!

P.S. What a coincidence, we are both fascinated by the Tudors!
Viola said…
Thank you very much, Abby. I love your blog. It has beautiful photos and interesting articles. I will include links soon!
Anonymous said…
Hi Lisa,

Happy New Year to you! I trust you are having an enjoyable day. My name is Todd Stepp and I work for BooksChristian.com, here in Franklin, TN. We are a Christian owned & operated company that sells over 200,000 Christian products.

I have visited bookaddiction.blogspot.com and have noticed that you post book reviews on your blog. I wanted to see if you would be interested in partnering with us, enabling visitors to your blog to purchase books that you review, as well as other books that you may suggest to them (books of the day etc.). In return we would pay you 9% on every sale made. There is very little work that would need to be done on your end, as we provide all the tools to create links and codes that you can post on your blog.

I would love to discuss this further with you at your earliest convenience. I look forward to hearing from you!

Regards,

Todd Stepp


--
todd stepp
bookschristian
e: todd.stepp@bookschristian.com
p: 615.497.9808
aim: mctoddstepp

Popular Posts