Four days ago I was wearing short sleeves and wishing it were cooler. Night before last I had to cover the plants as the temps dropped to be 27F / -3C. Our walk today was brisk to say the least with 18 mph wind and heavy coats. Loki's ears were flapping, lol.
This is Loki and his neighbor buddy Daisy on a warm morning walk this past weekend. The photo makes them look to be the same size but Loki is a good 28 pounds bigger. Looks like they are about to drop a new album.
Two books finished this week. Let's start with a fiction by Virginia Evans - Within the Walled City. I loved her latest book The Correspondent but this one I have mixed feelings.
Starting with the good things I will say the cover art is beautiful. The story mostly takes place in Siena Italy and the descriptions of architecture, interactions and food come alive. I could clearly picture the characters, the vibrant colors and conversations weren't stilted.
Jillian is the narrator, a college aged young woman focusing on art, planning a work study program in Italy. It must be noted Jillian and her father have a cool relationship and by that I mean civil after a huge falling out. As Jillian's mom Lily had cancer and died when Jillian was nine years old, she naturally had questions about her mother. Her requests for info about her mother were usually stonewalled over the years and then, she finds a treasure trove of Lily's paintings hidden in the attic. Confrontation ensued.
Time passes....
Suddenly her father is encouraging her to accept the art study in Sienna over other Italian cities. Before leaving, he hands her Lily's journal, written when Lily was an art student in....you guessed it, Siena.
There are times this story was rather slow and others storylines about her roommates in Siena get mixed in but overall, I did like the book. It's a lovely armchair excursion to Tuscany where you'll love the foodie descriptions, a bit of romance and most of the loose ends get tied up neatly.
I was fortunate enough to purchase this book on Kindle shortly after reading
The Correspondent (which I loved) but now it appears the book is unavailable in either Kindle or physical book format. The great success of The Correspondent must have inspired bookworms to seek out Evan's earlier book. Rating it a 3.75 and should probably round to 4 as I was never tempted to put it down. Just the ending seemed "too" tied up and improbable, in my humble opinion. I'll put a spoiler note on Goodreads with those thoughts.
Did you know we have a World Heritage site here in the United States? I did not until I read this book. It's located about 10 miles from St Louis Missouri, a large prehistoric civilization which was larger than London in 1250 AD. Here is a link to Cahokia Mounds, a World Heritage and State Historical site.
The chapters about Pompeii was my main interest and learning about the society. Freed slaves (libertli) their children or those who earned their freedom constituted the major part of the population. It was a vibrant city, ruined and abandoned so quickly after the volcanic eruption. Sad. A citizen named Julia Felix was particularly interesting as she held ownership of several blocks of buildings, quite a businesswoman.
The other two cities excavated and studied are Cataholyuk, Turkey and Angkor in Cambodia. This book is tagged as science with much info about the archeological digs and finds.
The book was written by a journalist, not an archeological team, so keep that in mind when reading about environmental and political reasons why a vibrant civilization disappeared. Rounded up to 3.5 stars
It's been a roller coaster weather week for us, too, but at least we weren't dealing with that blizzard! Virginia Evans has said in interviews that she's actually written nine novels over the past 20 years, but The Correspondent was the first one published. I wonder if Within the Walled City may have been self-published at some point and removed when she realized there were still copies floating around out there? Thank you for the letter, getting mail is such a treat!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, I had no idea Evans wrote that many books, that's incredible. I wonder what else may be floating out there? that gives me a book mission to obsess over, lol.
DeleteI know with Kindle books there are so many licences for a title whihc is why our library has a few Kindle copies of any book and can't loan out more than they "purchased".
Glad my letter made it!
Cute photo of the doggies up top. Does Loki have an admirer?! Daisy looks like a good girlfriend for him with a nice pink collar, lol. The Evans book has a good setting in Tuscany and I have been to Siena which makes that cool. A bit unusual that the book has disappeared now? And I didn't know about Cahokia Mounds so I'm glad you linked to it. I am curious about archeological digs and finds (especially about Pompeii) ... so the nonfiction book sounds pretty good to me. thx for the reviews on both.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. It's mostly girl dogs in our neighborhood and he's a real magnet for them....even the larger dogs.
DeleteThe book setting was cool, and overall I liked it, but the end seemed rushed with the info imparted. I bet that was beautiful when you were there, on a biking adventure?
February does tend to be a bit fickle with the weather, doesn't it? Although, when we lived in Nebraska, we knew winter weather could come and go up through the middle of May! It doesn't really feel like we've had a rough winter here this year. Not nearly as much rain as normal.
ReplyDeleteCute pics of Loki and his pal. My mom had a therapy dog visit her yesterday in the rehab center. It was his first day, so he was a bit wound up, but she enjoyed holding him. I think it was some sort of small Doodle mix.
Uh-Oh. So, you didn't love Virginia Evans; earlier book, eh? I wondered if it would be worthwhile. Yes, the cover art is beautiful. With so many books to read, maybe this isn't one to immediately buy. That is, if I can even get a copy. I'll bet the book is going to be republished by Evans' new publisher.
Thank you for thinking of my mom and sending her a card. She will be very grateful when it arrives. It's been a long week and a half! We're hoping she comes home in the next few days. She's improving so much and is eager to bust out of rehab! :)
Les, February is indeed up and down here and our son was saying the same about Lincoln weather. Did you happen to see that sinkhole open up near the university in Omaha and two vehicles fell in?! I was telling Tristan about that yesterday. Funny I saw Omaha news and he didn't know about it. :-)
DeleteThat's great your mom saw a therapy dog, I'd sure perk up with that kind of visitor! She seems in good overall health and determined so I think she will be home with you soon. A positive attitude means a lot for recovery.
I did like Virgina Evans book and never wanted to put it down but the ending seemed too tied up for me. I would still read more by her. Not sure why her earlier books aren't availble and I guess I just got lucky with the Kindle purchase. Right place at the right time, for once. I still think you'd enjoy it.
I'm terribly curious about the Virginia Evans book. I wonder if it was a book she self-published before The Correspondent; I'd heard that The Correspondent was her first novel!
ReplyDeleteThe weather is all over the place here, too. Sweaters one day and short pants the next.
Deb, I did not think about the self published idea for Evans' boko. maybe that is why there are so few availble. JoAnn was telling me The Correspondent was her first novel published but that she wrote many more books. Now I am intrigued.
DeleteNO, I did NOT know we have a World Heritage site here in the United States! I wonder what exactly we SEE if we visit the mounds. Just mounds? lol I ask because we have ONE mound in Malibu, and that's all it is. A mound.
ReplyDeleteIt was 88F here today so I had to run around and shut all the windows and crank on the AC. Last week it was pouring rain and we were freezing to death, waking up to 44F. Crazy!
Jinjer, I didn't know that either! I think there are buildings you can tour and atifacts on diplay but I didn't look too deeply into it.
DeleteYou have some hot temps now but sounds like your wether is also up and down like ours. I have never been to California and I guess i think it's usually very warm and comfortable in the southern parts.
I’m glad you found Four Lost Cities interesting. I followed the link you shared to learn more about the Cahokia Mounds and I have to say I think it would be rather underwhelming as a destination if the Mound Gallery is anything to go by. If Pompeii is of interest I just finished The Lost Voices of Pompeii by Dr Jess Venner and would recommend it.
ReplyDeleteShelleyrae, I havevthat Pompeii book on my radar. It looks very interesting. I wouldn't make the trip especially for Cahokia but may stop to see it if I were traveling that way. I honestly didnt know we had a World Heritage site here.
DeleteThat is fascinating on the World Heritage site. I had no idea but do want to read that book. I love the picture of Loki and his friend. They do look ready to release and album! Our weather is gorgeous today. It's a nice change from all the rain we had this week and the cold from the week before!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, that's one reason I like nonfiction, I usually learn something. I had no idea this young country had a wrold heritage site. There is another book about Pompeii Shelleyrae mentioned and I am going to add that to my lineup as well.
DeleteThe weather here is now nice - for now - and I am going to sit out and weed the front flower bed in a few minutes. Right after my coffee. Loki like to sit and sun while I pull weeds.