This might be the most romantic book ever! Floating down the rivers and canals of France in a book store on a barge - sign me up! Jean Perdu's floating bookstore is called The Literary Apothecary where books are organized by the emotion they evoke - and Perdu has the uncanny knack of matching the book with the reader. He has not been so successful in his own life having lost his one great love. Then events require that both the barge and Perdu break free from their Seine River moorings and adventure and self discovery begin. Within the main story is the diary of Manon, Perdu's lost love. Such sadness! Such joy! Such scenery.! Such food! An unopened letter, a mysterious author, love lost, love found - pure escapist delight! You cannot be sad at the end of this book.
Monday, January 17, 2022
Sunday, January 16, 2022
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
It is hard to imagine actually creating a dictionary and that very process imagined in this story is mind boggling. Just the dates alone hint at the monumental task: 1857 - a call for a new dictionary to replace Samual Johnson's 1755 version; 1879 - James Murray named editor; 1888 - first volume, A and B, is published; 1928 - V to Z is published, 71 years later.
This is the story of all the years in between the beginning and end of that first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary but mostly the story of Esme. Her father was one of the men working on the dictionary. Her mother had died so Esme spent many hours under the writing tables of the "Scriptorium" watching the slips of paper filled with words drift around her. Later she would become part of the dictionary creating team. But the events of her life outside the world of words brought her to the realization that the words and definitions that went into the dictionary were greatly dependent on who put them there. The lives of the underclass, the demands of the suffragettes, women of all classes - this was a vocabulary that was easily overlooked by a committee of educated white men. That connection between words and the world they describe - that one might shape the other - well, those are just some things to think about. There is a lot of real history in this work of fiction. It is a great companion read to Simon Winchester's The Madman and the Professor. By the way, the second edition of the OED wasn't published until 1989, 61 years after the first.
The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli
The portrait in question is "Portrait of a Lady with Ermine" by Leonardo da Vinci. One story takes place in Milan in 1492 when the Duke of Milan commissions a portrait of his 16 year old mistress. Think court intrigue, artistic drama and one feisty young woman. The other story begins in Munich in 1939. Edith is a talented but shy art conservator at the Alte Pinakothek Museum. She is honored to be ask to make a presentation about the art collection owned by single family. Her audience turns out to be a group of important men in Hitler's inner circle but when the unthinkable becomes the reality of Hitler's Germany, she feels responsible for what she fears is a great mistake. At great risk she makes a connection with an American soldier who is one of the Monuments Men and so begins a new chapter in the story of this very famous painting. Wonderfully imagined historical fiction.