Recent Reads {Girl with a Pearl Earring}

This book was my book club's pick for May.  I've been interested in reading it for a long time, so putting it on the book club list was probably a good idea.  Last year our book club read another Tracy Chevalier novel, The Lady and the Unicorn, which I really enjoyed.  Girl with a Pearl Earring was interesting in that the whole story is narrated by the "girl" named Griet.  Her family falls on hard times and she goes into service as a housemaid for the Vermeer family.  Her eye for color and ability to clean the artist's studio without disturbing anything gain her some notice with him, but other family members dislike her. 

 

One of the reasons that I really enjoy historical fiction is my interest in the fact that everyone in history has been an individual "real" person, and although we know much of the statistics and facts about the famous people, often little is known of their personality.  And less is known about the more ordinary folks in days gone by - the foot soldiers, the servants, the peasants, and others.  Although Chevalier's story is fictional, it puts a face and personality on the poorer citizens of that time, those who served and worked largely anonymously.  The difficult positions Griet was placed in by being merely a servant are hard for us to imagine.  Chevalier presents her as a well-rounded character, with virtues and faults, and imagines a compelling story behind this famous, yet mysterious painting of Vermeer's.  Not a great deal is known about Johannes Vermeer himself, and Chevalier chooses, for the most part, to allow his personality to remain a mystery in her novel.

 

Something else interesting - since the movie based on this book has recently come out on DVD, our club decided that our "MOMS Night Out" activity for this month would be to get together and watch the movie.  So we are doing that tonight.  I am really looking forward to it - and I sure hope that I won't be disappointed, as I often have been when I've read a delightful book and then watched the movie. 

Recent Reads {Galileo's Daughter}

Seems like I have had this book on my "I'm Reading Now" section of my little bookshelf widget f-o-r-e-v-e-r...  And I have been working on it for a long time.  It was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, but was willing to set aside while I was reading something for which I had a deadline!  I would need to put this on hold while I finished up a book club pick in time for the discussion, or had to finish a book before I had to return it to the library.  Galileo's Daughter often got put aside because it was not in huge demand at the library and I could renew it! 

 

I love history, biographies, and historical fiction.  This book turned out to be a delightful combination of history and biography that read almost like an historical novel in places.  The subtitle is A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love and I found that to be an apt description.  Author Dava Sobel gives us a full biography of Galileo, much of it based on the surviving letters written to him by his oldest daughter who lived as a cloistered nun.  The descriptions of Galileo's many scientific, mathematical, and philosophical pursuits and discoveries are complete, as well as an account of his appearance before the Holy Office of the Inquisition and its results; yet are not presented as timelines of dry facts.  Instead we are introduced to Galileo as very warmly human.  He loved his children deeply, and was a generous and devoted father and friend.  His daughter, born Virginia, entered a convent at San Mateo and took vows as Suor Maria Celeste.  Although cloistered as a nun, she nevertheless had a warm and loving relationship with her doting father and they continued a vibrant correspondence throught the years.  Sadly, Galileo's letters to her are lost, but he kept the letters received from her, through which we have a glimpse of a wonderfully intelligent and gracious young woman.  Her writing style is graceful and elegant, and she makes a fascinating character.   From the history books, I knew that Galileo did his best to remain obedient to the Church and to reconcile his discoveries and observations of astronomy with the teachings of the Church at the time.  However, from my reading of this book, I have also formed the opinion that not only was he obedient, he was devout and a man of personal faith.  Suor Maria Celeste's letters indicate that her religion was not just the imposed lifestyle of the convent, but the deeply personal convictions that she was under God's grace, that prayer made a difference, and that love and service to others was an expression on her devotion to the Lord.   When I read the final chapters, I thought how neat it will be to meet this father and daughter in heaven someday.   

 

Recent Reads {Silent in the Grave}

This was such an enjoyable read, and is definitely on my "own it for myself" list now, along with the second in the series, Silent in the Sanctuary.  In the opening pages, Lady Julia's husband collapses at a dinner party and is dead before The First Chapter comes to a close.  Julia finds that he had engaged a private detective named Nicholas Brisbane, who now suspects foul play.  As the story unfolds, Julia realizes that Brisbane's suspicions are perhaps well-founded after all and the two begin an uneasy partnership to investigate.  The murder mystery itself is intriguing, without an easy solution, and along the way we meet members of Julia's eccentric family and discover some of their quirks, flaws, and sins.  I found a good dose of humour throughout the story as well.

 

From the book jacket:

A wholly original mystery set in the extravagant surroundings of upper-class Victorian England, and introducing the compelling, charismatic Lady Julia Grey...

 

Well, I'm off to see if I can find a good deal on this and the second in the series at half.com or at amazon!  I was so wrapped up in reading this book (plus I couldn't renew it from the library so I needed to finish quickly) that I've neglected poor Galileo's Daughter and I also have a book club pick to get working on.