A Work in Progress

A Room With a View

Not a great view, but a view nonetheless!  I can think of other things I would like to look at outside my window (the French or Italian countryside maybe?), but alas, this is what I have ended up with thus far in life.  Although I am not an author, this is the window near my desk where I create my posts (the closest I will ever come to writing)--one little swivel of the chair and this is what I see.  Simon shared his view, so here is mine.  I live in an older part of town.  My house was built sometime in the 1870s.  The house where my grandparents lived is only a block away.  Sadly the neighborhood has gone downhill a bit.  While there are many very nice families who live in the neighborhood, there are also rental houses, with all the problems rental housing can bring.  Sorry to say that--I used to rent, too, but in my experience rentals can ruin a neighborhood if not kept up (and most in my neighborhood are not--a pity!).  I could share a story of a house (now condemned--you can't see it--careful cropping by me) that was a flop house.  Nothing like living across the street from prostitutes (no worries--they're gone now, to greener pastures no doubt).  Perhaps I will save that story for a day I am feeling uninspired.

This is my desk (the window is just to the right).  The photo is old as the I took it when I had cleaned up the area and hung some of my needlework.  It looked quite nice.  I have let things get a bit sloppy, so I decided not to scare you with a newer photo.  It's not really what I would want my space to look like--but again--you work with what you have and make the best of it.  Oh to have the Martha Stewart knack!  The room also houses my treadmill, so I do a lot of reading as well as writing here.  I also have bins full of needlework and quilting supplies.  It is amazing how much can be stored in a really small space!I'm not entirely sure this really reflects my personality--there isn't a single book in the photo.  But I assure you there is a stack sitting on the floor by my chair even as I type!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  One more.  I am sure I must have posted this photo here before, but it seemed to match the other photos, so here is Dulce practicing one of her favorite hobbies--basking in the sunshine.  I concur, only I would want to have a book in my hand as well. 

First Impressions

A little short of two weeks down, and I am at about the 100 page mark (I have a long way to go...).  I am finding Don Quixote surprisingly easy to read.  I thought the language was going to be archaic and I was going to be lost, but the writing is very clear, or maybe this is just a very good translation (I'm reading the Grossman).   Each chapter, and I read about a chapter or two a day, can almost stand alone.  The chapters seem to be episodic in nature, and I am assuming that they reflect the form of chivalric tales.  It has been easy to read a bit and then set the book down for later, then pick it back up again the following day and continue on.

While the story is easy to read, don't assume it lacks depth in any way.  It is the sort of book that can be read on many levels as I am sure many readers have already mentioned.  As a matter of fact the depths of DQ that can be plumbed are rather deep, I'd say.  I admire how Sylvia is approaching the reading of the text.  I'm sort of somewhere in the middle.  I am reading for enjoyment (I'd like to take notes, but as I am reading this mostly on the bus it doesn't lend itself to easy note taking), but I also want to see what Cervantes was attempting (and succeeded obviously) to accomplish.  I want to know how and why.  I am finding I have a lot of questions as I read.  I don't have any answers yet (these are early days yet).  Maybe this is how I should approach my reading--write down all my questions as they come to me and see which are answered as I get to the end.  And what hasn't been answered can be discussed with the other Tilters.

I don't really feel like I can analyse anything at the moment (and lots of things have come up and are swishing around in my brain), but I can share some passages that I have found amusing.  And there are lots of them!  The book begins with a gentleman by the name of Quixada or Quexada who has lost his mind (has he really lost his mind?---one of my questions--and whether he has or hasn't seems to have lots of implications on the characters and the story).  How has he lost it, you ask.

"In short, our gentleman became so caught up in reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk till dawn and his days reading from sunrise to sunset, and so with too little sleep and too much reading his brains dried up, causing him to lose his mind.  His fantasy filled with everything he had read in his books, enchantments as well as combats, battles, challenges, wounds, courtings, loves, torments, and other impossible foolishness, and he became so convinced that his imagination of the truth of all the countless grandiloquent and false inventions he read that for him no history in the world was truer."

I wonder sometimes if I read too much as well.  Maybe my brains are becoming addled, too?  I guess I will have to watch how many chivalric tales I consume and keep them to a minimum.  Can I just say that Miguel de Cervantes was a gas?  Really.  Some of the things that happen are quite funny.  Well, there is some violence, and I am not sure how to interpret those sections (another question).  But some of the scenes are slapstick funny.  The man could have written skits for the The Three Stooges, and I am not trying to be disrespectful.  Take for example a scene I just read yesterday.

"By the light of the innkeeper's lamp, the muledriver saw what was happening to his lady, and leaving Don Quixote, he hurried to give her the help she needed.  The innkeeper also approached, but with a different purpose, because he went to her to punish the girl, believing, no doubt, that she alone was the reason for so much harmony.  And, as the old saying goes, the cat chased the rat, the rat chased the rope, the rose chased the stick: the muledriver hit Sancho, Sancho hit the girl, the girl hit Sancho, the innkeeper hit the girl, and all of them acted so fast and furiously that they did not let up for an instant; then, the best part was that the innkeeper's lamp went out, and since they were in darkness, everyone hit everyone with so little mercy  that wherever their hands landed they left nothing whole and sound."

Just picture it.  Complete madness.  And I am not even quoting the whole chapter!  The book so far is full of misunderstandings.  Whatever Don Quixote looks at, he doesn't really see.  His entire frame of reference is what he has read in his novels of chivalry.  His reality is filtered through these books.  I'm very curious how this will continue, and particularly how it will all end!

Illustration is by Gustave Dore.   

Splurges

A splurge, but a small one.  Relatively speaking anyway.  As I had to stop by the mall last night after work (in search of a Mother's Day present) I, of course, had to stop by the bookstore as well.  The only thing I had in mind to buy was Susan Vreeland's new book Luncheon of the Boating Party, which was released last week--a novel about Renoir's famous painting of the same name that I am looking forward to reading.  I have heard very good things about Carmen Laforet's Nada.  The Laforet is a lovely little Modern Library edition.  They call it one of the most important literary works of post-Civil War Spain, and I am looking forward to reading it, too.  For those reading the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote--she also translated Nada. 

I have been thinking about the books on my nightstand (those books on my sidebar), and aside from there being too many as usual, only two of them are written by American authors, yet both are set in Britain.  I am too predictable when it comes to my books, and I seem to alway neglect American authors and settings for some odd reason.  It is not a conscious effort, it just happens that way.  So I was thinking that I really need to read something contemporary (post-war literature at least), by an American and with a setting here in the US.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, and I wasn't really even browsing too hard (am trying to stay out of too much trouble after my recent UK book binges), when  I came across Mary Gaitskill's Veronica.  I have tried to mooch this book several times, and each time the mooch falls through.  I broke down and bought it new instead.  It is set in NYC in the 80s and is written by an American author.  So far, so good.  The only thing is I have heard varying reactions to this book.  Still, I have wanted to read it, so I am willing to keep an open mind and give it a try. I was all ready to start reading last night, but then I took another look at my disgustingly tall piles of books sitting on my nightstand looking for attention and changed my mind!  So it is sitting high up on the stack by my bed. 

You would have seen one last book on the pile--Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, but I put it back into the bag to take back to the store.  Not only do I already have the book, but I have the same exact edition.  It's sad when you can't even remember which books you already own and buy them twice!  Now that I have been reading Tess of the D'Ubervilles in earnest I am all gung ho on Hardy.  It's interesting how a book's reputation precedes it sometimes.  I had formulated in my mind what I thought happened in Tess.  It is not exactly as I thought it would be.  It is still on the dark and brooding side (definitely), but the how the story plays out is very different than I expected.  I do like being surprised, so this is actually a good thing.  I like Hardy's writing style, even if things aren't going to work out well for our heroine in the end.  In any case, the pages are turning quickly, and I find that I have to make myself set it aside at times to work on other books!

So my usual questions...do you have a certain type of book you return to over and over (for me it is--Victorian Lit. or books set in the Victorian era, books set during or around WWI or WWII, seafaring tales--though I haven't really read any this year...must change that--and the setting for these is almost always Britain), or is your reading all over the geographical and time period spectrum?  And what is your favorite (all-time or recent) book set in America by an American author (the catch--post WWII books)? 

A Different Kind of Finish

This year I  have spent far more time reading in my free time than working on any of my other hobbies.  I tend to go in phases (though I always read--I may not work on my other hobbies at various times), and lately my needlework has been suffering a bit.  I did manage to finish a project, but it was for a gift, so I don't get to keep it.  I think the only big motivation for finishing it was that I needed to get it in the mail!  This is called a needleroll--it is a sort of pincushion, though I suspect most stitchers just display them in baskets.  It is stitched with silk floss and took me forever to finish as the design wraps all the way around.  You can't really tell from the photo, but there are lots of beads and backstitching as well.  I'm not the fastest reader, but I am an even slower stitcher.  My sewing/finishing on this was not very good.  There is a pretty glaring mistake (to my eyes anyway), but if I don't mention it, perhaps you won't notice?

My newest project is stitching a reproduction sampler.  The original sampler is in a private collection.  It was stitched in England in 1790.  It shows a pastoral scene--a shepherd and shepherdess wearing fashionable clothing. Pastoral scenes were quite popular at this time.  I think it is going to take me a very long time to complete it.  The finished sampler will measure 22-1/4" x 15-1/4".  The photo is very bad--you can't see any detail, but part of the border includes stitching eyelets (the stitch is open in the center--creating an "eye").  I don't know how many there are, but there must literally be hundreds of them.  They are not really my favorite stitch, but once they are all done, they will look quite impressive. 

Although I have progressed a bit further than this, here is my beginning.  No eyelets yet!  What is amazing about these samplers is that often they were stitched by very young girls.  The more complicated samplers were made by women with more experience, but I can't imagine my 8-year old niece working on even a simple sampler!  She's more interested in playing with a cell phone or a game boy!  Much like reading, I am not content stitching only one thing at a time.  I am also contemplating working on this sampler--Jane Turner--another reproduction sampler from 1668!  Jane, however, was a very accomplished needlewoman and I am not sure I am up to her stitching ability yet.  Her sampler used all sorts of difficult stitches to create texture.  By the way, did you know that Mary Queen of Scots was an accomplished needlewoman?  Unfortunately I don't think anything I make will grace the wall of a museum, but I still enjoy doing it nonetheless (and my work looks pretty darn good on my own walls at home)!

Ho-Hum

Creativity can sometimes be a very ephemeral thing.  There are weeks where I can plan my posts out days in advance and then I will find my posts are even longer than I wanted them to be.  And then.  There are weeks when I am feeling ho-hum and stare at the wall hoping it will give me a good idea for a post.  So far, it never has.  This is one of those weeks.

I am reading some great books, so you would think I would have lots to talk about.  I wouldn't mind posting on Don Quixote, but as I've mentioned before I can be a rather lazy reader at times.  No matter how slowly and thoughtfully I try and read, I rarely seem to be able to write really intelligent, thought-provoking posts like those that you can read at Tilting at Windmills (maybe I should start taking notes while I read?--or at least invest in those little sticky things you can attach to favorite pages?).  I'm happy to read other's responses to the book.  It's one thing to read and understand, but another thing entirely to organize and digest and then express those ideas in a clear and intelligent way as other DQ readers have been doing.  So you may see an occasional post here (no doubt "DQ-lite"), but I will content myself with reading the Tilting posts and absorbing the ideas and integrating them into my own reading.  I did, however, check out A Critical Guide to Don Quixote by L.A. Murillo to aid in my reading, so maybe eventually I will have something to share on the Tilting blog. 

I also finished reading Virginia Woolf's Night and Day.  How to write about Woolf--such an iconic figure in literature--I'm a little (well a lot) in awe of her.  I'm still sorting through my thoughts and feelings on this one.  I am trying to find some criticism, and discovered there is a chapter in Julia Briggs's Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life on Night and Day, which I checked out from my library (it's not a completely productive day unless I can go to third floor and find a book to check out...).  I have only just glanced at it, but it seems less a criticism of the work than straight biography discussing this period in Woolf's life.  Nonetheless I am happy to read what I can and the book looks like it would be good to read in its entirety.

On a happy note I finally picked Tess of the D'Urbervilles back up today and started reading once again.  And I also started The Good Soldier.  I like Ford Maddox Ford's writing style. I'm not too sure yet of the story (have only just started), but the narrator gives lots of facts right off, so I will have to pay close attention to keep everyone straight.  I was thinking recently that I was doing a poor job this year in reading the classics, but perhaps I will make up for it this month!

Popular Reading Circa 1907

One of Persephone Books' new titles this spring is a reprint of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Shuttle.  Originally published in 1907, it is about American heiresses marrying into the British aristocracy (oftentimes they had the title, but no longer the money for the upkeep of their properties--enter young, rich American ladies).  This subject reminds me of Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers by the way.  I have never read anything by Hodgson Burnett--yes, I know, terrible.  At least I have no recollections of reading The Secret Garden or The Little Princess (maybe I should do so now?).  I have read that the Persephone edition is a shortened version from the original.  I have been following some discussion about the editing of this book, which made me want to check out the original.  Libraries--see why weeding should be done carefully?--happily my library has a 1907 edition (in rather delicate condition) of The Shuttle (last checked out in 1981!).  I'm not entirely sure when I am going to fit it in with my other reads, but it looks like a good story.

I was looking at it during my lunch break.  This copy is a cloth edition, and in the back are advertisements for other books.  This is probably odd, but I am fascinated by old magazines and newspapers--I especially like looking at advertisements and want ads--it's like looking at another world really.  I found it rather entertaining to look at the books on offer in 1907!

Here is a sample of books you might have been tempted to read:

A Fool There Was.  By Porter Emerson Browne.  Illustrated by Edmund Magrath and W.W. Fawcett.
     A relentless portrayal of the career of a man who comes under the influence of a beautiful but evil woman; how she lures him on and on, how he struggles, falls and rises, only to fall again into her net, make a story of unflinching realism.

The Girl in Waiting.  By Archibald Eyre.  Illustrated with scenes from the play.
     A droll little comedy of  misunderstandings, told with a light touch, a venturesome spirit and an eye for human oddities.

The Fortunes of Fifi.  By Molly Elliot Seawell.  Illustrated by T. de Thulstrup.
     A story of life in France at the time of the first Napoleon.  Fifi, a glad, mad little actress of eighteen, is the star performer in a third rate Parisian theatre.  A story as dainty as a Watteau painting.

The Message.  By Louis Tracy.  Illustrations by Joseph C. Chase.
     A breezy tale of how a bit of old parchment, concealed in a figurehead from a sunken vessel, comes into the possession of a pretty girl and an army man during regatta week in the Isle of Wight,  This is the message and it enfolds a mystery, the development of which the reader will follow with breathless interest.

Tono-Bungay.  By Herbert George Wells.
     The hero of this novel is a young man who, through hard work earns a scholarship and goes to London.  Written with a frankness verging on Rousseau's, Mr. Wells still uses rare discrimination and the border line of propriety is never crossed.  An entertaining book with both a story and a moral, and without a dull page--Mr. Wells's most notable achievement.  (One I recognize...I actually own this one!)

Castle Craneycrow. By George Barr McCutcheon.
     The story revolves around the abduction of a young American woman, her imprisonment in an old castle and the adventures created through her rescue.

The Daughter of Anderson Crow.  By George Barr McCutcheon.
     The story centers about the adopted daughter of the town marshal in a western village.  Her parentage is shrouded in mystery, the story concerns the secret that deviously works to the surface.  (I had to list two of McCutcheon titles--not only are the descriptions amusing, but the stories sound sort of fun).

The Scarlet Pimpernel.  By Baroness Orczy.  Illustrated with scenes from the play.
     A realistic story of the days of the French Revolution, abounding in dramatic incident, with a young English soldier of fortune, daring, mysterious as the hero.  (This was the only other title--out of many--that I recognized and am certain is still in print).

Some of the stories sound rather dated, and also rather stereotypical of the period (pretty girl, beautiful but evil woman, career man...), but considering women didn't even have the vote yet, what can you expect.  It's interesting to see which books are still in print 100 years later, and which are decidedly not!  I think it would be sort of fun to find one of these books and see if it is still readable (to my 21st century sensibilities).  And then I wonder which pop fiction titles printed this year will still be around in 100 more years!

What I'm Reading (and What I Should Be Reading)

I finished reading the last chapter of Frank Kermode's The Age of Shakespeare.  The last chapter went much like the previous couple of chapters--a bit over my head.  Still it was a very worthwhile read and any new bit of information to add to what I am learning about Shakespeare is very helpful.  I have also been watching the last couple of episodes of In Search of Shakespeare, the PBS special narrated by Michael Wood.  The Wood program has been very accessible, though he and Kermode don't always seem to agree on actual facts (well, I guess they are conjectures not facts, really) in Shakespeare's life.  I have a stack of videos checked out from various libraries, including several more on Shakespeare, but I will save those for a later post.

I've decided that Margaret Forster's biography of Daphne Du Maurier is calling out to me to be read, so I plan on working on that as my next nonfiction read.  And since my reading is already all over the place at the moment anyway, I started reading Katherine Mansfield's Journal.  As it consists of fragments of journal entries and other short writings, it would be a perfect book to dip into now and then--no rush to get through it.  I'm already intrigued by her life and I think I will have to read a biography of her as well as see which short stories I happen to have on my shelves at the moment. 

Night and Day by Virginia Woolf has been a really good read.  I am nearing the end (finally), and need to think the story over in my mind.  Set before WWI, the story follows four young people and their relationships with each other.  It is a conventional story in that it deals with love and marriage to some extent, but also deals with women's places in society and their desires to break free from their assigned places and duties--I'm not entirely sure they will be able to do so in the end.  I've only got a few chapters left, and I am looking forward to seeing how things turn out.  Jacob's Room is up next, but I think I will hold off on starting it as I really do need to make some progress on poor, neglected David Copperfield and Tess of the D'Ubervilles! 

I am reading daily from Cervantes' Don Quixote.  I think this is going to be a slow read as I am only reading a couple of chapters a day (and they are fairly brief).  The book seems to be somewhat episodic, though, so maybe this is the best way to approach it at the moment.  And for books on the lighter side, I am still enjoying Mariana (Mary is currently enduring drama school--I don't think thins are going well for her...) and The Wayward Muse.

As for what I should be reading?  The Slaves are reading Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier this month.  I have wanted to read this for ages and am looking forward to pulling it off the shelf and finally reading it!  I also need to work on my next Once Upon a Time Challenge books--Saints and Strangers by Angela Carter and Over Sea and Under Stone.  The halfway mark has passed for the challenge and I have only finished one book.  I hate the idea of failing at yet another challenge!  Although it may not seem so, there is actually a method to my reading madness and more or less I am reading what I need to read--just at my own pace!

Kermode's Shakespeare

I am nearly finished reading Frank Kermode's The Age of Shakespeare.  I have mixed feelings about it.  It is a fairly short book touching upon the culture and history of Elizabethan England and Shakespeare's place in it.   The first half of the book was quite good and helpful, filling in details of this particular time. 

The last half of the book, however, has been slow going for me.  For a novice of Shakespeare (which I consider myself) it is a bit over my head.  Kermode talks in some detail about the theatres relating to Shakespeare (particularly The Globe) and the plays performed there.  The problem is I am not overly familiar with these plays, not yet having read or seen them.  He talks about the characters and important aspects of the plots and how they relate to the times these plays were performed.  He does so, however, as if writing for an audience already knowledgeable about them, which obviously I am not.  It makes me realize (as if I didn't already feel this) that Shakespeare's works are quite complicated.  Just when I was starting to feel comfortable reading the plays (and knowing I wasn't going to know or understand everything right off the bat), that there are so many variables to really understand and appreciate what is going on.  Kermode himself mentions that some plays are somewhat impenetrable--written for a very specific audience.  Not only was Shakespeare writing/reacting to the political atmosphere (though I don't get the feeling that his plays were really in any way political), but also to the social atmosphere.  He was reacting towards people and events--probably like any author of any time.  Luckily some themes are timeless, which I guess is what I am hoping to get from the plays when I read them.

There's so much to know it is almost overwhelming to think about!  Don't be put off from reading this book, though.  It is very well written and Kermode really knows his stuff, but maybe more familiarity with Shakespeare's works would be helpful (not like me--one play read in high school and basically forgotten, and a second play read recently--and of course it is one that only gets mentioned and not discussed).  This is not going to put me off reading more Shakespeare.  Even though much of the discussion went by too quickly for me to grasp, I think I will remember ideas later.  I figure it all builds on each succeeding idea.  Later on I will read something and it will be familiar and make more sense since I was exposed to it now. 

I am greatly looking forward to starting a new nonfiction read, and I think it will have to be something other than Shakespeare or Elizabethan England--a little break would be good at this point (though I still plan on working on another play soon).  I am considering reading either Strapless by Deborah Davis (about John Singer Sargent's Madame X), Journal by Katherine Mansfield (I dipped into this a bit and it looks quite interesting), or Margaret Forster's biography of Daphne Du Maurier (another intriguing life).  They all sound very appealing, so I'm not sure which to choose.  I will likely read a few pages of each and see which one really grabs me.  While I have more than a few fiction reads on the go at once, I never have more than one nonfiction book started at the same time!  Why is it easier to keep track of multiple plots but not multiple nonfiction subjects?  Like I said before, though, at time my brain is a sieve--I guess I don't want too much information to spill out!

A (late) Booking Through Thursday and a Few Links

Can I answer the Booking Through Thursday question a day late? 

R.I.P.

No, not THAT kind of R.I.P.

Reading. In. Public.

Do you do it? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely.  I take a book with me almost literally wherever I go.  I think I would be at a loss if I didn't have a book in hand or in my book bag when I leave the house.  As a matter of fact when I last bought a new purse, I chose one that was just a tad bit larger than my old one, so I could fit a paperback book in it!  I'm always curious if other people carry books with them, and generally I don't see many people with a book in hand.  I take the bus to and from work (I can fit in nearly an hour of extra reading that way--between waiting for the bus and the rides to and from), and rarely are people reading a book--what on earth do they think about while sitting there?  If I thought I could get away with taking a book with me to social gatherings, I would.  I can get away with it with my family (they know to expect it from me), but not with my husband's family (I think they might be offended).

Check out Seen Reading (a very cool blog) that I saw listed in the comment section of Susan's post yesterday at Pages Turned. 

This week I joined Dovegreybooks, which is a Yahoo Group made up of readers of Persephone Books.  Actually they read a variety of books and chat about them, but the group was initially formed to discuss Persephone titles.  They are a very nice group of people and several other bloggers on my blogroll are members.  They're going to be discussing A Woman Novelist and Other Stories by Diana Gardner this month and Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge in July.  While I don't think I will have time this month to fit in the Gardner, I do plan on reading the Cambridge (which gives me another excuse to order another Persephone title).  They are also deciding on a longterm read--a couple of titles in the running are of interest to me--Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell (which is on my list of books I want to read this year).  It should be a fun group to be a part of, and I thought I would mention it here in case there are any other new Persephone addicts out there like me.

This is my idea of a vending machine!  Food for the brain!  Thanks to Amy for sharing the photo.  Along the same line...check out these Art-o-mats!  If I want to see one, I will have to go to Chicago as that is the closest Art-o-mat to me.

Thanks to Jenclair for the link to Luminary Graphics.  I think I will have to buy a Shakespeare and Cervantes bookmark to put in my copies of Don Quixote and whatever Shakespeare play I have on the go at the moment!

One last thing...one last good mail day (for now anyway).  I received Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (after hearing good reviews and reading about the movie that is being filmed, I couldn't wait).  As if a book is not enough a stitching friend in Germany sent me two bars of Lindt Dark Chocolate (one plain and one with orange filling).  I know I can buy some Lindt flavors here locally, but I swear it tastes better direct from Germany!  If I'm good I can ration them out for the next couple of weeks.  If I'm bad, the bar I already opened will be gone by Monday night!

When Art and Literature Intersect

You may or may not know that when I was in school I studied Art History, which is what I earned my degree in.  My fantasy job would have been to work in a museum (oh the Louvre perhaps or maybe the Centre Pompidou would have been pleasant to work at...), or even better to work in art restoration (a serious learning impediment to anything having to do with chemistry put a stop to that idea).  Alas, I work in a library (good, but not my dream).  The next best thing I guess, other than going to lots of museums at least, is to read about art.  This has usually takes the form of reading fictional books about artists and in some cases artists and their muses (can you see I'm sinking deeper into cushy books?  Not even art criticism or books about painters or particular historical movements).

My recent find is a book by Elizabeth Hickey called The Wayward Muse.  It is about Dante Gabriel Rossetti a Pre-Raphaelite artist and his muse, Jane Burden.  I am not terribly familiar with Rossetti and Burden, though I do know he was the brother of famous poet (poetess?) Christina Rossetti.  I am, however, a fan of Pre-Raphaelite art (I need to find some other books in the library of Rossetti's art!).  I have only started reading, but I am already intrigued by Burden.  Although in the eyes of her family she is plain, verging on ugly, Rossetti calls her one of the most beautiful women has has seen.  The problem with fiction and characters based on the lives of real people--is where does the truth end and the fiction begin?  And how much really can be known about some of these people?  Questions that perhaps can by answered by the author, as there is a chance that Elizabeth Hickey will guest blog here in the near future!  I will let you know if it works out and when you can expect her post (I just need to get on with reading the book!). 

I have read other books similar to this in the past, enjoyed and would recommend:

• The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey (this is about Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his muse and friend/lover Emilie Floge--she was an artist and designer in her own right)
• Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett  (reviewed here) (fictional tale of Thomas More's family and Hans Holbein who painted the family's portrait)
• The Girl With a Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier (I suspect many people have also read The Girl With a Pearl Earring--a fictional story of Vermeer and his serving girl, Griet who becomes his assistant.  I also enjoyed reading The Lady and the Unicorn--about the making of the six Medieval tapestries of the same name)
• Girl in Hyacinth Blue and The Forest Lover (reviewed here) by Susan Vreeland (Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a set of inter-related stories about a Vermeer painting following its provenance from the time it was painted to present day, and The Forest Lover is about Canadian painter Emily Carr and trials and tribulations she encountered trying to paint native subjects in the Victorian era, facing prejudices due to the subject of her art as well as her sex)
• The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte (I read this ages ago, so the details are a tad hazy, but this is a literary suspense/thriller about an art restorer trying to solve a mystery she finds in a 15th-century painting)
• The Music Lesson by Katharine Weber (this is another sort of literary thriller--about an art historian, the IRA and a famous Vermeer painting--notice Vermeer seems to turn up a lot in literature, doesn't he!)
• Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman (a lovely little book about Mary Cassatt and her sister Lydia, who was the subject of many of her paintings)

New and soon to be released books that I plan on buying (haven't heard or read much about them yet):

• Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland (Renoir and his famous painting "Luncheon of the Boating Party")
• Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier (18th century London and painter William Blake)

Books that I own and have been waiting to be read!:

• Life Studies by Susan Vreeland (short stories)
• Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland (Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi)
• I Am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto (fictional tale of the woman who sat for John Singer Sargent's famous portrait)
• Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis (nonfiction--same subject matter as the book above)

Have I missed any really good ones?