Tag Archives: art

Rivals

Posted on March 30, 2024 by dianeledet

Oil and Marble by Stephanie Storey is a historical fiction book whose title reached out and grabbed me while I was searching online for another book. As I often write, books choose us and I’m grateful this one did. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Books, Borgia family, David Statue, Florence, historical fiction, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Oil and Marble, Rome, sculpture, Stephanie Storey, the Medici family | 1 Comment

Sticky Fingers

Posted on March 25, 2024 by dianeledet

The Art Thief: a true story of love, crime and dangerous obsession is a short, interesting non-fiction book by Michael Finkel. After moving from the US to France, the author held numerous interviews with Stéphane Breitwieser, a young man who … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, art collectors, art thieves, Books, France, Michael Finkel, nonfiction books, Stéphane Breitwieser, the art thief | 2 Comments

Portrait of the Past

Posted on March 11, 2023 by dianeledet

The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen totally took me by surprise and left me in awe of this author whose work I’ve never read before. Subsequent to the death of her elderly grandmother, Aurelia inherits an apartment in Paris. Upon … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1940's Paris, art, art restoration, Books, England, France, Gehring, historical fiction, Hitler, Kelly Bowen, Nazi sympathizers, Nazis, Paris, the French Resistance, the Paris apartment, the Paris Ritz, World War II, World war II reparations | 2 Comments

Love and Art Endure

Posted on September 27, 2021 by dianeledet

The Night Portrait: A Novel of World War II and DaVinci’s Italy by Laura Morelli takes a fresh approach to the role of art and fuses it with the widespread looting of art treasures by the Nazis during World War … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, art history, art restoration, art theft, Germany, historical fiction, Italy, lady with an ermine, Laura Morelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Poland, Russia, the monument men, the night portrait and DaVinci's Italy, World War II | 2 Comments

Catching-up!

Posted on August 2, 2021 by dianeledet

I have been remiss in posting reviews lately and I apologize. My daily reading continues, but chaos around my environment kept my creative flow at a trickle. However, there are a number of recent books I’ve read which I think … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, books WWII, Clarence Darrow, Clarence Darrow for the defense, history, investigative journalism, natsuke, nonfiction, politics, Syria, Syria's secret library, the bully pulpit, the hare with Amber eyes, Theodore Roosevelt, Vienna, William Howard Taft | 5 Comments

Obsession

Posted on December 20, 2020 by dianeledet

Written in 1915, Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham is another of the top 150 novels of the last century. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the movie adaptation starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard which pales in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Books, club foot, England, medical, of human bondage, orphans, romance, Top 150 Novels, Victorian era, W. Somerset Maugham | 3 Comments

Memory

Posted on December 7, 2020 by dianeledet

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean is an interesting novel about a Russian woman with Alzheimer’s named Marina. This story flips back and forth between current day and World War Two. During the war, Marina lived and worked as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Books, Debra Dean, docent, historical fiction, Leningrad, Russia, the Hermitage, the madonnas of Leningrad, World War II | Leave a comment

Missing My Mother

Posted on April 29, 2019 by dianeledet

All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy is a touching novel about a man named Myshkin whose mother abandoned him when he was 9-years-old. After reading the first line of the book, I had a tough time putting … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged all the lives we never lived, Anuradha Roy, art, Bali, Books, fiction, Gandhi, Horticulture, India, painting, World War II | 2 Comments

Obsessed Genius

Posted on February 23, 2019 by dianeledet

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson is a new biography based on the great master’s notebooks. Leonardo was a copious note taker so there’s a lot here to digest, but I learned much I never knew about his life and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anatomy, art, biography, Books, France, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance, science, Walter isaacson | 2 Comments

Sing a New Song

Posted on November 18, 2018 by dianeledet

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg is another delightful read by one of my favorite authors. Flagg’s work always gives me a lift! When divorced Chicago native Oswald Campbell discovers his rapidly approaching death, his elderly doctor hands him a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a redbird christmas, Alabama, alcoholic, art, birds, Books, Chicago, Christmas, end of life, Fannie Flagg, fiction, holiday book | 1 Comment