reading technology

A Thriller About Forensic Accounting … Really, I Mean It

It has been a tough haul reading books this year. It took me a couple of months to read one book, The World Without Us, so it was a pleasure to find a book that I could read quickly. The book I found was Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow. What attracted me to the book was that it was billed as a thriller about a forensic accountant. That might not seem like the most…

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history reading

“Nobility is expensive, nonproductive, and parasitic”

I checked my first book out of our new-to-us public library a couple of months ago. It was “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman, a very good book, whose title accurately describes its contents (what would happen to nature and the human-built environment if humans were suddenly gone), but it took me foooooorever to read. I’ve been too busy moving stuff into the household and painting and such. Truth be told, I’ve also gotten into…

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family observations reading thought fodder

When Does a Book Become “Literature” or a “Classic”?

Hubby and I stopped at Savers yesterday. We like to pop in now and again, a habit that has carried over from our business, when we were looking for mid-century modern housewares and décor to clean up for resale. My favorite part of the store, no surprise here, is the book section. I typically wind up finding (relatively) current fiction to purchase. Yesterday’s find was “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, a book that was recommended…

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art family history reading

Seventeen – Another Novel Based on History

I posted a few weeks ago about a novel I read, “The Art Forger,” that was based on a historical event, the theft of numerous works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Since that time, I have read another novel based on a historical event. This one is called “Seventeen” by Hideo Yokoyama. I found a hardcover copy at a local dollar store and was so taken with the cover art and description…

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art history pragmatic historian reading

Teasing Out the Real History in Historical Fiction

Note: This post contains spoilers for the novel “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro. I finished reading “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro this week. The novel reminded me of the movie “National Treasure.” “The Art Forger” would lend itself well to being turned into a movie because of the action and intrigue. (Though there are other movies about art forgers, I could not find one based on this book.) In it, we are treated…

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