Recent Read: The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick

Have you ever had really high hopes for a book and are so disappointed when that book doesn't meet your expectations? It happens.

This summer I went to Atlanta's High Museum's exhibit, "Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshaus." It featured 35 paintings by Dutch artists of centuries past including Vermeer and Rembrandt. I enjoyed it. I loved the beautiful colors and the simple lives portrayed in many of the works. Then, the last painting of the exhibit was "Girl with a Pearl Earring," and seeing it in person was fantastic.

Years ago I read Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and saw the movie. It's the kind of historical fiction I just love.

Then shortly before I visited the High this summer I read the New York Times story, "Report of Nazi-Looted Trove Puts Art World in an Uproar" and was fascinated. This summer in Austria and Germany my family and I learned about the treasures Adolf Hitler and his cronies stored up during the Third Reich.

After that news story I was ready to read The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick, a book I'd bought at the exhibit this summer. I was excited about reading it on my Thanksgiving break. I didn't finish it until the day after Christmas (yes, it's completely unheard of for it to take me a month to read a book). Part of the reason is because I had a busy work life wrapping up 2013. The other reason it because I just plodded through it. It didn't hold my interest and was really a disappointment considering how I'd worked it up beforehand.

The book focused nearly entirely on the forger, Han van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who found he could make more money forging the work of the famous Dutch painters of the previous centuries than selling his own original works. Long story short, the book focused way too much, for my taste, on the specifics of how van Meegeren pulled one over on the art world and not nearly enough time talking about the Nazi party officials and their desire to get their hands on the artistic and cultural works of the countries they occupied, and how he was finally found out. Admittedly, I don't have much of a background in art but I do enjoy it. I also enjoy a good story that's told well. If it's historical nonfiction it needs to keep my interest and unfortunately this just didn't measure up.

Book Review: Finding Colin Firth by Mia March

Finding Colin Firth: A Novel by Mia March

Published by: Gallery Books

Published on: July 9, 2013

Page Count: 336

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: Advanced reading edition for Kindle via NetGalley

Available Formats: Paperback and Kindle ebook

My Review:

Three women, each searching for something specific, spend some of their summer in a small tourist town in Maine. There's Veronica Russo, the 38-year-old diner waitress and talented pie maker who has returned to her hometown to face her past and make peace with the fact that she gave a daughter up for adoption 22 years before. Bea Crane is that daughter, and has just learned in a letter written by her mother before she died that Bea was adopted. She sets out on a journey to find answers and her birth mother. Gemma, a New Yorker, is in a failing marriage and without a job when she realizes she's pregnant. To process everything, Gemma visits Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to sort out what she'll do and when she'll tell her husband that they're expecting. While there, Gemma gets an assignment from the local paper to profile Hope Home, a place where teenage mothers have resided during their pregnancies for decades. It's Gemma's story that causes her to meet Veronica and Bea separately to interview them, and Gemma's story that helps the mother-daughter pair come together. During all of this, the town is abuzz with the anticipation of Colin Firth's arrival any day to Boothbay Harbor to film a movie. The townspeople (and the women in particular) have their eyes peeled for the star.

Though these women have heavy internal struggles, the theme and tone of the book are definitely optimistic. There are Veronica's pies with names like "Spirit Pie," "Confidence Pie," "Happiness Pie" and "Hope Pie," each flavor guaranteed to bring about what its name says. There is Bea's belief that though she's on a break from school and work, she'll return to both and become a teacher. While Gemma isn't sure her marriage will work out, she knows she'll remain true to herself no matter what happens. And everyone in town is full of anticipation for Colin Firth as his movie crew moves into town and starts filming.

I'll be honest that I picked this book review solely because of its title (who doesn't love Colin Firth?), and I loved that the novel is filled with references to his movies, personal life, and, ahem, the Mr. Darcy lake scene in BBC's Pride and Prejudice miniseries (unfamiliar or just need to see it again?). But the book really held my interest, and not because I kept waiting for Colin Firth to make his appearance. The characters are memorable and readers will just simply want everything to work out perfectly for all three of the women.

Speaking of the Mr. Darcy lake scene, it's just been named the most memorable moment in British television (read the article).

Four out of five stars

If you liked this book, you’ll like Where the Heart Is (book and movie), Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones's Diary, Midnight in Austenland, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, Waitress (movie) and any movie starring Colin Firth, of course.

It's Monday. What are you reading?

 

This event is hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Go check out her blog.

Here's what I've got on tap for this July 4 week:

Reading:
Blog, Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community by Joy Deangdeelert Cho
Finding Colin Firth by Mia March for review next week
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton

Listening:
Pawley's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

Working on:
Edits on chapters of a Southern historical fiction novel
A feature article for Georgia Connector magazine
A grant draft for a nonprofit organization
Wrapping up syllabi for this fall's Advanced Composition and American Literature
Editing an article for an academic journal

And more blogging!

Monday....