Word of the day :
diseuse : a woman who is a skilled and usually professional reciter
With Baz Luhrman's atrociously-reviewed revamp of The Great Gatsby opening in theaters this weekend, it's time to re-examine why the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel has long been considered the Great American Novel (an honor I, however, would bestow upon Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road.)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/05/07/why-the-great-gatsby-is-the-great-american-novel/2130161/
**
Camilla Lackberg's third Swedish crime novel featuring cop Patrik Hedstrom and his girlfriend Erica is a terrific page-turner. What starts out as a mystery involving the death of a 9-year old girl (the daughter of a friend of Erica's) found drowned and with ashes in her lungs turns into an intriguing saga of various Fjallbacka families with demons in their closets. Though it's longer than most novels within the genre, it's never boring and always engaging. Lackberg isn't a particularly inventive writer, but she can definitely spin a plot and she creates some memorable characters here. I really liked the backstory here, and the revelation at the end (even if you might see it coming down the pipeline) provides a disturbing glimpse of human evil. I found this to be a richer novel than the previous Lackberg novel I read a few years back, The Ice Princess.
**
With our trip to Italy merely a week away, here are five works of art I want to see while I'm there:
(Part 1 of 5)
Caravaggio: Saint Matthew Cycle (Rome, San Luigi dei Francesi)
Caravaggio: Crucifixion of Saint Peter (Rome, Santa Maria del Popolo)
Caravaggio: The Entombment of Christ (Rome, Vatican Museum)
Michelangelo: David, original sculpture (Florence, Galleria dell' Academia)
Giotto: frescoes at Capella degli Scrovegni (Padua)
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