25.4.2021
A bit of a revival
in Venetian fiction fondness going on with yours truly,
possibly because I'm missing the place, but the Spring rush
helped. On the lockdown easing front libraries and
non-essential shops reopened this week, with galleries and
such to follow mid-May. Meanwhile I'm busy visiting and
photographing the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries in London, a
couple of which I've never been in! So many daffodils.
24.3.2021
Adding to the Spring
reviews below comes a copy of David Hewson's Venice-set The Garden of Angels,
which has suffered some odd UK/US, hardback/ebook staggered
publication in recent months. And a novel by
Jonathan Chalstrey
of the life of
Pietro Torrigiano, the sculptor who was responsible for
Michelangelo's busted nose, called Punch! Well
what would you call it?!
4.3.2021
But in other ways
the year is turning out typical. I've just had my review copy
of Donna Leon's 2021 Brunetti (the 30th!) called
Transient Desires, and
Philip Gwynne Jones' new Nathan and Federica novel The
Venetian Legacy is coming soon. I'm also currently reading
Ross King's The Bookseller of Florence and have been
made aware of the recent novel City of Vengeance by D.
V. Bishop, another Florence fix. So it's looking like another
Spring reviews glut, I'm happy to say.
1.3.2021
As Italy, and abroad
generally, is not looking to match our vaccine and
lockdown-easing measures I've booked a couple of guided UK
trips - Medieval Suffolk (including Sutton Hoo, Lavenham
and Southwold) in August and Durham (with Jarrow) in September
with an art historian who's also a good friend. But I've not
given up hopes of Italy in the Autumn.
24.2.2021
So on Monday we
Brits were shown our slow way back to normality. Very much
from my personal perspective the stages we pass before then
are as follows.
8th March Schools reopen
29th March Meeting friends and family outdoors is
allowed. We’re going to see ours on the 30th, for the first
time since last October. Travel outside one’s locality now
allowed. The return of the Brick Lane bagel run?
12th April Non-essential shops, libraries and
hairdressers can open. But why not art galleries and museums?
A very good question so far not sensibly answered. Holidays in
this country will be allowed in self-contained accommodation.
17th May Museums and galleries can now reopen, as well
as restaurants and hotels. Also international travel can
resume, but this will be reliant on other country’s
vaccination states and rulings, of course.
21st June All restrictions lifted. Mass mask burnings?
For me I can see myself getting
out in the fresh air more in March as the stay-at-home rule is
relaxed. I’ll finally get to take my library books back in
April, but it would’ve been nice to have been able to go see
some art while I’m in town. But I won’t be able to do that
until May. Let’s hope day trips out to cathedral towns will
happen then too. City breaks in the UK are tempting me for the
summer, but Italy is looking unlikely before the Autumn. It’s
good to have a rough idea, though.
12.2.2021
We're still in covid
lockdown, and as a new season of
art-history trips approaches - Spring - so a new batch of
cancellations is upon me. Lucca this March is now Lucca in
March 2022 and Siena in May has just been cancelled and is now
Toulouse and Albi, also in March 2022. Parma and Modena this
June has yet to cancelled, but is looking dicey, I'd suggest.
I'd like to vaguely and broadly conject that UK holidays
might become possible in late Spring, maybe even around
Easter, with foreign travel
maybe in the Autumn. The roll-out of the vaccine and the fall
in the rate of transmission and deaths across the UK suggests that some
optimism may be in order. Our esteemed leader is set to
make some sort of announcement on the 22nd of this month.
17.1.2021
But back to
business. David Hewson, an author we like, has a new novel set
in Venice out sort-of soon called The Garden of Angels.
I say sort-of soon because it is published in the UK in
hardback and on audio on January 29, 2021, with the e-book out
in the UK and US on the 1st of March, and the US hardback out
on April 6th. This odd and confusing mishmash of publication
dates is blamed by the author on his website on the current
Covid situation. But how does that explain the ebook coming
out a month after the hardback? The blurb tells us that the
book concerns 15-year-old Jewish boy whose grandfather
presents him with a musty manuscript which tells the tale of
what really happened to said grandfather in Nazi-occupied
Venice. Sounds hopeful.
15.1.2021
If I say that this
week has been important and auspicious you might suspect me of
exaggerating, but... On Monday we took delivery of two new
cats from
Cats Protection, left on our
doorstep in their carriers as the need for social distancing
has adjusted the whole homing process. They are called Minnie
and Lily and I have created
a new page detailing their
settling in. It's maybe a bit too detailed, but it has sweet
photos. Not so many of Lily yet, as she has been slow to
emerge much from her preferred spot behind the sofa, although
today did see much progress and more sightings. And this week
has seen me and Jane both get the Covid jab - her on
Wednesday and me this morning. The process was swift and easy
for both of us, and it's hard not to see the future looking
brighter. Holidays ho!
old news
here
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April 2021
David Hewson
The Garden of Angels
Venice
Laurie R.
King
Island of the Mad
Venice
Anna Bellani
The Venetian Safari
Venice
March 2021
Philip Gwynne Jones
The Venetian Legacy
Venice
Jonathan Chalstrey
Punch!
Florence
Amelia B. Edwards
The Story Of Salome
short story
Venice
Ross King
The Bookseller of Florence Florence
Donna Leon Transient Desires
Venice
February 2021
Francis Spufford
Light Perpetual
London
January 2021
Lily and Minnie New cats
October 2020
Lucretia Grindle
The Faces of Angels Florence
Valerie Martin
I Give It To You Florence
Us
Venice TV
September 2020
Christobel Kent
The Viper
Florence
August 2020
Norwich
Trips
July 2020
Chris Beckett
Two Tribes
London
David Hewson Shooter in the Shadows
Venice
Dorian Gerhold
London Bridge and its Houses
London
David Mitchell
Utopia Avenue
London
Charles Dickens Dombey and Son
London
May 2020
David Whittaker Mindful of Venice
Reflections and Meanderings
April 2020
Christopher Bollen
A Beautiful Crime
Venice
Philip Gwynne Jones
Venetian Gothic
Venice
March 2020
Van Eyck in Ghent
and Bruges
Trips
Donna Leon
Trace Elements
Venice
December 2019
Jon Clinch
Marley
London
Hallie Rubenhold The Five:
The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
London
The Books That Made Me
Self indulgence
Some 2019 Tintoretto books
Venice
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