Mare’s Book Report

Hey!


My BFF’s daughter, who shall remain ageless, has been doing Friday Book Club on her blog. I can’t possibly be that organized and stick to a schedule but I can jot a line or two (technically, can jotting be done online??) when I’ve finished a book. So, Ta Da! The first Book Review on Mare’s Journey:


The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato






Now, don’t think for a minute that my desire to see Venice and worship glass at the island of Murano has had any influence on my opinion of this book… I enjoyed it immensely despite all that.

It’s a very quick, light read, about a female artist born in Italy and raised in England by her English mother. To heal from a hurtful divorce, Leonora sells her house and moves impulsively to Venice, with hopes of being hired by a factory on Murano to fulfill her career hopes to create glassworks, like her famous ancestor, Corradino Manin.

Part soap opera, part historical drama, it never plays as soapy or boring. The writing rises above romance novel fodder and the historical elements are fascinating and dangerous. Told as two intertwining stories, Leonora in the present and Corradino several centuries in the past, the action unfolds in many of the same places and Corradino’s work haunts Leonora’s world.

I’m pretty unfocused these days, making jewelry one minute, trying to exercise, clean and work at The Dreaded Day Job, so sometimes I only get to read for a half hour at lunch and in bed for as long as my eyes will stay open. But this book I deliberately made time for. So much is going on in both centuries, I wanted to know what would happen next.

This is Marina Fiorato’s debut novel and I can’t wait for her next one.


Mare’s Scale of Literary Wickedness


Wicked Boring Yawn-don’t bother
Wicked Good Don’t run any red lights getting to the library but worth reading
Wicked Cool Good enough to spend 50 cents for a library hold so you can be the next to read it
Wicked Awesome So damn good, if your library doesn’t have it, get it from Amazon


C’est la vie!

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Checking In--Birthday Oopsy

Hey!

So, my birthday weekend totally killed my weight loss. I really didn't think I'd eaten that much but The Husband pointed out that a whole pint of Mission to Marzipan will kill any diet... He's so much smarter than me.

I've been as good as possible the last two weeks and I'm slowly getting back to where I was. Now it's time to get more serious about exercise. I got a Target gift card for my birthday, which I used for a yoga mat and Denise Austin DVD. I tried the DVD Sunday--holy crap, I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes.

In my defense, this DVD has a fat burning theme, so it's not your normal hold-the-pose kind of yoga. She moves fast and I just need to get used to the moves and the speed. I'm familiar with yoga so it's not completely foreign to me ~ I just need to practice. I didn't even look at the leg and abs portions of this thing... I gotta build up to that!

Did you ever see Backdraft? I think it's DeNiro who asks Donald Sutherland what he wants to do with the world and Sutherland replies, Burn it. Well, I just want to eat it. I don't know what it is that makes me want to eat constantly. I've learned to keep only fruit in the house and I'm sure I overindulge in that but it's better than crackers and other carbs and sweets... *struggle struggle*

Still waiting to hit that golden weight I haven't seen in months.

*sigh* Fighting the Good Fight!

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