Glassblowing & Other Delights
I’m always on the look out for authors who have a vowel at the end of their last name. Marina Fiorato was born in Manchester, England to a Venetian father and English mom. She earned a degree in history at Oxford, and worked, according to her profile at Wiki, in movies and music tour visuals. She gave writing a shot and has found considerable success. Her first novel, The Glassblower of Murano, published in 2009, was an international best seller. I just finished it. The story involves a thirtyish woman who, post divorce, moves to Venice, where her deceased father lived. Oddly, she is more interested in the history of a distant ancestor, the eponymous figure of the title. Murano is a small island outside the famed city. The action alternates between the 1600’s and the present in no particular order. The storytelling is its best aspect. I was intrigued by the mystery. The prose and dialogue are okay, in need of a bit of polish. Despite this, the 348 pages read like considerably less. The ins and outs of the trade did not slow it down. As for the accuracy of that and the historical facts, I have no idea. The glassblower character is fictional. Louis XIV is a minor character, an unflattering portrait. Although the resolution is ho-hum, I enjoyed the journey. The fact that it was a first novel makes it more impressive. 189 users at Amazon have rated it, forging to a consensus of 3.9 on a scale of five. I say 3.25. The author has written several other historical fictions since. Here she is, wearing a medallion that looks similar to the one the main character wore:
From foxnews. com, edited by yours truly: A mountain resort in Colorado had 20 inches of snow on Friday. The event was dubbed “summer snow-stice.” The area is roughly 155 miles northwest of Denver, 6900 feet above sea level. By Sunday the temperature was in the 60’s, and the forecast is for the 80’s this week.
Talk radio host Mark Simone made an excellent point this morning. He said Trump is the first president who doesn’t have to worry about press reaction, as he knows that whatever he says or does the mainstream media will react negatively.
Funny how this woman said nothing about being raped by Trump when he was running for president but does now that she has a book coming out.
The lack of parking at my regular nook sent me to an alternate site, and it proved fortuitous. My thanks to the kind folks who bought wares. Here’s what sold: a large pictorial about travel destinations, The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman, American Assassin by Vince Flynn, Running Scared
by Lisa Jackson, Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown, Riding in Cars with Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good by Beverly Donofrio, Cat’s Eye
by Margaret Atwood, When the Wind Blows by James Patterson, and four DVDs.
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