I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis

What a wonderful book!!!

At first I though of putting it down and reading something different. The first few chapters are slow and set up a conflict that takes too long in coming. Well, the wait is worth it. Kalogridis uses words to paint such a wonderful picture. I was brought to that Renaissance time in all its glory. She writes with such clarity and purpose. She sticks to facts but has the vision to fill in the details nicely. I will be reading more from this author.

And I am going to learn more about Mona Lisa herself. At first glance she does seem ...odd. I have been looking online and I think time and poor restoration efforts have made her seem ugly. There is much for me to learn.

I am now reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I have the audio but have never gotten around to listening to it. So far Hosseini is proving a great author. I completely enjoyed reading Kite Runner. He writes clear and vivid scenes. He taps into the human struggle. He shares the pain of his characters and makes us understand even the bad ones. Kite Runner has stayed long with me. I know many can not get past that certain scene but as painful as it was to read, it was completely necessary.

When I read more of his latest novel I will post some remarks.

Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende was also wonderful. Allende has done her research well. Like Kalogridis, Allende takes the smallest details and tranforms them into a complete and deatiled story.