Mailbox Monday/It's Monday! What are you reading?

Mailbox is still a lot of good reads!

From Blogging for Books. 

              

From Netgalley.

Liking this one very much. I have a soft spot for books with regard to the Vatican, church philosophy and treachery and the Devil in equal instalments in this one! Makes for a very interesting read. Wheels within wheels in the Church.

Botticelli's Bastard by Stephen Maitland Lewis

Giovanni comes from an ancestry of art restorers. His son is also following in his footsteps - he is well established, his reputation is pristine but his personal life is not doing so good. His first wife's death has affected him very badly and his second wife Arabella does not enjoy playing second fiddle to the memory of his dead wife. 

Giovanni at work is also haunted by a painting - a portrait of a man which draws him in. The painting is unsigned and though Giovanni does know that it could be from the 16th century the provenance of the painting is at doubt because of the lack of signature. The day the painting begins to speak to him or rather the Count in the painting starts to talk to him of both the Count's history and also of the turbulent times since then, that Giovanni's entire life changes. The painting also witnesses an exchange of intimacies between Arabella and her lover and tells this to Giovanni with disastrous results!

On learning the earlier ownership of the painting and how it originally belonged to a Jewish family who were sent to Auschwitz, Giovanni is determined to restore the painting to its original owners. He tracks down the only surviving member of the family who now lives in New York but who refuses to have anything to do with the painting. The Count himself lets his wishes be known as to where he wants his portrait hung and this is what eventually takes place.

The history of the Nazi occupation of France and particularly Paris and the systematic looting of arts and treasures to boost Hitler's coffers and whilst doing that also boosting the wealth of all his sycophants is detailed in the story. 

The fact that the painting talks to Giovanni is looked on with skepticism by the family who wonder whether he needs therapy badly. Giovanni himself realises that it sounds so odd that no one would ever believe him but he does believe in the painting and its origins. Having it tested by a renowned facility and getting the news that it is a original Botticelli also sends triggers through the art world who now vie with each other to obtain the painting. Despite the huge monetary gains to be obtained, as per the Count's wish, Giovanni donates the painting to a museum.

The story is not something I expected. I did expect paintings and the art world but this little bit of fantasy creeping in added such a whimsical touch which was lovely.

The book came to me through Netgalley courtesy of  Glyd Evans Press.

Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas

I got this from Blogging for Books. It is a disciplined system. You take one book read it, review and then take another. With Netgalley one does tend to go berserk. Like a kid in a candy store really.

This was a tough read and one I had to do in stages. Josephine and Douglas have a nice family. Josephine is now a stay at home Mother, Douglas is a computer geek, and three children. Two pretty girls and one boy. 

Will has been diagnosed as autistic and it is for this reason that Josephine stays at home. Very early in the story you know that the friction between the daughters and the mother are not the average outbursts of adolescence and puberty which every parent faces at some stage or the other. These outbursts and feelings are viceral, deep and vicious and you are beginning to question who is at fault here.

Telling very much more would be giving away the story which is convoluted, dark, intense and very emotional. How children do get caught up in an abusive home life and how helpless even an eighteen year old and a sixteen year old can be let alone the eleven year old is what strikes one very much. A sixteen year old is very much under her parents thumb because of the financial implications of support and home. Take that away and you have someone floundering. Having someone overall in charge of you, mother or father who is psychotic, deranged and simply evil makes life so much more difficult. Add to it a scheming, manipulative character who can lay on the charm like a tap turned on and you have a very difficult life for the entire household.

Each character was unique. Each had to handle the situation in a different way and still come out of it unscathed. Sadly one of them did not come out of it at all, and one was very very damaged.

A brilliant story. So glad I got to this one. 

Moon over Tangier by Janice Law

Set in colonial Morocco the story highlights a seamier part of Tangier which is definitely not very apparent today!

Francis and David are partners but David is paranoid. When he is good he is very good but when he is drunk or on drugs he becomes a completely different character. Abusive and nasty. When he leaves London for Tangier Francis seems to be too helpless but to follow and the ensuing story is one of murder, forgery of paintings, corruption at every level and espionage.

Though the story centred around the forgery of Picasso's paintings and the mayhem and murders which resulted as a sequence, I also felt the story dealt with betrayal of love and trust and friendship which was sad, because Francis never seemed to be able to sound out who was looking after him.

An interesting read and I particularly liked the setting despite the rather dark background of Tangier.

Sent to me via Netgalley courtesy of Open Road Integrated Media.

Laura English by Lynn Arias Bornstein

This was a surprisingly fresh look at Hollywood. Not at all the jaded know it all book but a real rags to riches story!

Jane Parks has always loved the theatre.  A chance encounter with Sir James Paxton brings Jane to his attention and this is a stepping stone for Jane's meteoric rise to the popularity stakes in the film industry. Jane Parks becomes Laura English the English being because Jane is so quintessentially English! Jane's rise does not spoil her nature or her behaviour and this is a story of the personal life of Laura English from the backwoods of Bournemouth theatre.

From her first love with John Keith and then there heartbreaking separation and her marriage to David a film producer and the very special life she shares with him for many decades the story unfolds a step by step story of how an unknown actress becomes one of the most loved names in Hollywood. Going back and forth on the actresses's life and the making of so many films we come full circle with her meeting up with John after many years and their final future.

Add to this a bit of a spy thriller, workings of a kibbutz and the irony of a son who never knew his father till the very end, the book was a sedate read except for this bit which was unexpected and added a totally different flavour to the read.

A book sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Stillpoint Digital Press.

Mailbox Monday/It's Monday! What are you reading?

The mailbox is looking good!

                     

Red sky at Morning was a recommendation from Fleur Fisher.

 

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Reading this. Tangier and Morocco in a different light. Quite different to the touristy, exotic place it is depicted. Quite dark and a bit sordid but a good story.

The rains seem to have started though cautiously! As usual in this part of the world, we will have endless rain till we have floods and then it will be no rain again. Nothing in moderation!

Summer of Castle Stone by Lynn Marie Hulsman

This was a very light hearted fun read. You certainly need it sometimes to weigh against those heavy ponderous issues!

Shayla is a clever writer in New York who somehow does not seem to fit in with the leading crowd of agents, writers and their inner circle. Despite being Hank de Winter's daughter she shies away from even using the connection or even his name and goes by the surname of Sheridan to avoid being connected to him. She abhors the fact that people try to butter her up, hoping to get an entree with her father never realizing that this is something she will not do. Her father and she live in separate worlds.

Her best friend Maggie decides to step in, take a hand and give Shayla and her career a push in the direction that Maggie thinks fit. She thinks Shayla is capable of a lot of things and is a brilliant writer, but does lack the confidence, the style and the panache to pull things off. 

How Shayla goes from Manhattan to Ireland, becomes a thoroughly rustic farm girl helping out in a restaurant run by the famous Tom O'Grady, culling receipes as she goes from both him and his mother, trying to surreptitiously write a book about him, getting his endorsement as well and at the same time falling head over heels in love with him is the fun part of the story.

Lots of romance and heat in the bedroom interspersed with the writer's love for Ireland this was a light read.

A Netgalley download courtesy of Harper Collins UK HarperImpulse.