~ A Renewed Passion ~

Whenever I am asked to list my hobbies, I always include reading . When I was young the library in our little town (then with a population less than 1000 people) was my favourite hangout, especially during school holidays. I also shared a room with my younger sister so spent many nights under the covers with a torch, in order to read my favourite books - Milly Molly Mandy, Little Woman, Trixie Belden and of course a string of Enid Blyton novels. As I got older my reading topics varied from autobiographies, crime and anything with a historical reference.....and my bookshelves were straining under my ever growing book collection. I have been in a bookclub for a number of years, athough we are a social wine & cheese group we are also very serious about our book choices & discussions. However over the past couple of years I have struggled to read the monthly selection in time for our get togethers let alone anything else..........but this all changed the minute I became sick ( something good had to come from it!! ) because I was having trouble sleeping and found myself bright eyed & busy tailed at 2am every morning, my frustration of trying to get to sleep was really getting to me. A friend suggested I find something to do at this hour rather than lie in bed tossing and turning, the most logical thing to do was read ( it would be the less distrubing avtivity for the rest of the household ). Wow I am so glad I took her advice.....I finding the insomnia so much easier to tolerate and in the meantime renewed my passion for reading......I have read 3 books in 3 days this week.......2 autobiographies and a novel that I just couldn't put down.........to say it enthralled me is an understatement!!. So what is this book you ask??? - it is a historically based novel by Jeanne Kalogridis called "Painting Mona Lisa".... it is of course a love story but it is also so much more, a mystery, a betrayal and a beautifully retold story of turbulent Florence during the Renaissance period........and the intriguing story of da Vinci's Mona Lisa. When I finished this book I did something way way out of my comfort zone I emailed her to congratulate her on the novel and to say how much I enjoyed it. This morning I woke to an email back from her thrilled that she had replied but even more excited by some of what she had to say.....mine was the first feedback she has had on this novel - it has only just been released in Australia and it will be a few months before it is hits the bookshops in the UK & US. I am off tomorrow to purchase another of her novels "The Borgia Bride" and will be waiting in anticipation for the novel she is currently researching on Catherine de Medici another heroine from the Renaissance period.
So if you want a good read - I can highly recommend "Painting Mona Lisa" - enjoy!!