Books

Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

Average customer rating:

I love Leon
Donna Leon's Venice
Little Children lacking passion
Provocative and wll done
Great mysterie like all Donna Leon stories.

Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Patience of the Spider (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries)
Quietly in Their Sleep
Death and Judgment (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
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Through a Glass, Darkly: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

ASIN: 087113960X

Book Description

Donna Leon’s charming, evocative, and addictive Commissario Guido Brunetti series continues with Suffer the Little Children. When Commissario Brunetti is summoned in the middle of the night to the hospital bed of a senior pediatrician, he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men -- a young Carabiniere captain and two privates from out of town -- have burst into the doctor's apartment in the middle of the night, attacked him and taken away his eighteenth-month old baby boy. What could have motivated an assault by the forces of the state so violent it has left the doctor mute? Who would have authorized such an alarming operation? At the same time, Brunetti’s colleague Inspector Vianello discovers a money-making scam between pharmacists and doctors in the city. But it appears as if one of the pharmacists is after more than money. Donna Leon's new novel is as subtle and fascinating as ever, set in a beautifully-realized Venice, a glorious city seething with small-town vice.

Customer Reviews:

I love Leon.......2007-06-12

First Sentence: ...and then my daughter-in-law told me that I should come in and tell you about it.

Commissario Guido Brunetti is awakened and ask to come to the hospital. A doctor of Pedriatics has been severely beaten. Three armed men broke into the apartment of the doctor and his wife and took away their 18 month old son. It seems the men were not local police, but Carabinieri, or military police and there as part of a raid on family who had adopted children illegally. During Brunetti's team's investigation, they discover a money-making scheme between the doctors and pharmacists wherein one of the pharmacists is motivated by his perception of improving morality.

Leon is a wonderful writer. Her ability to create sense of place and society is one of the best and she balances that with a humanity and humor in her characters. Brunetti is not one of the angst-ridden protagonists, but has a wife, family and city that he adores. The story is, at times, heart wrenching but the author doesn't overplay those aspects. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and was tragic but I did figure out the villain fairly soon into the book. However, Leon is always worth reading, just for her wonderful style.

Donna Leon's Venice.......2007-06-08

Always an excellant writer, Donna Leon's latest book will satisfy anyone who loves Venice and Commissario Guido Brunetti. Highly recommended.

Little Children lacking passion.......2007-06-06

A Donna Leon addict, I have read all of her novels and was excited when this one hit the stands. To my surprise, the novel was a big disappointment. It was as if Leon had run out of steam and was just squeezing out another novel. There is no energy or passion in the writing. Even the affecting story of bought children turns into a routine. "Suffer the Little Children" is a sparse novel and even if you are a Donna Leon fan, I can't recommend spending your time reading it.

Provocative and wll done.......2007-05-14

Been a Donna Leon fan for years and thought this was especially well-crafted. Loved the way she intertwined the baby trafficking and the issue of access to health records. Enough said - don't want to give too much away!

Great mysterie like all Donna Leon stories........2007-05-13

I am an Donna Leon 'addict' and always looking for a new story about my favorite Inspector Brunetti and was able to order some DVD's of german TV productions -which I play on my laptop...

Average customer rating:

The Silk Road Adorned
Venice and Islam
A scholarly catalogue

Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797
Stefano Carboni
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Sargent's Venice

ASIN: 0300124309

Book Description

From 828, when Venetian merchants carried home from Alexandria the stolen relics of St. Mark, to the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon in 1797, the visual arts in Venice were dramatically influenced by Islamic art. Because of its strategic location on the Mediterranean, Venice had long imported objects from the Near East through channels of trade, and it flourished during this particular period as a commercial, political, and diplomatic hub. This monumental book examines Venice's rise as the "bazaar of Europe" and how and why the city absorbed artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Islamic world.

Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797 features a wide range of fascinating images and objects, including paintings and drawings by familiar Venetian artists such as Bellini, Carpaccio, and Tiepolo; beautiful Persian and Ottoman miniatures; and inlaid metalwork, ceramics, lacquer ware, gilded and enameled glass, textiles, and carpets made in the Serene Republic and the Mamluk, Ottoman, and Safavid Empires. Together these exquisite objects illuminate the ways Islamic art inspired Venetian artists, while also highlighting Venice's own views toward its neighboring region. Fascinating essays by distinguished scholars and conservators offer new historical and technical insights into this unique artistic relationship between East and West.

Customer Reviews:

The Silk Road Adorned.......2007-05-13

For centuries The Most Serene Republic of Venice was the the western terminus of the fabled Silk Road. The city's warehouses were the repository of every luxury that Persia, India, China, Siam, the Levant, Byzantium, and the Ottomans had to offer. This book is a wonderful companion to the Met's glittering exhibition of art, illuminated manuscripts and decorative objects, which give a sense of Venice's singular place in the history of the Mediterranean. Viva San Marco!

Venice and Islam.......2007-05-13

This book is excelent. This book is the catalog of the exhibiton that
is on tne Metropolitan Museum of New York.

A scholarly catalogue.......2007-04-19

This book is the catalogue for a traveling exhibition held at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in 2006 and at the Met in New York in 2007. It is a very complete study of the influence of the islamic world on the Republic of Venice, encompassing all forms of art, painting, architecture, ceramics, textiles, engravings, books, and even religious artefacts (mosque lamps for example). All these works of art are the results of intense cultural and economic exchange between both worlds and the catalogue emphasizes this very well. A scholarly publication well served by wonderful illustrations. A very detailed checklist of all the works in the exhibition (medium, dimensions, location) makes this book a definite reference on the subject.

Average customer rating:

Terrible, Terrible, Terrible
A decent followup
Entertaining
Nice read
Not a page turner but good enough

The City of Falling Angels
John Berendt
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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ASIN: 0143036939
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Book Description

The author of the record-breaking bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he can

Twelve years ago, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil exploded into a monumental success, residing a record-breaking four years on the New York Times bestseller list (longer than any work of fiction or nonfiction had before) and turning John Berendt into a household name. The City of Falling Angels is Berendt's first book since Midnight, and it immediately reminds one what all the fuss was about. Turning to the magic, mystery, and decadence of Venice, Berendt gradually reveals the truth behind a sensational fire that in 1996 destroyed the historic Fenice opera house. Encountering a rich cast of characters, Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to portray a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting.

Amazon.com

Past Midnight: John Berendt on the Mysteries of Venice

Just as John Berendt's first book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was settling into its remarkable four-year run on The New York Times bestseller list, he discovered a new city whose local mysteries and traditions were more than a match for Savannah, whose hothouse eccentricities he had celebrated in the first book. The new city was Venice, and he spent much of the last decade wandering through its canals and palazzos, seeking to understand a place that any native will tell you is easy to visit but hard to know. For travelers to Venice, whether by armchair or vaporetto, he has selected his 10 (actually 11) Books to Read on Venice. And he took the time to answer a few of our questions about his charming new book, The City of Falling Angels:

Amazon.com: The lush, cloistered southern city of Savannah was the locale of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Venice, the setting for The City of Falling Angels, is vastly different. Was it the difference itself that drew you to Venice?

John Berendt: Savannah and Venice actually have quite a lot in common. Both are uniquely beautiful. Both are isolated geographically, culturally, and emotionally from the world outside. Venice sits in the middle of a lagoon; Savannah is surrounded by marshes, piney woods, and the ocean. Venetians think of themselves as Venetian first, Italian second; Savannahians rarely even venture forth as far as Atlanta or Charleston. So both cities offer a writer a rich context in which to set a story, and the stories provide readers a means of escape from their own environment into another world.

Amazon.com: I enjoyed your rather declarative author's note: that this is a work of nonfiction, and that you used everyone's real names. In your previous book you did use pseudonyms for some characters and you explained that you took a few small liberties in the service of the larger truth of the story. Why the change this time?

Berendt: When I wrote Midnight I thought I would do a few people the favor of changing their names for the sake of privacy. But when the book came out, several of the pseudonymous characters told me they wished I'd used their real names instead. So this time, no pseudonyms. As for the storytelling liberties I took in writing Midnight, they were minor and did not change the story, but my mention of it in the author's note caused some confusion, with the result that Midnight is sometimes referred to now as a novel, which it most certainly is not. Neither is The City of Falling Angels. In fact, I dispensed with the liberties this time and made it as close to the truth as I could get it.

Amazon.com: In The City of Falling Angels, a number of fascinating people serve as guides to the city, each with a different idea of the true nature of Venice. Who was your favorite?

Berendt: I don't have a favorite, but Count Girolamo Marcello is certainly a memorable, highly quotable commentator. "Everyone in Venice is acting," he told me. "Everyone plays a role, and the role changes. The key to understanding Venetians is rhythm, the rhythm of the lagoon, the water, the tides, the waves. It's like breathing. High water, high pressure: tense. Low water, low pressure: relaxed. The tide changes every six hours."

I nodded that I understood.

"How do you see a bridge?" he went on.

"Pardon me?" I asked, "A bridge?"

"Do you see a bridge as an obstacle--as just another set of steps to climb to get from one side of a canal to the other? We Venetians do not see bridges as obstacles. To us, bridges are transitions. We go over them very slowly. They are part of the rhythm. They are the links between two parts of a theater, like changes in scenery. Our role changes as we go over bridges. We cross from one reality ... to another reality. From one street ... to another street. From one setting ... to another setting."

Once I had absorbed that notion, Count Marcello continued: "Sunlight on a canal is reflected up through a window onto the ceiling, then from the ceiling onto a vase, and from the vase onto a glass. Which is the real sunlight? Which is the real reflection? What is true? What is not true? The answer is not so simple, because the truth can change. I can change. You can change. That is the Venice effect."

I was not terribly surprised when he later told me, "Venetians never tell the truth. We mean precisely the opposite of what we say."

Amazon.com: Now that you know Venice well enough to be a guide yourself, what would you say to a visitor looking for insight into the character of the city?

Berendt: Tourists generally shuffle along, on narrow streets so crowded as to be nearly impassable, between the major sights of St. Mark's Square, the Rialto Bridge, and the Accademia Museum. All you have to do is to step off these heavily traveled alleyways, and in a few moments you will find yourself in quiet, much emptier surroundings. This is more like the real Venice. Another thing to do is to go into the wine bars where Venetians stand around drinking and talking. They will very likely be speaking the Venetian dialect, so you won't be able to understand them, but you will get a sampling of the true Venetian ambiance enlivened by the pronounced sing-song rhythm of the language. I'd also suggest stopping someone in the street and asking for directions. Almost invariably, you will be rewarded with a genial smile and the instructions, Sempre diritto, meaning "Straight ahead." This will only leave you more confused, because when you attempt to follow a straight line, you will be confronted by more twists and turns and forks in the road than you thought possible, given the instructions. This is part of what Count Marcello described as "the Venice effect."

Customer Reviews:

Terrible, Terrible, Terrible.......2007-06-22

This is quite possibly the biggest claim of false advertising in the known Universe! The back of the book is totally lying about what the book is about. The author drones on and on about stuff no one would probably care about, all the while name dropping and sounding important. There is absolutely no story, no mystery and no point to this drivel. An entire 30+ page chapter on the membership of the Save Venice committee? Who cares? Unbelievably bad and boring, as if the author just wrote what he saw and put it in a book. One of the worst books I have ever read

A decent followup.......2007-06-19

I neither disliked nor really was enthralled by Berendt's 2nd book. Midnight had fascinating characters and an exciting murder mystery plot that could have gone many different ways, making it hard to put down. I found this book lacking the excitement of Midnight and also lacking characters that I really cared about. Still, it's a nice travelogue about Venice and the people who live there.

Entertaining.......2007-05-14

TCoFA is a set of intertwining stories (non-fiction, occasionally of the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction variety) set in Venice. Perhaps because I had the great pleasure of visiting Venice many years ago, and, like the author, was so charmed by it myself (it is one of my favorite places on the planet), I was particularly disposed to enjoy TCoFA. Even so, Berendt is a fine writer and the stories he chose to tell are interesting in their own right. There isn't much substance between the covers of TCoFA, but there's heaps of flash to entertain.

Nice read.......2007-05-12

An interesting, if somewhat long winded, take on an event in Venice. Makes you want to visit Venice, more than you want to know the resolution of the fire at the opera house there.

Not a page turner but good enough.......2007-04-12

Not as compelling as "The Midnight Garden of Good and Evil", but interesting enough. Using the fire at the Fenice Opera House as the thread, Berendt introduces us to an interesting variety of people, at the same time giving us a real feel of Venice itself. It helps a lot if you're interested in Ezra Pound.

Average customer rating:

Thank you, Ladies on the Train!
Another quality book from Rick
Definitely a must-have for Venice visitors.
excellent resource
Great information!

Rick Steves' Venice 2007 (Rick Steves)
Rick Steves , and Gene Openshaw
Manufacturer: Avalon Travel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2007 (Rick Steves)
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Rick Steves' Italy 2007 (Rick Steves)
Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2006 (Rick Steves)

ASIN: 1566918243

Book Description

Who but Rick Steves can tell travelers the best way to see St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection? With Rick Steves’ Venice 2007, travelers can experience everything Venice has to offer—economically and hassle-free. Completely revised and updated, Rick Steves’ Venice 2007 includes:

• Opinionated coverage of both famous and lesser-known sights
• Friendly places to eat and sleep
• Suggested day plans
• Walking tours and trip itineraries
• Clear instructions for smooth travel anywhere by car, train, or foot

America’s #1 authority on travel to Europe, Rick’s time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience.

Customer Reviews:

Thank you, Ladies on the Train!.......2007-06-25

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be seated across from some ladies who had this book on the train from Florence to Venice. After learning that we had no guidebook for the city, they very kindly gave it to us to use during our stay. We are soooooo grateful! We used it constantly. We loved the way Rick had all the walking tours laid out, and we did several of them. Since we only had two days in the city, we made use of the feature recommending which sites to see and which to skip. Also, I think that if we travel to Italy again, we will skip many of the agency "guided" tours--which mainly consist of being herded like cattle through the museums during peak hours and rushed past some of the most interesting pieces--and opt instead for the self-guided tour features in Rick's guidebook. We took the self-guided for I Frari and St. Mark's, and both were far more informative than our 40 Euro tour of the Doge's Palace. We ate at a number of the recommended restaurants (including the Juice Bar--delicious!) and didn't have any problem with crowds or waits, even during the peak hours of 8-9 pm. Since our hotels were pre-booked through a travel agency, I can't comment on the accomodations section. But I loved that Rick's recommendations were all budget-friendly. By the time we got to Venice, we'd been all across Italy and funds were low. It was nice that this guidebook had actual price ranges inside, so we could budget a little better--and know, unlike another unsuspecting couple we met, that coffee at Florian's could end up costing 50 + Euros. This book would be a great investment for any Venice-bound traveller...and thank you again, ladies! You (and Rick) helped make our trip absolutely fabulous!

Another quality book from Rick.......2007-05-15

Not only does Rick provide up to minute info, including correct phone numbers to musuems. (Just called to secure a reservation to Doge's Secret Tour) but also hints on how to avoid some of the lines. Would you like to know which vaporetta stop to use for Murano glass shopping? Get the book. It well done, with a couple of unexpected lines of humor that will definitely have lol wherever you are!!

Definitely a must-have for Venice visitors........2007-03-26

Rick's book - along with the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Venice and the Veneto - proved to be the most useful from the stack of nearly a half-dozen tour guides we brought with us on a recent trip to the city. His coverage of practical information such as how to best use and get around the city via vaporetto, walking, waterbus services, etc was the easiest to follow and made navigating what can be a confusing city much simpler.

His museum and art highlights are interesting and provide a more lighthearted, easier-to-read approach than many more "highbrow" tour or art books one can find. Of course, there is much more to see in each museum or church or scuola than he points out, so for the art enthusiast it is worth taking your time and not simply skimming about to find his highlights. We found we needed at least twice as much time in each location as Rick indicates to fully appreciate what we were seeing. Similarly, we had to laugh upon setting foot on Burano and seeing he only gives it a "5-minute" walkabout, or similarly 30 minutes on Torcello. We spent about 5 hours combined on just those two fascinating lagoon islands.

That said, we would have missed a great deal without his useful hints and tips, and went to a couple of the restaurants he recommended and had good experiences there (as well as his other tips for good eating around the entire city.)

excellent resource.......2007-03-26

very practical, up to date info. We bought his Rome and Florence boods also. Compared to all the other books we bought for our trip to italy, his are by far the best

Great information!.......2007-03-08

Like all Rick Steves' books, this one was easy to read and follow. His inside information was so helpful in planning a complete trip; sights, sleeping, and transportation. I hightly recommend this book if you are visiting Venice.

Fodor's Essential Italy, 1st Edition: Rome, Florence, Venice & the Top Spots In Between (Fodor's Gold Guides)

Average customer rating:

Good book, but not ideal for (cheap) backpackers
Italy in all its glory
Gives me what I'm looking for, and a little more

Fodor's Essential Italy, 1st Edition: Rome, Florence, Venice & the Top Spots In Between (Fodor's Gold Guides)
Fodor's
Manufacturer: Fodor's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2007 (Rick Steves)

ASIN: 1400017467
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

Rome, Florence, and Venice: those magical names are at the top of everyone’s “must-see” list for Italy. First-time visitors design their itineraries around them, while Italy veterans return to them again and again, knowing that the old saying about Rome, “A lifetime is not enough,” equally applies to Florence and Venice.

This guide gives travelers what they want: the same high-quality coverage as in Fodor's other Italy guides, but with a focus on the most popular destinations. The resulting book is slimmer and lighter than competing guides, but it’s filled with great Fodor’s features and information that’s rich and varied enough to suit any taste.

• Includes itineraries showing readers how to see the best of Italy at their own pace, with maximum fun and minimum fatigue

• Magazine-like “In Focus” features include topics such as Ancient Rome, The Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi, Siena's Campo & the Palio, Who's Who in Renaissance (Florence), Cruising the Grand Canal (Venice), Palladio Country, Emilia One Tast at a Time, The Fashionista's Milan, and The Cinque Terre.

• Thorough coverage of the surrounding highlights, including Tuscany, Milan, and the Cinque Terre

• 8-page color insert

Customer Reviews:

Good book, but not ideal for (cheap) backpackers.......2007-06-08

I just graduated college and decided to go on a backpacking trip through Europe. We spend about a week in Italy, and this book was somewhat helpful, but not ideal.

The food suggestions were generally for slightly higher budget travelers, and the organization didn't really fit our travel style.

If you are backpacking or just a young person looking for a good travel book, our group had a good experience with the MTV Europe (MTV Guides)book. It was kind of bulky, but we used it nearly everyday.

If you are considering this book or something from the Eyewitness series, I would definitely go with the Eyewitness book. It may be more expensive, but it will be vastly more useful. In Rome I ended up purchasing Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides) from a bookstore, and wishing I would have just bought the whole Italy book off Amazon in the first place.

Bottom line, if you are cheap or on a budget, I would look at other books, but this will get the job done if you are looking for some nice places to eat and stay.

Italy in all its glory.......2007-05-10

I used Fodor's to map out my itinerary to ensure I saw everything I wanted to see and experienced Italy in all its glory. It explained the "must sees" very well and concisely.

The map was handy but not as good as other maps purchased in a book store which had more detail right on the map of the places to see so we did not have to carry the book around.

Tips on how to avoid the long lines were very accurate.

Gives me what I'm looking for, and a little more.......2007-03-10

I've been looking at a bunch of guides for planning an Italy trip this summer, and this is the best so far. It's not as big as other guides, but it's got as much information about the places I'm going as the other guides do, and it also manages to throw in little things that are unique, like an interview with a winebar owner in Venice, explaining the local winebar customs and no-nos.

Average customer rating:

Another Venetian Master
beautiful book
Sargent's Venice
One of the most satisfying books on John Singer Sargent

Sargent's Venice
Richard Ormond , and Warren Adelson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882; Complete Paintings: Volume IV (Complete Paintings)
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ASIN: 0300117175

Book Description

John Singer Sargent returned to Venice many times during his life, endlessly fascinated with this enchanting city. In paintings filled with vivid colors and dazzling light, he sought to capture its vitality and unique ambience, often working while afloat in a gondola. This gorgeously illustrated book presents nearly seventy of Sargent’s oil and watercolor paintings of Venice, many of them famous but others only rarely seen. The book also contains fascinating new photographs of actual sites depicted in Sargent’s paintings.
Sargent’s early works in Venice were created in 1880-1882, and he undertook a second, larger body of work in the city during visits from 1900 to 1913. His responses to Venice—its local figures, its buildings and waterways, its extraordinary light—reflect his changing interests over time as well as his lifelong ability to extend his own reach as a creative artist. The book considers various aspects of Sargent’s work and milieu in a series of informative essays by international scholars. They discuss the evolution of Sargent’s style, the topography of his work in Venice, his connections with Henry James and other Americans in Venice, Italian artists in Venice in the nineteenth century, and American artists in Venice in the nineteenth century.

Customer Reviews:

Another Venetian Master.......2007-05-07

SARGENT'S VENICE is a book that makes Sargent more than a great portrait painter. It reveals that he could be equally good at landscapes of the world's most beautiful city. His views of Venice are intimate, exploratory, perceptive, Venice seen from a gondola snaking its way through the canals. The prow of the gondola figures in many of his paintings. Venice has been the province of great painters since Tintoretto and Sargent now joins their company, thanks to this book.

beautiful book.......2007-03-27

Thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, and this book is a wonderful keepsake illustrated with abundant, good quality color reproductions. I would highly recommend this book. I appreciate Amazon's hassle free, speedy delivery as well.

Sargent's Venice.......2007-01-04

If you love Venice, and if you love Sargent--then you will love this book. There are a few new items in this book, but for the most part they are reapeated images from now all the numerous volumes of Sargents books that have flooded the market in the recent years. The text is intersting and the insightful written by Mr. Warren Adelsen and Mr. Richard Ormond two Sargent experts-- are worth reading, if you want to add to your knowlege of Sargent and Venice.

One of the most satisfying books on John Singer Sargent.......2006-12-14

Richard Ormond has collected the watercolors and drawings and oil paintings that were John Singer Sargent's response to that most mystical and romantic of cities - Venice, Italy - from two separate periods of time in Sargent's prolific career. The selected works are from a fecund period from 1880 to 1882 and the second even larger body of works date from his visits there from 1900 to 1913. Comparing the two periods is illuminating on many levels, but despite the separation in time, Sargent's manner of capturing the magic that is Serenissima is unmatched in works of other artists.

That Sargent was influenced by his friend and colleague Henry James is patently obvious. Were the reader to read 'The Aspern Papers' along with this picture voyage through the canals and paths of Venice the feeling of actually being there in time and place would be unavoidable.

Sargent seems more comfortable in the aqueous métier of watercolor for the views and atmosphere of Venice. He manages to paint the fogs and mists that rise from this water city, to reflect the relaxed tranquility of the people within the island, and he is attuned to the alterations of light as it strikes and reflects off the water, altering the subject matter in a way only those who have been to Venice can appreciate fully.

Along with the mood of the works elegantly reproduced in this volume is Ormond's narrative. He has selected photographs of many of the places Sargent painted, allowing the reader to appreciate the interpretation Sargent achieved in his artist impression as well as in his keen observational skills. This is a book of languid beauty, one that will satisfy on many levels. Very Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 06

Average customer rating:

Interesting in Venice
Good start, not so good finish
Venice Revealed
Feeding my new addiction to crime novels...
Good book

Death in a Strange Country
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
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ASIN: 0143034820

Book Description

In Death in a Strange Country Commissario Guido Brunetti confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young American is fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. Though all the signs point to a violent mugging, something incriminating turns up in the victim's apartment that suggests the existence of a high level conspiracy—and Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody is taking great pains to provide a ready-made solution to the crime. As dark and riveting as its predecessors, Death in a Strange Country will provide Leon's growing fan base with another chilling read.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting in Venice.......2007-01-16

I am finding these books very interesting especially since I was in Venice in May 2005. It is very easy to visulaize the setting she uses in the book so that you can easily move along in the story. The subject of the story was also very interesting and different. I plan to read more in the series.

Good start, not so good finish.......2006-12-31

I've just finished reading Death in a Strange Country and followed that with a review of the reviews previously posted on Amazon. I must confess that I'm astonished at the fullness of praise in nearly all reviews. For my part, I was very disappointed in the book, and I suspect that I won't be reading any more mysteries by Donna Leon.

I say that with some regret, because I have loved her evocation of Venice. I've been there only once, but like most tourists I fell in love with the place, and I don't believe that you ever fall out of love with Venice. Ms. Leon brought it all back with her crisp and compact descriptions, of the vaporettos and the palazzi on the Grand Canal, of the side canals and the back streets, and the Rialto and San Marco and the boat ride out to Murano and Burano. I drank in the map on the frontispiece of the book.

She also delineates character very well. She has a wonderful protagonist in Brunetti, and his wife Paola is also a wonderful character.

I'm not so pleased with Patta, though. He's a one-dimensional fool, not a real person at all. I must also admit to some irritation with the hackneyed formula of having our policeman hero have to battle both the bad guys and the stupidity of the bureaucracy above him. Thus he becomes a loner, fighting the system.

Compare Brunetti and Patta with Jane Tennyson and her superiors in the Prime Suspect series. Jane (Helen Mirren) also has her battles with superiors, but the superiors are not totally unreasonable. Much of the conflict comes from Jane's own difficult personality. By comparison, Patta is a caricature who doesn't seem to belong in a novel where the other characters seem to be real people.

I also must confess that I bristle at the implicit right-wing ideology behind this type of formula: Bureaucracies are always bad, individual initiative, particularly in contravention of the bureaucracy, is always good.

But enough of Patta. Going back to the book, I would like to extend one more compliment before I try to explain what I didn't like. It's this: Leon really knows how to get a plot rolling along. The murders, the events, the clues revealed, all come along at a brisk pace and really suck the reader in, It's a page-turner. In fact, I stayed up till 2AM turning the pages, intrigued more than anything by wanting to see how the author would manage to close such a complicated plot in a satisfactory way.

My answer, at 2AM, was that she didn't. The plot collapsed on her, and she disappeared beneath the rubble.

It's always tricky business to write a mystery in which the bad guys win. Leon seems prone to this kind of twist. She did it before when the bad guys were Opus Dei. This time the bad guys are......well, who are they anyway? I guess you'd say the vast criminal conspiracy that runs Italy. Now defenders of the book might say, "It's a better book because the bad guys won. That's what the real world is like."

Fair enough, but is the book realistic? First, is it appropriate to characterize the Italian nation as a criminal conspiracy? Looking at the Mafia in Sicily and the likes of Silvio Berlusconi in Milan, I suppose that a case could be made. But there are also lots of courageous public prosecutors and journalists and ordinary citizens. The view of Italian society presented by the book seems to me a stretch.

Second, is it reasonable to imagine that a U.S, Army base (post) would join right in in this conspiracy? When in Rome and all that? That's even more of a stretch.

To my mind, the plot started to run into problems in the scene where Brunetti goes to see the Count, his father in law. He's there to ask a favor, but his tone is shrill and insulting. Has he been listening too much to the Greenpeace-inspired diatribes of his teenage children? Brunetti seems totally out of character in this scene. Later, he goes to the palazzo of the bad guy Viscardi, for no apparent purpose other than to snarl some nastiness and lose the argument. Again, totally out of character.

In the end, we have three murders and we don't know who committed any of them. We also don't know a couple of other specific things that I will refrain from mentioning so as not to give away all of the plot. We don't know how widespread the conspiracy was among the military personnel on the post. We are given suggestions that it was at the highest levels, that it wasn't a rogue group. It was the U.S. Army. Really?

And finally, the conspiracy extended to the U.S. military hospital in Germany, where the Hippocratic oath seemed to have been set aside for a while. Really?

So, in the end, what can we score in favor of the good guys? Well, one of the bad guys gets blown away. Score that one point. And Brunetti, in his conversation with his father in law, got a promise to close and clean up the toxic dump and move it elsewhere. Is this a point for the good guys? I can't see it that way. Point A, which is about to come to public attention, is to be cleaned up, and Point B, as yet unnamed and unknown in location, is to be polluted instead. I'd say that was a point for the bad guys.

Venice Revealed.......2006-07-03

While this is not my favorite of the series, I have become fond of Brunetti and his love for corrupt and decadent Venice and his family. The mystery is almost secondary to his character and his views of the city and Leon's charaters are a delight.

Feeding my new addiction to crime novels..........2006-04-06

Some time ago I wrote in a review of an Ian Rankin book that I wasn't really into crime as a genre. Something's happened since then and it's now my regular stress-busting bit of escapism and I have to 'fess up to being a convert to low-life detective novels(when it's good anyway).

Donna Leon is certainly good - Death in a Strange County is the first of her books I've read and there is an enticingly large array of other books by her to move on to. It was a single-evening read and delivered everything it should. Guido (the Venetian policeman) is a good hero - not too macho, not too fey - a palpable person. And Venice - I was there. Leon really manages to evoke the workaday reality of the city. I was unsurprised to find out she lives there as it was every inch the city I know.

Great fun, smooth writing, good characterisation and a plausible plot. Just what you need for a holiday.

Good book.......2006-03-13

Haven't read it yet but her other books are good. I like the location.

No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice

Average customer rating:

Unmannerly Bragadoccio
Wit + Scholarship = The Tones of Venice
Too too twee

No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice
Judith Martin
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393059324

Book Description

The definitive manual for the hopeless Venetophile.

Love of Venice can strike anyone, not just romantic wusses. Among the toughies with serious cases were Lord Byron, Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway. Symptoms include:
• Wishing that the movie stars in films set in Venice would move aside so that you can get a better view of the scenery.
• Wondering why people ask if you had good weather when you were there—as if rain could dampen your love.
• Thinking that people who go to Tuscany or Provence must be nuts.
• Believing that the "Per San Marco" street sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions makes perfect sense.
• Consoling yourself when you leave by remembering the generations of Venetian merchants who, as they were borne away from Venice, vowed to be back as soon as they had more money.

There is no cure for this affliction. This is a guide to managing it. 35 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Unmannerly Bragadoccio.......2007-06-16

Having enjoyed renting a charming flat in Dorsoduro, shopping with a wheeled cart like real Venetians, using the Venice Card to hop on and off the vaporetti but also using the traghetto to cross the Grand Canal, I was hoping for some additional insight into the enjoyable sport of being a holiday Venetian. Instead, I found Miss Manners grandly informing us of her connections among the literati and glitterati of Venice, who she entertains in her rented palazzo.
Ms. Martin also gives us smatterings of history and literary anecdotes, nothing new here. What was new, and horrifying, was a description of ritual animal torture which used to happen in more benighted times, even in Venice.
I agree that renting an apartment is the best way to feel a part of the culture when going abroad, but found this book unedifying on the subject.
Pick up any Venice guidebook and see the same stories of asking for directions and being told "Sempre dritto", and being warned not to touch the produce, and how the boca de leoni were used to inform on people...
If you want a beautifully written, truly informative book on Venice, its history, art and culture, read Mary McCarthy's still splendid "Venice Observed".

Wit + Scholarship = The Tones of Venice .......2007-05-17

We have been waiting since Mary McCarthy to read such eloquent writing about Venice as we now find in "No Vulgar Hotel." Judith Martin's consummate wit along with Eric Denker's cornucopia of Venetian cultural and historical lore, makes this book essential reading for all visitors to Venice.
The book's amusing style and profound observations lay before us multiple interesting facts, both traditional and current, about Venice's idiosyncracies and charm.
Ms. Martin and her companions take us through this intriguing city and share with us their passion. They renew our love of Venice on every page.

Too too twee.......2007-04-12

Engaging, but somewhat precious and self-conscious, this commentary on the Venetophilic addiction is a "potato chip" of a read. There are many snips of history and anecdote but it skips and samples and skims the surface without offering any real insight. I honestly found it a bit of a slog.

I guess my overall impression is similar to my impression of USA Today...lots of sound bites, but no substance. The author clearly loves Venice and knows it well but her self-adulatory tone wears thin pretty quickly. There are many nice observations about tourists and Venetophiles but I wasn't sure about the point of it all. Check it out from the library but don't bother to buy it.

Floating Cities: Venice, Amsterdam, Leningrad-And Moscow

Average customer rating:

Brilliant
Floating Cities
A savant at work!
The Wrong Description
The Wrong Description

Floating Cities: Venice, Amsterdam, Leningrad-And Moscow
Stephen Wiltshire
Manufacturer: Summit Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0671755684

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant.......2002-08-09

Stephen Wiltshire's pen and ink drawings are fantastic. He captures each subject perfectly and in incredible detail...sometimes having only seen the subject for a few minutes. Incredible drawings made even more incredible by the fact that Stephen is autistic.

Floating Cities.......2001-11-30

Reading this book was an inspiration.The intricate detail and elegance of each drawing is breath-taking.
As an autistic individual he is able to capture the beauty an essence that a normal person with their eye would not see.
His work seems effortless, and takes him no time to do at all, but yet he is a perfectionist, right down to the last detail.
I am not an art critic, but certainly now I do appreciate the architecture that surrounds me and realize how beautiful it really is, and although Autism is not really understood and how it is actually caused.
Stephen, no matter what level of autism he seems to possess, he has truly mastered and captured the gracefullness of each buillding that he draws.
In a word he is an "Artistic, Autistic Genius."

A savant at work!.......2001-05-06

This man's pictures have to be seen to be believed. Stephen Wiltshire actually is Autistic,operating on a six year old level for most of his adult life. He has a very rare talent of being able to visually process all that he sees and reproduce these images on paper. I have seen him on a TV show being flown around London on a helicopter and reproducing a image of 4 square miles, including 11 London landmarks and over 600 buildings with perfect perspective and scale in less than three hours.

This book has to be appreciated for what it is, a work of a genius!

The Wrong Description.......2000-06-24

I agree that this is not the correct description of the book. Floating cities is actually a series of drawings done by a young english autistic boy. They are absolutely fantastic renditions of famous buildings, made more incredible by the fact that Stephen himself has this overwhelming disability, and many of them were done by memory. This book will make you realise that disabilities are by no means disabling, and can open up worlds unaccessable to the rest of society.

The Wrong Description.......2000-06-24

Average customer rating:

Consistent, intelligent mysteries
Ken Le Huray
A master at the top of her game - an excellent mystery
very good writing but not a classic mystery
Excellent mystery novel!

A Noble Radiance
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0142003190
Release Date: 2003-08-26

Book Description

Donna Leon has topped European bestseller lists for more than a decade with a series of mysteries featuring clever Commissario Guido Brunetti. Always ready to bend the rules to uncover the threads of a crime, Brunetti manages to maintain his integrity while maneuvering through a city rife with politics, corruption, and intrigue.

In A Noble Radiance a new landowner is summoned urgently to his house not far from Venice when workmen accidentally unearth a macabre grave. The human corpse is badly decomposed, but a ring found nearby proves to be a first clue that reopens an infamous case of kidnapping involving one of Venice's most aristocratic families. Only Commissario Brunetti can unravel the clues and find his way into both the heart of patrician Venice and that of a family grieving for their abducted son.

Customer Reviews:

Consistent, intelligent mysteries.......2006-07-01

This is another of Donna Leon's wonderful Comissario Guido Brunetti mysteries set in Venice. While some of them are slightly better than others, each is a solid, pleasurable, intelligent read. And Guido is a "best of breed" police inspector with humor, a conscience, and frustration with the corruption of the ruling powers in and around Venice.

Ken Le Huray.......2005-10-10

Donna Leon's creation of Guido Brunetti detective of Venice is one of the great figures of the genre. His family and the city of Venice are equally realisic. "A Noble Radiance" is full of the corrupt and aristocratic background of that city. The interplay of characters in the story is first class.

A master at the top of her game - an excellent mystery.......2005-10-04

I love this series. It is set in one of the most interesting and mysterious cities in the world with a complex and equally interesting main character. The plots of each story masterfully intertwine the grit and politics of every day Venice with the day to day challenges of being a police detective. In this story, Brunetti is faced with solving the 2 year mystery of a kidnapping turned murder. Naturally, his insufferable boss, imperious Italian nobility, embarrasing police incompetence (or is it disinterest) and the grinding politics of Italian bureaucracy all challenge our hero's skills as much as the mystery itself. All of this would be forgetable if the book had been written by someone with fewer skills or a heavier hand than Ms. Leon. I especially love her dialogue. The conversations between Brunetti and his wife are tender and realistic. But I really love the way she gives voice to Guido Brunetti's inner thoughts - it makes this, and all of her books, so involving.

With so many cookie-cutter mystery series out there (many of which, I admit, I read and enjoy), it is refreshing to read a novel that is both interesting and very well written.

Note: Unlike some other mystery serials, this book stands on its own and can be read without having to have completed the prior books in the series to enjoy it.

very good writing but not a classic mystery.......2005-02-05

A Noble Radiance is the second Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice by Donna Leon that I have read. Leon is a very good writer, and she has made an admirable character in Brunetti, but this is not a typical mystery novel of the "whodunit" variety.

The story centers upon the newly discovered body of a young nobleman who was kidnapped two years previously. After two ransom demands, the kidnappers made no further contacts with the young man's family, and so the case remained a mystery. Now with the body discovered buried on a rural farm, Brunetti of the Venice police department, reopens the case as a murder investigation.

Other than Brunetti and his family, most of the characters were not very interesting. What did hold my interest was the life and attitudes of the Venetians and how the European world of commerce works with the opening of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Bloc. The murder case was rather secondary to the actual story of the young man's family's business and not much of a puzzle. Leon's strength as a writer is to make the reader really see the story through Brunetti's eyes, which is no small feat, especially when she uses third person narration. I just wish she could give Brunetti a more complex mystery to unravel.

Excellent mystery novel!.......2004-01-01

I came across this novel purely by accident, purchased it, and finished it within 4 hours. I could not put it down. This was a very well-written mystery and I am thrilled to know there are other books about Commissario Guido Brunetti. I obviously read this slightly out of order with her other Brunetti books, but this was written with no other knowledge of the Commissario needed. The book was self-contained and was a fine read. I have already ordered the rest of her books.

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