A Book Review: David

Title: David

Author: Mary Hoffman

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2011

Synopsis: Michelangelo's statue of David is renowned all over the world. Thousands flock to Florence to admire the artistry behind this Renaissance masterpiece, and to admire the beauty of the human form captured in the marble. But the identity of the model for this statue that has been so revered for over five hundred years has been lost . . .

In this epic story Mary Hoffman uses her persuasive narrative skills to imagine the story of Gabriele, an eighteen-year-old who, by becoming Michelangelo's model, finds himself drawn into a world of spies, politicking, sabotage and murder. Set against the backdrop of Florence, this is a rich, colourful and thrilling tale.

from Amazon.co.uk

As a young adult, when fridge magnets were in I bought a David set for my friends. You could dress him up in different outfits including an Elvis one. My parents visited Florence at some point and were also blown away and finally about five years ago, I finally got to go to Florence myself. After announcing to the Frog that I could live solely on Italian food FOREVER, I arrived and discovered I couldn't eat the damn stuff for love or money. Still, the little monster growing inside of me didn't affect my appetite for art and we visited the Ufizi, Academia and wondered the back corridors of the Medici Palace. I loved Florence, and was curious when I discovered that Mary Hoffman had written a book about quite possibly the most iconic statue in the world. 

A Wanderer near Paris has moved. If you would like to read more of this review, please click here. 

A Memory: The Legend

A Wanderer near Paris has moved and you can now find my memories here.

This week it is the turn of the legend Dalida.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

On the 14th October just before 8pm, I was casting a quick glance at my twitter feed when I noticed a recurring hashtag: #livejump #redbullstratos. The tweets were a mixture of awe, enthusiasm and total fear. A quick google search led me to the livestream and before long I too became caught up in the excitement, and then the 8 o’clock news was ignored as the Frog and I watched history in the making. Felix Baumgartner became the first man to  freefall from the stratosphere and break the sound barrier.

To be perfectly honest I have no wish to jump off anything high (I jumped out a plane once and still bear the scar the alto-meter left under my chin), but I do have a goal. I want to write a book, not in that ‘everyone has a book in them’ kind of way, but in a ‘I am going to write a book’ kind of way. So, I find people like Baumgartner inspiring, because let’s face it, if someone goes to the edge of the Earth and risks death it kind of makes writing a book easy. I’m not saying writing a book is easy, I’m just saying that I don’t need a special suit, I don’t need to travel anywhere, I don’t need a special team of scientists, I just need me and my desk.

So here’s my resolution number one:

This isn't the resolution. This is just to say that A wanderer near Paris has moved. If you would like to read more, click here

A Memory: in the bag

Guadeloupe

Wave goodbye and say hello...

I love blogging, I've been at it since 2006, but I don't think I like this blog anymore.

During my blogging hiatus of 2008/9 something happened to blogging. You had to be a book blogger or a food blogger or a writing blogger. There were platforms to be built and tweeting to be done, and followers to be caught and blah, blah, blah.

And frankly like my stalled WIP in progress, my blog has become stale. My stalled WIP in progress is another story, but I think there is something to be done about the blog.

I'm moving on. The wanderer and I morphing into a rather more rounded me (in ALL senses). I'm not so sure how Blogger will take it, but 'sssh' I'm going to have a go at wordpress. And I'm going to blog about it ALL.

So you can now find me here.

And now that I've announced this momentous occasion, I shall go and feed the cat.

A Memory: In spirals

Guadeloupe