I couldn't resist taking a picture of the angel on our front door step. There was also a wisp of snow on the little bird she is holding but you can't see it in the picture. No matter how frustrated I get after another doc's appointment that isn’t good news, one look at this contented angel and I feel better. The Christmas snow gently falling is making me homesick for childhood sledding and walks through the snow to Aunt Ruth’s. You can take the girl out of snow country but you can’t take the love of snowy landscapes out of the girl!

Perhaps my little angel would be more at home in the Italians settings brought to life in Susan Vreeland’s The Passion of Artemisia http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Passion-of-Artemisia/Susan-Vreeland/e/9781615574285/?itm=1&usri=passion+of+artemisia. I love to listen to audiobooks set in other countries as I hear the proper way to pronounce names and I adored the way the name Artemisia flowed off the narrator’s tongue. Vreeland is a gifted author, bringing to life a young woman destined to be a painter in a time when women were meant to stay in the background or be the model for a painting, not the one creating it. Artemisia is raped by her father’s partner artist and he brings the rapist to court, not because of what he did to Artemisia, but because of a feud over a painting. Artemisia is married off to a man she soon realizes cannot stay with one woman for long, including his wife. So Artemisia and her daughter create a life of their own. She is even befriended by Galileo. Mature older teens may enjoy this book but I wouldn’t offer it to just any teen who reads historical fiction.

I also listened to James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sundays-at-Tiffanys/JamesPatterson/e/9781615567133/?itm=3&USRI=sundays+at+tiffanys I enjoyed listening to this book as the concept of imaginary childhood friends has always intrigued me as I was often alone as a child but my friends were in books. They were “real” to me so I really had no need for imaginary ones. This is a sweet tale of a lonely rich girl whose mother is more interested in finding the next husband than in her daughter so Michael, Jane’s 30-something imaginary friend, keeps her company until he must disappear as do all imaginary friends when a child is “too old” to believe in them anymore. Much to their delight, Michael encounters the adult Jane and she can see him when no one else can. As you imagine with a Patterson “beach read” it has a happy ending. I like this kind of escapism once in awhile. Not a teen novel but I am sure there are teenage girls who would enjoy this love story.


The cover art on Anita Shreve’s Body Surfing http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Body-Surfing/Anita-Shreve/e/9781600244735/?pwb=2 may suggest this is a summer romance, but it is a very stark, troubling tale of a young woman who is tutoring the learning disabled sister of two brothers who are constantly in competition, even when it comes to Sidney’s heart. She is 29 and twice married – once a widow and once a divorcee. She isn’t looking for romance but she is not immune to being seduced by the brother who will win at all costs. One of my favorite audiobooks this year but not an “easy breezy” book by any means. There were more than a few times I sucked in my breath in dismay over the callousness of the brothers and manner in which their mother treats her.

Sorry the links to B&N aren't live. I'm having trouble with blogspot and my browser as of late. Need to figure out what is going on, but not right now.

Now, back to going through books. I really need one of those huge old houses that I could fill the rooms with different genres and types of books. Wanted to get these audiobooks blogged before I set them aside to give away.