family history

Love Ya 2 Pizzas!

As Hubby and I start sorting through an accumulation of 30-some years’ worth of stuff, certain personal artifacts make an appearance that bring back delightful memories. Here’s one of those artifacts: This pizza box with the words “Love Ya 2 Pizzas!” and several hearts drawn on it was created and given to me by Erik, my then-boyfriend and now-husband of thirty-some years. He’s a very romantic guy. 🙂 While we were courting, he would periodically…

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art family history reading

Seventeen – Another Novel Based on History

I posted a few weeks ago about a novel I read, “The Art Forger,” that was based on a historical event, the theft of numerous works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Since that time, I have read another novel based on a historical event. This one is called “Seventeen” by Hideo Yokoyama. I found a hardcover copy at a local dollar store and was so taken with the cover art and description…

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art history pragmatic historian reading

Teasing Out the Real History in Historical Fiction

Note: This post contains spoilers for the novel “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro. I finished reading “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro this week. The novel reminded me of the movie “National Treasure.” “The Art Forger” would lend itself well to being turned into a movie because of the action and intrigue. (Though there are other movies about art forgers, I could not find one based on this book.) In it, we are treated…

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