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Post by will on May 27, 2023 7:40:32 GMT
When you get back from Firenze you might like to invest in a book by Sarah Winman entitled "Still Life". I'm only part way through reading it myself, but it's really growing on me. It's based mainly in and around Florence, although early on it's in post-war London. There's a lot of references to Renaissance art, but you don't have to have a degree in art history. The only slightly irritating bit (especially for a grammar/punctuation Nazi like me) is that there is a lot of dialogue throughout, but Ms Winman decided to dispense with speech marks, so that dialogue can be a bit difficult to follow sometimes.
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Post by mulv on May 27, 2023 20:13:03 GMT
We've both read it - it's a marvelous book and I fell in love with all the characters, especially Cressy
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Post by will on May 27, 2023 20:30:16 GMT
We've both read it - it's a marvelous book and I fell in love with all the characters, especially Cressy Beat me to it then!  |
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Post by mulv on May 27, 2023 20:34:16 GMT
Jayne beat me to it. It's not the sort of book I would normally have picked up, but when we were planning to go to Florence last year she gave it to me and told me I really should read it.
I'm glad she did. 😁
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Post by mulv on May 28, 2023 20:03:04 GMT
Jayne has read it twice and up currently thinking of reading it again. 😁
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Post by will on May 28, 2023 21:55:47 GMT
I'm just watching a programme about famous Aussies (Greer, James, Humphries and Hughes) who came to the UK to make their fortune and explore Europe, and they've just mentioned the 1966 flood in Florence!
What a coincidence.
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Post by mulv on May 29, 2023 7:13:40 GMT
...they've just mentioned the 1966 flood in Florence! What a coincidence. Keep reading 😉 |
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Post by will on May 29, 2023 8:14:59 GMT
...they've just mentioned the 1966 flood in Florence! What a coincidence. Keep reading 😉 I've just reached 1960. |
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Post by tom on May 29, 2023 17:00:06 GMT
There is only ONE Good Book and I refer to it every Sunday, Lord permitting.
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Post by mulv on May 29, 2023 17:09:31 GMT
There is only ONE Good Book and I refer to it every Sunday, Lord permitting. Wisden's? |
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Post by tom on May 29, 2023 19:45:39 GMT
Ians Allans steam Locos.
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Post by will on May 30, 2023 8:16:07 GMT
...they've just mentioned the 1966 flood in Florence! What a coincidence. Keep reading 😉 Just reached the flood. Dramatically described in the book to say the least. It was only four and a half years later that I went to Florence on a school trip, and I have to say that we were completely unaware of the flood - there were no obvious signs of it having happened. But I suppose that as we were 13/14 year old kids we weren't looking very hard! |
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Post by will on May 31, 2023 9:22:40 GMT
...they've just mentioned the 1966 flood in Florence! What a coincidence. Keep reading 😉 Yes, that was quite harrowing, wasn't it? Just reached the bit where one of the main characters dies - that's my way of avoiding a full-blown spoiler |
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Post by mulv on Jun 1, 2023 4:38:13 GMT
We briefly visited the National Library today, which is on the banks of the Arno. It was at my request as I'd seen there was a plaque indicating the high water mark of the flood on the outside wall.
We found it.
It's about twelve feet above the road, about twenty feet above the river level. 😳
By coincidence we saw another in the square in which the Duomo is situated. That's about eight feet up the wall as well.
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