by Mitchell James KaplanSet in 15th Century Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition.
The silver objects she had fashioned for the Great Synagogue of Cairo refused to leave Judith's mind. In her imagination, she continued turning them over and upside down, running her fingertips across their surfaces. (ch. 2)
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by Diane Meier
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje, and The Season of Second Chances: A Novel by Diane Meier. (I actually started this novel a few weeks ago and haven't had a chance to pick it up again.) The two books are different enough that I have no trouble reading both at the same time, depending on whether I'm at home or in the car.
by Mitchell Kaplan 
and The Secret of Happiness, by Demosthenes Armeniades, a book described as an "off-beat fairy tale thriller." 
by Fulford Chin Choy, published January 14, 2008
"More importantly, a love for life is one way to bring closure to the grieving for another. May there be peace in your life as well as your future." (p. 39)Book description:
Title: Peace and Love"To change within, particularly for the better, takes more than a wish. True, the process starts with a volition but thereafter, it ordinarily will take determination, focus and a willing heart. Journey alongside a personal reflection on the influence of others while growing up. Then consider what it takes to change and how the seven deadly sins can sway your impulsive actions and emotional reactions. Contemplate counteractions and self control. With the insight gained, peace of mind likely can be had with one employing the heart, the mind and the will to do so."
Blood Hina by California crime writer, Naomi Hirahara; A Twist of Orchids by Michelle Wan, who writes mysteries set in the Dordogne, France and a book of contemporary fiction, Half Life by Roopa Farooki of England and France, a book with a good story. 
Also reviewed a delightful historical fiction set in 19th century Italy, The Blind Contessa's New Machine by a talented young writer Carey Wallace, who is at work on five other books! She confesses this in her interview printed with the book review. 
Right now, she is renovating an old, run-down Victorian house, turning it into the Apricot House with the help of handyman/interior decorator Teddy, a thirty-something who reminds her of the brother she lost many years ago.
by Carey Wallace, published 2010.For those first several weeks, the darkness was complete. But then Carolina began to see again in her dreams.The ending of the novel was an interesting surprise, subject to more than one interpretation, but the basic facts follow the true story of the Contessa and her intimate friend.
At first the glimpses were so slim, they might only have been memories; the sun blazing through the new spring leaves, which seemed to be in danger of disintegrating in its rays; a box her mother kept by her bed, red cloth, embroidered with a white parrot; a silver bowl full of lemons.
(photo by Alicia Hansen)The evocative details of the actual invention of the typewriter inspired me to write the story: a beautiful blind woman, an inventor who’s inspired to create the first typewriter out of love for her, and the fact that they were both married to other people. The added fact that the typewriter really was invented in Italy was just another lucky element in a wonderful collection of historical scraps. But I was delighted to get to create a corner of a fictional Italy, since I think Italy occupies a special place in the imaginative landscape of the whole world: from the Greek and Roman myths that still dominate so much of western fiction, to more modern writers like E.M. Forster who find Italy to be a playground for the imagination – it’s a place where, at least in literature, anything can happen.2. How much of your book is based on actual people and facts?
When the first typewriter was invented, nobody knew it was the first typewriter. The inventor wasn’t the same person who eventually commercialized it, so the historical details are scarce, but I did work within them. The typewriter really was invented by Pellegrino Turri for Carolina Fantoni, a noblewoman who went blind in her early twenties. Using the machine, they carried on a correspondence of only a few years, which ended around the time Carolina’s family moved away from the area. The original machine was returned to Turri’s family upon Carolina’s death, and it does not survive: only a handful of her letters that prove that she was in possession of the first machine to fit the modern definition of typewriter.3. The description of the Contessa's gradual loss of sight seems very realistic. Do you have first hand experience with people who are blind or have lost their sight?
Thankfully, I don’t – although I’ve always valued the fact that my near-sightedness gives me more than one way to see the world. The descriptions of blindness in the story date back almost ten years, to a church retreat when I wound up in a room with a woman who worked for an eye doctor. Over the years, she had learned to read patient tests well enough that she could diagnose problems herself, and sometimes knew that a patient was destined for blindness before the doctor told them. This was a difficult weight for her to carry, and she spent several hours explaining different varieties of blindness to me in extraordinary detail. For years, I struggled to write about this experience. It just never seemed to fit anywhere I tried to put it. But over time, my writing went through a shift. Instead of trying to manage the trauma of the world through my work, or even to bear witness to it, I got interested in creating new worlds. Pain still had a place, but it was transformed. And the simple stories of modern patients struggling as they lost their sight finally emerged, reborn as The Blind Contessa’s New Machine.4. How much and what research did you have to do for the novel?
As a writer, I’m interested in evocative scraps of history that provide jumping off points for the imagination. The story of the invention of the typewriter is an almost perfect example of this: a small but wonderful group of facts mostly garbled beyond recognition on the internet or collected with more accuracy in out-of-print books by typewriter aficionados. I tracked down the previously-printed facts thoroughly, but there weren’t many to find, which gave me the leeway to create with abandon around the kernel of the true story.5. I was a little puzzled by the ending. Can you enlighten us a bit about your decision to end the novel in the way it did?
6. Some of your favorite authors and books?
Penelope Fitzgerald is my favorite modern author. She began writing fiction to entertain her dying husband when she was already over sixty, and won a Booker Prize less than five years later. Her books are slim, intelligent, beautiful, and so strong you can get drunk on the first sip. She’s got a sharp eye, but a generous heart—a rare combination. And she can set her novels convincingly in Russia, Italy, or on the Thames. Julio Cortazar is the writer I name most often as my favorite: even in translation, his writing breaks into some category beyond prose, and his books work more like dreams than stories. I love Hawthorne best among American authors, followed by Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tennessee Williams, along with a deep affection for Cornell Woolrich, whose hypnotic prose I sometimes think works not in spite of but because of its imperfections. Dostoyevesky and Tolstoy are always the cornerstones of anything I’ve managed to learn about books, balanced on the side of wonder by Borges and Marquez. A portrait of the Bronte sisters, with their brother Branwell painted out, has hung over my desk since I was a teenager. I’ve read both Gone With The Wind and The Count of Monte Cristo many times. I read Thomas Merton almost daily. And Flannery O’Connor helps me in a host of ways, not least of which is her sheer cussedness.7. Are you working on another book at this time?
I am working on five other books: one about a girl who falls in love with a ghost who can’t remember who he was before he died, one about the secret bride of a train robber, one about a young vampire, one about the relationship between art and faith, and one about my family’s experience with my mother’s chronic illness, lupus – the disease that killed Jack London and Flannery O’Connor. This is no guarantee, however, that any of these will be the next to appear.8. Is there anything else you would like to add for readers?
Just my gratitude to them for being readers. The noise and demands of the world get more crushing every year, and no other art form demands as much imagination, attention, and time from people as a book. I think it’s a small miracle every time someone makes the choice to read, and I hope you’ll find The Blind Contessa’s New Machine offers you a real gift in return.9. How can readers reach you?
I’d love to hear from people through my website: http://www.careywallace.com/, or directly at theblindcontessa@gmail.com.Congratulations again on your novel, Carey, and we wish you the best!
Memes: The Sunday Post , It's Monday: What Are You Reading , Sunday Salon , and Stacking the Shelves I dip in and out of many b...
