Welcome to Litsy!

The young man seemed ill at ease. 'Is there something wrong?'
Mm well... yes, in fact his library books.'
'What?'
"Well, he must have had two out, he always did....'
.....

Even a murder doesn't let him off those overdue fees??

Having read a few historical fiction novels this year, my love for the genre has def been reignited (no pun intended). Mina's novella tells of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola who would go on to challenge the most powerful Italian political families of his time. Published in 2023, Mina does not shy away from drawing parallels between Savonarola & his ambitions & the power of rhetoric & what is happening in politics today. (CONT)

We do not care what else is happening this weekend, or what may come up. We will be attending the protest Saturday (if our joints cooperate), then promptly heading home to hermit up for the rest of the weekend. We do not want company. We will be reading, napping, and watching trash.

#wdncw #wedonotcarewednesday @dabbe

Almost matches...

Boring. 😴 I almost DNF several times. This is a stroll through Renaissance art in Florence, Venice and the mixture of art and culture in Istanbul. All disguised as a rather slow chase of Robert Langdon by unknown pursuers. Brown even takes time to mention two ugly sculptures in the Boboli Gardens through which a lengthy portion of the chase ran. I love art and art history but yeah...Plus, a great deal about Dante and his Divine Comedy.
#litsylove

Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, to Giorgio Vasari
Livorno, 20 March 1557

So, if I understand correctly, Florence, the city that God entrusted to my care, is now infested not only with conspiracies of murderous nuns but with seditious plebs too? Enough. I must put an end to all this. Find me this Marco Moro, arrest him and throw him in a damp cell.

I regret getting rid of those lions that were stinking up the palace.

Do love a map (even one that looks like it needs a chapter of context to be understood....)

Perspective(s), by Laurent Binet (2023, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An epistolary mystery set in the midst of the political, social, artistic, and religious upheavals of Renaissance Florence.

Review: An ‘entertaining‘ and accessible Binet novel is still smarter and stranger than most literary fiction. ⬇️

An epistolary novel? A mystery? Art? Italian history? How could I not read this?

#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks

I admit that I confused this family with the Borgia family. They were very similar, in fact, so I don't feel too foolish. They started as bankers in Florence. It seemed to me that every other generation was patrons to the arts, while the other generations were lazy and/or violent. The family was often fighting the papacy except when they had a son or nephew as a pope. I'm glad I read it. I learned more about Italy's history before unification.