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Fabulous story!!!

I really enjoyed this book about 17th-century Dutch art! The audiobook is read by the author, a British art critic & historian. I listened while following along in the print edition, which has many full-colour illustrations of the paintings described. Laura Cumming‘s father was also a painter & so there‘s a lovely memoir aspect also, and thoughtful remarks on what art contributes to our lives.

-Paintings can take you anywhere, but they are also a land in themselves, a society, a place to be.

My latest on BookTube includes Art & Architecture in Victoria BC + 4 Recent Reads + a Corn Roast
https://youtu.be/opO5RXbFwsc

#CanadianAuthor #WomenInTranslation #Art #Audiobooks

Really enjoyed this. Had me planning my next art museum visit. #WomensPrizeNF

3.5🌟 This was good but I think it could have been better. It was lacking structure and purpose. However I still got quite a bit out of it. It had me googling Dutch art for hours and I learned a lot from it. I don‘t think you would enjoy this book if you weren‘t interested in art at some level. 🎨

Good but not great. I can both see why this made the women's prize long list and why it didn't make the short list. Similar to Wifedom I thought there was too much of the author in this book. The time she is choosing to talk about is fascinating and it didn't need personal story embellishments. I feel like authors do this when they cannot find enough source material. The book itself is gorgeous, and I did learn a lot so it is still a pick!

"I cannot get enough Dutch art. You can turn to this other world - and it is a picture world as no other, a whole society visualized through time and place, seasons and generations, moment by moment - and live inside it in your thoughts."

The painting that starts the book.

"We see pictures in time and place. We cannot see them otherwise. They are fragments of our lives, moments of existence that may be as unremarkable as rain or as startling as a clap of thunder."

#readingbracket2024 #April