When book conservator Margo Harrington goes to Florence to aid in restoring the treasures damaged in the flooding of the Arno in 1966, she is entru...
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Oct 13, 2008
Leena
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With very little forethought or planning, our spirited heroine, Margot Harrington, leaves the security of her low-paying job restoring books at the Newberry Library and heads for Europe. She throws herself headlong into an exhilarating Italian adventure, her destination the ancient city of Florence where recent floods have ravaged a historic part of the city. Priceless pieces of art, artifacts, and books lie beneath a layer of mud and the city needs volunteers to help with the cleanup. Margot be
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Sep 23, 2008
Laura
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 13, 2007
Jest
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This story is about a young female book conservator who travels to Italy in 1966, the year the Arno flooded its banks, destroying the collections of galleries, libraries and churches. While staying in a convent she discovers a lost book of pornography that dates back to the Renaissance. Hurray!
The blurb on the back cover describes this as an erotic book about an erotic book which I think is very misleading. The sexuality struck me as being very tame. However the main charcter is More...
The blurb on the back cover describes this as an erotic book about an erotic book which I think is very misleading. The sexuality struck me as being very tame. However the main charcter is More...
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Dec 05, 2006
Elizabeth
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Another get away and dream of Italy book.
From Amazon:
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods--and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. One day a nun comes upon a shockingly pornographic volume, bound with a prayer book. It turns out to More...
From Amazon:
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods--and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. One day a nun comes upon a shockingly pornographic volume, bound with a prayer book. It turns out to More...
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Jun 19, 2008
Theresa
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There is a paragraph near the end of the book that explains my feelings for the book itself:
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt - absolutely nothing? You try to open yourself to the text, the music, the painting, but you have no power to respond. Nothing moves you. You are turned to stone. You feel guilty."
I have read wonderful things about this book, but it just didn't do anythin More...
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt - absolutely nothing? You try to open yourself to the text, the music, the painting, but you have no power to respond. Nothing moves you. You are turned to stone. You feel guilty."
I have read wonderful things about this book, but it just didn't do anythin More...
Feb 01, 2009
ehnonymus
rated it:
the back of the book, and indeed even the title, suggests that the sixteen pleasures will be quite a bit more scandalous than it actually ends up being. in some ways i found it disappointing, not because i needed it to be more salacious but because it had all the potential to be an amazing book but just somehow failed to make that leap into awesomeness. i think in part because it focused a lot of attention on relatively inconsequential details but just sort of skipped over important moments.
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Apr 22, 2011
Dagny
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I downloaded this book onto my Kindle as I recently went to Italy and the trip included a first time stop in Florence; I had looked on the net for something (contemporary) that might be about Florence or take place there. Here I'll find erudition and erotica to boot, I thought, about to be awash with Renaissance nakedness anyway.
Reading on the plane all is humming along comfortably with the book, river Arno, The Uffici, yes I would be staying close to these places, interesting about More...
Reading on the plane all is humming along comfortably with the book, river Arno, The Uffici, yes I would be staying close to these places, interesting about More...
Feb 27, 2010
F
rated it:
The book, "The Sixteen Pleasures" is covered in praise, and the all-telling mark of "National Best Seller." I kept going back to the declarations that read "…an erotic book about an erotic book…","…a genuine literary treasure…", "…an adventure under pressure…," and "…amazing…how intensely you care about this women."
Apr 02, 2009
Sarah
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I'm a little skeptical when it comes to books written by old men from the perspective of young women; I always expect there to be some sort of disconnect as if the author is writing about a subject matter that they obviously know nothing about. The Sixteen Pleasures captures all the romance of art, travel and young love, yet the love isn't so young and the heroin Margot seems a little world-weary for her 29 years. Despite Margot’s lackluster view on love and sex she falls into a life totally co
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Nov 03, 2009
Karyl
rated it:
I cannot even remember when I picked this book up, or why. I took it along on the plane ride last week mainly because it was a size that fit easily into the pocket of my backpack. Reading the back, I thought it was a bit of an erotic novel, and as such was somewhat embarrassed to take it along. But it wasn't like that at all.
I know booksellers will oversell a book on the back cover to convince people to buy it, but this time they did a serious disservice to the novel. Folks who p More...
I know booksellers will oversell a book on the back cover to convince people to buy it, but this time they did a serious disservice to the novel. Folks who p More...
Apr 26, 2009
Purplycookie
rated it: 
"But what is your life right now? Right at this moment? What makes it more than a sequence of pleasant moments?"
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods -- and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. Margot starts questioning the life of t More...
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods -- and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. Margot starts questioning the life of t More...
Mar 13, 2010
Carrie
rated it:
Following the life of a 20 something book conservator Margot Harrington in the mid-60's who falls into an affair while restoring a contraband book from the Renaissance this a charming book about a woman seeking a place in the world to call home.
The book is far less erotic and suspenseful than the book jacket suggests. Margot Harrington's affair is hardly clandestine and barely forbidden, and her work on the book although secret hardly feels suspenseful. And yet the story is a no less enjoya More...
The book is far less erotic and suspenseful than the book jacket suggests. Margot Harrington's affair is hardly clandestine and barely forbidden, and her work on the book although secret hardly feels suspenseful. And yet the story is a no less enjoya More...
Dec 22, 2008
bookczuk
rated it:
It had been a while since I read this, but am clearing my shelves for new books. I remeber liking it a great deal- but of course Florence is one of my favorite places on earth, and a wonderful place to be in love. In another copy of this that I had on my shelf, a previous reader had marked this passage (typos are my own;-))
"Which of us doesn't have a similar ghostly double wandering around somewhere out there in the big wide world? A self from whom we parted company long ago, at some More...
"Which of us doesn't have a similar ghostly double wandering around somewhere out there in the big wide world? A self from whom we parted company long ago, at some More...
May 21, 2011
Juno
rated it:
I liked this very much as a novel of self discovery, of choosing a life rather than accepting one, or finding your own morality. Margot begins as someone in a bit of a state of arrested development and ends as someone engaged in life fully, and the pictures of the work of art and book restoring, religious politics, the rhythms of Italian life and her path through it all are wonderful.
The publisher got a little carried away with its erotic PR though. The distinction Margot makes, desc More...
The publisher got a little carried away with its erotic PR though. The distinction Margot makes, desc More...
Jul 08, 2008
Pat
rated it: 
I really liked this story. The book is set in Florence after the Arno flooded in the 60's. The main character is a librarian bored out of her mind who volunteers to help restore books. She has the adventure of a lifetime. Probably silly but I still loved it.
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Sep 09, 2011
Linda
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A young American woman who is a book conservator goes to Florence, Italy to help repair books and documents after the great flood of the Arno River in 1966. Living in a room in a nunnery and working in the library there she finds an old and unknown copy of a book of pornographic pictures, bound together with a prayer book. About the same time she falls in love with an older Italian man who is married but separated from his wife. She moves in with him while they work together on saving this
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Jun 03, 2009
Kirsten
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This is a curious book - while sort of about a rare book of erotic Renaissance poems and etchings, it also has unexpected sections on book conservation and book binding, how the Catholic Church deals with annulment in the case of (supposed) impotence, and all kinds of other random digressions. There are occasional switches in narrative voice - it was clear why they were obvious, as they tended to show something the main character was not witnessing, but the switches were not very well done, and
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Nov 07, 2009
Bibliophile
rated it:
The Sixteen Pleasures purports to take place just after the great flood of 1966 that devastated much of the city of Florence and its artistic treasures. Margot Harrington, a young American bookbinder, goes off to try and help preserve some of the cities' treasured old books, and in the process, becomes embroiled with an older Italian man, finds herself, etc., etc., etc.
I have no idea why Robert Hellenga chose to write from the perspective of a young woman, because he's really bad at More...
I have no idea why Robert Hellenga chose to write from the perspective of a young woman, because he's really bad at More...
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Feb 17, 2010
Nancy
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I read this the first time a few years ago, then recently read a nonfiction book about the Arno River and Florence, Italy (Dark Water, by Robert Clark), so I wanted to reread The Sixteen Pleasures. I did enjoy reading it for the details about the post-flood (1966) efforts by the "mud angels" and others that swept in to help with the clean up and restoration of the art and books. As for the novel itself, it was as if I'd never read it before - I didn't remember any of the details! Yikes
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Jul 27, 2010
Rowland
rated it:
This was a nice book, easy to read, a simple story well told, cultural and informative. There is little not like about Helenga's first book. At the same time it was not a life changing book by any measure. This is a story of a woman's self discovery on the cusp of middle age. The setting is in Florence where our hero has gone to help restore book antiquities damaged in a flood. This rich environment is where she grapples with ideas of home and future and romance and work. Add a nice little story
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Feb 08, 2010
Petra
rated it:
"I repeated something that Mama used to say: "She said that a person who was tired of Italy was tired of life."
I liked this novel of a 29 year old American girl who went to Florence in 1966 to help save the city's art and books from a flood. I found the information of book and art conservation and restoration interesting. I also liked the Italian language lessons I got from the book. I found her time in the Carmelite convent to be full of life lessons for her and en More...
I liked this novel of a 29 year old American girl who went to Florence in 1966 to help save the city's art and books from a flood. I found the information of book and art conservation and restoration interesting. I also liked the Italian language lessons I got from the book. I found her time in the Carmelite convent to be full of life lessons for her and en More...
Sep 06, 2011
Deanne
rated it:
Enjoyed this. Intriguing characters. About a woman who restores old books who goes to Florence to help with restorations after a terrible flood. She gets involved with a convent who has a famous centuries-old pornographic picture-book all copies of which were thought to have been destroyed.
This was my first foray into "historical fiction". I was expecting more history! My education is lacking in the classics so a fair bit of this escaped me. Still I liked it enough to check More...
This was my first foray into "historical fiction". I was expecting more history! My education is lacking in the classics so a fair bit of this escaped me. Still I liked it enough to check More...
Dec 20, 2010
"Aubri"/Lisa
rated it:
While I found the story engaging enough, and even liked the female protagonist, I have to admit to being rather disappointed with this book. In particular:
1. This was one of the worst proofread books I've ever (attempted to!) read. I know the author has no control over this, but it was distracting enough to knock it down a full star for me. And if I was the author I would be mortified to see my work thus presented. I'm not talking about comma usage or grammar... this book is full More...
1. This was one of the worst proofread books I've ever (attempted to!) read. I know the author has no control over this, but it was distracting enough to knock it down a full star for me. And if I was the author I would be mortified to see my work thus presented. I'm not talking about comma usage or grammar... this book is full More...
Oct 17, 2010
Laura Ashlee
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I was thinking about this book the other day and I realized that I've never reviewed it. I decided immediately I needed to fix that. First of all, let me say that I think the synopsis makes this book sound a little more risqué than it really is. I thought this book might be graphic, but the friend that sent it to me promised it was a great book and I needed to read it, so I did. I'm glad too because I don' t think I would have chosen to become a librarian if I hadn't. This book led to my researc
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Jun 23, 2009
Jane
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Margot Harrington travelled to Florence to help repair and conserve books damaged by the flooding of the Arno in 1966. She discovers a rare volume of erotic drawings and sonnets in a convent library and is soon involved in trying to sell the volume in order to save the convent's finances.
As a librarian, I found the information on book and art conservation and restoration interesting.
The jacket blurb's description as "an erotic book about an erotic book" was som More...
As a librarian, I found the information on book and art conservation and restoration interesting.
The jacket blurb's description as "an erotic book about an erotic book" was som More...
Aug 26, 2008
Liz
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Margot goes to Florence in 1966 after the city has suffered a devastating flood. While the damage of the homes and buldings is extreme, worse still is the damage the to the countless works of art and books (many to this day have not been repaired or restored). Margot is a book conservationist and restorer by profession and leaves her job and home to help where she can. The Italians call her and the many other Americans who came to help, most at their own cost, "mud angels."
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Apr 07, 2011
Istop4books
rated it:
This book started out with a bang and went downhill from there. It wasn't awful, it wasn't even bad - it just wasn't what it could have been, or maybe what I expected. The back cover promises exquisiteness, appeal from the first paragraph, adventure under pressure, intrigue of a lifetime with a forbidden lover and more... It's a "nice" novel with a couple of sex scenes thrown in, tastefully done.
Margot, a 20 something book conservator from Chicago takes off for Italy with a cou More...
Margot, a 20 something book conservator from Chicago takes off for Italy with a cou More...
Sep 17, 2007
liz
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So I really, really loved Philosophy Made Simple, Hellenga's later novel that I read over a year ago. The Sixteen Pleasures sucked me right in, and I liked it way better than some other novels I've read about Americans in love with Italy. The Sixteen Pleasures follows an American girl in her mid-twenties in the mid-sixties who, feeling a quarter-life crisis, decides to move to Florence to help with book restoration following the horrendous flooding. She'd spent two years of high school in Ita
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Jul 05, 2008
Lauren
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This book had a wonderful start, and the main character was so well-defined. I loved her nostalgic moments, and stories of her family and travels. I also liked the Italian lessons I got from the book. The premise of the book was quite fascinating--the "Mud Angels", the book restoration and conservation. The convent scenes were also well-written, and I found myself very interested in the lives of these nuns. There were so many good things about the book, although there were a few sectio
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Jan 30, 2010
Sandra
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I was one chapter into this book and thought, "The author must have a 'thing' about mothers going to Italy being adulteresses and then dying of lung cancer". Then the lightbulb went on and I realized that this is the daughter who was in the book "Philosophy Made Simple". "Philosophy" was from the father's perspective and this story is from an earlier time period than "Philosophy" I am "sooooo loving" this book. I really liked the characters fro
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