David by Mary Hoffman - October Group Read

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

The group read is now open.

[Christie]

I read this book back in April and loved it. The only thing I did not like about the book was all the foreshadowing in the book. I'm not a fan of that. Other than that I think it was a very interesting portrait of Renaissance Italy. It was fast paced with lots of intrigue and romance and the historical accuracy was quite good. Here's my full review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... If you like the time period, I have a couple of recommendations (I went on a little bit of an Italian Renaissance kick this spring): Fiction: , , (YA Book) Nonfiction:
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[Charmaine]

I've really been wanting to read this one, and finally I get to do so :-) I love Italy in general <3 thanks, Christie, for the recommendations :-)

[Charmaine]

So who has read this one? I just borrowed it from the library today! I got November's book, too XD

[Emily]

I have it checked out and will be starting it this week, so I won't make it in October but I should finish in early November.

[Charmaine]

I'm trying to finish it up too, so I can read November's book. This has been pretty interesting so far. I just hope there's more action. There's more politics involved than I thought, but definitely not in a boring way. :-)

[Emily]

I finished yesterday and liked it okay. It was much more political than I expected. I had trouble keeping track of all the names and wished the glossary and list of characters had been at the front of the book rather than at the end. It got me thinking about models for famous works of art.

[Charmaine]

I have about 100 more pages to go. I know what you mean about keeping all the characters straight, Emily! I love Italian culture/art so I'm enjoying the setting and daydreaming about visiting Italy one day XD I want a little more action, though. I hope something more cool happens in the last 100 pages :-) What did you think of the ending?

[Emily]

It did build steam for me toward the end; I read the last hundred pages a lot faster than the first hundred.

[Charmaine]

I agree that the climax was interesting! I never expected (view spoiler)[ Clarice to murder Altobiondi! (hide spoiler)] I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The politics and all those names of the men in the two warring political fictions were confusing at times. However, this book makes me a little more interested to learn more about Italian art. Looking forward to the European renaissance (and beyond) class that I'll be taking in school next year. :-)

[Barbara]

Mary Hoffman offered a strong portrait of Renaissance Florence. I liked learning the technical aspects of creating a monumental sculpture. The major part of the book, however, seemed to be a waiting game to get to the bang-up/smash-up ending. I wish I had cared more about the characters all the way through. The female characters, in particular, seemed a bit generic and interchangeable. I also had to keep flipping back to the List of Characters and the Glossary which got tedious and popped me out of the story.