Friday, March 6, 2009

Arcetri

I have an admission, and some blame to place.

I've read three out of the four Twilight series books. Yeah, teenage, vampire/werewolf, dysfunctional relationship, fatalistic drivel. Trish, it is all your fault. You gave me the first book. I have no control over my reading.





























I had planned to get it out of my system on the airplane over, sure that the airport would carry the books, but no all they had were the top ten paperback books and a bunch of spiritual and self help books. No trashy teenage vampire books. Dang it. I had to buy the third one here and finished it in about two days. I am, however, putting off getting the fourth to read something with a little more substance. Given where we are, that is the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of the telescope to study the skies (2009 is The International Year of Astronomy) and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. I'm thinking some reading that is a little more science based or historical. Any suggestions? Nothing too substantive though, I'm still recovering from Eclipse (book three of four).

Today we walked up with Doug to Arcetri Observatory. Outside the city walls, up in the hills, close to where Galileo was held in house arrest, Arcetri is set up among rolling hills and olive trees and is just what the doctor ordered after several days of rain. Today was beautiful. Armed with cornetti for breakfast and a few panini sandwiches for lunch we picnicked up in the grounds of the observatory. A good start to the day.

4 comments:

  1. This is just the time of year that I saw Florence for the first time. I'm so happy you're discovering it at this time too. Breathtaking beauty and who knows how many shades of green... ah, nostalgia is hitting hard.

    As far as a book recommendation, have you read Servants of the Map, by Andrea Barrett? http://www.amazon.com/Servants-Map-Stories-Andrea-Barrett/dp/0393323579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236392936&sr=1-1

    Enjoy,
    Deborah

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  2. It is beautiful. It has been a while, but yes, I've read Servants of the Map. Great recommendation. It has been long enough to be a good reread.

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  3. I just saw the movie last night. I usually prefer to read the book first, but I wasn't sure it would peak my interest enough. Cute, teenage love story. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles will always be my favorite vampire series I'm sure, but I may just have to buy the Twilight series too. Might make a good beach read.

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  4. I don't have the first two here, but I do have the third...when you get to that point let me know and I'll get this to you.

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