The Rosie Project, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and The Signature of All Things...

I have been on a fictional tare recently to keep up with the lovely ladies in my CV book group.  The titles they did not read were The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin and The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.  The only book I would recommend would be The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, the book they did read.
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The Rosie Project was a cute, non-conventional love story.  How love can change us?  Or just a cute work of fiction set in Australia.  There really isn't much meat to talk about, but if you are headed to the beach for spring break, pick it up!  The lead character, Don, is a high functioning autistic man.  He is a professor at university teaching genetics and decides to help Rosie find her biological dad and falls in love with her.

There is a follow up book called The Rosie Effect.
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I'm not crazy about The Storied Life of AJ Fikry.  It came up as a reco when I purchased The Rosie Project.  Should have known?  But at least I got it from the library.  Again, this book is the story of AJ Fikry's twisty-turney life.  There is a love story, but it ends suddenly.

The best part of this book is the relationship with his daughter.  The wonderful way Zevin has AJ raise his daughter on the island book store.  Therein lies the magic.
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The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love fame was a real plot mess.  Why?  Ms. Gilbert is a terrific writer.  The writing is excellent, absorbing; but the plot is weird.  Say no more.  And then the book ends!  Everyone dies and the book just ends (one would believe as Alma does.)  I get what she is trying to do, but it is unsatisfying.

There is a discussion in Chapter 15 on the title's meaning, the signature of all things and how god has left his mark on the world.  You can see God hand in the world and people must come to see and realize this.  After Chapter 15 there is a continued discussion, in Chapter 31, of self-sacrifice and altruism.  Alma uses the example of her sister Prudence who gave up her true love, George and Prudence's devotion to the abolitionist cause.  Alma recognizes this after her father expires and leaves the estate to her sister.  Alma also realizes her father truly loved her as he left everything to her.  One of this one is worth two of the other (referring to Prudence.)  But we really don't get to the explanation of why Alma/Gilbert introduces altruism & self-sacrifice into the evolutionary mix.  Furthermore, Gilbert continues to state, via the characters evolution cannot take into account human consciousness.

It is in the discussion of the signature of all things that this book distinguishes itself.  The addition of the self-sacrifice and human altruism to the equation make the conversation more interesting, with the further complication of human consciousness.  Gilbert, by way of Alma, also states the purpose of life is the attainment of knowledge.  Alma figures this out before expiring.  One also hopes Alma got all her questions answered in that last moment and is happily communing with her also departed husband.

Sadly, I do not think the average reader is going to pick up on this line of inquiry in this book as it more going to the heart of historical romance set in Philadelphia and Tahiti.  It is too bad as Ms. Gilbert could have taken this line of inquiry onto something bigger in the book notes.

The reason I hooked on to this discussion topic is a conversation I had with a friend on the knowledge and/or quantification of God.  Humans used their consciousness to know there was a higher power in the universe and then with the invention of science tried to become closer to him.  But there is no way to quantify God.

Popular by Maya Van Wagenen - MUST READ!!!

Guys -
I'm late for work, but I must urge ALL of you ladies to pick up this book.  It's YA, but oh so wonderful.  Popular outlines what we all went through in Junior High and High School and Ms. Van Wagenen is so very funny. 

P108-
"Whenever we come here [beach on MX side of TX border] we play a very special game in the car.  It's called, "What Not to Say When Asked 'Are you a US Citizen?"

Here are our top five answers that would most likely get you taken away in handcuffs.

• Que?
• I plead the Fifty
• Is there a right answer?
• The question is, are you?

AND...

• I am, but I'm not sure about the two kids in the trunk."

It is the story of how Maya Van Wagenen uses Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide written in the 1950s to make herself popular right now.  The story is funny and touching at the same time.  It will make you laugh and remember what it was like.  Get it from the library ASAP!

Maya starts wearing a pearl necklace per Betty's direction.  She is convinced with all her changes she is still unpopular, but when she sees a "semi-popular Choir Geek... wearing a string of pearls around her neck.  A glimmer of hope in a dark and unpopular world [opens up to her.]"

I think that glimmer is what makes us all go on.  Day by day, no matter how old or what the circumstance.  Again.  This book will make you smile and laugh.  Read it!

Best/PD

Venice - A New History by Thomas F. Madden

I just started reading this book, but it is really good.  Easily readable.  So, let's get started!

Introduction:  Venice founded in March 25, 421 and 452 after Atilla the Hun over-ran the city.  Western Roman Empire, WRE (economy) in decline.  Eastern Roman Empire, ERE still going strong (until 700s.)  And here comes Veneto onto the scene.  Roman rulers ruled from Ravenna, near by.  Roman Empire divided into two halves by Diocletian in late third century.  Constantine I, first Christian Emperor, founds Constantinople (Istanbul) in 330 AD; capital of ERE. Romulus Augustus, 476 AD, last Roman Emperor in the WRE; conquered by Odoacer, a Gothic war lord.  488 Theodoric wanted to overthrow Odoacer.  493 Theodoric captures Ravenna and co-rule with Odoacer, but then assassinates him during a banquet to celebrate.

Chapter 1:  Refugees on the Lagoon:  The Origins of Venice
The lagoons were created from the run off from the Alps, sediment.
Sediment caused banks to be formed. Lidi or islands near the Adriatic.  Canals were present.
Fun Fact:  Ravenna was a port at this time and now it is inland due to the growth of the coast line due to sedimentation.
Main road between WRE and ERE was the Via Postumia, which went through this region.
Culturally, Veneto was a mix of Roman, Greek and Leventine elements
- Gothic Invasion - Rome sacked 410 AD
Foundation Stories:  Padua sent 3 consuls to an island group to Rivoalto or "high bank", today's Rialto. And there was a winding canal, Grand Canal, to establish a trading post.  (Trade is the foundation of the Venetian economy.)

Venice gets rich from salt trade. Up until medieval & Renaissance times. The Salt Office was an important office.

The Etruscans by Barker and Rasmussen - Dry But Good

After reading several books on Tuscany and Chianti, I took this book with me on my journey to India.  Go to India, read about pre-Roman Italy or the Etruscans.  Makes perfect sense!  For me anyway.

The book is good, but dry.  I am enjoying it.  It took me a while to get into, but once I did, I don't want to put it down.  The book goes into the history of the Italian peninsula on a grand scale, starting 50,000 years ago.  We quickly move into the Etruscans.  The book suggests the parallels to the Greek culture, no secret there and goes into great detail on the political, economic and social aspects  the two groups.  Furthermore, there is a reoccurring theme of archaeology versus histories.  [Polybus, Livy, Pliny and Tacitus, written from 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD.]

The Greeks and Phoenicians established colonies in Italy in 700 BC.  The Phoenicians established themselves in and traded with:

• North Coast of Africa
• Western Sicily
• Sardinia
• Southern Spain

Whereas, Greeks established themselves in and traded with:

• Southern Italy
• Eastern Sicily
• Corsica
• Southern France 
• Eastern Spain

"In Italy the first Greek colony was established from the island of Euboea at Pithekoussai (or Pithacusa) on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples in 750 BC." p75 There was another colony of Greeks near Naples in 700 BC.  These were all established as Greece was growing stronger as trading power [economy] and needed room to grow/trade.  This again goes to my theory that southern Italy was initially Greek and hence the love of anything Greek.  These people mingled with the locals and became the Latins.

There are several theories as to where the Etruscans came from.  I am going to go with the migration down over the Alps, from the northern part of Europe or indigenous people's locally who banded together over time.

Map of Etruria and it's People

Three major structural features of the Landscape are the Apennines, Pre-Apennines and Anti-Apennines are limestone hills running the length of central Italy.  The eastern boundary is today's Autostrada between Florence and Rome.  Over time, the Etruscans developed hill top villages as defensible locations to other groups.  These groups were initial subsistence farmers growing cereal and grains to live.  But over time started growing olives and grapes (for wine) additionally.  They kept animals to feed themselves and for secondary products.  Economically, the biggest reason for growth was the mineral resources available in the Tuscan/Chanti region.  This spurred development of industry and trade.

As time progressed and the Villanovan Age occurs, a fuedal-like, Chiefdom systems evolve.  Over time, a prestige/ranking system develops, that is very elaborate in the Villanovan Era.  Burial rituals are high lighted.  Going from burial to cremation and ornate rituals.

Ages and Dates as Related to the Etruscans

Much of what historians know come from the tombs of the Etruscans.  Like the information on ranking on the various implements and ornaments buried with the cremated remains of the people.  There are more male graves then female, but the female graves exist non the less.

Women enjoyed much freedom.  Some were educated and could read.  Hair styles were Greek inspired.  They wore the forerunner of a toga.  There were brooches or fibulas to hold mantles or tunics together.  There was much ornamentation in the jewelry.  The text does not state if women could own land as their Greek and later Roman counterparts could.  (The information starts around p. 108 in the text.)

Alphabet - Again based on the Greek.  There is a lively discussion about the change of the alphabet over time and how that helps designate Norhtern Etruscans from Southern Etruscans.  (page 87-89)

Etruscan Alphabet

Ok- This is a summary of the first 1/3 of the book/PD- Pick up with Chapter 4.

I'm back, but quickly...  Lots more to say about this, but it's been a rough weekend - Cmon the Eagles even lost :(

Romaninization meant putting up walls, to keep the Romans out!  Many of the cities in Eutria were not fortified until the Roman expansion:  Roman Civil War, [Marius-lost] and Sulla's-won terror's [to those who opposed him] were cited.  (But it really occurred earlier in the 2nd century BC when the Romans conquered Veii(396 BC), Volsinii (264 BC) and Falerii (241 BC).)  The farms dried up at the same time.  The book states 80% of the farms dried up in Falerii and 33% of the farms near Veii. Certain areas south of Rome did thrive though, along the trade/market routes (to Rome.)   The book mentions some cities remained relatively untouched by the Roman invaders:  Tarquinia.  This could be because it was heavily involved in the trade routes?

What fascinates me is the evolution of the polis or the cities along the trade route and the fact the book mentions some of the farm areas that were abandoned during the Romanization period, were reclaimed during the middle ages.  This leads the reader to believe, the Etruscans were a peaceful, or atleast more so, than the Romans.  And it is fair to say, their independence and cultural development ended in the 2nd century BC after being swallowed up by the Romans.

Also, characteristic to Romanization, wealthy Etruscan families were offered Roman citizenship.  In 89 BC, after the Civil War, the Etruscans were given citizenship and taken into the Roman tribes.  Several wealthy families (farming) even made the transition to the Roman Villa life style.  The Etruscan farms were in their hey day in the 2nd cent BC and some went into the Republic and Early Empire.

Note:  Veii is 15 km from Rome, in other words, very close.  Conquered by Rome in 396 BC.

Reference:  In the Name of Rome by Goldsworthy & From Gracchi to Nero by Schullard.
I NEED MORE TIME TO READ  :-)

Update:  I just got Etruscan Civilization by Sybille Haynes in the mail!!  Such a cool and more comprehensive book.  I can add sections to this entry based on this book.  Stay tuned.  And the pictures are wonderful :)

Roman Roads:  All Roads lead to Rome!  But they were first Etruscan Roads used for trade between cities.  The first Roman Road cited by the book is Via Amerina, layed out after the destruction of Falerii in 241 BC.  Followed by Via Flaminia, 220 BC and Via Aurelia in the 2nd or 1st cent BC all used to move Roman troops around for the great expansion of the Republic.  Diverticula - side roads - I found this funny, I don't know why...

Etruscan Influences on Roman Life
1. fasces - folding chair
2. Etruscan Alphabet - Latin alphabet was derived from Greek.  (Latin official language of Rome.)
3. Etruscan Mantle - Roman Toga
4. Etruscan Burial Ash Urns - Roman burial & Imperial Sarcophagus with mythological embellishment
5. Public Sporting Events
6. Arch - Falerii cited
7. Aqueducts & rudimentary drainage systems

Seven Seasons in Sienna by Robert Rodi - Nice!

Seven Seasons in Sienna:  My Qixotic Quest for Acceptance Among Tuscany's Prodest People by Robert Rodi is another good book to read in line with Too Much Tuscan Sun.  Rodi was a co-writer or assisted Dario Castagno in the writing of his book(s).  Rodi story is less short stories and more narrative of his many visits to Sienna and his desire to be apart of the contrada.  Specifically the Caterpillar contrada, that Castagno is a member.  Rodi and Castagno are obvious friends.  (Personal Observation:  Friends or a friendship that can stand time and distance is a wonderful thing.  I think of that as I read the book and some of the narratives within.)

Sienna, Piazza del Campo - Lovely Medieval City

I am enjoying Rodi's writing style and can see echoes of it in Castagno's books.  (I have just ordered several more and cannot wait to receive and start reading them.  I just gave my copy of Too Much Tuscan Sun to someone to read.)  There is also a long standing Rivalry between Florence and Sienna where Sienna lost in 1555, when this book alleges "Florence put Sienna under oppressive rule and cut them off from outside influence.' [p. 9] This makes the Siennese a proud people, not too crazy about the Florentines.  These books are upbeat and fully of history, this one specifically on the palio.

Palio Facts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_yGZhZItVo [link to video of the palio]

Piazza del Campo transformed into a racetrack for the palio

• Two Palio each year to celebrate the Madonna
• July 2 - Madonna of Prvenzano [p.43]
• August 16 - Feast of the Assumption [p. 43]
• Only 10/17 race in each palio as there isn't enough room for all of them to run
• "Two lottery drums, one containing the names of the ten racing contrade, the other names of the ten horses." [p. 39]  It's all put together by chance.
• The remaining 3 contrade are randomly selected to run
• The race is run in the Piazza del Campo (center of town) and is shell shaped, meaning prosperity in the middle ages.  Palazzo Publico and Torre del Mangia are the main buildings in the Piazza.
• Piazza del Campo is turned into a race track over night as dirt is put down by dump truck for the horses to race on.
• The horses take 3 turns around the race track.  (The sharp turn in the video is the Curva di San Martino.)  In the past many horses have wiped out there.  Horses can cross the finish line and win without the jokey on back.
• Horses 
• After running in the palio, the horses are entitled to retire to a pensionario where they can run free and are well cared for
• Average life span of a palio horse is 28 years
• Only half breed horses are selected between the ages of seven and ten years
• There are protocols to prevent accidents
• Sienna works with animal rights groups to ensure the excellent treatment of the horses
• The same cannot be said of the jokey's - they are either loved or hated... 
• Contrada - city quarter - there are 17 in Sienna; where as there are 3 sections of the city
• 17 Quarters - Eagle, Snail, Owl, Dragon, Giraffe, Porcupine, She-Wolf, Seashell, Goose, Caterpillar, Wave, Panther, Forest, Tortoise, Unicorn, Tower and Ram
• 3 Districts - Terzo di Camollia, Terzo di Citta and Terzo di San Martino [p. 43]
• There are rivalries between certain contradas
• Certain contrada were at one time made up of the tradesmen in the quarter
• Today membership in the contrada is based on the quarter of the city you are born in.  Families can be split among several contradas.  Therefore, according to D. Castagno, contradas are another type of family.
• Members work their way up the ranks of the contrada from KP to leadership positions
• Drappellone, painted banner given to the winner of the palio
• Designed by various artist from Sienna and elsewhere
• Fazzoletto - scarf tied around the neck of the member of the contrada to designate which contrada they are a member of.  eg. Caterpillar colors are blue, gold and green

Symbol of the Caterpillar Contrada

More on the book...
There is one chapter in Summer 2009 - The Debutantes - Out of Pocket, where Rodi looses his wallet in the airport at Pisa and then looses his luggage in a cab he cannot pay for.  Travel Nightmare 101!  He has friends that help and support him.  A great thing in life.

Another chapter in the same section A lot of Chianti, A Little Rose (this one sprung me out of bed at 6 am to write this entry) has a quote that got to me.  Context:  Rodi is at the Caterpillar contrada and meets Peggy Castaldi, an American from San Francisco who lives part-time in Sienna.  She is a member of the contrada.  "She is bright and funny...  and seems to mesh seamlessly with the natives.  I ask her what her secret is, and she looks at me oddly. "Just being here," she says, as if obviously that's all it takes; and I can see that it might be all it takes her.  Some people are like open windows; there no artifice, no expectation, no apprehension in them - they joyfully embrace any new experience. [Of the Author] I'm not an open window, not even a shuttered one.  I feel more like the trap door to the cellar with the padlock that is rusted shut.  Got to get a crowbar and pry that baby open."  [p. 98]

Wow, that made me think.  First, "joyfully embracing any new experience," does that indicate a certain naivete in Peggy or does it indicate a strong woman who can take what comes into her path.  Is it a combination of both?  (I haven't met her, but I will go with a combination of the two the latter being the stronger characteristic.)  Secondly, can you vacillate between the two extremes?  Would that be bi-polar or just plain old humanity?  (I'm again hoping for the latter.)  Openness is a quality that many Americans lack.  We are hooked into buy me, take me, give me at the mall; whereas many Europeans value slowing down and enjoying life.  We rush, rush, rush as we accumulate our many possessions and bucket lists.  Can you see where I'm going with this?  Maybe it's just me and where I'm at now, but it really hit me hard.  Be strong, enjoy life.  Work hard, play hard and enjoy your family while you can.

I also really like the word quixotic in the title.  The word means exceeding idealistic, unrealistic and impractical.  But as Rodi writes, you feel his goal is ever more in reach.  Could he become a member of the Caterpillar contrada by the end of the book?  I hope so, just like Roy Moskovitz (of Too Much Tuscan Sun.)

Listening to Bach Concerto for Harpsicord No. 1 in D Minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjSD12OQbFA) as I write, but only half way through, more later/PD
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Pictures from Recent Trip to Sienna

Armor from Caterpillar Contrada

Caterpillar

Caterpillar Contrada Museum

Inside Catarpillar Contrada Museum

Catarpillar Contrada Museum

Catarpillar Contrada Museum

Winning Palio Banners

Dario giving the tour of the Contrada

Winning Palio Banners from 1837 & 1838

Too Much Tuscan Sun by Dario Castagno - READ IT!!!

Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno was a super-duper Feel Good/Awesome book.  So many funny stories about his clients and local history of the area.  On a recent trip I was able to meet Dario and actually tour the Caterpillar contrada.  So very cool.

Readit/Readit/Readit - It will take you to Sienna and the lovely Italian country-side, if only in an arm chair, and make you laugh all at the same time.

Defending Jacob - Will It Ever End???

Defending Jacob by William Landay was my book clubs book for Oct 2014.  I could NOT finish it.  It never ended...  400 pages of Turrow-who-wants-to-be-Grisham-esque courtroom drama.  Aye Vey, I couldn't take it.  I know there's a surprise ending, but I cannot reach the end of this novel.

Just Sayin'