Connie @ Bellevue Archive.

In the summer of 1880, Auguste Renoir persuaded thirteen of his reluctant friends to spend several weekends posing for his famous painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party, which inspired Susan Vreeland's historical novel of the same name.

I started reading the book with some trepidation, because I couldn't help remembering my mixed experiences with historical fiction about famous painters. For example, I had always loved Vermeer's paintings until I read the historical novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, which made me wonder exactly what kind of man Vermeer really was. On the other hand, I liked the book Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman, which I thought gave me some insight into Mary Cassatt's life and also the world of the impressionists. My book group decided to read Luncheon of the Boating Party, though, so I decided to give it a chance, and I'm glad I did. I listened to it on CD, which gave me the advantage of hearing the correct pronunciation of French words and names. It had the disadvantage, however, that I kept getting the numerous characters confused. Also, I constantly wanted to look at the painting itself as it started to take shape in the narrative. I solved this problem by printing a copy of the Wikipedia article about the painting from the Internet, which included an image. So my suggestion is to have the book and the CD version both on hand for maximum clarity and enjoyment.

I found myself enthralled with the book. I felt like I was immersed in French life in 1880, during La Vie Moderne, an exciting time of social change.  We tend to think we are living in modern times and that all previous times were part of ancient history, but Vreeland managed to capture that time in history and make it feel immediate to me.

A historical novel like this one can be used as a starting point to exploring history and ideas through other nonfiction books and complementary experiences. At KCLS we have one of the books that Vreeland used to research her book: Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party by Eliza E. Rathbone et al., which is a great source for more background information and pictures. 

I've never been much of a football fan, and I'm even less interested in football players--until just recently, when I've been inexplicably drawn to several books in which the main character is a football player.  That just goes to show how books can enlarge your horizons.

John Grisham has written a short book, Playing for Pizza, which is completely unlike his legal thrillers and can only be described as "cute"--okay, "charming" would work, too.

Rick Dockery was a football hero in high school in Davenport, Iowa, and a promising quarterback in college, but his NFL career has never quite taken off.  As the story opens, Rick has just failed so spectacularly on national television in front of all the football fans in the United States that it is clear to everyone but him that his career is over. His agent likes him, though, so he tries valiantly to find a team who will take him, eventually finding a spot for him as starting quarterback for the Parma Panthers. Yes, that's Parma, Italy, as in parmesan cheese. We know that "football" means "soccer" in most of Europe, but who knew that there was American football in Italy? In fact, there really are a few such teams in Italy, comprised mostly of local men who play for the fun of it and also for the postgame pizza. Then on each team there are two or three salaried players from America to lend authenticity.

Rick Dockery is a pretty unsophisticated young man who doesn't even know enough about Italy to be excited about the prospect of visiting there. Naturally he knows no Italian and hated history in college. Can the appeal of Italian food and women ease Rick over his culture shock so that he can lead the Panthers to victory in the Italian Super Bowl? To find out, read Playing for Pizza by John Grisham.