Lorena’s oldest brother Lauro is a passionate painter. He spends every spare minute painting. We were in Mexico one year when he got sent to Paris by his company for leadership training for a week. While everyone else went out and partied after the daily meetings, Lauro went wherever he could find impressionist paintings. He eventually made is way down to an area frequented by impressionists. They set up their easels there on the sidewalks and paint. He spent hours watching and talking to them. Eventually, he bought a couple of small paintings that he brought back with him to Mexico.
I love Lauro’s passion for his art. I have been meaning to tell him about some novels I am reading where his kind of art and passion for art play a big role in the plots of virtually every book in a fairly large series. To do that, I have to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is to ready spy and mystery novels. Several months ago I ran into a recommendation for one of the novels by Marvin Olasky in an old article in World Magazine:
Here’s my unconventional reading recommendation for high-school seniors: Daniel Silva’s The Heist (HarperCollins, 2014). It’s real: starts with the murder of a fallen British spy involved in the theft of great paintings. It’s a page-turner: continues with the efforts of Silva’s great hero, Israeli spy (and art restorer) Gabriel Allon, and a brave young woman who survived a Syrian massacre. It’s a proven reader-pleaser: This is the 14th novel in a series that repeatedly hits No. 1 on bestseller lists. And The Heist is 2/3 satisfactory regarding the “bad stuff”: no bad language or sex. Some violence—remember, it has spies and Syrian bad guys—but nothing grossly graphic.
And did you twice read the word “Syrian” in my last paragraph—a tipoff that The Heist will also teach students some current events and recent history? They’ll learn about 44 years of mass murder and mega-theft by the upwardly mobile Assad family that has ascended from peasantry to a $25 billion fortune, according to some estimates. Students will learn about bank secrecy in Austria. They’ll gain sympathy for Israel, a nation still largely aloof from God (sigh) but one deserving support because its citizens built and maintain a tidy small house—although one with broken windows—on a rough street of big mansions with loaded howitzers and unchained pit bulls.
Olasky’s must have similar tastes to my own as I have never been lead astray by his recommendations. There is a lot to like about these novel. I think Lauro would love them, not only because they are thrilling, page-turner, spy novels, but because the author is holds the same kind of passion for art as Lauro. One of the novels is even centered on Lauro’s favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. The author’s name is Daniel Silva and I was very surprised to see that his American. You will understand that statement when you have finished the first novel. The first book in the Gabriel Allon series is titled The Kill Artist.
Update: Lorena sent me the following picture from last night while I was reading Daniel Silva’s latest novel on my $33 Kindle with the help of Kiwi the remaining twin cat sister.
RIGO
Jajaja funny blog……
Rigo
When will you write something about me? Jajaja
Dad
I would write about you Rigo, but your passion is tacos and everybody’s passion is tacos. Be passionate about something more interesting and I will write about it!!!
Dad
Rigo,
Link one
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There are more, but you get the idea!
Your favorite brother-in-law, Ken Chapman
Eric
One of my favorites! When it comes to spy novels, Daniel Silva is John LeCarre depth paired with Vince Flynn dialogue.
I also recommend listening to Daniel Silva in audio book format … but only when read by George Guidall.
For that matter, I recommend everything read by George Guidall.
Dad
Eric, You need to give another recommendation here for my light reading. I am on my last or second to last Silva book. As for Guidall, I will check him out on our next road trip.
Eric
If you like Daniel Silva, I think you might like John LeCarre. He’s and old writer and his early works are the best, starting with the Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I highly recommend his George Smiley series of books. George is a character we can all relate to. “The meek who do not inherit the earth…”.
If you like the Smiley series of books, then I recommend renting/buying the British video miniseries. George Smiley is tragic, but very cerebral figure and uses his brain to outsmart his adversary. Something we can all relate to.
Dad
Thanks Eric. I actually have read quite a bit of LeCarre starting when I was in high school and found him (to be gracious) not to my taste. I got berated for my thoughts on the subject about ten years out of college so I tried again and thought the same thing. I could possibly be wrong on all this and will love them if I try again, so I will give it a shot. My tastes might not be in the mainstream, though–I have always thought Capote, Hemingway and Steinbeck were horrible writers. That being said, I do like some mainstream writers–Tom Wolfe probably being the most well known. I will let you know if I do better with LeCarre this time around.