The Girl with a Pearl Earring

Tracy Chevalier: Girl With A Pearl Earring (Plume, 1999)

This year I tackled Girl With A Pearl Earring (Plume, 1999). After all, one cannot live on science fiction, military history and science fact alone (well, actually, why not?)...

I had seen the movie, so I had to read the book. At least I can say to my wife that I read one of her books this year and she has yet to read one of my books. So I can say I read one chick book this year.

I was somewhat disappointed, as I was hoping for more behind-the-scenes style stuff from the book. Sure, there is some narrative about technique, and some narrative about how paints were mixed, but that came through better, in my opinion, in the movie.

It was somewhat odd to read this one and Stephenson's Quicksilver in the same year. They overlap in terms of time frames and certainly give you give viewpoints on a interesting period in our history.

The big question: Would I read anything else by the author? Well, I gave my wife another book by Chevalier last Christmas, so maybe I’ll tackle that in 2005. And we’ll see if she reads any of my books!