Beauty * and * Bread

The only reason I’m blogging right now is because I can’t be reading. My iTouch has temporarily run out of juice.

July 20 was D-Day. That would be Daniel Silva day. He is, pretty much, my favorite author nowadays. He releases one new book a year, so for those few days after I get the new book, I am one happy camper. For the rest of the year I wait.

If you like spy thrillers and haven’t yet experienced a Daniel Silva read, I encourage you to check him out.

For several years I took creative writing classes from Elnora King of Fresno.  Not only did she help me and a host of my writing buddies get published in various media, but she ruined my reading for all time. Unless whatever I’m delving into is exceptionally well-written, I read with (at least an invisible) red pen in hand. Daniel Silva is one of the few authors where the only red pen in evidence would be to mark all those wonderful turns of phrases he uses.

The Rembrandt Affair is the tenth in a series of novels featuring the protagonist Gabriel Allon, a legendary Israeli spy-assassin cum art restorer. The juxtaposition of the disparate halves of Gabriel’s life drives the novels. What I love most about Gabriel are his flaws. He’s a real person, not a superhero. He seeks as normal a life as a man with his past can have, but he’s driven to respond to his country’s needs–often as dictated by Ari Shamron, also legendary as the former head of the Israeli intelligence service. Silva paints Allon as conflicted, not wanting to do what he must. The novel is character-driven, and Silva takes pains to make those characters rounded and real. His prose is lyrical but not overdone, his images sharp and vivid.

My favorite sorts of books are those that make me reach for the encyclopedia (well, Wikipedia now) to learn more about the elements of the backstory. Silva from the beginning has made me want to learn more about the world of fine art, art restoration–and the world of spies, Israeli-style.

Time’s up. Gotta see if the iTouch is recharged.