Author: Martin Seay
Published: May 2016 by Melville House Printing
Pages: 582
Genre: fiction, historical fiction
Obtained: library
Summary: Crivano, in 16th century Venice, Italy, has a scheme to sneak mirror craftsmen off the island. This is a crime punishable by death. Stanley, in Venice Beach, California, in the 1950's, is on a mission to find the author of "The Mirror Thief". Curtis, in the Venice Casino of Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2003, is trying to find Stanley so that he can help him out of a bad situation. The three stories are interwoven on many levels.
Thoughts: I really liked this author's style of writing which kept me engaged. It was unique, and the descriptions were excellent. He did a great job of setting the stage for each story, bringing both the time periods and places to life. The problem was, none of the three plots drew me in. I felt like most of the book was just one man looking for another. Also, the characters had personalities and were somewhat developed, but I just couldn't bond with them and I didn't have any strong feeling toward any of them, positive or negative.
There were some good themes, for example, how things are always changing, and how choices we make steer our lives. The author was also very clever in making connections between the three stories, and continuing threads between time and space. However, the ending was not good. I just didn't get it. It felt like the author wrote it in a way that you had to make up your own ending. It was very unclear what, exactly, was happening.
The book was long and at times I didn't want to finish it, but the writing style and the question of how the author would tie the three stories together kept me reading. At the end I was disappointed and the book did not seem worth the read. The author does have a talent for writing. Maybe his next try will be better.
Tea: French Lemon Ginger
Obtained: gift
French Lemon Ginger tea from Art of Tea comes in a resealable brown bag which keeps the tea fresh. The tea is composed of organic lemon grass, organic rooibos, organic honeybush, organic lemon verbena, and organic ginger. It is a mix of long, thin, light green leaves and very small pieces of brown leaves. The leaves have a sweet grassy scent with a background scent of lemon.
I poured 16 ounces of hot water over 2 tablespoons of leaves and let this brew for 5 minutes. The liquid was an orange brown and had a wonderful aroma of lemon with a hint of ginger. The taste was of sweet lemon with an after taste of ginger. It was a smooth, well balnced blend.
This tea was refreshing and soothing hot. I also tried it iced and it made one of the best iced teas I ever had. It was so refreshing! If you like lemons, this is definitely one to try. I am not a big ginger fan, but the ginger flavor was not strong and balanced perfectly with the rest of the flavors.
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