I have only been to Europe once. In 2000 I went with friends for 10 days and spent time in Paris and Belgium. We went to half a dozen museums including The Louvre and The Musée d'Orsay which are well known for their vast and stunning collections - the "Winged Victory" sculpture is awe inspiring - and I greatly enjoyed both. But my favorite was The Musée de Cluny. Although smaller than the others it is well known for it's magnificent tapestries, and I spent a long time admiring a series of six woven images from the middle ages, collectively called "The Lady and the Unicorn". 

The story of the tapestries and how they were created serves as the subject for Tracy Chevalier's historical novel of the same name. Arrogant artist Nicolas des Innocents is put to the test when a nobleman commissions him to design a set of tapestries, large and grand enough to hang in his great hall. Nicolas has an eye for women and deviously incorporates the nobleman's daughter and wife into his illustrations that feature the seduction of the unicorn. The place to go for weaving at the time is Brussels, where the hard working and talented weavers must use every daylight hour to make the desired tapestries within the allotted time if they expect a full payment. A Difficult and debilitating job under the best of circumstances, when the due date is moved up it becomes necessary to work through the night as well - for this is a time when fine craftsmanship not only brought a man business, but defined the man as well. Although the story is not historically accurate, the book is so detailed and well researched that the era comes alive in both it's squalor and beauty. I also recommend Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

This is my favorite. The unicorn looks quite saucy!

Is there an age that a woman becomes too old to have a child? There are hundreds of records of women in their 50s, 60s, and even some early 70s who have carried and given birth to babies, some naturally and some through in-vitro fertilization. These women face health risks and complications to themselves and their baby at a much higher degree than younger pregnant women. So perhaps the question is not so much can it be done, but should it?

This question is at the heart of Ann Patchett's book State of Wonder. After the disappearance of a staff member in the Amazon jungle, research scientist Marina Singh is given a mission to go to Brazil and find the group he was with, headed by her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson. Swenson has gone off the grid doing her own secret research and the company that's funding her wants to know what exactly is going on.

After an arduous journey, Marina discovers Dr. Swenson and her team living among the Lakashi, a tribe in which the women are able to bear children well into old age. Obsessed with finding a way to develop the Lakashi secret into a drug that could help older women world wide become pregnant, Swenson will not share or walk away from her work.

The book is a wonder in itself, depicting the awe-inspiring and harsh environment of the jungle, and presenting both sides of a never ending, controversial debate about human reproduction. This is a great title for a book discussion as there is much to question and discuss (based on my own book group).



 

Food for thought: Even big celebrities, movie stars, and famous politicians slept on somebody's couch at some point.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends is an autobiography by Rob Lowe. Mostly I picked it up because I like Lowe in St. Elmo's Fire, Wayne's World, on The West Wing, and wondered if he would talk about the highly inappropriate videotape that became the talk of 1988. And there is a bit of sex, drugs, and other scandalous talk.

But I was quite surprised by how very conversational Lowe is as a writer and he doesn't glamorize how he got to where he is today. A difficult Ohio childhood continues in Malibu where there's a lot of surfing going on, and parents let their kids roam free (accidents and injuries abound). His first big acting job was in The Outsiders, based on the novel by H.E. Hinton. There wasn't much money in the budget so the actors bunked in people's houses - I recall him having to share the living room with Tom Cruise. Becoming part of the "Brat Pack" was both a blessing and a curse with the craziness of the paparazzi and the excesses of the eighties so accessible. And anyone who watched The West Wing will be interested in what he has to say about being behind the scenes.

Did Rob Lowe do some stupid things? Yes. But he also managed to push forward, working to be a better, respected actor, a politically savvy celebrity, a loving husband and a caring father. It's the kind of book to sit comfortably and read with a good cup of coffee. Just let it roll.