I love this period in history, I love the city of Siena, so a combination of the two has to be a winner for me. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.

This is not a frivolous beach read like The Nanny Diaries. Minding Ben is a far more substantial novel, full of prejudice and the injustices experienced by any group of people who find themselves in the position of the "underdog".

The dialect was a distraction at times but was necessary for authenticity.
The main characters were well fleshed out, and if the character of Grace is partly autobiographical, then I take my hat off to Victoria Brown.

A good read.

This was a well researched and well presented account of the events surrounding the controversial life of Jeanne Baret. It is unfortunate that there are few sources of information regarding her life, making this book more of an account of the life of her "mentor" Commerson and his exploits, with snippets of information relating to Baret making an appearance at intervals. The account read well though, the story of the circumnavigation and botanical exploits are very interesting, but left this reader hungry for more of Jeanne Baret. She must have been a remarkable woman.

My progress through the first few chapters was steady but it made me think ho-hum. Then Conor began to develop a sense of humor, the children became familiar, and I started feeling the pain the families endured in Nepal and started rooting for Conor and Next Generation! A heart-warming story of human spirit, respect, brotherhood, and of course love.

When I first started reading "The Blind Contessa's New Machine, I was totally drawn to the main character Countess Carolina Fantoni and found myself wondering how her encroaching blindness was going to affect her life. Then I found myself wondering when the "new machine" mentioned in the title was going to manifest itself. I would have liked to know more about Turri's journey in developing this gift for Carolina. I also found that Carolina's vivid descriptions of "flying" were perhaps too drawn out and I found myself "fast forwarding" through those parts. I did love the characters and could picture them in my "mind's eye" as the story unfolded. If you love romance and colorful, out-of-the ordinary people coping with what life throws at them, you will enjoy this book.