Books & More for Santa Cruz Readers...
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"Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read. "
— Edward Bulwer-Lytton
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Art in Fiction 
The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
by Stone, Irving
Dramatizes the life of the artistic genius Michelangelo, recalls his love affairs, his disputes with cardinals and popes, and his years of working on the Sistine Chapel.
An Artist of the Floating World
by Ishiguro, Kazuo
Drifting without honor in Japan's post-World War II society, which indicts him for its defeat and reviles him for his esthetics, aging painter Masuji Ono recalls the events of his life.
Bridge of Sighs
by Russo, Richard
After sixty years of living in the upstate New York town of Thomaston, Louis Charles and his wife of forty years, Sarah, prepare for a trip to Italy to visit Louis' childhood friend, an artist who had fled his hometown many years earlier.
Cat's Eye
by Atwood, Margaret
Years after painter Elaine Risley flees Toronto for Vancouver, she returns to search for long-missing parts of her life and pursue the elusive Cordelia, her best friend and sometimes enemy.
Chasing Cezanne
by Mayle, Peter
At work in the South of France on the magazine "Decorating Quarterly," photographer Andre Kelly stumbles upon a plumber loading a Cezanne into his truck and sets off on the trail of the culinary delights of France in pursuit of a wicked art scam.
The Flanders Panel
by Perez-Reverte, Arturo
When a young art expert discovers a murder hidden in a valuable fifteenth-century Flemish painting, she must overcome some unscrupulous twentieth-century characters to uncover the identity of the killer.
The Forger
by Watkins, Paul
Just before World War II, David Halifax, a gifted young American painter, becomes involved in a scheme to duplicate the masterworks in the Paris museum to sell the fakes to Hitler's minions while protecting the originals.
Girl in Hyacinth Blue
by Vreeland, Susan
Chronicles the history of a painting and the lives with which it intersects, from the artist's inspiration to its admiration by two art scholars three hundred years later.
Girl With a Pearl Earring
by Chevalier, Tracy
A poor seventeenth-century servant girl knows her place in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, but when he begins to paint her, nasty whispers and rumors circulate throughout the town.
The Handyman
by See, Carolyn
A twenty-eight-year-old aspiring painter, Bob Hampton is discouraged by his lack of artistic vision, drops out of art school, and sets out to earn money as a handyman, but he soon discovers his real talent lies in repairing the mixed-up lives of his clients.
Life Class
by Barker, Pat
A novel capturing the devastation and psychological trauma of the Great War on every level of British society focuses on a group of young art students, including Paul Tarrant, a Red Cross volunteer, who discovers that life, love, and art will never be the same.
The Mask Carver's Son
by Richman, Alyson
A young Japanese artist leaves his home, family, and traditions to study painting in Paris.
The Music Lesson
by Weber, Katharine
Grieving over the loss of her daughter, Irish-American art historian Patricia Dolan struggles to cope with a passionate love affair with her dangerous and charming Irish cousin Michael O'Driscoll, a stolen Vermeer painting, and a violent splinter group of the IRA.
Palladio: A Novel
by Dee, Jonathan
A decade after being separated from the charismatic Molly Howe when she mysteriously vanishes, artist and advertising designer John Wheelright is reunited with her at Palladio, a Virginia artists' colony and anti-advertising agency led by the eccentric Malcolm Osbourne.
Spending: A Utopian Divertimento
by Gordon, Mary
A passionate artist cannot refuse an offer from a wealthy man to be her muse and provide time, space, money, and sex, but she suddenly becomes a great success and his star fades, which makes the dynamic in their relationship change.
True Colors
by Mortman, Doris
In pursuit of a career as a successful artist, Isabelle de Luna is unaware that she is being stalked by the same killer who took her mother's life, while Isabelle's adopted sister, nursing a secret hatred, also prepares to destroy her.
Tulip Fever
by Moggach, Deborah
In Amsterdam in the 1630s, a young wife escapes her stifling marriage to an older man into the arms of the artist who is hired to paint their portrait.
The Years With Laura Diaz
by Fuentes, Carlos
Born in 1905 Mexico, Laura Diaz witnesses the Revolution while becoming a politically committed artist, wife, mother, and lover of great men before seeing those she loves fall to the dark forces of corrupt politics. honesty prevails despite the tragedies and losses of her life.