The Forger's Spell

I read The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick for my church book group. The subtitle for the book says, "A true story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the greatest art hoax of the twentieth century." This is a really fascinating story about Van Meegeren, a small-time painter during WWII who began to create forgeries that art critics accepted as genuine Vermeers. As Van Meegeren rakes in millions of dollars, he even manages to sell one of his paintings to Goering, Hitlers #2 man. The amazing thing about this whole story is that Van Meegeren is not that great of an artist--and the book tells the story of how he managed to fool everyone.

This was a really interesting book. I didn't have a ton of background information about the subjects, but that didn't seem to matter. The book had lots of details about every side of the story (which was sometimes interesting but sometimes seemed excessive). It was just so incredible to read about the obsession Nazis and others had with art during WWII and how Van Meegeren and other forgers go to such extremes to create a successful forgery.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes

Because I've enjoyed Brandon Mull as an author, I got his newest book (first in a series), Beyonders: A World Without Heroes, from the library. This book is about Jason and Rachel, two teens who somehow find themselves in a strange world called Lyrian. Lyrian is under the rule of an evil wizard named Malador, and Jason and Rachel become involved with "a quest to piece together the word of power that can destroy the emperor."

This was a really clever story with unique and fun fantastical characters. I liked the story and action a lot, but it was one of those books with a seriously lame ending that just forces you to continue to read the series. I would've continued the series anyway, but I wish the author ended this book well instead of leaving it with so many unanswered questions and open doors. Oh well.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)