The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

The Creation of Eve
by Lynn Cullen
Putnam (March 23, 2010)
392 pages
Historical Fiction
Received from TLC Book Tours

Summary in a Sentence:

In the sixteenth century, Sofonisba Anguissola is invited to the Spanish court to study under master painter Michelangelo and serve as a lady-in-waiting for the young Queen Elisabeth, but as a scandal forces Michelangelo to flee and Sofi is pulled into a love triangle between the King, the Queen, and the King's illegitimate half-brother, Sofi fears her life and her dreams of becoming an artist will be ruined.

My Thoughts:

You know the maestro Michaelangelo. And Raphael, and Leonardo, and all the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-esque names of the famed Renaissance painters. However, one name that might not come immediately to mind is that of Sofonisba Anguissola. One of the many reasons you've never heard of this female Renaissance painter is that she wasn't even allowed to sign most of her own paintings (!).

After a most scandalous tryst with Michaelangelo's young apprentice, Sofi is summoned to a position in the royal court of King Felipe of Spain as the art instructor to the new queen, young Elizabeth of Valois. Soap operas have nothing on this 16th century Spanish court, and at times the theatrics can wear the reader thin. However, Cullen also touches on the Spanish Inquisition and illustrates just how restricted females of any class were in this period in history.

I recommend this book to any lover of historical fiction that sticks faithfully to the historical record. Ms. Cullen has definitely done her research. I'm also now eager to read Cullen's I Am Rembrandt's Daughter.

~ Read for the Art History Challenge  and the Women Unbound Challenge ~

You might also like:

• Works by Tracy Chevalier
• Works by Sarah Dunant
• The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Other Reviewers on the Tour:

Wednesday, March 3rd: Scandalous Women
Thursday, March 4th: Café of Dreams
Monday, March 8th: Books and Movies
Tuesday, March 9th: Booking Mama
Thursday, March 11th: Peeking Between the Pages
Monday, March 15th: Fyrefly’s Book Blog
Tuesday, March 16th: The Tome Traveller
Wednesday, March 17th: Educating Petunia
Thursday, March 18th: English Major’s Junk Food
Monday, March 22nd: A Few More Pages
Tuesday, March 23rd: Devourer of Books
Wednesday, March 24th: Wordsmithonia
Thursday, March 25th: A Bookshelf Monstrosity
Monday, March 29th: Katie’s Nesting Spot
Tuesday, March 30th: Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, March 31st: Raging Bibliomania
Friday, April 2nd: Thoughts From an Evil Overlord

Even more challenges...

I love You've Got Mail. A movie all about the book business with some romance thrown in? You've got me.

Book PSmith is hosting this one. Click here for complete sign up/rules info at the challenge blog.

The challenge involves reading by or about the authors that are read or mentioned in the movie.
Here's the list:

Jane Austen
L.M. Montgomery
Maud Hart Lovelace- Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself
Noel Streatfeild
Roald Dahl
Kay Thompson
Shel Silverstein
E.B. White
Beatrix Potter
Dr. Suess
Ludwig Bemelmans
Mario Puzo
George Bernard Shaw
Thomas Jefferson
Margaret Wise Brown
Maurice Sendak
Frank L. Baum
Lewis Carroll
C.S. Lewis
Johann David Wyss

There is no set number. I'm going to say I'll do 3 and go from there. I'll link up when I publish a review.

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Basic Information

• The challenge will run from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2010. Click here to sign up!
  

• Here are the participation levels. Feel free to do whatever level you want. You can also switch up or down midway through the challenge.
  

A Small Gamble: Complete any 3 of the 12 challenges described below. I'm doing this one!
A Moderate Gamble: Complete any 6 of the 12 challenges described below.
Gambling It All: Complete all 12 of the challenges described below.

Here are the 3 challenges I'm doing: 

Challenge 2: Blogroll Roulette (worth 1 entry)
-For this challenge, I 'drew' Bibliophile By The Sea. I chose The Zookeeper's Wife. 

Challenge 5: Title Word Count (worth 1 entry)
-For this one, random.org chose the number 4, so I found a title with four words in it from my bookshelf. That book is Dead End Gene Pool.

Challenge 8: Real and Inspired (worth 2 entries)
-I'm thinking Jane Eyre and Romancing Miss Bronte for now...

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The 2010 Science Book Challenge

1. Read at least three nonfiction books in 2010 related to the theme "Nature & Science". Your books should have something to do with science, scientists, how science operates, or the relationship of science with our culture. Your books might be popularizations of science, they might be histories, they might be biographies, they might be anthologies; they can be recent titles or older books. We take a very broad view of what makes for interesting and informative science reading, looking for perspectives on science as part of culture and history.
2. After you've read a book, write a short note about it giving your opinions of the book. Tell us what you'd tell a friend if you wanted to convince your friend to read it--or avoid it. Naturally, you can read some of the existing Book Notes for ideas. You might like to read our Book-note ratings for ideas about how to evaluate your books; we include ratings with every book note.
3. Don't worry if you find that you've read a book someone else has also read; we welcome multiple notes on one title.
4. Get your book note to us and we'll post it with the other notes in our Book Note section. Use the book-note form or the comment form to get in touch with us.
5. Spread the scienticity and tell other people about the Science Book Challenge: http://scienticity.net/wiki/Science_Book_Challenge. 

My book list:

1. Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
2. Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach
3. ?

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Sarah is hosting the The Art History Reading Challenge again in 2010.

This year there will be four levels of participation:

Curious - Read at least 3 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.

Fascinated - Read at least 6 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.

Enamored- Read at least 9 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.

Utterly enchanted - Read at least 12 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.

I'm going with the Curious level for now.

1. Frida by Barbara Mujica
2. Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti
3. The Creation of Eve by Cullen

*alternate:
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

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Becky (click to sign up) hosts a load of mini-challenges that I could have a field day with. I'm going to stop at this one for now.

It begins October 1, 2009. It ends December 31, 2010.

Read two books (or watch two movies) set during the French Revolution. These can be nonfiction or fiction.

1. Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund

2. Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era by Caroline Moorehead

*alternate: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy