Clara and Mr. Tiffany is another terrific read from Susan Vreeland. Vreeland does a wonderful job of giving lots of information about a historical period and the making of stained glass windows and lamps, all the while telling a compelling story.
I recommended this book to some folks in my writing class who were guilty of the dreaded info dump syndrome. It's not easy to work lots of factual information into a story but Vreeland accomplishes the task seamlessly.
Apart from being a very good story, Clara and Mr. Tiffany aroused in me a lust for a Tiffany reproduction wisteria lamp. We already have a dragonfly one and it was quite modestly priced.
So I went looking . . . and found some kind of not-very-good ones and then this beauty above. And only $120 dollars! Not inconsiderable but for such a gorgeous piece of work... and how beautiful it would be on the marble-topped chest in our bedroom. . .
Then I looked again. The lamp actually cost $7,200.
Gasp.
The $120 was for shipping . . .
Time to go down to the pond and enjoy the real wisteria. . .
