The Floating Book

Fueled with love and desire, THE FLOATING BOOK pulls you under, casting its spell, drowning you into the fascinating world of 15th century Venice.

I absolutly loved this book. I couldn't put it down and when I had to, I couldn't stop thinking about it. A beautiful and also horrible love story.

I first saw this book in JUST ARRIVED hardback section of BORDERS. It was the beautiful cover art (and the different typefaces) in the book. Being attracted to all things--literary (books about books), I bought it, thinking I'd be reading about a fabulous book printed in Venice by Wendelin von Speyer. I was expecting Von Speyer to be a Marco Polo of printers. But I found a more ordinary man (although no less fascinating) . . . truly I thought he had more merchant than artisan in his soul. And this book is about how he tried to tailor himself into the peculiar suit of a Venetian of that day. The prose is beautiful. It reminded me of Tanith Lee, a dark fantasist and to a lesser extent, Patricia McKillip. But it took me a while to figure out that the use of a specific typeface was related to the narrator of the tale. There is Catullus who writes the book that Wendelin Von Speyer eventually prints several hundred years later-- at great personal cost. There is Wendelin himself, the German printer who remains an outsider of Venice . . . until the end of the book. There is his superstitious and annoying wife--Lussieta--who was so needy I wanted to choke her. There is the most fascinating nymphomaniac in literature, Sosia. And the strange nun/abortionist Gentilia who nursed an unhealthy love for Bruno, her brother who is one of Sosia's legion of lovers. (Her scruples, such as they are, allow her to bed only Venetians.) There's Fra Fillipo--the Pat Robertson of Venice and his little pervy sidekick, Ianno who has a very lively and picturesque birthmark on the side of his head. All these characters' lives revolve around Catullus book. How can one not be enamoured by this story. And there's a killer ending too!!!! This would be a great HBO mini-series.

Gorgeous prose, vivid social and cultural commentary, an evocative portrait of the most romantic city in the world, astonishing historical detail, and the steamiest sex to adorn a serious novel since "The Crimson Petal and the White" are all packed into this wonderful book. The plot is gripping, the history is real, the writing is mesmerizing. If you are going to Venice soon, "The Floating Book" will enhance your trip. If you can't get there, the novel is not a bad consolation.

This could have been an absolutely fantastic historical novel; however, I feel the author attempted to intertwine too many characters and too many plot lines. Bringing the German printing press to Venice provides a great backbone for the plot; however, the switching back and forth to the ancient poet and the sexual escapades of some woman named Clodia is just confusing. I guess the author wanted us to become as enthralled with the erotic poems as the Venetians were; however, for me it just didn't work. The details of the city, the differences in personality between the Venetians and the German printer, the superstitions, and the effect of the printing press are wonderful. In all, very good historical read, but one that I almost abandoned due to excesses -- in wording and in characters. (Sometimes I had to stop to read a sentence over and ask myself "what in the world did that mean?"). The character of Sosia is as one editor described "over the top" while other characters such as von Speyer are easily believable.