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A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel.

My book review of Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants - a SciFi thriller so good that even this reviewer, who usually hates SciFi, loved it.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel.

This book is: completely fascinating and exceptionally well-written.
Other elements: giant mysterious statues, improbable medical procedures, aliens.
Read it: if you like great stories with perfect pacing.
Overall rating: 9.5/10

My feelings about Sleeping Giants are almost identical to my feelings about The Girl with All of the Gifts and The Book of Strange New Things. All three books are in a genre I don’t generally like (SciFi), about subjects I don’t generally enjoy (aliens / zombie pandemics). But they were all SO GOOD that I loved them anyway.

I also read both books blindly – knowing nothing about them – just because my Book Riot buddies recommended them. So basically: when I like a book about aliens, you know it’s a really good book about aliens. And I loved this book about aliens.

I mentioned Sleeping Giants once before: on my Best Books of 2015 list. I’m mentioning it again now because its about to be published, and you can all read it too! Which you should, because it’s amazing.

Sleeping Giants is one of those books where you don’t really know what’s happening for the first few chapters…or half of the book…but it’s so well written that you’re willing to wait and trust the author to make everything clear. The unfolding of the mystery is a lot of the enjoyment. You piece together the puzzle pieces of the strange events of the story as if you had happened across a box of strange old files and are reading through them, gradually developing an understanding of what went on.

I don’t want to spoil anything about this book, so here are a few hints:

  • Giant mysterious sculpture.
  • Crack team of scientists and military experts
  • Top secret missions
  • Life on other planets?
  • Love
  • Betrayal
  • Knees that bend backwards

That’s all I’m giving you. Go read this. It’s amazing.

My thanks to Del Ray for providing me with a copy of Sleeping Giants for review consideration.

Sylvain Neuvel also sent me a thank-you note and a small gift (a tiny, handmade model of the mysterious statue in her book!!) after I included Sleeping Giants on my best books of 2015 list, and that delighted me but did not influence my opinion of his novel or my decision to review it. 

For more reads anytime, check out my Amazon recommended books store. This post contains affiliate links.

 My review of Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants - a SciFi thriller so good that even this reviewer, who usually hates SciFi, loved it.

Ring roundup: several spectacular sapphire rings (III).

I like this particular ring roundup theme that I’ve done it two times before. I promise it’ll still delight you.

Sapphires are just so great. The variety in color, the richness of the deep blues, the wonder of a perfect cornflower glint. They’re a great choice for rings, because it’s a strong stone. Since it ties with its corundum cousin, ruby, on the Mohs hardness scale (just below diamonds) it’s safe for everyday wear.

Without further ado: I give you several spectacular sapphire rings. For the third time.

An antique French Belle Epoque ring with a 7 carat sapphire and a diamond-set platinum setting.How fantastic is this French Belle Epoque sapphire ring from Lang Antiques? That’s a 7 carat sapphire in that diamond-covered platinum setting.

An Omi Prive sapphire ring with pave diamonds. That center stone is 20.03 carats!

This glorious sapphire ring from Omi Prive features a 20.03 carat center stone in a glamorous pave diamond setting.

A 7.18 Carat no heat sapphire platinum and diamond ring.7.18 carats of luscious blue sapphire perfection, between two delicious epaulette-cut diamonds and accented with further diamonds on the sides. Yes.

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Pin with me: jewelry in paintings.

Happy Friday, darlings!

We’re doing a short post today because I’m out and about at AGS Conclave, learning about all kinds of exciting things I hope to share with you later on. You already know that my Pinterest account is a vast repository of jewelry, categorized by type, era, and maker – my 30,000+ followers are a testament to how many of you enjoy those carefully categorized collections. I’ve started a few new special category Pinterest boards lately and I thought it would be fun to tell you about them. This will be the first post in a little mini series about my new boards, highlighting some of the most fun photos I’ve found and giving you a little bit of background on why I chose to create them.

The Pinterest board I’m focusing on today is one of my favorite new ones. It’s called “Painted Jewels” and it’s all about jewelry in paintings.

My new Pinterest board - Painted Jewels - is dedicated exclusively to jewelry in paintings.

I’ve always loved finding jewelry in paintings, especially with historical paintings that show antique jewelry in situ as it would have been worn back in the day. It lends such context to the individual pieces to see them styled with period dress and alongside other pieces they would truly have been worn with. This project lends itself perfectly to Pinterest – it’s ideal for collecting reference material in an organized manner (one of my favorite hobbies). Yes, I’m a nerd.

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Some of my favorites! Please see the board for details on these beauties.

The “Painted Jewels” board doesn’t exclusively focus on jewelry in paintings from the past, but it’s worked out to skew heavily that way just because of what I’ve been able to find and what grabs my interest. If you ever do come across a work of art that includes a fantastic representation of jewelry, please do let me know.

Come pin with me! Find all my boards at this link, and a direct path to Painted Jewels here or above, if you too love seeing jewelry in paintings.

Follow along with me on Instagram