n short succession I read two books focusing on the same fascinating time period -- the late fifteenth century Renaissance.
The first was a novel by the collaborating authors Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason was a mystery set in contemporary Princeton but having roots in the Renaissance. The mystery centers on how to interpret and understand a massive and puzzling Renaissance text called "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." The first-person narrator is a senior undergraduate English major at Princeton, who struggles with questions of loyalty, identity, and love. The action of the novel moved swiftly and once in a while I stumbled upon a magnificent analogy which encapsulated the narrator's emotions and reactions.
From this novel, I went to a biography of Machiavelli -- famous for writing "The Prince" -- and who was a contemporary of the purported author of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili." King writes a lively and humorous prose; he rather enjoys focusing on the more scurrilous aspects of Machiavelli's career which seems to be his method for offsetting Machiavelli's rather black reputation for deception, treachery, and aggression.
After reading both books I was struck anew how my selections of books are almost predetermined. I picked up the Machiavelli book because of "The Rule of Four." I picked up "The Rule of Four" because I had read a review of it last summer in the "New York Times" and remembered seeing it on my son's bookshelf.
Sometimes what I read is just by happenstance, but that is what I love about summer reading -- I can go anywhere inclination and Fortuna leads.
