This week, my teaser lines come from People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I'm about a third of the way into this one, and enjoying it so far. This excerpt is from the first section of the book, which sets up the framing story about Hannah, a professional book conservator from Australia, who's been called to Sarajevo and given a rare and beautiful ancient Hebrew manuscript to analyze and preserve. Here, Hannah is discussing the materials and routines used in conserving and restoring antique volumes:In the bright snow light, my hands looked even worse than usual, all ruddy and peeling from scouring the fat off cow gut with a pumice stone. When you live in Sydney, it's not the simplest thing in the world to get a meter of calf's intestine. [p.5]See, the calf's intestine is for using in the preparation of gold leaf - that is, if you're going to beat your own gold leaf the way a medieval bookbinder would have done it. Ah, well, conservation and archival work may not be the most glamorous undertaking I can think of, but I find it fascinating and always thought I'd missed my calling by not going into that field. But that bit about the cow gut is making me think I might not have been up to the task after all.
Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizb17 at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.
Sounds fascinating!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog.
Absolutely fascinating. What an awesome teaser! Really makes me want to know more about the process.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to mine:
http://tweezlereads.blogspot.com/2010/02/teaser-tuesday_16.html
Interesting...I guess my hands probably wouldn't look so hot either!
ReplyDeleteGreat teaser. Have been meaning to add this book to my TBR. WordTrix
ReplyDeleteInteresting teaser. Here's Mine
ReplyDeleteI have yet to read Geraldine Brooks, but she's on my list.
ReplyDeleteGreat teaser! :D
Happy Teaser Tuesday!
A little gross but not totally off-putting....
ReplyDeletehttp://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2010/02/teaser-tuesday_15.html
That's quite the teaser. I've got this book on my shelf. I look forward to your thoughts on it.
ReplyDeleteMy hands don't look quite that bad - but close (I'm blaming the weather). I've wondered about this book. I read her book about the Plague and like that.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good one for that reading challenge! Not sure that I wish to go there though!
ReplyDeleteWow! Very interesting. I'll have to look into this book.
ReplyDeleteInteresting teaser!
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to read "People of the Book"... here is my teaser...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a hard life. Great teaser.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting teaser! I'll have to check this book out.
ReplyDeleteGreat teaser and beautiful cover!
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent teaser! Thanks for sharing the significance of the calf's intestine and gold leaf. Wow, fascinating stuff! I have this book on my bookshelf to read and I can't wait to dive into it.
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