Thursday, August 25, 2011

Beds and Mona Lisas

Bed by David Whitehouse
Mal Ede, a child of untamed manners and unbounded curiosity, is the eccentric eldest son of an otherwise typical middle-class family. But as the wonders of childhood fade into the responsibilities of adulthood, Mal's spirits fade too. On his twenty-fifth birthday, disillusioned, Mal goes to bed--back to his childhood bed--and never emerges again. Narrated by Mal's shy, diligent younger brother, Bed details Mal's subsequent extreme and increasingly grotesque transformation: immobility and a gargantuan appetite combine, over the course of two decades, to make him the fattest man in the world. Despite his seclusion and his refusal to explain his motivations, Mal's condition earns him worldwide notoriety and a cult of followers convinced he is making an important statement about modern life. But Mal's actions will also change the lives of his haunted parents, his brother and the woman they both love, Lou.

Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton
The charming Eduardo de Valfierno makes a very respectable living in Argentina fleecing the nouveau riche--they pay him to steal valuable pieces of art, and Valfierno sells them flawless forgeries instead. But when Eduardo meets the beautiful Mrs. Hart on his latest con job, he takes a risk that forces him back to the city he loved and left behind: Paris. There he assembles his team of con artists for their final and most ambitious theft, on that will enable them to leave the game forever: the Mona Lisa. When a member of the team turns up missing, and Mr. Hart shows up in Paris, Valfierno and his crew must stay one step ahead of a relentless police inspector, endure a devastating flood, and conquer their own doubts to keep the priceless painting in play--and survive. Based on the actual theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911.

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