The Agony and The Ecstasy - Irving Stone
It's been a while, but this book really pulled me in ,just as much as you would expect. I remember seeing the movie years ago, with Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II and good ol' Charleton Heston as Michelangelo Buonarotti. This book, however, unlike the movie, covers all of Michelangelo's career, from the teenage years as an apprentice onward. The language sets up such a beautiful rhythm, that there are certain portions of the book, where the author is going on and on, and you wouldn't mind if this went on forever. He takes us through the major landmark pieces too, like the David statue and the Sistine Chapel, from concept to finish. The emotional journey of creating work, and all those little love letters to art-making and the inspiration process, Stone creates those emotions pretty accurately. Even though this is a historical fiction, it's fun to speculate on the inner workings, and emotional journey of one of these big timers in our culture. Someone wh