The Magic of Glass

I loved how glass making was worked into the story! I'm intrigued by glass as well. I'd love to have a house with stained glass panels. The color and lights...beautiful! And even moreso when the images tell a story.

I love Chihuly's work! I was able to enjoy his installation at the Miami Botanical Gardens while he was there several years ago.

Also, I really enjoyed the way stained glass was worked into The Lake of Dreams - I think glass is a perfect symbol of the strength, yet fragility of life & relationships.

My most favorite stained glass is in Paris at the Musee d'Orsay. Beautiful.

I love stained glass and thought it was beautiful how it was incorporated into the storyline of the book.

I don't have much experience with stained glass, at least not outside of seeing it in church, but I was very interested in the glass blowing scenes. One of my favorite books, Born in Fire by Nora Roberts, features a glass artist as the heroine. The scenes where she's working are incredibly descriptive; you can really see the work being done. I felt the same way about the scenes in The Lake of Dreams. I really enjoyed those passages.

I really liked the glass in the story. I have always loved stained glass windows in church and when I went to Europe, we went to Venice and saw the famous venetian glass blowers in action. I love the beauty and fragility of glass, and to me, it represented the beauty, complexity and fragility of Lucy and keegan's relationship.

I love glass, our old church had stained glass windows in them that were so old the bottoms of them were thicker than the top. I remember staring at them during the service instead of paying attention.

The glass was one of my favorite parts of the book. Some of it reminded me of the book Clara and Mr. Tiffany - where they talk about the early days of the Tiffany glass company. I always think the different ways of working with glass and the colors and such are fascinating. The only thing that made me sad was that these beautiful pieces don't actually exist :-).

Do you know that I live in Quechee, VT and have taken my family time and again to see the glassblowing at Simon Pearce just down the road. I wrote about my adventure taking my son here: http://rubsomedirtblog.com/2011/06/simon-pearce-ki... Unfortunately the glassblowing shop was destroyed during Hurricane Irene, but they're rebuilding. It just might take a while.

As far as glass, I agree it is a mesmerizing, sexy, alluring craft, and that's part of the reason I wanted her to end up with Keegan in the end. It added such a primal element to his character, a connection with the earth and a creative spirit, that I so thought Yoshi lacked. I think all women love a glass blower; there's something completely fascinating about it and wondrous about its artisans.

Working with fire in general is alluring, dangerous, and mystical. And with glass a beautiful object emerges from the heat and flame. When I was teaching sixth grade, we created an auction project by taking a field trip down to the glass blowing studio in town, learned about the art of glassblowing, and then each student contributed a glass piece to the final project--a large fruit bowl. Not exactly the same art as Keegan, but still beautiful to see the raw materials transform into something incredible.

I also have always loved stained glass. It is absolutely beautiful and I loved how it was such a large part of the book. The way it lets light into churches is gorgeous. I enjoyed reading about Keegan and how he was so talented with glass. It is an amazing craft.

My father was a stained glass artist. Since he died, the pieces that he did are now cherished by the family members I have who were lucky enough to end up with them. On top of my writing desk is a stained glass bunny that hung in my nursery when I was a baby. I can't let it out of my sight. I don't know what it is about glass, but I do know that it is magical -- and one of my favorite elements of this book.

I thought this piece was a great addition to the book. I've always loved stained glass too and, like you, remember that about church more than anything else. I love it for its intricacy and how it allows light to stream through and light everything else up.

I love glass and how it represents a story. I really love how the stained glass was incorporated into the story. It was beautiful.

I honestly never gave stained glass/blown glass a thought until reading this book. It is described beautifully, that's for sure. I, too was intrigued by Keegan and his talent at glass work.

I'm not really into glass but I would love to take a glass blowing class! I think that it looks really interesting!

I love stained glass and I thought all the parts explaining Keegan's studio were very interesting. I had a hard time picturing some of the windows in my head though. I'm sure my brain wasn't doing them justice!

My aunt and uncle have a piece of backlit stained glass in their front foyer from our old church. It's gorgeous. I have purchased the tiny bits I can afford (see: ornaments) from a local stained glass artist. I love it.

With three kids under 5, even the *thought* of a beautiful piece of stained glass in the house makes me nervous.

That being said, I was very happy to "visit" the gorgeous glass work so vividly described by Edwards in this book. Perhaps someday when my kids are no longer in Destruction mode, we'll add a piece (or five) to the farmhouse :)

I love Chihuly too. I thought glassblowing was an interesting profession for the author to give to Keegan... so delicate and intricate.

Glasswork is stunning. If this book was ever made into a movie, I can just imagine how beautiful these scenes could be.

I loved this part. Every time we're in the Bellagio in Vegas (my hometown) I marvel at the Chihuly ceiling. And that was NOTHING compared to the entire exhibit of his work my husband and I saw in San Francisco a couple of years ago.

I love colored glass globes and have a collection that hangs like ornaments in my bay window. It's so colorful and it makes me happy. LOVE IT!

I actually had the pleasure of watching someone make amazing creations out of glass in Florence, Italy and it's something I'll never forget. I'd love to have glass items in my home but with two kids that not feasible at the moment.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was glass blowing at the Waterford factory in Ireland. It was truly an amazing process to watch and gave me so much more appreciation for the vases, candlesticks, and ornaments that I'd always thought were beautiful, but somehow came to life. I thought the glassworks was an interesting piece of the book - I could have spent more time in the workshop!

I love glassworks. My family used to go to Simon Pearce every Christmas Eve to watch the glassblowers work. We have a set of the very beautiful Simon Pearce Christmas trees. Beautiful glass now always reminds me of Christmas.

I thought it was such an interesting detail that she chose to put in the story. I never would have thought of glass blowing and stained glass to be part of any kind of story line; it's not something that seems very common or thought about often unless you are at church. But I love how she chose to incorporate it and bring it to life a bit more especially for someone like me who may not be exposed to it very much.

I love how glass work is woven into the story. I have always been fascinated by people who can blow glass, or work in stained glass. I have been lucky enough to watch a few glass blowers and I am always mesmerized. There is a studio that teaches classes and I would love to find the time to try it myself!

Yes, I have always been fascinated by glass and those who work with it. Too bad I am also clumsy, and prone to breaking beautiful glass objects. :(

While I've never seen glass blown in real life, I've always wanted to and am always fascinated when I see it on tv. The stained glass in The Lake of Dreams was perhaps one of the best features of the book. Ms. Edwards did a fine job in the descriptions of the stained windows at the center of the story. I wish that even more attention had been paid to the art of the stained glass in the story.

I have never seen a glassblower in action, but I think it would be really cool. We have a local shop that does it's own glassblowing and reading this book has def. made me want to visit!

I'm fascinated by glass because of how it's formed. It starts off as something rough and coarse and with manipulation transforms into a substance that's so fragile.

As far as the way it was featured in the book, I sort of felt like any form of art could have been featured in a similar way: paintings, sculptures, etc. I didn't feel like glass was <i>integral</i> to the story and could have been substituted for a number of things. I appreciated the novelty, though.

My grandfather used to make stained glass items as a hobby. Usually they were small suncatchers - nothing as intricate as the stained glass windows in the book. I have one of his pieces, and love to see it hanging in my kitchen window.

I can remember the first time I saw a glass blower. It was mesmerizing. The combination of fire and water, banging metal tools and gentle breath is such a magical balance. While reading the book, I was almost sad that there weren't any pictures, because I wanted to see that stained glass so badly! It was hard for me to let Keegan go, too. There seemed to be so much chemistry there. But I suppose it was the right choice after all.

I can't believe I forgot to mention it but I bought a very expensive piece of Murano glass in Venice. I love it. And try not to think about exactly how much it cost.

I go to church weekly but never paid attention to the stained glass until I read this book. Kim Edwards did a beautiful job of describing Keegan's work almost lovingly -- I agree, definitely one of the more riveting details in the book! I admit I've been searching out stained glass and hand-blown objects as I've been doing my Christmas shopping. It's an excellent way for the author to leave a reader.

Honestly, the stained glass was the best part of the story. On the wish list is for hubby and I to take a workshop/class in glass blowing, so his character really intrigued me. I echo Close to home that I was a bit disappointed that Keegan didn't become a permanent fixture in her life.

the stained glass was the premise of the story, describing that rose and how it reflected the history of the family's involvement. a little disappointed she did not make it with the glass blower....

From the moment I started reading this book, the desire to own my own beautiful piece of glass took over my [very materialistic] heart and soul. [I tweeted about it about a million times, I think.] My grandfather had once hung a small window near the fireplace in his living room, and I remember watching the light from the flickering flame dance off the beautiful colors on the window on cold winter nights we would visit my grandparents.

I have a feeling that I'll be adding my own magical art piece to my apartment sometime soon!

I never really thought about how glass worked into the story until now, but it was very from the glass that she was able to find her long lost relative. Wow I can't believe I didn't put that together.