The theme of music pervades The Bird that Sang in Color. The story begins and ends in music and music is played throughout with various instruments and albums. But there isn’t only music in a literal sense. There is also the music of
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The Beauty of Leafless Trees
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsIn the beginning of Discovery of an Eagle, Cosmo sees the beauty of the autumn leaves: “And even though he knew that the leaves changing colors meant that they were dying, he never felt death in the air. He felt life, renewal, and
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Fiction Books about Happiness: In This World of Sameness
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsThis is a line from my forthcoming novel and the third novel featuring the Greco family–“The Bird that Sang in Color.” It’s told from the point of view of the family matriarch, Donna and is the story of her transformation
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Fiction Books about Happiness: A New Way To Live
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsIt was difficult to come up with a blog post about finding happiness in such difficult times. My husband and I both lost our jobs this week but I consider us fortunate to have our health. In Italy, people grieve in isolation; our most vulnerable
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Fiction Books about Happiness: How Misery Destroys Humanity
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsThe theme of happiness is central to all of my novels and stories. Everyone is well-aware of the necessity of happiness on an individual level and everyone wants to be happy in some way or another. At the very least, they want relief from the
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Fiction Books about Happiness: Looking Out, Looking In
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsTrue happiness can only be found within. This simple lesson can be challenging as it is human tendency to think that a better job, or a bigger house, a new place to live, or a romance could bring happiness, and these things do indeed bring
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The Inside Out of Peace
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsIn Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, Silvia unites her family, and in doing so, she learns that happiness isn’t possible without peace, and that internal peace isn’t possible without having peace in one’s outer world.
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The New Dark Ages
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 comments“Happiness…come(s)…as a result of learning” Aristotle Paradoxically, the dawn of the information age with all of its technological advances has contributed to the new dark age in which we live. It’s easy to become
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Fiction Books about Happiness: Technology Blues
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsTechnology and its impact on people isn’t a theme of my first novel, Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, as the protagonist, Silvia is a Luddite who prefers “vinyl records to CD’s, print books to e-books, and paintbrushes
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Fiction Books about Happiness: The Drive to be Happy
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Finding Happiness | 0 commentsProtagonists in both of my novels are driven by their desires to find happiness. In Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, Silvia is motivated to unite her family by her desire for peace. She wants to make peace within her family and to save
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