The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
When I was a freshman in high school I made a new friend that I loved hanging out with. He was unlike anyone I met previously. Any weekend spent at his house led to weeks of stories I could relive of mundane things made memorable. A walk to the gas station for burritos, for example, turned into an odyssey of exploring old train tracks, running from neighborhood dogs, jam sessions, and meeting girls. He was so fun to be around and I felt like an […]
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
The surefire way to guarantee that I will buy a book: have it be about the Romanovs. I’m completely obsessed, and am always looking for additions to the shelf that I have dedicated to them (non-fiction, fiction, conspiracy theories, etc). So when I saw this on the Costco book table, it went into my cart with no second thought. The story of the Romanovs is well-known – in 1918 Lenin orders the Imperial family to be executed by firing squad, including the children. The official […]
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Spoiler warning! While this is the start of a new series, it does follow on directly from Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy and her Six of Crows duology. While you will understand the plot fine if you haven’t read the previous books, you WILL be spoiled for events in both series. Spoilers may also appear in this review. Proceed at your own risk. From Goodreads, because I finished the audiobook two months ago (sigh): Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in […]
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
Spoiler warning! This is the third and final volume in the trilogy, and the action starts immediately after the second book. This is not the place to start. If you are not caught up, drop everything and start from the beginning with The Bear and the Nightingale. Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna managed to defeat one enemy, but at a great cost. Releasing the legendary firebird has caused much of Moscow to catch fire and the citizens, spurred on by the vengeful and jealous Father Konstantin are looking for […]
Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov must have had a thing for cats. He’s must have been like the Russian Edward Gorey or something because there are cats in this book. Gorey was so well known for his cats that Tove Jansson (yes that one) wrote a story short about it. Satan, however, is of a different from than cat in this book. If Satan is in this book, he is the powers that control the theater and drive an author to the end of his rope. This isn’t […]
Collusion by Luke Harding
This book came out near the end of 2017. I tried to read it then but was too nauseated by the saturation of Trump/Russia coverage so I set it aside. Last summer, I saw it in a used book store for $2 and figured “What the heck?” So I picked it up. I’m glad I did. Even though much of the information feels dated (especially considering today’s Manafort revelations on his dealings with Kilimnik), it will likely remain as one of the central works to […]
