The Family Romanov

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming (2014)

Despite my well-documented fascination with Russia, I knew only a little about the Romanov family and the era in which they lived before reading Candace Fleming's new book. I knew that they were an unusual family, that the heir to the throne was a hemophiliac, that they hung out with some weirdypants named Rasputin, and that they were all killed. But I was pretty vague on the details.

The Family Romanov takes us inside palace walls to meet the people whose family ruled Russia for three hundred years, and also describes the civil unrest that ultimately resulted in overthrowing the tsar and murdering the entire royal family. Fleming brings the story to life so vividly that you can easily imagine you are there, which is actually pretty uncomfortable at times. We spend most of the book getting to know this family and then they are all brutally murdered.

Of course it's also the story of the common people, far removed from the royal family. Although the book primarily focuses on the Romanovs, Fleming has included snippets from the lives of peasants and workers, describing their hardscrabble lives. The contrast with the aristocrats is almost startling. The thing is, the Romanovs were so freaking isolated they had no idea what life was like for the majority of people in Russia. The very idea that they had so much control and so little knowledge is pretty horrifying.

In fact, many things about the Romanov family were sort of alarming when you consider how powerful they were. First of all, they were incredibly isolated. Nicholas and Alexandra really liked to spend as much time as possible far away from everyone else. Even when revolution was happening, they just didn't quite...get it. Nicholas was completely ignorant of the conditions endured by workers and when they organized and took to the streets, he ordered soldiers to fire on them, killing hundreds and wounding many more on a day that came to be known as Bloody Sunday. He didn't realize this action was part of a larger, growing movement and ignored warnings from his advisors and even from the great writer Lev Tolstoy. Later on, he continued to treat uprisings as misbehavior that needed to be corrected. It didn't help his cause at all.

The Romanovs kept their children isolated too. The girls primarily relied on each other for companionship. Alexei is another whole kettle of fish entirely. The long-awaited heir to the throne was a hemophiliac, which meant that the slightest injury could be fatal. This kid wasn't allowed to run, ride a bike, or play in any active way. Can you imagine what that would do to the kid's psyche? No wonder he was so abominably behaved. Mind you, I don't think he deserved to be murdered (especially at the age of 14) but this is not someone who should ever be in charge of anything. Plus, he was barely educated. He and his sisters had some tutors, but their education was pretty half-assed, focusing primarily on learning languages. (Which is useful, don't get me wrong, but it's not nearly enough.)

And then there's the whole codependent friendship with Rasputin. Oh my god, that guy! He was basically a crazy religious fanatic who left his wife and kids to became a wandering, non-bathing mystic. Alexandra was convinced he helped heal Alexei of some serious injuries and she came to rely heavily on him and believed everything he said. He basically manipulated the Romanovs by convincing them he had a direct line to God, and they did whatever he advised. He played a pretty big role in the family's increasing unpopularity and eventual downfall. He had quite a following, too. He also had enemies, and was eventually murdered. Pretty much everyone in this book was eventually murdered.

This book is fascinating and almost unbelievable and is written in a really cool font. (Seriously, I love the font used for the all the chapter headings.) There are a lot of pictures too, which always make things feel more real. I read most of it in one sitting. I just could not put it down.

I really want this author to write a sequel. Near the end she talks about Lenin's rule and his concern that one autocracy had been traded for another, and his fear that Joseph Stalin might come to power. Which of course is what happened, and I would very much like to hear that story as this author would present it. She also wrote Amelia Lost, a fascinating account of the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart, which I wrote about here. I will definitely be seeking out more books by Candace Fleming in the future, though this one may be the most perfect intersection of her talent and my interests possible. Until she writes that book about Stalin, of course.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (2014)

A.J. Fikry is a widowed bookstore owner on the fictional Alice Island in Massachusetts. He's still fairly young when the story opens, but already a curmudgeon. He has little joy in his solitary life, his only real comfort his favorite books, including a rare copy of Edgar Allen Poe's Tamerlane. One morning after drinking himself into a stupor alone the night before, he wakes to find that not only has someone apparently broken in and cleaned his apartment, they've also made off with his valuable beloved book. The book that was supposed to pay for his retirement. Soon after, however, something is unexpectedly left for him and at this very low time in his life it may be just the thing to finally turn him around and give new meaning to his life.

I picked this up on sort of a whim after hearing of it over and over all year long. It was the top Library Reads pick for April and it also appeared on some "best of 2014" lists recently. My need for hoarding books for the holiday weeks coincided perfectly with the availability of the paperback at my library.

Fikry is just the sort of character that I like. He's anti-social and a bit cranky and likes books more than people. When a sales rep he's known for years and considers a friend dies, he reflects, "They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?" I cannot agree more with this sentiment. Although he runs a bookstore, he's not a particularly shrewd businessman, insisting on keeping things the way he thinks they should be, rather than making adjustments in ways that might actually be profitable. The rest of Alice Island is just as quirky as he is, and I liked getting to know the other characters as well, such as Officer Lambiase, a cop who develops a love for crime novels, and Fikry's sister-in-law Ismay, whose personal life could easily merit its own novel. Equally as entertaining was Amelia, the visiting sales rep from Knightly Publishing, who could be counted on to journey to the inconvenient island regularly to promote her wares to the stand-offish but strangely appealing bookseller.

What makes this book irresistible for a book lover like me are all the literary references peppered throughout it. Each chapter begins with the title and author of a short story and a note from Fikry about it. (The purpose of all this becomes clear late in the novel.) Of course Tamerlane is an important plot element, but Fikry also talks books with everyone so we hear his thoughts on everything from Holocaust fiction to the crime novels of Jo Nesbo. He calls Infinite Jest "an endurance contest. You manage to get through it and you have no choice but to say you like it." (Validating my disinterest in ever reading that novel.) At one point he lists several titles in a row that were read by a book group and I was ridiculously pleased that I have read all of them. Yes, this is a book for book nerds!

The story does tend a bit toward the sentimental, though it never quite crosses that line. A lot of things start happening later on that kind of seem a bit much for such a short novel, but I found it all actually quite fun to read, even though it got a bit dark and sad. But the point of the novel is how A.J. Fikry is pulled out of his widowhood depression and begins to live again, a trajectory best summed up by what I think may be my favorite quote in this book full of good quotes:

"Fucking love, he thinks. What a bother. It's completely gotten in the way of his plan to drink himself to death, to drive his business to ruin. The most annoying thing about it is that once a person gives a shit about one thing, he finds he has to give a shit about everything."

Only a little over 250 pages, the novel reads like young adult and I easily raced through it in two evenings. It's maybe not the sort of story that will stick with me for long (though only time will really tell) but I found it charming and funny. I'd recommend it to book lovers, as well as anyone who likes to read stories set in quirky little towns.

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover

Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover by Sarah MacLean (2014)

This is the 4th and final book in the Rule of Scoundrels series, so if you're concerned about spoilers, beware. I didn't read the first three books, but heard many positive reviews of this one and decided to read it anyhow. Because of the nature of the genre, each book in a series focuses on a romance between different characters. (I mean, you can't very well have a happily-ever-after and then break up the couple so one of them can have another romance, can you?) Therefore, I considered it fairly safe to start at the end.

When Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover opens, we meet Georgiana, also known as Anna, also known as Chase. Ruined at the age of sixteen, she used her outcast status to become an extremely powerful woman. The major spoiler from earlier books in the series is that she is the secret identity of a mysterious businessman named Chase. Along with three other men, he owns a gentleman's club called The Fallen Angel. When Georgiana isn't pretending to be Chase, she is playing the part of Anna, a gussied-up worldly madam who hangs out at The Fallen Angel. But her carefully-crafted set of personas is now threatened as she attempts to enter back into aristocratic society (as Georgiana) to finally marry and lend some respectability to her 9-year-old daughter, Caroline. Most of the threat comes from her newfound flirtation with Duncan West, a newspaperman who initially embarrasses her with a scandalous cartoon about her return, but soon promises to help her win over the hearts of London society. But not before she wins over his heart as well.

I never have high hopes for romance; they are just for a bit of fun. The story lines are often weak and contrived. But I was pleasantly surprised and rather impressed with this plot. MacLean put together a story that was both well-crafted and compelling, and then filled it with characters I found quite appealing.

Georgiana is, quite simply, a badass. What made me so interested in this book in the first place was the idea that she had this secret identity as a man and another as a prostitute, and was so incredibly successful. She's smart and resourceful and fearless, and isn't easily swayed by the handsome Duncan West either. She's learned a few things in her years and knows not to fall for any guy who sweet talks her (she won't forget that early mistake.)

In romance novels, a great deal tends to hinge on the characters' neuroses, and they make things far more difficult for themselves than necessary. There is always a point at which one character is holding back information that would explain so much, and they stubbornly refuse to reveal it for reasons which are rather paltry. Here, Georgiana definitely held back information from Duncan West, but it was easy to understand her motivations. He also had good reasons for holding back. I bought it all.

I should mention the romance itself, since that's the heart of it all. Duncan was easy to like and could be quite charming. When he finally asks Georgiana about her past, he inquires "What happened? To bring you Caroline?" Georgiana fairly swooned at the lovely way he asked her about the story of her ruin. Because of his own secrets, Duncan was not one to judge others and he held a distaste for aristocracy very similar to Georgiana's. They both struggled with the need to be accepted by the people they most loathed. They were evenly matched in many ways, both having crawled upward to success from bad situations, and of course they both had secrets. He was a little possessive, but after all he thought she was a prostitute, so that can be forgiven. The tension between the two was pretty delicious, and was only heightened by their mutual mistrust. And there were some sexytimes, which were rather creative - Duncan has a swimming pool, unusual for the time period, but very useful for the purposes of the novel. Thankfully the sex was a bit more realistic than in so many novels. For instance, Georgiana takes note of her "oddly shaped, strangely stretched bits" (she has had a baby after all) but it's still sexy, without being ridiculously over-the-top.

The only thing I kept wondering about was if people ever actually saw Chase. Georgiana wears trousers during this novel, but never disguises herself as a man so I didn't know if she had ever done so. After finishing, I listened to this episode of the DBSA podcast, from which I learned that Chase appeared in earlier novels in the series, but MacLean carefully constructed those scenes to avoid pronouns. From this I gather that nobody outside of the close-knit group of owners has actually seen Chase. Also, now I really want to read the earlier books. I do own a copy of the third book (No Good Duke Goes Unpunished) thanks to the library book sale, so I may just read this all in reverse chronological order.

I've only read a handful or so of romance novels, but this is definitely one of the best and the next time I want this sort of escape I'll definitely look to Sarah MacLean again. On the podcast I referenced earlier, she noted that her next Regency series will be based on modern celebrity scandals, complete with TMZ-style headlines as chapter headings. This I gotta see.

Murder as a Fine Art

Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell (2013)

In 1811, England was shocked by the Ratcliffe Highway Murders. Nothing like it was seen before. On two dates just 12 days apart, 7 people were brutally killed, including a 3-month-old baby. The suspect committed suicide in prison. Forty-three years later, an eerily similar murder occurs. The suspect this time is Thomas De Quincey, notorious author of a memoir entitled Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, but even more pertinent and incriminating, an essay called "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts." De Quincey didn't even live in London, but just happened to be there at the time of the murders. He is determined to prove himself innocent, but is in pretty rough shape from his laudanum habit. Nevertheless, his daughter Emily and some Scotland Yard detectives set on the case, hoping to prevent another set of murders.

What I liked most about this book is that it's filled with fascinating historical details. The Ratcliffe Highway Murders actually happened, but the author also included a great deal about day-to-day life. For instance, the new ability to travel so quickly by train meant that having fixed schedules became important, and schedules meant that it actually mattered that everyone's clocks agreed with each other. Thus, Railroad Time was established. Similarly, opium was a strong theme in the novel, but at the time drug addiction didn't really exist as a concept. Laudanum (which was made with opium) was ubiquitous in society, used extensively for everything from easing menstrual cramps to quieting babies. The novel was filled with such information, proving the author's extensive understanding of that time and place.

Told primarily in third person, the story also included excerpts from Emily's diary. These vexed me a bit as I was reading, because they seemed so unnecessary. Rather than providing additional insight, they served only as another narrative viewpoint. The same could have been achieved by telling her parts of the story in third person just like the rest of the book. In the afterword, Morrell explains that he included the journal excerpts because that was a popular device in sensation novels of the time. Ok, fair enough. But the entries didn't come across as authentically journal-like. For instance, in one entry she clarifies her name, which seems odd.

"Ann," he murmured.
My mother's name was Margaret. Mine is Emily.

Why would you need to explain to your own journal what your name is? The journal excerpts were also not written in as conversational a tone as I would expect, but were rather formal. However this is all fairly minor in the scope of the whole novel.

The solution to the central mystery didn't surprise me a whole lot - there were a few clues early on - but the motive was a whole story unto itself, and one that I didn't come close to guessing. I really liked the whole idea of the story and how it played out. Morrell did a ton of research and it shows in the rich historical details that brought the setting to life, and it was this that I enjoyed the most. This novel isn't perfect, but I found it quite satisfying nonetheless.

The Wise Heart

The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield (2008)

While visiting my aunt in the fall, we were talking about books, as we do, and she highly recommended this book about Buddhist psychology. I was skeptical - I am probably the least spiritual person on earth - but I do trust my aunt, who tends to like books that I like, and I'm always open to hearing good advice. I needn't have worried about the more spiritual aspects; the author won me over early with his explanation that Buddhism isn't really a religion because Buddha was actually a person (not a deity) and it's more about a way to look at the world. Furthermore, his intention is to present Buddhism in a way that makes sense in our lives, since we don't all live in forest monasteries and spend all day meditating.

I've taken this book very slowly, spending almost three months reading it. It isn't the sort of thing you ingest in one sitting. It's not a story, though it contains a lot of them. There are a lot of ideas to think about and suggestions for practice; things to do to integrate Buddhist teachings into your life.

The basic principles are pretty easy to understand, like mindfulness and compassion for all things. Recognizing that our moods are impermanent is another idea that we would all do well to remember. Letting go of the ideas of who we are makes sense when explained in context. Someone who strongly identifies, for instance, as a manager is going to be in trouble when they go home at night still clinging to the manager role. Family members will probably not appreciate that. Similarly, someone who identifies only as a parent will have a tough time if they bring that identity to work. We are less restrained if we don't cling to these identities so strongly. Much of what I read, especially early on, reminded me of some of the more work-related self-help things I've read, such as Emotional Intelligence.

Kornfield lost me a bit later on though, with the Buddhist personality types, which I just found way too simplified (there are only 3 types.) Even later, he gets downright mystical and describes the expanded consciousness that can be achieved with the help or peyote or LSD (which he characterized as misunderstood.) There is nothing here I want to apply to my life, though I did find it entertaining. It all reminded me a little of The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castenada, which I read in high school. (For a class, yes. Crazy.) But this was all in one or two chapters. Most of The Wise Heart was more useful for gaining a healthy perspective on our lives and problems.

I must admit that I kept having visions of Lisa Simpson while reading this because, previously, most of my knowledge of Buddhism came from the Simpsons. I think of Lisa as sort of a kindred spirit and I kept hearing her voice in my head reading the principles of Buddhism. It was very familiar and comforting.

I bought this copy and it is thoroughly dog-eared and marked up because I found lots of good advice in it, most of which is pretty sensible. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a fresh outlook, or a more healthy perspective. It's not for everyone, but probably a surprising number of people would find it helpful if they gave it a chance.

I'll Give You the Sun

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (2014)

Twin siblings Noah and Jude are very close when they are 13. Jude is outgoing and popular and rather a daredevil, while Noah is more on the edge of the social scene, quietly falling for the boy next door. Both are talented artists and their mother is encouraging them to apply to an arts high school. Three years later they are barely speaking, Jude having retreated into herself, ruled by superstition, while Noah is now the "normal"one who plays sports and has lots of friends. And something has happened between each part of the story that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Each twin tells their half of the story until the full arc is revealed and they can find their way back to each other.

Everything about this book is wonderful and magical and you should immediately procure a copy and read it all in one sitting. The end.

Ok, if you want, here are a few more details. The story is about family and secrets and art and romance. There are actually a few romances in here and they are all great stories. You should know that this book contains the most amazing kissing scene ever.

The way it was structured is actually quite brilliant. Noah tells his side of the part of the story that took place a few years ago, and Jude tells her side of the current story. So, they each have half of the story, (and we too only have part of the story, though different parts) and to get it all, they basically need to get back together. I'm not explaining that well at all, but trust me when I say it works.

This is going to sound a little weird coming from me, who is incredibly rational, but I liked all the superstitions that Jude was obsessed with from her grandmother's book of wisdom. Jude lived by these rules. Like "To avoid serious illness, keep an onion in your pocket." And "If a boy gives a girl an orange, her love for him will multiply." There's also a lot of destiny and fate and other things I don't believe in, and yet it all worked really, really well for me in this novel. I can't explain it. (Though, as I said before, this book is magical.)

There's also a talking parrot who only knows how to say "Where the hell is Ralph?" and a reclusive artist who makes giant stone sculptures of people, and death-defying leaps from ocean cliffs, and an adorable British alcoholic.

Have I mentioned the tragedy? There is a very huge, heartbreaking tragedy at the center of this novel and its incredible sadness somehow makes the happy parts all the happier. You will feel all of the feelings.

I literally can't think of anything negative about this book, which makes it hard to review but easy to recommend. (I've already got one library patron excited to read it!) Those who like authors such as John Green and Rainbow Rowell will probably also love I'll Give You the Sun. I think the best review of this book was also the first one I saw, when another librarian said that the cover was an accurate representation of how she felt the whole time she was reading it. I couldn't agree more.

Yes Please

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (2014), narrated by the author

I'm always drawn to strong, successful women and even more so if they are funny. Although I'm not a big tv watcher, I really enjoyed Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live and in the movie Baby Mama. Given how much I enjoyed Bossypants by Tina Fey, I was really looking forward to her good friend Amy's book. Spanning her life so far from childhood through the formation of the Upright Citizens Brigade and her time on SNL and Parks and Recreation, Poehler also included stories from her personal life, including marriage, divorce, and motherhood.

It was not off to a promising start. The first two short chapters of reflection about writing the book and how hard it was and how she came up with the title felt long and rambling. Not long after was an entire chapter about how she once made a joke on SNL at the expense of a little girl with cerebral palsy, received a chastising letter about it, and then proceeded to ignore it for several years until finally she apologized. She includes all the correspondence including a letter from the girl in question. My impression was that she spent a lot of time convincing herself that she should feel guilty, until she finally did, and the whole thing ended up feeling very preachy.

I think what annoyed me the most was that when she describes the incident she explains what it went down the way it did, and then apologizes for making excuses. No, you are aren't making excuses, you're telling us why someone who wouldn't intentionally make fun of a disabled girl did exactly that. How has analyzing something to find out why it happened and how you feel about it turned into "making an excuse"? It all just rubbed me the wrong way, like she was just trying really hard to be politically correct. She spent way too much time talking about it, and now I have, too.

But the book gets better as Poehler talks more about her childhood in Burlington, MA, her waitressing jobs, and her comedy career. She's only a couple of years older than I am, so I fondly remembered along with her the time when everyone seemed obsessed with scoliosis and we didn't have answering machines. Yes, those were the days. I even liked hearing about Parks and Recreation even though I've never watched it. She really does have some good stories.

When sharing the early years of her career, she says something that I've already quoted her on in conversation, which is this:

"I think we should stop asking people in their 20s what they want to do and start asking them what they don't want to do. Instead of asking students to declare their major we should ask students to list what they will do anything to avoid. It just makes a lot more sense."

Right? It makes total sense. But what we do is say, hey, the whole world is open to you! Which is the one thing out of the thousands of possibilities that you want to do? How is anyone supposed to answer that question?

On the other hand, she also says something I found surprising coming from her. Curiously, she says "I firmly believe that every boy needs his mom to love him and every girl needs her dad to pay attention to her." All I could think was, I guess love is too much for a girl to hope for from her opposite-gendered parent. She didn't explain this comment either, so I was left perplexed and a bit miffed.

All in all, I'd say it was a mixed bag, though despite how complainy this all sounds, it was more good than bad. It's just that the things I disliked are pretty specific and memorable. More generally, it wasn't as funny as I expected, but I mostly enjoyed listening to it. The print version contains some pretty amusing photos, which are worth looking at, but even so I think I'd recommend the audio. For one thing, she reads the book herself and unsurprisingly does a good job at it. But she also has some guest narrators, like Seth Meyers, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart and her parents. There's a little bit of banter that I imagine isn't in the print book, and it was quite entertaining.