Skip to content

Month: March 2017

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I usually fly through books, reading them in two days, but this book was different. Not only because of the nature of the writing but also because of the nature of my life when I started reading it. However, I stuck with this book, reading it little pieces at a time, and by the end I was very sad to be finished. It was a wonderful look at history through a very odd narrator.  I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I got to spend in Amor Towles’s Moscow.  Included below is the publisher’s description found on Amazon.

He can’t leave his hotel. You won’t want to.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

Leave a Comment

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

Awesome…surprisingly creepy…historical…strong female lead character…mystery…still creepy…and Awesome!

The Lie Tree was one of my favorite books that I have read in a long time. I enjoy series of books because I enjoy sticking with Characters for a long amount of time and investing in their story but I felt that this stand alone novel made me invest in these characters from the moment I started reading.  There were twists in the story that were surprising and a creepy factor that I was not expecting. Readers who enjoy horror, mystery, historical fiction, or fantasy will find something to love in this book! Publishers blurb is included below.

Faith Sunderly leads a double life. To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy—a proper young lady who knows her place as inferior to men. But inside, Faith is full of questions and curiosity, and she cannot resist mysteries: an unattended envelope, an unlocked door. She knows secrets no one suspects her of knowing. She knows that her family moved to the close-knit island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.
In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father’s possessions and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree might hold the key to her father’s murder—or it may lure the murderer directly to Faith herself.
Leave a Comment

The Selection; The Elite; The One by Kiera Cass

Well, it has happened. I can now say that I am addicted to audiobooks. I listen in the car. I listen while my daughter and I are playing with puzzles, books, toys, etc. And I listen before I go to sleep. I have “read” three and half books this month which is a record for me! I have enjoyed using Overdrive so much these past weeks and I hope you will look into how you can use it too.

Now to the actual books… I have been reading The Selection series.  These books are steeped in romance, princes, princesses, but also in danger, adventure, and even politics.  It has been a very intriguing series to read.  I will include the publishers summary of the first book for you below.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.

Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Leave a Comment