A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles FIC Tow

This book was highly recommended by a friend.  Put off by its length (462 pages) and small print, I resisted for awhile.  And then I started reading.

In 1922 and at the age of 30, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is declared a "Former Person" by a Bolshevik tribunal and sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol Hotel where he currently resides.  Not immediately concerned, he soon finds his living circumstances reduced from the suite he has occupied for years on the third floor to a room of 100 square feet on the fifth floor.

Over the next 30+ years, the Count (as most people continue to call him despite the changes in society going on at the time) comes to terms with his living situation.  Full of grace and good humor he makes friends with those around him - from the chef to the maitre d' to the hotel seamstress who teaches him to sew.  When 9-year-old Nina, a bona fide resident of the hotel, enters his life he finds he has much to learn - not only about the inner workings of the hotel but about himself.

This is just the broad strokes of a fascinating book.  Covering the time from 1922 to 1954 it covers not only the life of one man but also a hotel (the Metropol is a real hotel in Moscow) as well as the development of a country under Communism.  On the surface it might sound boring but it is far from it.  And the last forty pages are 'edge of your seat, knuckle clutching, sweat inducing' reading.

I loved this book and hated to see it end.

Click for availability.

Mr. Darcy's Little Sister by C. Allyn Pierson FIC Pie

Set just after the end of Pride and Prejudice, this is the story of Mr. Darcy's little sister - Georgiana.  Still reeling from the mistake she almost made (you remember - she almost eloped with Mr. Wickham), she is painfully shy and dreads her coming out Season.  Fortunately, she adores her brother and comes to love her new sister, Elizabeth.

With coaching from Elizabeth, Georgiana faces the ordeal of preparing for her Court presentation and all the balls that accompany her first Season.  She faces new obstacles but grows from them, finally realizing which of the eligible men surrounding her is the one she loves and wants to spend her life with.

All of the characters you know and love, and a few of the ones you don't, are present in this modern continuation of the Jane Austen classic.  The book is a quick, enjoyable way to spend a couple of hot, summer afternoons, get reacquainted with old friends and be assured that there is a "happy ever after."

Click for availability. 

Small Victories: spotting improbably moments of grace by Anne Lamott 248 Lam

Some of the reviews of this book had fewer stars than I would have expected, but only because some of these essays were from earlier work.  I have read some of her books - but my memory isn't great so everything was new to me!  I also think that there are some things that can be read over and over and you will still get something out of it.

The essays range from spending time with her dying friend to her experiences with an on-line dating service.  When Lamott talks about her life she doesn't try to sugarcoat any of it.  Some of it is definitely not flattering to her.  She writes about stories as a mother and as a daughter.

She is rather irrelevant as she talks about these small victories and that is probably the thing I like best about the book!  I listened to the audio version and really enjoyed it.  It felt like she was talking to me while we sat around a table.  It can lead you to think about some small victories in your own life.

Click for availability.

Irena's Children: The extraordinary story... by Tilar J. Mazzeo 940.53 Maz

The full title, which explains the whole book, is: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Irena is often compared to Schindler.  What she did will give you chills and fill you with such awe.  Irena was a social worker.  Because of that she was granted permission to come and go from the Ghetto.  Irena was able to convince many parents to allow her to take their children - if not to safety, at least to a place where they could have a chance for survival.  She created a network of people to help.  They used coffins, sewers, overcoats and anything else that worked.

Besides getting the children out, she took another extraordinary risk to keep a list of their identities so that they could be reunited after the war.  An optimistic task since only 10% of the children had any family after the war.

Click for availability.

The Finishing School by Joanna Goodman FIC Goo

I always enjoy books that are centered around a school.  It means there will be lots of secrets and stories of friendships - both good and bad. Kersti went to an elite boarding school in Switzerland on a scholarship.  It could have been very difficult for her except for her roommate, Cressida, who was rich and a bit wild.  Shortly before their graduation Cressida went over a balcony that was 4 floors up.  According to the school it was an accident.  Twenty-one years later Cressida is living back in the States with her mother in a vegetative state.

Kersti has grown up to be a successful writer, a wife and a woman who desperately wants a baby. One day she receives a package from the mother of one of her boarding school friends, Lille.  It contains a letter to Kersti that was unfinished.  Lille died from cancer and her mother had just gotten around to looking at her computer.  Lille believes that Cressida's death was no accident.

Soon Kersti is involved in looking for answers which leads her back to the school where it all began.  An interesting read!

Click for availability.

The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer FIC Win

In the modern day, Beatrice Trovato, a neurosurgeon, mourns the death of her brother, Benjamin.  A renowned medieval scholar and the person who raised her, Benjamin had moved to Siena to do research on the effects the bubonic plague had on Siena in 1348.  While visiting Siena to look over his research and decide what to do with all that he left her, Beatrice finds herself not only intrigued by the research path he was on but also with the painter, Gabriele Accorsi, from that same period who somehow painted her face in his paintings.

Suddenly Beatrice finds herself in Siena in 1347 only eight months before the plague infestation begins.  With no real knowledge of how she traveled backwards in time, she must make her way based on what she knows about life in that time period.  And when Gabriele crosses her path neither one is able to ignore the attraction they feel.

Beatrice finds herself conflicted - does she really want to try her way back to her own time?  Or is her life now in Siena, despite what she knows is coming?

Time travel novels always intrigue me and this one was no different.  The author does a very good job of making real the confusion that Beatrice feels at arriving in Siena in 1347.  Life in the Middle Ages in Siena comes alive and the attraction between Beatrice and Gabriele is very real.

I might have to put Siena on my ever-growing list of places to visit...

Click for availability.