Nevertell

Wow - this is definitely an unforgettable middle grade adventure set in the wilds of Siberia outside of a Soviet prison camp. Combining Russian folklore, history, adventure, and friendship; this unique story is instantly compelling.  Twelve year old Lina was born in a Soviet prison camp. Her mother, her uncle, and her grandfather had been sent to live in the camp when her grandfather told "fairy tales" (forbidden) and criticized the great leader. Leaving in the camp is the only thing Lina has ever known. For years she was the only child until a boy her age was sent to the camp. Together along with some  prison old timers they devise a plan to escape and try to get to Lina's grandmother who lives in Moscow. Almost immediately everything goes wrong. Ghost wolves, giant falcons, and shadow people are suddenly very real and more frightening then the prison guards ever were. Will Lina and Bogdan survive?  Can she do some magic of her own? Lovely, magical, and compelling. Great for readers of all ages!

A Gentleman in Moscow

I'm mad at myself for putting this book off for so long. I missed out on reading one of the most endearing and touching novels of the past decade simply because I thought the cover made it look "too literary." I'm a fool! Now that I am acquainted with the Count, I'm remiss on how long it took for me to make his acquaintance. This book spans decades and its scope is confined to the four walls of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow; but despite all that its depth, imaginings, and plot is perfect and transcends the small setting. Thirty year old Count Alexander Rostov has been cast out of favor with the Bolsheviks and placed on house arrest indefinitely. The good news is he can continue living in the luxurious Metropol where he has ample money, friends, and a handsome room. The bad news is they take his room, most of his possessions and cast him in one of the smallest rooms on the sixth floor. Determined to make the best of an unfortunate situation he establishes a new routine and soon befriends most of the hotel's staff and repeat customers making the most of his new home. When a young girl of six is placed as his ward his whole world shifts and he begins to see the Metropol in a whole new light as the staff treats the young lady as one of their own and embrace her and the Count as family. Descriptions don't do this novel justice. It's beautifully written and filled with some of the best characters I have ever met on the written page. Utterly charming and may make my top 5 books of 2019.

Hotel Moscow

As someone whose traveled to Russia, studied Russian history, and read a multitude of books on the country, I still managed to learn a lot! My studies generally ended around the fall of communism, so I was generally aware of the corruption that seeped into the country afterwards, but I had no idea the extent of it, and especially aimed at women! This novel explores what life was like for young entrepreneurial women (and women in general) in post communist Russia. It was no cakewalk as American financial advisor, Brooke Fielding, finds out first hand. Brooke has identity and personal issues of her own, and helping these Russian women just may help her solve those problems and help others in the process. Eye opening and intriguing!

Trip Highlights

Things I Can't Believe I Got To Do!
1. See works of art by Picasso, Da Vinci, Renoir, Monet, Degas, Caravaggio, Raphael, Matisse, and more! And I got to take pictures of them!
2. Get a behind a scenes tour of the Hermitage and it's amazing library!
3. Meet the director of the BAN (it would be like meeting the director of the Library of Congress!) and getting to see rare materials that aren't put on display (medieval manuscripts, papyrus, 2,000 year old maps, etc!). Talk about red carpet treatment!
4. See the final resting place of Anastasia and the rest of the last Tzar's family!
5. See Peter the  Great and Catherine the Great's tombs!
6. See books signed and authored by Benjamin Franklin!
7. See musical compositions handwritten by Bach, Mozart, and Schubert and get so close to them that you could touch them!
8. See a page from the Guttenberg Bible!
9. See the "8th Wonder of the World" the Amber Room!
10. See Voltaire's personal library shipped over from France!
11. Walk in palace's that the Nazi's once destroyed but have been painstakingly restored!

Things I Don't Want to Forget!
1. Beer with low alcohol content is popular among children
2. No car seats required for babies
3. Tepemok has the best fast food (crepes and borscht!)
4. Drivers are insane, if there are traffic laws, none are followed
5. The metro is mildly terrifying. It's more than 6 stories down and you have to take an insanely fast moving escalator to get to the bottom (it still takes over 4 minutes to get to the bottom though!)
6. Armenian and Georgian food is amazing!
7. Boxed moscato!
8. Brides are EVERYWHERE! They like to pose next to monuments and as such I saw at least a dozen in the city
9. The freaky dead babies in jars at the Museum of Curiosities
10. A typical breakfast consists of hot dogs and macaroni noodles
11. The trololo guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavMtUWDBTM
12. "The Diamond Arm" a hilarious soviet comedy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062759/
13. Women wear high heels everywhere, to not wear heels is a sin, I'm not even kidding
14. Mr short shorts guy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlN5LC3I4SE
15. My awesome new friends!!!

“In America you can always find a party. In Russia the party always finds you.”

In less than two weeks I will be in St. Petersburg! Ahh! Excitement, butterflies, panic, vodka, anticipation, nervousness! I should follow up by saying that I HOPE to be in Russia in two weeks. Everything is banking on the Russian visa that I have yet to obtain. I'm hoping to get it in the next week, if I don't get it I am shit outta luck because those airfare tickets are non-refundable. Woof. Keep those fingers crossed people! I have a lot of money riding on this!

So far I haven't met anyone that I'm traveling with. I've been in correspondence with my soon to be roommate Lisa (if you're reading this you're awesome and we're going to have a blast!) and I can't wait to meet her in person. We're going to be a pretty diverse group of library science students. We've got people from Texas, Indiana, Maryland, and New York, should be a good group! Orientation starts next Friday in Maryland and then we all fly over to "the motherland." We'll be there about two weeks and well get to do loads of awesome stuff. We're going to visit the Hermitage, the Marinsky Theater (to see a ballet!!!), multiple libraries and universities, book shops, cultural sites, and the countryside. I can hardly contain my excitement!

Here are my goals for this trip:
1. Get my damn visa in time so I can actually go
2. Take a picture with at least one tall, sexy, Dolph Lundgren look a like (best case scenario, take him home with me!)
3. Drink vodka with a Russian and live to tell the tale
4. Buy a Harry Potter book written in Russian
5. Go to an underground nightclub
6. Buy at least three nesting dolls to add to my collection
7. Learn a few Russian curse words
8. Pass the class I'm taking so I get my 3 credits

For once I'll be using this blog to do more than write book reviews. Stay posted to hear all about my exploits!!