Two new and very different books tackle the same complicated and largely inscrutable Russian history. One makes the ghosts of Russian past very real, and the other explores the demons haunting a Soviet escapee.
Top Ten Tuesday: Books that take place in another country
Sometimes the best plane ticket we have is a good book. It’s certainly the most reliable time machine (so far). I love reading about far off places, especially ones I want to see for real, someday. Here are some of my favorite books that live in another place.
REVIEW: THE STATE COUNSELLOR
Each of the Fandorin novels takes a slightly different tone, on purpose, as Akunin pays homage to the Doyle, Christie, and Fleming (Murder on the Leviathan is a take on Death on the Nile). The State Counsellor chapters alternate between spies of the dualling networks. The reader sees the push and pull and tangle from both sides.
REVIEW: A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW
The literary community has been waiting for a follow-up to the Towles’ debut bestseller Rules of Civility. Dare I say, his second outing is even better. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov finds himself in an awkward time to be aristocracy. The Bolshevik revolution has dismantled the Russian monarchy and finds anything from the old culture dangerous and…
REVIEW: MIND OF WINTER by Laura Kasischke
This is a brilliant, searingly creepy, psychological thriller — reminiscent of A Rose for Emily. Though written in the third person, it is entirely told from one point of view and in a type of stream of consciousness. It’s rather like what it would be like if you wrote down every thought and memory that passed through…