Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon
It is hard to believe that, after more than a decade of Romanov family studies, I have finally read a book dedicated to Alexander I. So far, I have met him as a side character in stories of others, so now he had a chance to introduce himself. And what a tragic story it is: perhaps the most promising of all the post-Catherine Romanovs, only to abandon his ideas in later years, though from what I gathered from this book it was not, as I have previously thought, because he just grew too comfortable, but because he clearly suffered from (At least mild) psychological disorder which simply made him see things... different. Overall, this felt like a solid biography, though very politics-heavy and with Alexander´s personal life and matters on the sidelines.
The Girl of Ink and Stars
Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
An action -packed middle-grade fantasy peppered with some mythological aspects that does pull at your heartstrings when it reaches the finale.
Author: Brandon Sanderson
At first I was pretty bored. It seemed that the story had characters too similar to books like The Lies of Locke Lamora, but instead of action, we had endless discussions and balls. Thankfully, eventually the story comes into its own and by the end I was eating it up. Pretty great overall; will definitely continue with the series soon.
I am not big on "ordinary people settling their relationships" kind of books. Whistler did not change my mind, but I do admit that it is well written and if you ARE into this kind of books you will probaby love it. Admittedly, I do not have much more to say.
My first Stefan Zweig. Almost feels like entering a whole new room in the bookish realm. I like this room. I am engaged even though I understand very little about chess. I do understand the historical references, though, as well as the brilliance of painting human characters even with a few strokes of sparse colours. And I am genuinely moved.
This is both a story of trying to escape a cult and an homage to love for books and writers (particularly one famous one). It is also a book about motherhood and the question of having a choice of becoming a mother. The cult part was interesting enough, but somehow I kept thinking the book lacked that magical touch Alice Hoffman has demonstrated in the past, but then the aspect of time travel is introduced, romance blooms, and I ate it all up. Touched with bitterness and darkness, it is, ultimately, a book of hope for new beginnings.
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
Author: Marianna Mayer, Kinuko Y. Craft
A book that speaks to your inner child when you need a bit of magic and beauty. This was very well written, and of course, the stunning illustrations are what make it a little treasure in itself.
I am aware of the controversy surrounding this book, and there is no doubt in my mind that the author is kind of a dick, but he did manage to write a story about women that feels real and is compulsively readable. There are many things in this that some readers would not (and will not) be able to accept without having an apoplexy, including a big age gap and adultery. Sayuri is also, at least in my view, an unreliable narrator - but her voice is so compelling you just sit there and listen. One should also not treat the book as some extremely faithful insight into the lives of the Geisha, as it clearly has been criticised for the amount of erotic and sexual subtext (and several scenes that are meant to make you feel creeped out). But the story is there; the emotions are there. This is a good book dealing with some ugly things.
First published: who knows?
Iliad was just overwhelming. For all the Gods interfering in it, it felt, above all, like a celebration of something great and human, with characters on both sides of the war who felt heroic. The Odyssey has a much richer narrative (instead of just running against each other under the walls of Troy), but still it feels lesser to me, mostly because it is really just about everybody sucking Odysseus´ dick, including himself. Odysseus is among my least favourite characters of Greek mythology, now more than ever. Dude. You were not that special. Or clever really, because for all your slyness, you made soooo many dumb choices.
Among the Burning Flowers
At first, I was swamped and lost among all of the names just randomly thrown at me. When I finally made my way through that mess, I was having a good time. But in the end, this really is just fighting the same thing for the third time, in a world that never truly feels organic. And does everybody´s copy end in the middle of the story, or is that just mine? I would not call this series a guilty pleasure, but I do feel guilty and probably a little addicted because I probably will read the next one in the series.... even though I have issues here. 3 stars just for the readability.
Sometimes you buy a book and not read it for years, and you consider unhauling it several times only for it to fit a reading challenge prompt, and so you finally condescend to read it and have your mind blown by something fantastic. Highly recommend if you have ever wished the Pevensies were deeply traumatised even before they went into Narnia and what they found on the other side was at times so dark the Grimm brothers might protest.
The Russian Court at Sea: The voyage of HMS Marlborough, April 1919
Not a good book when you are searching for an entry point into the Romanovs/revolution, but pretty cool if you already know the people in it. Describing about two weeks that the fleeing Russian royals spent on the HMS Marlborough on their way to exile, it is really a collection of vignettes embroidered with flashbacks and backstories. Some of the structuring felt odd (mainly the decision to just throw the "epilogue" at the reader as one huge chunk of text instead of taking time to at least make spaces in it) and I will never forgive any author who just includes French quotes without offering a translation, but I did find new information, some new food for thought and even some writing inspiration.
I had hoped for more mysterious and possibly mystical features of a book with such a title, but I was to be disappointed in that aspect. Overall, this was a decent historical fiction about the curious (read: weird) "shakers" religious community (the fine part) and a land grab (the kinda meh part). Beware if you are uncomfortable about domestic violence and incest.
Jedna z těch (asi) téměř zapomenutých knih z 19.století, které bylo pro českou literaturu tak plodné. O něm samotném a o vlasteneckých/buditelských snahách vypovídá více než o historické době Anežčině, kdy vnímání pojmů jako "národ" bylo zcela odlišné. Sofie Podlipská tvoří i přes (někdy až nesmyslné) pohádkové pavučiny o skvělosti a výjimečnosti ranného českého státu poměrně bohatý psychologický portrét ženy, kterou je nutno považovat za to nejlepší, co z rodu Přemyslovců kdy se zrodilo. Jazyk je košatý, rozvláčný, místy již archaický, příběh věnující se cele mládí Anežčinu (její dlouhé roky v klášteře jsou pouze uvedeny) mi však přišel do ruky právě ve chvíli, kdy jsem byla právě přesycena moderními fantasy knihami a nejnovějšími literárními záležitostmi zasazenými do současnosti. Trochu jiného světa mi bylo vhod: toho vybájeně středověkého i vášnivě obrozeneckého.
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