The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book by Peter Finn with Petra Couvee | Book Review

(Love love love this cover design!  Conveys the espionage feeling perfectly.)

What a fantastic and fascinating read! It blew my mind. I am so fortunate to live in a time and place where anyone can write anything they like. From the little reviews I write here to the great American novels to.... Fifty Shades. Ha, ha, ha. It all has an equal chance at publication and sale!

The title says it all, with the intrigue and all: The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book. Not only was Doctor Zhivago banned by the USSR, but Boris Pasternak and his family were threatened, followed by KGB agents, and ostracized. Some could almost say that the KGB killed Pasternak: because he was expelled from the writers' union, he couldn't work. He was very cash-strapped at the end. He couldn't go to the hospital, because he was "non-party." (Their words.) But he did not die alone. The CIA made sure that the world knew of him, and of his novel. Millions of copies were sold in the Western world. Hundreds of thousands of copies were covertly smuggled into and distributed throughout the Eastern bloc and Russia.

How cool is that? So many independent groups and people all working together to try to achieve recognition for Pasternak. He was even awarded the Nobel Prize, but the KGB forced him to decline. How sad is that?!?

Reasons I loved this book: for an adult history nonfiction book, it was really readable. Not too dense, but didn't skimp on details either. The author's prose was spot-on. No paragraph-length sentences. Also: the balance between biography and history. This book has a great balance throughout the book and within individual chapters between telling the reader about Pasternak and his life and family, and the CIA/Kremlin activities. I like that personal touch; I like knowing how particular government actions affected him and his loved ones. I really felt for him.


I'm going to sum up with a blurb from the back of the book, because I agree with it: "With groundbreaking reporting and character-rich storytelling, Peter Finn and Petra Couvee uncover the high-stakes drama behind one of the Cold War's strangest turning points. Passionately written and acutely aware of the historical context, The Zhivago Affair almost makes one nostalgic for a time when novels were so important that even the CIA cared about them." ~Ken Kalfus

Top Ten Tuesday

This is a neat weekly feature over at a blog I really enjoy, The Broke and the Bookish.  They read books similar to some that I've been reviewing, and they're fun and they write well.  Totally worth checking out!

Top Ten Favorite Movies & TV Shows

1. The Big Lebowski--This is actually hubby's all-time favorite movie, and we watch it about every 5-6 weeks.  It's become a favorite of mine, too, because I love him (hubby).

2. The History of Future Folk--we LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!  You MUST go watch it!  That's an imperative.  It's an indie flick; a hidden gem of cinema.

3. BBC's Top Gear-must differentiate!  We tried the American one and just couldn't get into it.  But we love the British one!  We've already watched everything Netflix has, and we're on a re-watch.

4. The Walking Dead-We only "discovered" this one two weeks ago and we've already watched everything Netflix has to offer!

5. Dexter-We love this one too!  What does it say about us that I have two violent TV shows on my list?

6. Pretty Little Liars--this one is just me.  The hubby won't touch it with a 10' pole.  But I watch it while I work out or while I cook.  I'm fascinated by the train wreck, I guess.

7. Battlestar Galactica-I didn't expect to like this one, and I did!  So the surprise in that made it even better.  And now I walk around using "frak" as a mild expletive.

8. White Collar--This was a recommendation from my sister-in-love and we love it.  Art, heists, history, NYC...

9. Burn Notice-I want to be Fiona.  She's awesome.

10. Lilyhammer-I love stuff about the mob.

Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers by Valerie Lawson | Book Review

Mary Poppins, She Wrote is an incredibly dense detailed biography of P.L. Travers.  Upon reading this book, you will really feel like you know P.L. Travers by the end.  I requested this on impulse after the hubby and I watched Saving Mr. Banks.  (Which is an excellent movie by the way; I highly recommend it!)

So the perks are that I learned a lot about P.L. Travers by reading this book.... and that's also a downside.  Turns out she wasn't the most likable, sane, or sensible woman.  She traveled quite a bit and had an interesting circle of friends, most all of whom were authors themselves, so there's that.

I'm writing this review about a month after reading the book and I really can't think of much else to say.  It was almost a hard book to get through because it's so detailed.  There's not a day in P.L. Traver's life that isn't chronicled here.  But it's also forgettable.  And I think I remember it being a bit jumpy with the timeline; that the author may have doubled back on herself a couple of times.  Not a terrible book; not a great book.  I'd recommend it to a student doing a biography or a literary criticism paper, but I don't know that I'd recommend it for pleasure reading.

*I received my copy from my public library.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews.  You can find their blog here:  www.tyngasreviews.com.  This weekly meme, which Tynga's team posts on Saturdays, is all about sharing the books that you received or purchased over the previous week.  Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own Stack!

ARCs and egalleys

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult--I read my first Jodi Picoult last year and LOVED it.  So excited to have "discovered" another great author!

Sky Pirates: Book Three in the Chronicles of Light and Shadow by Liesel Schwarz--I read the first book in this trilogy just before it's release.  Even with problems in the ARC, I still liked the story, so it'll be good to get caught up and then ahead with this trilogy.

New/Purchased

Summer House With Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

Library

(Who doesn't love free books? Go use your library!)

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos--a sister-in-love recommendation.  I'm halfway through and liking it.

The Battle for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi--on CD for the commute.  I've really been enjoying this Juv dystopia.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman--Got to get prepared for the movie release!

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba--a recommendation from my aunt.  I'm mostly curious as to how to pronounce the author's last name; I know next to nothing about the book's content.

Book Girl's Guide To: Cocktails for Book Lovers by Tessa Smith McGovern--grown-up drinks!  Matched to fave authors!  SO. SO. SO. excited!

Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record by Errol Fuller | Book Review

(Do you know what creature that is on the front cover?  No?  That's just one reason this book rocks!  It introduces us to animals that went extinct, like the thylacine.)

Lost Animals is such a gem of a book!  In it, the author introduces us to 28 distinct species that have gone extinct, and shows us photos of the animals.  I know we've all seen illustrations of extinct animals; the dodo is a good example; but there's something extra special, extra touching about seeing photographs of extinct animals.

Personally, I can't think of a better way to present this book.  The author did a near-perfect job with it.  Each animal is given nearly equal consideration.  The author showed as many photographs as possible, and of the highest quality possible.  Then, at the end, the author presents an appendix containing illustrations of many of the animals, so that the reader can get an idea of the coloration of or a clearer picture of the animals.  (Many of these photos were taken 100+ years ago and are not of the quality we have come to expect today.)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the animals also.  The author presents us with a brief overview of each animal; where it lived and what it ate and proposed reasons for it's extinction.  All of this is presented very scientifically; you can tell that the author really did his homework researching these fascinating creatures.

I highly recommend this book.

*I received my copy from my public library.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver | Book Review

(Not really a huge fan of the cover, but it's definitely not the worst I've seen.)

I originally read Delirium in December 2012.  I gave it 5 of 5 stars on Goodreads and did not write a review.  Bummer.  I do remember that this was among the first dystopian books that I read, and still being so over-the-top fascinated with the genre.  (Don't get me wrong; I still love me some dystopia, but I'm a little more discerning now.)  I really don't remember too many details about the book.  I don't even remember if it was written in alternating POVs or if it's just from Lena's POV.  I do really like the concept.  It's two girls, Lena (main character) and Hana, who are coming of age in Portland at some point in the future.  In this new time, the government has declared love to be a disease.... one that they think they can cure via surgery.  So when you turn 18 (give or take a few months) you have this surgery to become "deliria free" and then you either go to college or you get a "pair."  (That's like getting married, except the pairing is based on similar likes/dislikes/hobbies.)  Society has been totally indoctrinated to think that this is the best thing for everyone.  They even have a sort-of-religious book that everyone is mandated to keep in their house, The Book of Shhh, that's pretty clearly a re-written and heavily edited Bible.  Anyway, Lena and Hana are teenage girls and they're looking forward to their futures and then Lena meets a boy.  *cue dramatic music*  When love is illegal, what are you to do when you fall in love for the first time?

Two years later I still have fond memories of this book and stand by my 5 star rating and recommend it to others.

Here's how Goodreads sums it up:

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe.  I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.  I want to get it over with.  It's hard to be patient.  It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet.  Still, I worry.  They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.  The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

A People's History of the Peculiar: A Freak Show of Facts, Random Obsessions and Astounding Truths by Nick Belardes | Book Review

(The cover might well be the best part of the book.)

I picked up A People's History of the Peculiar intending to learn some new facts.  The cover of the book seemed very promising, as did the back cover blurb.  Unfortunately, the interesting knowledge kind of ended there.

In the introduction, the author talks about his personal obsessions and interests, and that sets the tone for the book.  This book didn't feel like a general knowledge book; it felt like a loosely cobbled together collection of anecdotes and facts that the author personally found intriguing... not necessarily things that the general readership would find interesting.

When I say "loosely cobbled together," I mean very loosely cobbled together.  At times it was difficult to differentiate between fact and myth, and the transitions from subject to subject were often jarring.  There was no standard length of an entry, either.  Some facts would get two or three pages worth of information; some facts were barely skimmed over in two or three sentences.  Even within the same chapter there was no uniformity.  

I was also disappointed in the lack of background information and resource citing.  The myth of the Mothman was given equal import to actual fact, such as the information about British aerospace engineers sending stuffed teddy bears into space.  Some of the most intriguing items were presented with little fanfare and no reference to where the author acquired the information, leading me to wonder at the validity of the statements.  Most notable, one of the items on the front cover of the book is presented completely without firm foundation.  "The Secret Reason Napoleon Lost Waterloo," for instance: the author states that Napoleon suffered from severe hemorrhoids and that the reason he lost Waterloo was because it was too painful for him to ride a horse that day.  The author doesn't cite any historic basis for this assumption.  Was Napoleon actually suffering from hemorrhoids that particular day?

I recommend looking elsewhere for fun facts.  The back cover says that this book contains "conversation starters."  I wouldn't start a conversation with these facts; if pressed, I wouldn't be able to say with certainty that they were true!

*I received my copy from my public library.