The Kennedy Detail/Gerald Blaine/449

11.22.63
A date that will forever live in our minds.
For the men of John F. Kennedys secret service, this is the day where they felt like they failed the nation. This book takes the account of some of the men on the Kennedy secret service detail, from that fateful day to everything that happened after and weeks before. They share personal memories and humorous moments with the president. They share their saftey concerns, especially since the president loved to meet with crowds, drive in the back of the presidential limousine with the top down and his preference to not have agents on the back of the cars for protection.
It's also really interesting to see how the secret service operated in the 60s.

The Romanov Sisters/513 pgs/ Helen Rappaport

This non-fiction takes a look at diaries, letters and accounts of the Romanov family before they were cruelly murdered in 1918.

Although the title focuses on the Romanov sisters, I felt that the book itself really looked at the mother (Alexandra) and the two older daughters (Olga and Tatiana) while mentioning the younger daughters (Maria and Anastasia), brother (Alexey) and father (Tsar Nicholas) here and there. The book shows how normal this royal family was and levelheaded, even in the midst of a revolution against them. The author does not go into their execution as she has a previous book that delves more into it.

Here are some things that really interested me:
The Russian people really did not like Alexandra, they felt she was distant and cold. She was also German and English which they didn't like. They also shamed her when it took forever to produce a male heir.

Alexandra suffered from a lot of illnesses and barely left the house. But it amazed the Russian people how she was very modern for their time (breastfeeding her own kid, dressing her kids in plain clothing...)

The children were VERY sheltered and didn't leave the house often. This was mainly due to Alexandras fear for their safety but also her being overprotective. Those who met the children found them to be out of touch with reality and naive.

Alexandra relied heavily on seers and mysticism. She worshipped Rasputin (a shady self-proclaimed holy man). Her closeness with Rasputin was a threat to the Romanovs.

Overall I found this book to be really interesting and it humanized the family. One can see how they were just a regular family but the old fashion ways couldn't evolve with the times and the family was sadly killed.

The Hating Game/Sally Thorne/290

This was a hilarious, fast read. It's a romantic comedy about two enemies who fall in love with each other. Lucy and Josh work in the same building and sit right across from each other. Everyday is a battle of wit and snark. Both make it clear of their hatred of one another. Once they realize that they actually don't really hate the other, a promotion comes up that pits them as rivals again.

This is my second time reading this and it still makes me laugh. Worth the read for sure!

The Moor's Account/Laila Lalami/405 pgs

This book was pretty good, a little hard to get into at first. It's essentially a historical fiction about one of the Spanish expeditions that discovered the territory of Florida. It's told from the view of a Moroccan slave named Mustafa (later renamed Estevanico by his master). Mustafa recounts his journey into slavery, his experience in the New World and life after the expedition.
The Spanish came by the hundreds on this conquest to find a land they heard had piles of gold. When they land in Florida they encounter Native tribes whom they treat poorly. Some of the tribes help them, some stay away from them. Years pass, they are stranded on this land and don't find the myth of gold. They realize the alternative is to survive with the wary Natives or die in a foreign land.

The Shoemaker's Wife/Adriana Trigiani/448 pgs

This book was AMAZING. The story starts off in the early 1900s in Italy. It follows two characters, a young boy named Ciro and a young girl named Enza, who eventually keep running into each other throughout their life. When Ciro is young his father is killed in a mining accident and his mother, who suffers a mental breakdown, cannot take care of him or his brother so she places them in a convent where they receive care from the nuns. Years go by, and when Ciro is 15 he witnesses a disturbing secret of the convent Priest. The Priest, in a fit of anger, banishes Ciro and his brother from the convent and decides to split them both up. The nuns save Ciro from a harsh sentence and secretly send him to America in the care of a shoemaker.

Enza is the eldest of six kids and acts like their second mother. When the youngest child becomes deathly ill, Enza and her father decide to go to America to earn money for their family. Once in America, after barely surviving the voyage, Enza picks up factory jobs (setting aside her talent of sewing and dream of being a seamstress). She and Ciro run into each other from time to time, after first meeting back in Italy when they were young. A love develops between them but timing and events keep getting in the way. Will they ever be together? Find out and see.

The story goes on to follow adulthood Enza and Ciro with many events in between. It's full of love and tragedy but well worth the read.