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.

Bonnie & Clyde: The Making of a Legend/KarenBlumenthal/250 pages (True Crime)

Bonnie and Clyde:  The Making of a Legend is a new young adult book about one of America's most notorious couples.  The book opens when Bonnie and Clyde are in their teens and have not yet met.  From there it takes you (in chronological order) through car heists, robberies, murders, gun battles and prison breaks all the while portraying our pair as a nice young couple that seemed to get in trouble a lot.  Our author must have used family interviews for her book.  She seems intent on correcting some falsehood about Bonnie and Clyde and includes sections that let you know Bonnie was quite a poet and Clyde liked hot chocolate with marshmallows!  This is a very readable account of these famous outlaws.  The photos are a real bonus.

Lulu's Christmas Story / Ludmilla Bollow / 299 Pages / Christmas Challenge

In Lulu's Christmas Story - A True Story of Faith and Hope During the Great Depression playwright and novelist Ludmilla Bollow (Lulu) recounts her family's activities during the year 1935, from her eight-year-old perspective. She describes her experiences in such detail that you feel you are right there with her.

Lulu is a fan of Shirley Temple and the only present she wants for Christmas is a Shirley Temple doll.  Each Friday during the year, Lulu's mother works as a housekeeper for a doctor's family in order to deposit money into her "Christmas Club" account.  Lulu's mother, an orphan train child who suffered much cruelty at the hands of her adopted parents, wants to make wonderful Christmas memories for her six children to make up for the ones she never had.

This true story brought back many memories of my childhood.  My parents, children of the Depression era, made Christmas a magical time for our family. Many of the stories recounted in Ludmilla Bollow's book reminded me of many of our family holiday traditions and much simpler times.  A great holiday read that emphasizes things that really matter, like home and family.

John Adams / David Mcullough 791 p. Big Book

Reading those few lines about a signer of the Declaration of Independence in a history book hardly tells anything of the debt Americans owe John Adams for what he did for the United States.  It was John Adams more that any one else who shaped the philosophical basis for the American Revolution.  His letters to his wife Abigail along with his diary provide the most complete account of the happenings at the Continental Congress.  History becomes real under David McCullough's telling of John Adam's life.  He gets into Adam's years at Harvard, his early public life, and his role in the Continental Congress.  McCullough makes it vivid when Adams proposed George Washington to be head of the army.  He gives full measure of the man, a man who served as a commissioner to France and envoy to the Court of St. James, Vice-president to Washington, and the second President of the United States.  McCullough carefully deconstructs the complex relationship between Adams and Jefferson.  Benjamin Rush orchestrated their reconnection after a 11 year silence.  That the entire country was of prime interest of Adams is of no doubt.  It was rivaled by his love of Abigail and his family.  This is also a love story; that between Abigail and John.  Abigail was his muse.  She wrote to him constantly during their long separations. Both Adams were great writers.  Here is what Abigail wrote to John,

“When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed at Bunker Hill, Abigail's response was to write a letter to her husband and include these words, 'My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.' ”

“She was particularly curious about the Virginians, wondering if, as slaveholders, they had the necessary commitment to the cause of freedom. "I have," she wrote, "sometimes been ready to think that the passions for liberty cannot be equally strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow creature of theirs." What she felt about those in Massachusetts who owned slaves, including her own father, she did not say, but she need not have--John knew her mind on the subject. Writing to him during the First Congress, she had been unmistakably clear: "I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the province. It always seemed a most iniquitous scheme to me--[to] fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”  

And some of John's quotes,

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."

“The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough.”  

“Every line from you exhilarates my spirits and gives me a glow of pleasure, but your kind congratulations are solid comfort to my heart. The little strength of mind and the considerable strenght of body that I once possessed appear to be all gone, but while I breathe I shall be your friend.”  

He was a great reader and had a library second only to Jefferson.  (Adams library was donated to the Boston Public library.  Jefferson's collection was sold to be a replacement for what became the Library of Congress.)

He served his state by writing the oldest functioning written constitution in the world...that for the state of Massachusetts.

His life was filled with purpose.

His final words illustrated the depth of his love for his country:

“Adams lay peacefully, his mind clear, by all signs. Then late in the afternoon, according to several who were present in the room, he stirred and whispered clearly enough to be understood, 'Thomas Jefferson survives.' "

It is memorial to note that both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day:  July 4, 1826.

With this work, Adams now takes his place as one of the great founding fathers.

American lightning: terror, mystery, movie-making & the crime of the century / Howard Blum / 339 p.

In 1910 Los Angeles, a bomb ripped through the Los Angeles Times building, killing 21 people. Enter Billy Burns, the world's most famous detective, Clarence Darrow, one of the nation's foremost attorneys, and, by extension, D. W. Griffith, one of the fathers of motion pictures in America.

Genre
This is narrative history that reads like a detective/legal procedural. Readers who enjoy a good mystery will enjoy this. Fans of legal procedurals will find it hard to put down. And history buffs will be impressed with the storytelling in this book.

Synopsis
Author Blum takes a narrative look at the bombing which came to be called the crime of the century. While doing so, he interweaves the story of three famous American figures of the early 20th century: detective Billy Burns ; director D. W. Griffith ; and defense attorney Clarence Darrow. He delves into their private lives and personalities to show motives for their actions at the time. He also examines the cultural history of the United States of the time to expose factors that led to the bombing and heavily influenced the investigation and prosecution of the crime. Weaved throughout the story is the struggle between organized labor and capitalists.

Analysis/Recommendation
Occasionally, a great history book comes along about a subject that has mostly faded from the American consciousness. This is one of those books. Blum is a journalist, but tells this story like a novel. The plot moves chronologically from event to event as the investigation discovers evidence and the perpetrators' motives and efforts are exposed. Even a surprise ending makes this book read more like a novel than nonfiction. The book takes fascinating side trips into the early history of motion pictures and movie theaters in America. It is well worth the read.

I recommend this book for everyone, nonfiction and fiction reader alike. Not only is it a good read, but it teaches the reader of a historical event that was impacted by factors not too different from those today, one hundred years later.

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem / Rosalyn Schanzer 144 p.

Tells the story of the victims, the accused witches, the politicians, the judges, and officials of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Two children have fits, mutter strange gibberish and experience frightful contortions of their backs, necks, and arms. The fits do not respond to anything so locals begin to be accused of being witches. When the accused insist they are innocent, they are put in jail. Families would provide food and other necessities. Some accused asked to be sold as indentured servants in order to pay their bill. The number of accused grew and grew. One minister was brought a great distance to be tried and hung. Ultimately, many were convicted and hung. The rest of the accused were left in poverty. Schanzer enhances the story with actual courtroom testimony. She also describes several possible theories of causes. “What Happened Next” concludes the story of the primary players.

2012 Notable Children's Books

The Jane Austen Handbook / Margaret Sullivan / 224 Pages

  I found this book to be an entertaining look at life in Regency England around the time that Jane Austen wrote her famous novels.  It gives you all the information you need to know to dress properly, behave at balls, and generally how to live like you were Elizabeth Bennet or Mr. Darcy.  It also gives a brief overview of Jane Austen's life, as well as a short review of all of her books and the videos that they have been adapted into.