Reading wish list

1. Winter’s Tale Mark Helprin
2. Looking for Alaska John Green
3. Hollow City Ransom Riggs
4. Paper Towns John Green
5. Fangirl Rainbow Rowell
6. The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort

Book Talk

Book Review: Catherine the Great

In Catherine the Great, we get to see a new side of a tsar of Russia. (http://www.biography.com/people/catherine-ii-9241622)The first thing that comes to mind is the power they have and the typical stereotype of what a monarch is entered I our minds. Though the book we get to see the Catherine as a real person going through the struggles of her people and even now in present day. The author Robert K Massie shows a new way of writing historical fiction. Ignoring the boring school textbook of explaining the events and who was in what. He used Catherine own memoirs to help write this book and explain of what he meant if the situation is hard to understand for us the readers.

Another thing about the book which made it more interesting than most historical book is that the way he portrays each character in the book. He takes the time to explain even the most minor characters so you know what role they played and why they were important. That was really good. For me as reader personally I got confused with all that information at my face for character like her lover named Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov who doesn’t appear again in the book. Though that was the only drawback in the book I enjoyed the pictures that were included to give the readers a visual of what they looked like. I personally thought the guys she had for lovers and possible husband were super ugly and fat. She could have chosen hotter guys or the artist had painted the better looking ones and the placed it in the book. The only good looking guy was her lover that only lasted about a year and was named Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mamonov.jpg). Though I would say that when Catherine was younger she was really pretty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caravaque_catherine.jpg), thought she aged with grace I say that a big change after she died (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Katharina_II.,_die_Gro%C3%9Fe.jpg). Okay enough about my rants of the trend look during the 1700s.

Another reason why the book was good was that Catherine approach to her ruling was almost as good as a king ruling Russia. She was handling all the internal problems of Russia like surfs and the war like the one with Turkey and Prussia. In my opinion the way she handle it proves and show that women during those time were more than capable of childbearing and house wife. Here at page is a great example is at page 392 when the fake Peter the 3rd was trying to be the king Catherine showed her intelligence “brought her to the decision that her primary duty as empress was to enforce the authority of the crown. She did this by summoning soldiers not philosophers.”

The writing style of the book was more of a formal way, but my interesting. Reason being is that after he told us the facts, he adds in his two cent and it different than what most historians would. As I said before he tells the story as if he’s putting commenting on the text with no filter. An example of this is in the first part of the book. “Despite her apprehensions, there was no turning back. She had come to Russia, she had learned Russian, she had resisted her father and converted to Orthodoxy, she had worked hard to please the empress, she was ready to marry Peter despite his flaws. Having made all these concessions and sacrifices, she was not going to throw it all away go home, and settle down with Uncle George.”  The writing style is one I like because the way he comments and talks is what I do when I read historical books and documents. Annotating and commenting at the same time, he kept a good balance of that throughout the book. In end I enjoyed the book and learn a lot more about Russia and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys to learning.

Post 9

Catherine was a unique character during her rule in Russia. When I first read the book thoughts of oh another book of some queen. I was quite happily surprised that it wasn’t like that what I thought it was going to be and passed my expectation.  I learned more about Catherine and who is really was, Robert K Massie did a wonderful job of trying to explain her life. He made it sound almost like her memoirs she wrote. The way he explains and talked about her was like describing a friend you want to meet. He said that she was witty and was ahead of her time. He helped portray Catherine as a strong and capable woman.

I liked how in one scene when she was with her lover and father of her second son Alexis. Wanted to marry her but she refused him, Robert explain the two sided of the story. Even her lover knew that she was independent and really didn’t him to guide her, as what he original though of her. I liked how that the book should that yes woman could have power and were respected during the late 1700s. And a little off topic but during this time I wished the Americans could see this and treat women as they equal. Okay enough of my rant so another thing I liked about Catherine in the book was that during her rime and the many wars that happened she planned and executed her army perfectly.

One example of this was when a guy faked being her dead husband Peter the 3^rd and Catherine handed it to her offices. Though the office thought it was over when they took him Catherine knew it was too early to assume that. And her prediction was correct and the fake Peter the 3^rd came and tried to take the thrown. Catherine knowing this would happen dispatch her lover who was also an office to the army and took them down. This shows that Catherine was more than just a figure of power.

Overall the book helped shaped my mind more in world history and showed that yes there were strong women that historians and people of the time tend to try to leave out.

Post 4: Reflection on Book 1

The Night Circus was a book I enjoyed very much when I was reading. It had an interesting plot and characters. The book contained fantasy, romance, historical genres all of which I read very often on my own.  This book being the first of the author was a great debut, and it was different from the classic love stories I read so often. This had suspense and it keeps making you want to turn the page, the way how the magic worked in that world and the game they took part in was beautifully written. Though I didn’t like how they have so many characters in the book. Some of those people could have been taken off, it would have made it easier for me to read and keep track. The circus in the book, made me want to go to a circus now. It was describe so well and the tricks they do in the book was just woo, overall the book was a good read. 

Post 8: Truth in memoir

The truth in a memoir should be mainly true in my opinion. Little lies are okay and some truth stretching to. That’s normal because well in marketing to sell your book it should be truthful but interesting as well to grab people attention. So that’s accepted, though straight out lying about your life of living in a gang and doing drugs is taking it too far. A memoir should be filled with truth and little bits of I wish this actually happen but it didn’t really. Though we should have labels to tell between fiction and non-fiction the reason being is that if a little kid goes and gets a book. One book is about slaying a dragon and another on how to bake a cake. No labels to saying that no in real life you can’t slay a dragon, but the kid will believe that dragons are real as cake. So labels are important in that sense, though in real life sometimes we play our “fiction” life. The reason for me saying this is that people love the life of a gang, but really the smart kid who doesn’t talk. Or the popular girl who everyone thinks is dumb, is really a genius and going to Harvard. Then they live their “non-fiction” life sometimes the fantasy world and reality do merge. So in reality we are living in a memoir

Post 7: Book Trailer Divergent