Reading in the Garden

  2021 Book Club and Favorites Lists Jenna Bush Hager’s 2021 Book Club Jan.      Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour Feb.      The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah Feb.      Send for Me by Lauren Fox March  What's Mine & Yours by Naima Coster April     Good Company by Cynthia Sweeney May      Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead June     Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid July      Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (National Book Award Winner) Aug.     The Turnout by Megan Abbot Sept.    Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang Oct.      Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Same author as A Gentleman in Moscow) Nov.     The Family by Naomi Krupitsky Dec.     Bright Burning ...

  The Mad Monk’s Daughter. What an interesting insight into the Russian “Mad Monk” who was rumored to be almost impossible to kill: poisoned, stabbed, shot numerous times, then drowned.  This book is about Rasputin’s last days before his murder in December 1916. We learn about the charismatic man through his daughter Maria’s eyes—the man who was hated by so many, yet an indispensable healer and advisor to Empress Alexandra, before the Romanovs' own fall, their execution, which is detailed in another novel by Robert Alexander,  The Kitchen Boy .   Both books are excellent and unlike other novels set in Russia like  Anna Karenina  and  War and Peace,  these are slim volumes that you can breeze through with ease.  EXTRA:  Check out these AWESOME colorized photos of the opulent Russian society of the Romanovs' 1903 last costume ball.  Jaw-dropping wealth while the masses outside the palaces were starving. No wonder t...