Hello friends!!
I’m thrilled to be back here today with a wrap-up of my September reading endeavors. I didn’t read as many books in September, but the books that I read were pretty hefty.
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
I Was Anastasia was an excellent read that I highly recommend. It is going to go down as one of my favorite books this year and possibly of all time! This book was on my Amazon Wish List and I was thrilled when my husband gave it to me for my birthday!
This is the story of Anna Anderson’s fifty year battle to be recognized as Anastasia Romanov. It causes the reader to ask themselves if she was an imposter, seeking to steal another person’s identity or if she was truly the long lost Russian Grand Duchess. I found myself wondering and questioning throughout the entire novel.
The story if told in two different perspectives. First of Anastasia and her family as they are imprisoned in their home and eventually murdered. And it is also told in the perspective of Anna struggling and fighting to have her story believed and her title and fortune restored.
This story really made me fascinated with the Romanov story and I went searching for more and more information. Shortly after finishing this book, I found The Race to Save the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport in my local Barnes and Nobles store and immediately picked it up. It is a thorough history book of the Romanov demise and the failed attempts to rescue them. I have to admit that I did not finish this book. The vast amount of facts and history in it got to be a bit overwhelming and, in the end, I decided that I got the gist and was ready to move on. I do hope to return to finish it by and by. But any book that prompts me to pick up and even attempt to read an extremely researched history book has to be a book that I absolutely loved!!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
There There by Tommy Orange
There There by Tommy Orange was my audiobook for the month of September. While I enjoyed it, it was a very hard read because of the content and language. In fact, I had to stop reading it for a while and eventually came back to it.
There There is a multi-generational story of twelve characters traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Each of them has deeply personal and private reasons for wanting to go to this powwow. This novel contains elements of violence and recovery, memory and identity, and beauty and despair, all woven into the history of a forgotten nation and its people.
Tommy Orange writes an often untold story of the plight of the urban Native American in a very gripping way. He tells a story that is difficult to read, but also extremely important.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
I initially heard about The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock on Tea and Tattle, a British lifestyle podcast I listen to and highly recommend. So, I was super excited when I saw it as a Book of the Month selection last month! It just HAD to be my pick!
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is the story of an English merchant, Jonah Hancock, who unexpectedly comes in possession of a mermaid. Yes, a real mermaid, that is grotesque and dead, but a marvel nonetheless. As gossip of this mermaid travels throughout the town, everyone wants to see this marvel. This mermaid spins Mr. Hancock out of his very ordinary and bland existence into one of excitement as he observes and finds himself in the middle of the high society of his day.
Mr. Hancock eventually comes into contact with Angelica Neal, a well celebrated, high society prostitute and the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on. This meeting will change the course of both of their lives.
This novel is beautifully written and engaging, although the pace is fairly slow. It is an atmospheric book that takes the reader on quite a journey.
The cast of characters in this book are mesmerizing and captivating. Although, I do have to warn you that some of them are a bit unsavory. They will stay with me for a long time.
Rating: 4/5 Stars