Italian Family at Christmas Eve

I guess I am missing them all a little tonight.  They are all gone now.  We had some crazy, maddening, happy times.  When John was born I was at my wit's end with his crying endlessly, my absolute lack of knowledge on how to handle a newborn.  Sal's Grandmother Amelia and his mother Marcella came by for a visit and fussed endlessly trying to help and take over.  They brewed a little concoction on the stove to give him to drink, cut the bottoms out of his booties....I went crazy, grabbed him and stormed off into the bedroom.  They left the house angrily and I could hear them yell at me, "We'll be back when he's ten years old.....if he lives that long!"  It ended up that I came to love those women more than Sal did.....and what's more, I didn't realize they knew less than I did about taking care of babies or young children.  Sal's Grandmother was a singer and declaimer of poetry and Sal's Mother was something of a party girl, waitress, wise-cracking and a little bit of a performer.

Greenridge: A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

Greenridge: A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles



Since reading this book I have re-read Vladimir Nabokov's "Speak Memory".  A favorite book I keep on a special shelf.

A happy memory of Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I raced through this mystery/psychological novel yesterday cheating like never before to get to the end. I gave it four stars because I just couldn't put it down. Made myself go for a walk to slow myself down.

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A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful read. Count Rostov and his story has kept me enthralled for days. I read it slowly as the language spills out like poetry, like a good story told by an accomplished racconteur. Full of bright scenes, humanity, warmth and love. Confined by the Bolshevik Tribunal to live out the remainder of his life in a luxury hotel in Moscow and his adventures and accommodations to make life as comfortable and amusing as possible make this the best book I've read in a long time. Here is a link to see beautiful photographs of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow... http://tinyurl.com/koypou3

This beguiling book achieves for me what I tend to seek in all literature, a roadmap of how to live life. The story of Count Alexander Rostov living his life in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel after being sentenced by the Bolsheviks to house arrest in the early 20’s was delightful as well as touching. He shows us how to adapt to misfortune and strive to bring out the best in people. He reveals for us how to be a true aesthete, one who discerns the beauty in the smallest things around us, appreciates the wonder of human creativity, and forges forgiveness for human folly. The character Towles has invented makes for a wonderful model of the perfect gentleman. Against all the horrors of Stalinist totalitarianism, his form of individualism makes for a brave and potent subversive force.

Here is a charming video of Amor Towles being interviewed by the Wall Street Journal at the Russian Tea Room discussing how he came to write the book:
             

http://tinyurl.com/lorr7wl

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