Tag: Amor Towles

This Chicks Sunday Brunch Book Tag

Good Morning everyone!  I have gotten a little behind on writing my weekly Sunday Commentary. So, I’m sitting in my chair, laptop on my lap, dreaming of a big breakfast (that someone else would cook) and mulling over some books I have recently read when I thought Breakfast… Books… Breakfast…. Books. Wait, those two things go together splendidly! There’s nothing I like better than reading a book while eating breakfast. The next time you find yourself eating one of these meals, try doing it while reading these books or one of your own.

The American Classic- Eggs, Bacon and Toast

eggs-bacon-toastCome Sundown What matches up perfectly with our American Grand Slam breakfast? Come Sundown by Nora Roberts. Bodine Longbow is running the resort side of her family’s business. She is not looking for love but she definitely finds it when Cal Skinner moves back home. Their love story is the perfect silky fried egg that you eat with toast. That piece of crisp bacon is the family drama that sideswipes your emotions taking this novel beyond a normal romance. Perfection is often what you can easily grab out of your refrigerator and make. Yep, that’s Nora Roberts to a tee!

Cinnamon Roll– An oooey, gooey wrapped up bundle of goodness. OMG….

Cinnamon-Rollimage-1 Really any Kristen Ashley novel is a guilty pleasure. It’s like that cinnamon roll that sits on the plate in front of you. You gaze at it longingly knowing that once you start eating it you won’t be able to put it down until you have licked the last bit of frosting off the plate. For me, that’s a Kristen Ashley novel. I stared at The Time In Between on my kindle and waited until I knew I had the time to read it straight through to the finish. It did not disappoint, just as that cinnamon roll never has… I wish I had one of each right now!

The Denver Omelet- with Cheese please!

Denver OMeletimg_1155  Penny Reid has written a wonderfully charming series about the Winston Brothers. These novels are quirky, fun, and have a ton of heart, just like a Denver Omelet. You have a hearty omelet filled with crunchy peppers and onion, and oh those bits of ham provide that bit of decadence and fun. In my world, I always add cheese, because well, cheese makes everything better. In the Winston Brothers world, Cletus is the cheese. If you’ve read these books, you know what I mean…

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes- 

Fluffy-Pumpkin-Pancakes-with-Butter-1img_0746 Who doesn’t love a stack of fluffy, buttery, dripped in syrup pancakes? I love them! This year I discovered the Others series by Anne Bishop. You may wonder how an urban fantasy series matches up with a stack of spicy pumpkin pancakes? Well, just as with this stack, you look at it and see pancakes. Yes, the butter is melting on the top of the stack, and the syrup is dripping off the sides. You think you know what you’re going to get. Then you take that first bite, and pow! The cinnamon and pumpkin flavor hit your taste buds. Surprise! Then you dig in and gobble up that stack. That’s exactly how I felt about this series. I had seen it and thought someday… Then when I actually picked it up and took that first bite? Wow…

The Egg Cup-

egg cupimg_1211-1 The egg cup. Oh so very civil and proper. You tap it with your spoon until you crack through the top and then eat the insides out of the shell. Alexander Rostov, the gentleman in A Gentleman in Moscow is the epitomy of civilized. Even though he is under house arrest in the grand Metropol hotel he is always elegant, cultured and charming. He and this egg in a cup had a lot in common. Smooth veneer, but with a little work you would taste that silky goodness that resides inside. All in a very civilized manner, of course!

This breakfast tag was so much fun to put together!  Warning though, if you choose to take part in this tag you will crave a massive breakfast at the end of it!

I am going to tag a few of my blogger friends. If you don’t feel like partaking, don’t worry about it!  If you do, pls tag me so I can read your breakfast match ups…

Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books

any of the ladies at Thrice Read

James @ This is My Truth Now

Eva@ Novel Deelights

Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books

Have fun with it!  Until next Sunday, (I’m off to make breakfast now!)

Deb

 

 

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Amor Towles has written an elegantly worded story about Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat who was sentenced to house arrest in the grand Metropol hotel in Moscow. Set in 1922 when being an aristocrat was considered dangerous to the new Bolshevik regime, this fascinating glimpse into life at that time captured my heart, as did Alexander Rostov. 

You may think Alexander’s life would be encapsulated, and in some ways it was. He couldn’t leave the Metropol, but as it was located across the street from the Kremlin, everyone at some point passed through its doors. Alexander, used to living in the upper eschelon of society, did have to make changes. Gone were the large room of suites he had inhabited before his sentence. He was now relegated to life in a room the size of a closet. However, his life was really lived outside of his rooms. He dined in the beautiful restaurants in the hotel and his family became the people who worked and stayed in the hotel. His culture and charm are completely alien to the age we live in now, but the wording was so descriptive that I could easily visualize it, although I’ll admit to seeing it’s scenes in black and white, with Cary Grant cast as Alexander.

The true heart in this story were in the relationships he built with the people around him. Nina, a young girl of six at the beginning of this book was his adventurous friend who led him on a journey of secret passageways and scientific experiments. His friend Mischa, who came and went from the hotel bringing news about the outside world and the political changes Russia was going through. Anna, an actress that he builds a longstanding relationship with, Marina, the seamstress and friend, and his evolving relationship with the Maitre’d and chef at the restaurant who eventually become his best friends. Sophia, however was the relationship that helped Alexander evolve beyond a gentleman into a father. Their relationship at times touched and broke my heart.

I listened to the audio for this book and while it was long, Nicholas Guy Smith’s voice wove this tale and did justice to the beautiful prose. The story of Russia’s growth from a monarchy to communism was a part of history that I wasn’t that familiar but became enraptured. I will definitely be looking for more books from this era.  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️


Click the link to purchase this book!  A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Has Anyone Read…?

Don’t you just hate when you have read a great book and the ending was so controversial or confusingand you just want to talk about it with someone and NO ONE HAS READ IT? I know, it’s happened to all of us. In fact, this is one of the reasons I became a blogger! However, in my reviews I rarely give away the ending or talk about a twist. So, how do we talk about anything and everything in a book?

 In the comments section of a book discussion post. 

I will occassionally write a post that is intended to be a discussion about a book that I hope someone else has read and had the same questions, or has had different questions and has been dying to discuss with someone! These will fall on Sundays and I’ll title them Has Anyone Read… because I just need to discuss this book! 

Has anyone read A Gentleman from Moscow? I loved this book and will also be posting a review but wanted to talk about it with people. There were so many things that made me think! FYI- I will be talking about the ending of this book so if you haven’t read this wonderful novel please don’t spoil it for yourself. STOP HERE!

  1. Alexander Rostov- a Count by birth and up to the start of this book had a privileged upbringing, wrote a poem that was political in nature, and was put under house arrest in a hotel in Moscow for the rest of his life. Harsh!  Here’s my first question. Alexander seemed to accept this punishment as his due. He never fought it or tried to just wander out the door for an adventure. If you were imprisoned in a hotel would you react as he did? 
  2. He befriends a female child while she and her father were living in the hotel. Nina appears briefly as a teenager then a young adult. Suddenly, she appears and drops off her daughter Sophia at the hotel to live with Alexander. Then she drops off the face of the earth. We never hear what happened to her? Did I miss something? Did she die? Did she just abandon her daughter? 
  3. I loved how Anna came into Alexander’s life again and again. Why did he never reveal his relationship with her? He was a gentleman so did he think he was protecting her? After all, in that age (1920-late1940’s) society probably wouldn’t look very favorably on her for involving herself with an unmarried man confined to a hotel. 
  4. I loved the ending of this book. I loved the comparisons to Casablanca and how the Count outmaneuvered everyone so that Sophia could ask for asylum from the US embassy while in Paris. But then what happened to her? Are we to assume that she never saw the Count again? That she would give up her papa? I didn’t see that one coming! What do you think happened to her?
  5. Who was the woman at the end of the book? I’m assuming it was Anna who stood up from the chair, but it also could’ve been Sophia? It could have been the very absent Nina too. But I think it was Anna. Oh, what a great ending, I just wish it had been more definitive!

Has anyone else read this book? Do you have any thoughts about what I wrote above? Do you have any topics that you’d like to discuss about A Gentleman From Moscow? Speak up! Let’s discuss this fabulous book! 

Until next Sunday,

Deb


 Click this link to purchase!  A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads6 Comments