Svetlana's Reads and Views

  Name of Book: Imperial Passions: The Porta Aurea Author: Eileen Stephenson ISBN: 9780999690703 Publisher: Self published Part of a Series: Prequel to Imperial Passions: The Great Palace Type of book: Byzantium, 1039-1050s, daily life, growing up, control, manipulation, Empress Zoe and Empress Theodora, the Great Schism, rule, monarchy, debts, finances, family, friendships, closeness  Year it was published: 2018 Summary: At the center of Byzantine society, fifteen-year old orphaned Anna Dalassena lives with her grandparents among the most powerful men and women in Constantinople. But the cutthroat politics of the Great Palace sends the family into exile in a distant corner of the empire. Her bleak situation finally turns promising after meeting a handsome young soldier, John Comnenus, and his brother Isaac, before they are finally permitted to return home. The vicious power struggles, uprisings, and betrayals at the highest levels of the empire push Anna and John unwilli...

  Name of Book: The Ballerinas Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale ISBN/asin: B08R2M1JFY Publisher: St. Martin's Press Type of book: ballet, psychology, 1990s-2019, abortion, no consent, friendship, growing up, broken dreams, Russia, France, choreography, life, choices, cancer, infertility, unwanted pregnancy, relationships,  Year it was published: 2021 Summary: Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Fourteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make thing...

Title of the book: Don't know much about history; everything you need to know about American History but never learned Author: Kenneth C Davis Publisher: Harper Perennial  Publishing Date: 2004 ISBN:  9780060083823 Summary: Who really discovered America? What was "the shot heard 'round the world"? Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: Did he or didn't he? From the arrival of Columbus through the bizarre election of 2000 and beyond, Davis carries readers on a rollicking ride through more than 500 years of American history. In this updated edition of the classic anti-textbook, he debunks, recounts, and serves up the real story behind the myths and fallacies of American history. Author Info: (From goodreads) Kenneth C. Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of the Don't Know Much About® series of books and audios for adults and children. The first title in the series, Don't Know Much About® History became a New York Times bestseller in 1991 and remained...

  Title of the book: My Sweet Angel; The True Story of Lacey Spears, the Seemingly Perfect Mother Who Murdered Her Son in Cold Blood Author: John Glatt Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publishing Date: 2016 ISBN: 978-1-250-07113-2 Summary: Lacey Spears made international headlines in January 2015 when she was charged with the “depraved mind” murder of her five-year-old son, Garnett. Prosecutors alleged that the 27-year-old mother had poisoned him with high concentrations of salt through his stomach tube. To the outside world, Spears had seemed like the perfect mother, regularly posting dramatic updates on her son’s harrowing medical problems, but in reality, she was a text book case of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. From the time he was an infant, she deliberately made Garnett sick to elicit sympathy from medical professionals, as well as her hundreds of followers on Facebook and other social media. When a Westchester County jury found her guilty of killing Garnett in April 2015, she w...

  Name of Book: The Master and the Maid  Author: Laura Libricz ISBN: 978-0-9968177-8-3 Publisher: Blue Heron Book Works  Part of a Series: The soldiers return a sequel  Type of book: 1616-1617, Germany, 30 years war, religion, witches, daily life, medieval Germany, countryside, city, secrets, danger, family, feud, Netherlands, romance, friendship  Year it was published: 2016 Summary: She’s lost her work, her home and her freedom. Now, harboring a mysterious newborn, she could lose her life. In 17th Century Germany on the brink of the Thirty Years War, 24-year-old Katarina is traded to the patrician Sebald Tucher by her fiancé Willi Prutt in order to pay his debts. En route to her forced relocation to the Tucher country estate, Katarina is met by a crazed archer, Hans-Wolfgang, carrying a baby under his cloak. He tells her an incredible story of how his beloved was executed by a Jesuit priest for witchcraft right after the birth and makes Katarina—at sword point—...

  Name of Book: The Last Rose of Shanghai  Author: Weina Dai Randel  ISBN: 978-1542032872 Publisher: Lake Union  Type of book: China, Shanghai, jazz, club, 1940-1945, 1980, ww2, Jewish refugees, family, siblings, relationships, mistress, business, club, arranged marriages, drugs, piano, music, secondary Chinese male/American Jewish female relationship, exploration, secrets  Year it was published: 2021 Summary: In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music... 1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi's club once again the hot...

For better or worse, 2021 is almost over. Yet, 30 days remain until 2022 begins. To say this year was from hell at least socially and emotionally is an understatement. Finding out ugly secrets, that my true love is lost to me in myriad of ways and no matter how much I wish, I can't have a remainder of him within me, it's killing me. Books have sustained me, books have helped me, they whispered stories helping me forget my pains. I want to say I am looking forward to new year, but a big part of me would be lying. I am beginning to feel as if I don't feel into the typical book world anymore. Book world is filled with hardcore progressevists whom I can't relate to or understand or even support. People fly off the handle for most innocuous comments and call each other names instead of engaging in dialogue, or at least respecting each other's opinions and even threaten livelihood if you don't agree them. I can't wait until those progressevists will be in my shoes...

Out front the following sea- Leah Angstman  SR: December 27th 2021 FR:  A BEND IN THE stars- Rachel Barenbaum  SR: December 9th, 2021 FR:  Come as you are- Jennifer Haupt SR: December 6th, 2021  FR: December 27th, 2021 Dust off the bones- Paul Howarth  SR: November 21st 2021 FR: December 1st, 2021  Notes on an execution- Danya Kukafka  SR: December 6th, 2021  FR:  December 9th, 2021  A sword among the ravens- Cynthia Ripley Miller  SR: November 11th, 2021 FR: December 6th, 2021  The last rose of Shanghai- Weina Dai Randel SR: October 23rd, 2021 FR: December 1st, 2021 Nazare- JJ Amaworo Wilson SR: December 17th, 2021  FR:  Nonfiction: A history of the Roman people by Allen M Ward SR: August 1st ,2021 FR: December 22nd, 2021 Treeline by Ben Rawlence  SR: December 6th, 2021  FR:  December 17th 2021