So Many Books, So Little Time

I can't believe 2012 is almost over!  The year went by so fast!  I set a lot of goals for myself for this year and I met some of them but not all of them.  My original 2012 goals post can be found here . Goals for Reading:  I signed up for 5 challenges and completed 3 of them.  I really wanted to finish them all but I had a really hard time with reading towards the end of this year. Back to the Classics Challenge- 9/9 2012 TBR Pile Challenge- 9/10 2012 Support your Local Library Challenge- 24/24 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge- 20/20 2012 Eastern European Reading Challenge- 3/4 I didn't do too well on all of my other reading goals.  I didn't read very many books I owned (only 21 out of 86!) and I didn't read any books in Russian.  I did take a Russian language class in the fall so I think my goal to work on the language skills kind of got met.  My last reading goal was to read one non-fiction book a month.  I did read 14 non-fiction books so I guess I m

        From Goodreads:  Swept up in the maelstrom of Stalin’s Great Terror of 1937-1938, nearly a million people died. Most were ordinary citizens who left no records and as a result have been completely forgotten. This book is the first to attempt to retrieve their stories and reconstruct their lives, drawing upon recently declassified archives of the former Soviet Secret Police in Kiev. Hiroaki Kuromiya uncovers in the archives the hushed voices of the condemned, and he chronicles the lives of dozens of individuals who shared the same dehumanizing fate: all were falsely arrested, executed, and dumped in mass graves.  Kuromiya investigates the truth behind the fabricated records, filling in at least some of the details of the lives and deaths of ballerinas, priests, beggars, teachers, peasants, workers, soldiers, pensioners, homemakers, fugitives, peddlers, ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, Koreans, Jews, and others. In recounting the extraordinary stories gleane

From Goodreads:  Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones. Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people wer

From Goodreads:  To clarify the confusing Romanov family: this Marie was the granddaughter of Czar Alexander II, the daughter of Grand Duke Paul, and the cousin of Tsar Nicholas. Her brother, Prince Dmitri, was one of the plotters against Rasputin. He was exiled for that, to the Persian frontier, which saved his life when the roundup of the Imperial family began. These are the memoirs of her childhood, a glittering version of solitary confinement, and young adult life. Her father was banished for marrying without the Czar's permission, which left Marie and her brother to be brought up by her uncle, the military governor of Moscow. After her uncle's assassination in 1905, her aunt arranged a marriage with a Swedish prince whom Marie saw a few times before the wedding. The marriage was disastrous, and a divorce was arranged, quickly and quietly. Marie's young son stayed in Sweden. Charity was an acceptable occupation for the women of the aristocracy, but Marie became a qual

I am officially insane.  I said I wouldn't commit to any more reading challenges but this was one I could NOT refuse.  The Eastern European Reading Challenge 2012 is being hosted by The Black Sheep Dances .  Half of the 81 books I own and need to read are about Russia or Eastern Europe so I figured that this challenge would only encourage me to read books I already own and need to read.  I am only planning to complete the 'tourist' level which is 4 books about Russia/Eastern Europe.  These can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, basically any genre.  There are already 2 Russian related books on my list of books for the TBR challenge but I am trying to not overlap books for challenges so I will read 4 additional books. Here is what I plan to read: 1.) Education of a Princess by Grand Duchess Marie of Russia 2.) Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie 3.) The Death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories by Lev Tolstoy 4.) The Voices of the Dead   by HIroaki Kuromiya I th