Book Review: Trans-Siberian Express by Warren Adler
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / January 14, 2014

Victor Dimitrov, Russian head of state, is suffering from leukemia. Not trusting the doctors in Russia to keep his secret from his political enemies, he requests an American doctor to treat him. Dr. Alex Cousins is hand picked for the job by the President, however Dr. Cousins discover that Dimitrov is planning to go out with a bang and strike China with nuclear weapons before he dies.

Book Review: War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
5 Stars , Fiction , Historical Fiction , Latest Posts / September 16, 2013

About: War and Peace by Leo Tol­stoy is a fic­tional book first pub­lished in 1869. The work is regarded as one of the most impor­tant works of world lit­er­a­ture. The copy I read was trans­lated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. 1350 pages Pub­lisher: Oxford Uni­ver­sity Press, USA; New edition ISBN: 0199232768 My rating for War & Peace – 5 Great price on this book in paper or elec­tronic format More books by Leo Tolstoy Thoughts: It took me a while to read War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, not only for the obvious reason (1,024 pages) but also because I read it in spurts, between reading other books. If you didn’t read War & Peace you should, not only is it full with studies of the human condition, but also full of wisdom which is still relevant to this day. I felt that I learned a lot from reading this book, not only about history, but also about culture and human intelligence. It’s too bad that if Tolstoy would have lived today, War & Peace wouldn’t even have been published. It’s not popular, too long and too tiresome – they would say. But this is real literature, with validity and…

Book Review: Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / June 18, 2013

About: Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva is the eighth in the Gabriel Allon series. Even though there are numerous references to the previous books, I thought this novel was still a good read and could be read independently. 352 pages Publisher: Signet Language: English ISBN-10: 0451227387 My rating for Moscow Rules – 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (web­site) is another solid, well-written and dependable adventure in the Gabriel Allon chronicles. After reading the 8th book in the series it is obvious that Silva has created a character that is strong, subtle and conflicted with an interesting background story and engaging future. At this point in his life, Allon and the readers aren’t really sure what he is. Allon is too old to be the James Bond style agent, too young to retire, too cynical to take a desk job but he is a patriot in every bone in his body and is still able to contribute. Silva realize that he can’t keep his spy young forever and basically ruined his spying career in several books prior by having his face splashed across newspapers and European agencies not allowing him entry…

Thoughts on: War & Peace: Book 4 Part 4
Latest Posts / May 18, 2013

Natasha is mourning Andrei, yet she is unaware that Petya has died as well. Natasha replays in her mind her last conversations with Andrei and to consider whether or not they had understood one another when news of Petya’s death come.

Thoughts on: War & Peace: Book 4 Part 2
Fiction , Historical Fiction , Latest Posts / March 30, 2013

Tolstoy does not understand how historians refer to Napoleon as “great” as he does not live up to the standards of humanity and goodness, neither as a military commander, emperor, leader or even in exile. As a conqueror / enemy / ally Napoleon constantly mislead the Russians and destroyed their economy. When he gives the order for the French to retreat, Napoleon already made sure he’s the first one to withdraw.

Book Review: The Krautzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / January 7, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy on Blogcritics. About: The Krautzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy is a novella written in 1889. At times this novella seemed like a rant that goes on page after page, but taken as a whole I can certainly see the genius behind it. 128 pages Publisher: Modern Library Language: English ISBN-10: 0812968239 Buy book in paper or elec­tronic format* More books by Leo Tolstoy Thoughts: I enjoyed The Krautzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy very much, it was a quick read, quite interesting but also a bit disturbing. I disagree with many of the themes the book represents and it seemed as if Tolstoy wrote this novella while being in an extremely foul mood, or extremely mad at his wife. The novella is pro-religion (Christianity), sexist, anti physical contact (sex), pro-life (or more accurately anti-birth control), and seems to justify murder. One of the characters (very few) feels justified at murdering his wife how might, MIGHT, have cheated on him. That being said, the book is very well written and can be appreciated even though one might disagree with almost all the opinions in the I guess the major disagreement I have with Mr. Tolstoy is that sex is evil and…

Thoughts on: War & Peace: Book 3 Part 3
Fiction , Historical Fiction , Latest Posts / December 29, 2012

The French army is hurt, moving out of Borodino, it advances towards Mosco. Kutuzov, realizing that the French momentum cannot be stopped, gives up Moscow without a fight or sacrificing lives to defend it. This move is very unpopular and meets with general disapproval of the populace. The “haves” evacuate Moscow.

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