Years and years ago my sister sent me a box of DVDs. It was a complete surprise and in this box two of my all time favorite (at the time completely unknown to me though) movies were tucked in there :
"Anastasia" and "Quest for Camelot". (I love, love, love cartoon movies!!)
While I knew about King Arthur and Excalibur, I was totally unfamiliar with Anastasia's story. I immediately fell in love with it. I've wanted to read more about her and the Romanovs, but there is always something else to read and to be honest - when you google the subject - it is a bit overwhelming. I simply had no idea where to start. However, after reading the post on Sunday for the reading challenge, I tried again and three titles from my library looked promising:
The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson
Romanov by Nadine Brandes
and
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
I ended up choosing the book by Ariel Lawhon - I Was Anastasia. I read the introduction and was immediately drawn in. The author begins with a "fair warning", letting us, the readers know, that she is speaking from Anna's perspective and that she is about the unwind a coil of memory, that she will tell it and then leave it up to you - the reader - to decide is this the real Anastasia, or is this just another impostor?
Most of the story flips back and forth between Anna as on old lady and Anastasia as a teenager. She tells of Russia sinking down into the Bolshevik revolution and of all that she had ever known, little by little, falling apart. As you read, it is like a seam being ripped stitch by stitch until all lays bare. And truly, as promised, you are left deciding is this story true? Does she tell a tale, or does she tell her tale?
I did not have time to read the other two titles - but they look SO good, so my every growing TBR pile is now teetering impossibly stuffed with more than I can probably ever read.
*edited* I would not re-read this book, ever. It is full of heartbreak and many parts I had to skip.
The second title is Divergent by Veronica Roth. I have lost count of how many times I have read this book (and listened to it), yet I realized that it had been a year or more since I had visited Tris and Four. I listened to it this week, at bedtime. I know by now most people know this story, but just in case, if you do not and are interested in a dystopian novel about rebellion and bravery and sacrifice - this is a great story that checks all of the boxes.
The attempt to remake the nation after it has experienced devastation, finds people being shepherded into one of the five factions (selfless, brave, peaceful, intellectual, and honest). However it is proving to be more difficult than I think they had anticipated. First of all, there are the outlier factionless who don't fit into any of the categories and are thus discarded like yesterday's trash. Further more, the factions are being pitted against each other and cannot agree on how to use the limited resources available. Then to further throw a wrench into the idea of factions, a divergence emerges that cannot be contained or controlled or manipulated. This is a story of rebellion and resistance - people were simply not made to be just one of the factions.
With all of this said though, neither of these two books come close to the reading of Humbled by David Mathis. That book alone was the one that was the most impactful and important that I read this week.
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