One Last Bunch of Books

I guess that if I want to finish telling you about the books I've read about Russia before I go there I'd better get on the ball and do it!

Following up on "Nicholas and Alexandra", Robert K. Massie wrote "The Romanovs: the Final Chapter" which I read in August, 2004. The next book I read was "The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar" by Shay McNeal.

Turning to a fictional tale I read Steve Berry's "The Amber Room", a thriller based on the disappearance of carved amber panels that lined an entire room of (I think) the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg. (The room has been restored but we won't be in St. Petersburg to see it.) Mr. Berry also used the historical background of Russia to write "The Romanov Prophecy".

You can't really say you've read anything about Russia if you haven't read Boris Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago". The classic movie with Omar Sharif is a beautiful poem on film (the recent remake wasn't as good) but the book is a world in itself.

Prince Michael of Greece, a current relative of the Romanov family, authored "The White Night of St. Petersburg". Mark D. Steinbert and Vladimir M. Khrustalev addressed "The Fall of the Romanovs".

A couple of centuries and a continent away is the story of the explorer "Bering", told by Orcutt Frost. Following that theme I took a look at Russian America in Walter R. Borneman's "Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land". Louis L'Amour set one of his novels, "Sitka", in the era of Russian exploration of America's northwest coast.

Returning to the stories of the royal family that first attracted me to Russian history and culture, I read about "The Russians and Mr. Gibbes" (the Romanov children's tutor) written by Frances Welch. For a first-hand look at the Romanov family and the death of Rasputin you have to read "Lost Splendor" by Prince Felix Youssoupoff, the member of Tsar Nicholas II's family who murdered Rasputin.

For a general study of Russian history I turned to Geoffrey Hosking's "Russia: People and Empire". Finally, I started a new book today by Russian journalist Lilia Shevtsova titled "Putin's Russia" to learn about what is going on in this fascinating country today. For something to read while I'm on the trip I'm planning to take a collection of short stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Whew! That's a lot of pages about Russia but I've enjoyed every one of them. I hope it will help me understand and enjoy the people I meet and the places I get to see while I'm there.