November’s selection for my Virtual Author Visit book club was The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. The story focuses on Marina, an elderly Russian woman living in the United States, and alternates between the present time and the period in which Marina lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during the Second World War. In the present, Marina is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and we are shown the debilitating effect the disease has on both Marina and her family, which Dean portrays with an empathetic touch. As a young woman, Marina worked as a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, and the portions of the book that describe that period are also treated with sensitivity and eloquence, including the siege and its devastating aftermath, mass starvation and death. Dean seamlessly goes back and forth in time, and as the novel progresses and Marina’s condition worsens, the two time periods become like one.

Les over at Lesley’s Book Nook also recently read Madonnas. Unlike Les, I had never heard of the book until I decided to pick it for my book club and invite the author to speak with us, and while I enjoyed the parts of Marina’s early life more so than her later life, I can see why Les felt the opposite. I’ve had a bit of a fascination with Russia and its history though, and I visited the Hermitage back in 1990 when St. Petersburg was still being called Leningrad. I don’t really remember any specific works, but I do recall being amazed at the countless works of art, many with religious themes.

There are some great resources on Dean’s publisher’s website, and the album of book groups even includes one of our group. During our call with Debra she informed us that she is currently working on another novel, teasing us that it was again set in Russia, this time during the period of Catherine the Great. I can’t wait to read it.

This past week was my birthday, and so I treated myself to a couple trips to bookstores, not that I really need an excuse to do that. At one, my niece who was with me surprised me by buying me a copy of Nick Hornby’s Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, which I had been eyeing since at the time I was in the middle of reading The Polysyllabic Spree – thanks, Jennifer! I was enjoying Spree so much that I knew that I wouldn’t want to stop reading Hornby’s accounts of his reading experiences. I think I’m in love with Nick Hornby now, by the way – or at least he is serious crush material.

Then I went to another bookstore, and to my complete surprise and delight (considering I have looked for this book practically every time I’ve entered a bookstore in the past two years) they actually had a copy of Anne Fadiman’s At Large and At Small, a collection of her personal essays. Anne is also the author of Ex Libris, one of my favorite books about books and reading. Aren’t the covers on these books fabulous? The muted colors, the simple but charming illustrations, and even their soft texture invite the reader to sit down with a cup of tea and just relax into the book. I’m looking forward to setting aside some reading time in front of the fire during the Christmas holiday to do just that.