I have decided to take the winter quarter off of school and you know what that means . . . UNLIMITED READING OF NON-SCHOOL BOOKS! My most excellent friend Dianne gave me a Safeway bag full of books that she liked and I devoured them all. Thus, my next few posts will be sharing with you all those wonderful reads.

The first book I recommend to you is The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander. This book details the last days of Tsar Nikolas and Tsarita Aleksandra from the perspective of their 14 year old kitchen boy, Leonka. Besides being enthralled with this period of history, this book interested me in that the entire time I was reading it, I was sure that what I was reading really wasn't what what happening. There was a sense of anticipation of something unidentified yet to come. Whether that ever came to be or not, you'll have to read for yourself. I really, really enjoyed this book.