A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by
Orlando Figes My rating:
5 of 5 stars I started reading this book 13 months ago. The oddest series of things have kept me from finishing it until now. At first, I bought it thinking I'd read it and send it to my father last Christmas. I started it on my week of summer vacation - only to be sidetracked when the plumbing in our apartment died and we had to move with virtually no notice. I picked it back up leading up to Christmas. Sure, it would be a bit late, I thought, but I was working 12 hour days with these nice long lunches and I thought I'd read it in the coffee shop next to work. I tried, but every time I'd finish my meal and the biggest coffee they had and I'd still fall asleep on top of the book. I was thinking I'd gotten old - it wasn't the book after all. I loved the book - history that read like fiction almost, it was so engrossing. Turns out, of course, that I was pregnant and that was the cause of the constant napping. Then I thought I'd send it to Dad for his birthday, so I had to finish it by June. I took it with me on the plane when I moved from Seoul to Colorado and it just sat there. No job, and yet I didn't read it. But a rough pregnancy left me with zero concentration - I didn't even like having to sit through an entire movie, much less plow through hundreds of pages of revolution. Turns out, all I needed to do to finally finish this book off was start breastfeeding. I've been reading it out loud to Kaitlin while she eats, and she's a slow eater.
It's a fantastic book. I learned a great deal. And possibly I've started educating a new little socialist.
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