Little Failure; Under Magnolia

I've got a thing for Russia. I don't know why, I just always have. I love reading about it, and listening to the language. I've been trying to learn to speak Russian for God knows how long, with little success (to be fair, I also tried to learn French, which equally little success). That's one reason why I wanted to read Gary Shteyngart's memoir, "Little Failure". He was born in Leningrad and came to America when he was seven. A Russian Jew, he had a hard time fitting in and learning the language and the customs, but eventually he did, and so did his parents. He still goes back to Russia all the time and feasts on the memories of his divided childhood. It was funny and poignant and I enjoyed learning more about Russia in the late 1970s.

Another great memoir, Frances Mayes's "Under Magnolia". Frances grew up in Georgia in the 1940s and 50s. Her parents fought constantly. Her father died young, her mother was an alcoholic. They were dependent on their grandfather, Daddy Jack, for their survival. All she wants to do is get out of the South. She briefly escapes further north to Virginia for college, and ends up spending most of her adult life in California and Tuscany before returning to the South. It totally put me in the mood to read Faulkner (of course!). I don't know what it is about the romanticism of the South, but it gets me every time.