And I would not accept the Tsarship of all the Russias in exchange for being in this hotel at that hour.”The Last Good Kiss By James CrumleyTo whipsaw things another great novel that I read was The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most.” Anna Urbanova took the cigarette from the Count’s fingers, dropped it in a water glass, and kissed him on the nose.Since the day I was born, Sofia, there was only one time when Life needed me to be in a particular place at a particular time, and that was when your mother brought you to the lobby of the Metropol. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka-and at one time, I had them all. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. “To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. The bells of Ascension . . .“I’ll tell you what is convenient,” he said after a moment.

Sofia’s even farther afield-calling one to another like flocks of geese across a pond at dusk. Michael’s ten miles away-and then the bells of St. And in the pause between hymns, if one listened with care, above the pant of the horses, above the whistle of the wind, one could hear the bells of St. For after all, if attentiveness should be measured in minutes and discipline measured in hours, then indomitability must be measured in years.But as they came to the bend in the road where the Count would normally give a snap of the reins to speed the horses home, Helena would place a hand on his arm to signal that he should slow the team-for midnight had just arrived, and a mile behind them the bells of Ascension had begun to swing, their chimes cascading over the frozen land in holy canticle. I don't think I've read a better book in the last five years and I don't expect I will in the next five. This book does what great art should always do, expand your experience of being alive. Instead of being put against the wall and shot, is sentenced to house arrest, and ultimately labor, in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. It's about Count Alexander Rostov, an Aristocrat who survives the Russian Revolution because he wrote a poem. I literally put the book down and cursed out loud. It has one of the most beautiful and perfect metaphors involving a wine cellar. I can't say enough great things about it. It's just a wonderful and wonderfully crafted book. A Gentleman in Moscow By Amor TowlesThe best book I read this year is A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles. But I thought I'd take a moment to hit some of the highlights. So what did I read this year? Well, I'm all over the place.