69. Smoke Signals, Alexandra Fanny Brodsky

I never knew there were rich and powerful Jews in Czarist Russia, but the large Brodsky were such people. In an interesting introduction, Alexandra relates the family's lives, businesses and charitable activities up to the time of the Communist revolution when they lost everything and were exiled.

The main part of the book recounts her childhood in Berlin and, later Brussels, and could well have been written by your average 10-year-old. It is an awful book, a round of family visits and childhood friends every bit as boring as your own were. A typical episode: Alexandra's father and brother have an errand in the part of the city where her school is located. She hopes they will pass by at recess, so they can say hello. They're late and she's already back in class, but can see them from the window. I ask you: who cares?