A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer DuBois

I really enjoyed this book for a number of reasons. First off, the Russian theme. And second....the writing.
I will admit that somewhere near the second third, I lost some momentum, but that was more a result of work than the book itself.
This novel tells the story of Irina, a young woman who is a university lecturer in Massachusetts. She has seen her father die from Huntington’s disease, and genetic testing has told her she is likely to meet the same fate. While cleaning out her father’s study, she finds a letter to a Russian chess champion named Aleksandr Bezetov. Her father wants to know how can you play a game when you know it is lost from the start? Unfortunately, Aleksandr never replied. So Irina, after having broken up with her boyfriend Jonathan, decides to go to St. Petersburg to find Alexandr and the answer to the question.
The journey is not quite what she expected.
The novel deals with Russian politics and is full of philosophical musings on life and death.
I really enjoyed it and feel that the author is someone to watch.

Home by Toni Morrison

This is short book - a novella really - that tells the story of Frank Money, a Korean  War veteran who is suffering from what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But it didn't have a name back then, and it was particularly hard to return home as a black veteran, with racial discrimination still rampant.

Frank's story is told with pathos, but brevity. I had a hard time getting into the main character, actually, but was much more involved in the character of Cee, his sister.

She plays a pivotal role in the book as it opens with the two of them, as children, witnessing a lynching.

What Frank witnesses in Korea is equally disturbing, and he returns home to a psychiatric ward with images that haunt him and remind him of what he has experienced.....he is actually a bit delusional about his war experiences.

This is a short read, and a good one. Morrison's prose is impeccable.