The Widow Clicquot by Tilar Mazzeo

After finishing (and loving) The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith on October 27, I started The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar Mazzeo on October 28 finishing on November 1.  

I love reading on vacation.  The uninterrupted time to just read, nap, and read some more is marvelous.  This vacation was to Maui - 4 nights and 5 days in paradise.  If you need a place to stay, check out the Andaz Maui - it was HEAVENLY - seriously, we didn't want to leave.  It was perfection.

Not surprisingly, this book is about Veuve Clicquot champagne and the woman behind this empire.  I had no idea that this champagne has been around since the French Revolution.  Well - Veuve Clicquot hasn't been around that long, but Barbe-Nicole, the woman who is Veuve Clicquot has been around since then.  Barbe-Nicole was born into a wealthy textile family in the Champagne region of France.  She married the son of a wealthy textile company and aspiring wine-maker.  Her husband met an untimely death, and the new widow, Barbe-Nicole, with her newfound freedom to take control of her life and run a business, gambled, lost, gambled, won, and gambled and lost and won some more to make Veuve Clicquot the champagne brand we all know (and love) today.

It was very uncommon in the 1800s for a woman to be able to work, let alone, run a business at all.  Being a widow, Barbe-Nicole was in the unique position to have the freedom that married and unmarried women didn't have to do this.  This book is about the amazing story of how her champagne empire came to be.

The book started slowly and sort of reads like a history doctoral thesis paper and the timeline jumps around a little, but once I was maybe 100 pages into the book, I really started to get in to it and into Barbe-Nicole's story.

Here's an excerpt from a letter Barbe-Nicole wrote her great-granddaughter in the mid-1860s:

"I am going to tell you a secret... You more than anyone resemble me, you who have such audacity.  It is a precious quality that has been very useful to me in the course of my long life... to dare things before others... I am called today the Grand Lady of Champagne!  Look around you, this château, these unfaltering hills, I can be bolder than you realize.  This world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow.  One must go before others, be determined and exacting, and let your intelligence direct your life.  Act with audacity.  Perhaps you too will be famous... !!"

If you like history, if you like champagne, if you like reading about strong, audacious women (and need a little inspiration), read this book!

The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith

After finishing The Push on October 12, I had a few days with Chernow's Hamilton again (still not nearly done yet) and started The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith on October 18 finishing on October 27.

This is follows Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter from 2011.  While I loved the book, the movie wasn't so hot - total bummer.  The Last American Vampire picks up with Henry Sturges, the vampire who was friends with Lincoln, and tells the tale of his (Henry's) history throughout history - he's over 300 years old, after all.

This book was satisfyingly entertaining and funny and thought-provoking in a purely fictional way.  It was absurd, yet I couldn't put it down.  So many historical figures come into the book:  Teddy Roosevelt, Virginia Dare, Howard Hughes, J.P. Morgan, Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and more.

I really liked how these historical people and happenings were re-imagined to include vampires.  There are photos through the book also re-imagined to include vampires in them.

Clearly, Seth Grahame-Smith has an active and vivid imagination and can tell a great story.  If you like history and you like vampire stories - pick this up - it's so good!  The Husband just finished it and loved it too.