"A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles (2016)

Count Rostov is a rooted cosmopolitan and a gentleman. A gentleman is an optimist. An optimist seeks to master his circumstances lest he be mastered by them. A gentleman has his most valuable possessions always on him at all times: memories, friendships, languages, and logical structures. Rostov lives as if there were tomorrow.

Like Starbucks, like a product of many a multinational, the Hotel Metropol is an Embassy of Civilisation. It is a whore---the best one money can buy. It is an education. It is where life comes to expose herself to you if are too busy to live or are otherwise engaged.

A rooted cosmopolitan, Amor Towles cherishes the language, for he knows---just as his protagonist does---that the journey will be a long one, and that language is a dependable companion, especially when spoken with Nicholas Guy Smith's versatility.

But Towles delicately blows his own cover. He does not bow down before fate. He celebrates a moment of supreme lucidity accompanied by an opportunity to act.