The break-up of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe by Ghita Ionescu
like a newspaper but a book… from 1965
Tag: Russia
Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich
how recently the Nobel Prize meant something
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
a very good contemporary novel
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
[insert Nabokov/nobokov joke or something?]
The House of the Dead by Daniel Beer
a non-fiction book that suffers from russian round
From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
This is my first blog post in a while, and even then it’s still happening a little earlier than expected.Continue Reading
The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow
The Cold War is a period loved by fiction. The world at that time was cast into blurry, grey-stained, blackContinue Reading
Yesenin: The Selected by Sergei Yesenin
Recently, I’ve been trying to cut down the massive piles of unread books in my house. By reading them, notContinue Reading
Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom: A Russian Folktale by Laura Engelstein
You are in a wooden hut in the depths of Siberia, thousands of miles from the lands of your ancestors.Continue Reading
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Almost two years ago to the day, I read Arthur Koestler’s Arrival and Departure*. That, unfortunately, didn’t really thrill meContinue Reading
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Big books. I have an odd relationship with ’em. The idea of big books, to be honest, I have aContinue Reading
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a big, serious novel all about big, serious things. It is intelligent, articulate, humaneContinue Reading
A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck
I’m going on a trip to Russia in about six weeks, so have begun my travel research. Unlike normal people,Continue Reading
The Minister of Evil – The Secret History of Rasputin’s Betrayal of Russia by William Le Queux
The Minister of Evil: The Secret History of Rasputin’s Betrayal of Russia is a very strange book. I read itContinue Reading
The Last Summer by Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak was the author of Doctor Zhivago, which I didn’t realise when I picked up this slim novella aboutContinue Reading
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
I haven’t read a huge amount of Vladimir Nabokov’s novels, only the very obvious one and probably the second mostContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 