Now I feel like a *smart* 9th grader

I finally did it.  I re-read Animal farm and boy am I glad!  It has really piqued my interest in the Russian Revolution.  I hate to expose my ignorance, but did you know Stalin was responsible for more deaths than Hitler?



Since I am wholly ill-equipped to discuss the Revolution (or Stalin, or Trotsky <though I love saying "Trotsky">, or Lenin and the rest), I feel a Russian reading list comin' on.

Dr. Zhivago
"Dr. Yury Zhivago, Pasternak's alter ego, is a poet, philosopher, and physician whose life is disrupted by the war and by his love for Lara, the wife of a revolutionary." (Goodreads.com)  I want to curl up with  my dog and a cup of hot tea beside a fire, and read this NOW.  As a child I had a music box that played Lara's Theme.  To this day I think of the pirouetting ballerina when I hear the music.

If you're feeling lazy, there's always the movie.  They almost make freezing temperatures look fun and stylish.


Crime and Punishment

Another uplifting Russian tale of, you guessed it, crime and punishment. "Through the story of the brilliant but conflicted young Raskolnikov and the murder he commits, Fyodor Dostoevsky explores the theme of redemption through suffering. Crime and Punishment put Dostoevsky at the forefront of Russian writers when it appeared in 1866 and is now one of the most famous and influential novels in world literature." (GoodReads.com)

War and PeaceWar, war - what is it good for?
"Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. " (Goodreads.com)

I've always wanted to read some Checkov.  I just figured it would make me sound smart.  Check out (ba dum dum) this site with links to 201 Checkov stories.

I'll end the list with a modern tale.  
Absurdistan
"Open Absurdistan and meet outsize Misha Vainberg, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, lover of large portions of food and drink, lover and inept performer of rap music, and lover of a South Bronx Latina whom he longs to rejoin in New York City, if only the American INS will grant him a visa. But it won't, because Misha's late Beloved Papa whacked an Oklahoma businessman of some prominence. Misha is paying the price of exile from his adopted American homeland. He's stuck in Russia, dreaming of his beloved Rouenna and the Oz of NYC. " (Goodreads.com)

I admit to starting this book a few years back, I was hoping it would be like A confederacy of dunces; yet I had to put it down for some reason and never picked it back up again.  Maybe because I had to read Animal farm.

Хороших выходных, все!