Bookshelf Nominations: RUSSIAN LITERATURE [now online]

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Which books by Russian authors would you highly recommend for the shelf?

Note - "Russian Lit" is defined for our purposes as anything written by an author who self-identifies as being Russian.

Some background: We started an Asian Lit shelf not long ago, and after some excellent discussion (thanks to everyone who gave input to that) we decided that the definition of "Asian Lit" should be: written by an author who considers themselves to be Asian, regardless of where it's set, or where the author resides. I think the same standard should probably apply here.

There may be some debate about which regions are considered "Russian". If so, bring it! It's not a subject I know much about, so it'd be great if people with some expertise can enlighten the rest of us.

[Anna]

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin and other Pushkin's books

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Woes of Wit: A Comedy in Four Acts by Alexander Griboyedov

Moumou by Ivan Turgenev

[Kim N]

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Cancer Ward and In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[Whitney]

Hard to pick from Dostoyevsky, but I'll add The Idiot.

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol, still hilarious after all these years.

And Night Watch, the first in the series involving the eternal battle of the forces of light and darkness, as governed by a uniquely Russian bureaucracy and fraught with ambiguity about who the good guys really are.

[Guy]

The Night Watch is a good book, better movie. I really enjoyed Notes from the Ungerground.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

I loved the film (original name Nochnoy Dozor), but haven't gotten around to reading the book yet.

[Anna]

Movie is much better than Night Watch

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

I picked this up from the library the other day because I was intrigued: Любовник смерти
I'm not nominating it for the shelf, but just wondered if anyone had read any of Boris Akunin's books?

[Leo]

The Master and Margarita definitely, but I would advise you skip the Jesus parts (!) I found them confusing and they broke up the flow of the main story, and by the end it wasn't that necessary to have read them (I thought) :-)

[Lily Smalls]

I loved Death and the Penguin by Andrej Kurkow.
I can highly recommend everything by Dostojevsky but my favourite is Crime and Punishment.
Some more classics: The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard by Tschechow.
It has been mentioned before but it's so brilliant I have to add it as well The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Sorry Leo, but I wouldn't skip the "Jesus parts".

[Leo]

Lily Smalls wrote: ...Sorry Leo, but I wouldn't skip the "Jesus parts".

Yeah, you´re probably right :-)!

[Whitney]

Leo wrote: "The Master and Margarita definitely, but I would advise you skip the Jesus parts (!) I found them confusing and they broke up the flow of the main story, and by the end it wasn't that necessary to ..."

Leo, which translation did you read? Some of them flow better than others. The original translation is from the censored text, and leaves some sections out.

I'd also advise against leaving out the Jesus parts :-)

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Lily Smalls wrote: "I loved Death and the Penguin by Andrej Kurkow. "

OMG yes! I can't believe I forgot about that one. I love that book, but the sequel wasn't great. I'm not sure I ever got around to reading the third one in the series either.

[Lily Smalls]

Ruby wrote: "Lily Smalls wrote: "I loved Death and the Penguin by Andrej Kurkow. "

OMG yes! I can't believe I forgot about that one. I love that book, but the sequel wasn't great. I'm not sure I ever got aroun..."

That's interesting. I haven't got around to reading the sequel yet. Most probably out of fear of disappointment. Still, I'm curious now and might give it a try soon despite an unpromising prospect.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

I'll tell you the one thing you really need to know about it: There's NO PENGUIN. That's not a spoiler, BTW. The book is about his search for the penguin, but I honestly can't remember how it turns out. :)

[Leo]

Whitney wrote: "Leo, which translation did you read?"

The Penguin Books 1997 translation? I didn't know that about the translations, cheers! I want to re-read it so maybe I should find another version :-)

[Lily Smalls]

Ruby wrote: "I'll tell you the one thing you really need to know about it: There's NO PENGUIN. That's not a spoiler, BTW. The book is about his search for the penguin, but I honestly can't remember how it turns..."

Oh, that's not what I expected. I actually loved the Penguin as sort of a character in the first book. Anyway, there is no way around reading the sequel myself to find out whether I like it or not. But thanks for your hint. I'm even more curious now.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Me too. I think that's why I didn't love the second book. Mischa is missing from it :(

[Anna]

A. wrote: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn is a classic. Short, powerful, gripping."

I have skimmed the book and it looks very good. One day I will definitely read it.

[Anna]

Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin

[Petra]

A. wrote: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn is a classic. Short, powerful, gripping."

I really enjoyed One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich.
I'd also nominate Cancer Ward by Soltzhenisyn

[Anna]

Children of the Arbat by Anatoli Rybakov

Olesya by Aleksandr Kuprin

Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

and I second The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Awesome. I have some TBRing to do!

[Peter]

I was always partial to Demonsby Dostoyevsky. It is a highly charged political book for its time. I was particularly enthralled with the personality of one of the main characters, Stavrogin. He seems less a sociopath and more a guilt ridden nihilist. He's complex and I became totally transfixed by what this guy was capable of doing.

Another Russian work, although science fiction is Обитаемый островPRISONERS of POWER by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Why the English translation doesent show up in the search window I don't know but it is on Goodreads. The Russian title is The Inhabited Island which was made into a very expensive two part film. It looks good but other than trailers I haven't seen it.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Peter, if you look at "other editions" it'll show you the English (and other) translations. The original Russian is the main work, so other translations hang off of that entry. (Technically, that synopsis should be in Russian, but I can't be arsed fixing it right now!).

So, here's the link & cover to one of the English translations:
Prisoners of Power
It's part 5 in a series it seems?

[Peter]

Ruby, thanks. Don't no how I missed the "other editions" but I did.

Prisoners of Power (got it right that time) is the 5th in the series of 10 books of which I've read two others: Beetle in the Anthill and The Time Wanderers I didn't know they were a series when I first started reading them. They work as for me as 'stand alone' novels. The alien super civilization, The Wanderers are featured heavily in these three books.They are referenced again outside of the Noon Universe series in Definitely Maybe

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Definitely need to bump those up my list!

[Peter]

Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
Mother by Maxim Gorky

I read Sholokhov's book maybe 15 years ago. It was impressive. I haven't read Gorky's novel

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Bookshelf updated as of today

I haven't added the last book mentioned, since the recommendation was by someone who hasn't read it. If anyone else has read it and wants to recommend it, feel free to nominate it here. And keep the recommendations coming :)

[Trinity]

The Secret History of Moscow is amazing, definitely recommend. Magical realism, good for those who enjoy works by Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint.

I loved Death and the Penguin. Quite disappointed to hear the penguin doesn't show up in the second book, and hadn't even realized there was a third book in the series.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Has anyone read either The Line or The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin? I've seen some great reviews, but haven't read either of her novels.

[Helen]

♪ Kim wrote: "Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Cancer Ward and In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn"

I can't agree on
Cancer Ward nor on The First Circle. I found them to be almost unreadable, a literary forced march, both in Russian and translated to English. But One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich gripping and nothing short of perfect.

I will recommend There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmila Petrushevskaya.
And anything by Nikolai Gogol, Dostoyevsky, and so many others I'll have to make this a couple of posts.

[Jane]

How about Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andrei Makine? Does this count as Russian? Written by a Russian in Paris. If you read it you will find out why he is Paris! Fabulous book. & a true story, more or less. It's pretty much about Russia ...

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Thanks guys - see the first post, but in summary: as long as the writer self-identifies as Russian it's fair game.

[Robert]

A. wrote: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn is a classic. Short, powerful, gripping."

Shukhov's fervent "Press it down!" has followed me for thirty years.

[Jet]

AHHH! All of my loves were taken from me and I'm not sure what to post now!

I absolutely adore Russian Lit, so this is hardly fair for me, but I suppose I'll have to choose The Gambler because Sergei Prokofiev did a wonderful opera based on it, and that's just another love of mine! Of course, if you translate the titles from Russian to English, you'll get funny little moments ("I...I...I...won?" was one of my favorites), and that just makes it all the more worth it, in my opinion!

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

I'm going to add The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel into the mix. I've only heard one of the stories but it was brilliant.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

[Ankit]

Doctor Zhivago

[Jan]

Crime and Punishment was my introduction to Russian literature.