In the High Peaks
















Friday, March 27, 2020

It's Friday: Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times Week 2

Correction: An error in my previous post. An epistolary novel,  is one that is composed of letters or correspondence among people, NOT a diary or  journals as I stated yesterday. So the David Downing novel that Ken has just finished reading followed the course of the narrator's journal or diary. I'm slipping!
Friday's Bookshelf is in a room that I call my studio. It's a room where I do art stuff (painting or dabbling in watercolors, pastels, oil pastels, colored pencils, and acrylics), sewing. It's also a place where I store supplies, books, and magazines for and about art, artists, and artwork, knitting, fabric art, sewing, and quilting.
Yet I have one large bookcase in the studio that is totally out of sync with the rest of the room. Four of the five shelves hold classic novels.

And one shelf is devoted to nonfiction about Russia, and both fiction and nonfiction about the Soviet Union. I would really like to get going reading the TBRs on this shelf. For example, I still haven't read the 300-year-history of the Romanov dynasty, published in 2016, entitled simply The Romanovs by the historian Simon Montefiore. The book was widely acclaimed by historians and general readers, and it has a 4.06 rating on Goodreads. Sitting by its side on the shelf is a book I read in 2014, The Romanov Sisters, which was spell-binding and incredibly sad, and which I wrote about here.

I'm so glad I examined this bookshelf today, because it's reminded me how much I have been wanting to read the work of Svetlana Alexievich, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015. Alexievich is a journalist from Belarus. Her most well-known book in the West may be Voices from Chernobyl. I don't own that one, though I read it, and it was remarkable.
The book that's on my shelf is Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets: An Oral History, which was published originally in 2013, but was not translated into English and published until 2016. It chronicles the experiences of men and women from the time of the death of Stalin (1953), through the days of the fall of Soviet rule in 1991, through the days adjusting to the new regime through 2012. Many reviews and blurbs state that the book includes the people's views of life after communism, but that is not entirely accurate. The voices include many, many stories about life under Communism as well.  The book has a 4.4 rating on Goodreads, and the vast majority of reviewers gave the book 5 stars.

My last book is a novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya, The Big Green Tent, published in 2015 in the U.S., although in 2010 in Russia.  Please follow the link. I'm afraid I've run out of steam for the moment! This novel also has a high score on Goodreads. I wish I could add more info tonight.

So what was the inspiration to tackle this particular bookshelf this week?
As I think I noted in a post earlier this month, I borrowed and then purchased a book about Svetlana, the daughter of Josef Stalin. I'm still waiting for it to arrive.  THEN: I got caught up in a huge desire to read the eminent American historian Anne Applebaum's award-winning book Gulag, which relates the history of the Soviet camps from Lenin's day forwards through 1953, which was the year Stalin died and these prison//labor camps were dismantled. Actually, Applebaum does much more than relate the history. She relates the history through the scores of memoirs she has read by survivors, the interviews she conducted--this book was a monumental feat. I'm sure you will hear more. Because according to experts, the facts Applebaum uncovered in Soviet and Russian archives were not know in the West until her publication. Awesome stuff.

19 comments:

  1. It's funny but as readers there are sometimes areas of literature which don't appeal and for me one of them is Russian Lit. I honestly wish it wasn't so and maybe I'm not trying hard enough!

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    1. Hi Cath,
      So sorry that this one didn't hit the spot. Did you ever see the David Lean's film Dr. Zhivago? I saw it when I was 14 years old with my older, much more worldly older brother. I was spell-bound, and entranced by a history of a region I knew absolutely nothing about. I caught on fire with Russian lit from that moment forward. But I must say I am first and foremost a history buff, so that may explain the fascination.
      Fiction about France, although I've read it, does not wow me. I guess I'm just not that interested. I love England, Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, Eastern Europe, and Russia. I don't think it's true that you're not trying hard enough. It simply doesn't interest you, and that's enough reason.

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    2. This comes into the realm of 'odd coincidences'. Yes, I did see Dr. Zhivago and must've been about your age... actually I've just checked and I was 12 when it came out so I couldn't have seen it at the cinema, I must've seen it later on TV or possibly the cinema had it back when I was older. Anyway, to stop rambling, I had the same reaction as you, I loved it to bits, 'spellbound' is a good word. So I grabbed the book from the library and proceeded to get thoroughly bogged down in it and had to give up. I was so sad!

      Each to his own really, and that makes the world far more interesting. I like a bit of fiction about France, but prefer non-fiction about it really. Eastern Europe is a new interest of mine, especially The Balkans - Bulgaria, Romania etc. Just started watching a new doc. series on the Beeb, Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul. Seven TV personalities walking from Belgrade in Serbia to Istanbul, wonderful.

      I'm absolutely 'loving' Iron Lake, how're you getting on with it?

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  2. I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on any of those books at the moment, but they all sound interesting. Your room sounds very like mine, except I also do the ironing in mine. Sometimes I can hardly get into it!

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    1. Katrina,
      I would never, ever be able to do ironing in this room. I am currently brainstorming ways to make more space so I can actually sew and paint. DRASTIC measures are needed in my studio. I started today, worked on it 30 minutes, and was overwhelmed. Will try again tomorrow!

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  3. Hi Judith, I found your blog through Cath's blog and love your new meme.

    I've read a few Russian novels and I loved David Lean's film Dr. Zhivago and read the book after I'd seen it. I haven't read any non-fiction about the Soviet Union or Russia but the books on your shelf sound fascinating.

    My post for your Bookshelf Travelling meme is here.

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    1. Hi Margaret,
      I've tried and tried to leave a long comment for you tonight (Saturday night), but WordPress is being difficult with me setting a new password. I will resend tomorrow.
      I, too, read Dr. Zhivago after seeing the film, the summer that I turned 15. I'm dying to read it again, in fact. But with Russian novels, things take time. I loved your post and will try to get my comment up very soon. thanks.

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  4. Lovely post, Judith. That bookcase in your studio sounds wonderful. I have two mystery series set in Russia that I love, but they are written by US authors (Martin Cruz Smith and Stuart Kaminsky). But I have not read much Russian literature, especially recently. I do have The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov on my Classics list to read.

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  5. Hi Tracy,
    Yes, I will keep Martin Cruz Smith in mind for both me and Ken. And also Kaminsky. And I have never read Bulgakov! Russian and Soviet literature is a deep, deep well that I have yet to fathom. Are you reading The Master and Margarita in 2020, do you think?

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    1. I do hope to read The Master and Margarita this year. I don't know much about the novel, but it seems like it would be a good choice for these times.

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    2. Well, I'll be very interested to hear what you have to say about it.

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  6. The name, Ludmila Ulitskaya, has been popping up everywhere lately as I read about books. It appears that she has written several books which look so interesting to me. I need to add her too the ever growing TNR list. Enjoy your Sunday Judith, it's rainy here.

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    1. Hi Diane,
      We've been having rain here as well. All day Sunday and most of today (Monday) as well. Sigh. Some bright sunshine would improve my mood!
      Yes, Ulitskaya has written a number of novels, all of which look interesting. I hope to read her before too much time has passed.

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  7. Hi Judith, I finally did get my Bookshelf Traveling post up for this week. Fantasy or science fiction books that belong to my son, this time.

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    1. Tracy,
      Please don't be concerned at all about the day you post. Any day is fine. I enjoyed that post, by the way!

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  8. Hi Judith,
    I'm finally checking in with all my blogging friends and am glad to see you reading and blogging. Hoping to get back on a normal schedule myself this week. Our NYC daughters are here(since the 12th) and working remotely for the duration.

    I have a Russian shelf, too, though it's now in storage... a couple of Orlando Figes books, several classic novels, etc. Your first two are on my wish list and I'm off to look into The Big Green Tent now. Thanks.

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    1. Hi JoAnn,
      How I've missed your posts!
      I'm so glad you've got your family all together right now. How lovely for all.
      Oh, and wouldn't I love to snoop into your Russian bookshelf! So glad some of the books and authors I mentioned interested you.
      And so looking forward to hearing more from you! Be well and enjoy this time with an intact family.

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  9. Russian history and literature is so interesting. For a while I was reading a lot of Russian history. Right now I am In the middle of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

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    1. Hi Brian,
      You are so right--Russian history and literature are so infinitely arresting. I loved Crime and Punishment so much, though it has been decades since I read it. Enjoy!

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