NSR: Literature thread

Since I'm traveling for work almost non-stop until about the middle of June, I finally get a chance to catch up on my reading, which lately has taken a back seat (waaaaaay in the back) to work commitments and trying to finish my M.A. thesis up & prepare for its defense.

The last Russian book a finished was a collection of short stories by Tat'yana Tolstaya, "Река Оккервиль." http://www.ruskniga.com/sell.asp/ItemId/17148/initcode/newsearch/category/Books/sc/41 It was a good read; Tolstaya is a talented writer and her clever use of language as a medium within a medium is a neat literary trick that I appreciate very much. However, her characters sometimes a little too otherworldy for me, in a place where I just can't seem to get too. Still, a worthy read.

If you want a good read about a dark part of both Soviet and American history, an extremely well researched book about a subject that has a story needing to be told - and is currently available new on Amazon.com in hardcover for $4+3 shipping, then may I recommend this:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00342VEYM/ref=oss_product"]Amazon.com: The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia: Tim Tzouliadis: Books[/ame]

The author's research on this is both voluminous and exhaustive, probably the most extensive research I've seen since Anne Applebaum's Pulitzer Prize winning effort, "Gulag," which is another book you have to read if you haven't already.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Gulag-History-Soviet-Anne-Applebaum/dp/0140283102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271587220&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps (9780140283105): Anne Applebaum: Books[/ame]

What is everybody else reading? Looking for recommendations, I only have one volume currently in my "must read now" queue (more on that in the next post,) looking for others...one of the nice things about traveling for the bank is that at the end of the day, I get to check into a nice comfy suite at one of the Marriott chains, order in room service and relax with a good book, something that just never seems to happen at home these days.

 

If you don't mind my asking - is your professor either Dr. Gary Jahn or Eric Martens? if it is Eric Martens, could you PM me please? Your description fits Eric to a tee, we were classmates both at DLIFLC and the U of MN, and we served together as voice intercept analysts (98 Golf, if you are familiar with the Army's M.O.S. parlance) in the 147th Military Intelligence Battalion (CEWI) supporting the 10th Mountain Division's northern warfare mission, back in the "bad ol' days." I've long ago lost track of Eric, last I heard he was teaching in the Monterey CA area, but that was over a decade or so ago.

 

OK, here's where I am going to make a pitch for someone that I consider to be one of the most influential people in my life, my former professor and head of Russian Studies at the U of MN, now retired and Professor Emeritus, Dr. Irina Corten.



Dr. Corten has been published numerous times in the realm of academia, most of which you can find on Amazon; this you can't, yet. Dr. Corten is the daughter of a member of the intelligentsia and a well known Muscovite family and the late Henry Shapiro, the long time UPI correspondent who covered the Soviet Union from Moscow from the dark days of the assault upon Moscow until 1973, when he retired, later teaching journalism at both Harvard and Columbia. In short, if any one of us would have had the wild ride thru life as the author did - growing up in wartime and then Stalinist Moscow, being allowed to emigrate only after Stalin's death and intercession by the US State Department, spending the college years during the 60s at Cal-Berkeley and becoming a close acquaintance of Yevtushenko when he was there- we'd want to write a book too. She is actually doing her memoirs in 2 parts, this is the first part covering up until 1970 - the 2nd part is still being written, and will be called "Soul in Flight." I think part 1 will be more interesting from a historical perspective, as the author gets more involved into past life experiences and the ancient art (?? - you be the judge) of shamanism, a few glimpses of which are seen in part one. FTR, I'm not a big believer in out of body experiences or past life experiences, but when someone of such education lends a bit more than a little credence to the practice, it does make me wonder a bit.

From a historical perspective, the book is a wonderful read - her life is about as cross-cultural as it gets. The book has been privately published for now, but the author has gotten such positive feedback so far from both former students, academic peers, and friends, as well as a big time literary agent in NYC, that it is only a matter of time before her book is published for public consumption.

If you are interested, please PM me and I will set you up with her contact information. The book is available in either 1st edition hardcover, signed by the author ($23+$5 for shipping) or paperback ($17+$5).

 

I very rarely read sports books. This last year was kind of an exception, having read "How Soccer explains the World," Larry & Magic's "When the Game Was Ours", and Bill Simmon's excellent "The Book of Basketball." There's usually not that many sports titles that come out that seem all that interesting.