pickI was hesitant about this one- i assumed it would be riddled with accounts of physical abuse. It‘s not. In fact, I finished with really liking and respecting Navalny as the positive, intelligent, curious, leader with integrity that he was. It was a life story and a love letter to the Russian people and his hope for a better world for his family. I loved it. Highly recommend!
pickThere‘s a lot to unpack in this slim novel, and I will be puzzling on it for a while. Sparkling bits of humor and quirky characters set against personal tragedy and absurd yet unsettling politics make this a dense read. Beautiful writing and the ability to portray a very different time and place make this worth the effort.
so-soWe're back after winter break to talk about a books! We begin by discussing “The Spectre of Alexander Wolf“ by Gaito Gazdanov. A book with a tremendous premise but we discuss why the book fails to build on that.
Next we add a bunch of short stories to our TBR. Lots of interesting selections to look forward to!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/02ichtYoZ7hSJsreXPA3Yf
pick31 Jan-3 Feb 25 (audiobook)
A fantastic memoir of Alexei Navalny, an incredibly brave Russian who trained as a lawyer and used his education, position and charisma to expose the corruption of Russian officials and challenge Putin for the presidency. Much of the book was written in a prison cell as Navalny was arrested re-entering Russia after his recovery from being poisoned by the state. An important and moving read from such an impressive man.
These are my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin reads for February 2025. Both sound really good to me ☺️
@TheAromaofBooks
pickComprised of three books (“My Childhood,” “In The World,” and “My Universities”) by the famed Soviet writer Maxim Gorky. It‘s touted as one of Russian literature‘s best autobiographies, which I agree with. Gorky (a pseudonym meaning “bitter”), who grew up in ghastly poverty, is a fantastic observer of Russian peasant life and its hard-bitten cruelties alongside its simultaneous spiritual raptures, all under the last half-century of tsarism.
It is snowing in Florida!
