As the world collapses, I‘m getting my Penny fix. 1913 Moscow - so, not exactly a more hopeful time.
As the world collapses, I‘m getting my Penny fix. 1913 Moscow - so, not exactly a more hopeful time.
I 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!
There‘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.
We'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
31 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