Tag Archives: Russian books
Do We Really Know the Meaning of Misery? Posted by Jenya on May 20, 2014
As any voracious reader can tell you, once in a great while a book makes its way into your hands that really helps put your life in perspective, to change your thoughts on deep-rooted subjects, to provide you with a renewed appreciation for your life. This happened recently as I read Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg. This is her memoir of…
5 Russian Stereotypes Other Than Winter, Vodka and Bears Posted by yelena on Jan 17, 2013
In the middle of the winter, a group of young foreigners travels across Russia searching for Russian women, Russian vodka and Russian bears. Nope, this is not a sequel to Особенности национальной охоты (Peculiarities of the National Hunt) movie. Instead, it is this year’s Cinetrain documentary project. The twenty four filmmakers participating in it are…
Can’t Run Away from Verbs of Motion Posted by yelena on Jun 15, 2012
Are you confused by the Russian verbs of motion? When to use which and what verbal aspect to choose? I found that the best way of figuring out the correct usage of verbs of motion is to practice-practice-practice. So let’s practice using the pair of verbs бегать and бежать, both meaning “to run”. To make…
The Slynx Posted by yelena on Mar 23, 2012
Book reviews can be very misleading. Actually, if I was to read the reviews for Кысь (The Slynx) by Татьяна Толстая (Tatiana Tolstaya) first, I would have not picked up the book at all. Luckily, I wasn’t looking for anything particular the day I spotted it on the bookshelf of книжный магазин (bookstore) on Brighton…
Summer Time and the Reading is Russian Posted by yelena on Jun 10, 2011
Finally, «наступило лето» [summer is here]! There are lots of not so good things that are associated with summer – «ураганы» [hurricanes], «лесные пожары» [forest fires], «жара» [heat], «засуха» [drought] and such. But let’s look at the bright side! Summer, above all, is time for «каникулы» [summer break] and «отпуска» [vacations]. Many Russians will be…