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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Russian lit-mystery fan has commented on (11) products
A Conspiracy of Faith: A Department Q Novel
by
Adler-Olsen, Jussi
Russian lit-mystery fan
, February 01, 2015
Jussi Adler-Olsen has created a unique police procedural series, set in Denmark. The members of Department Q are tasked with investigating cold cases. Detective Carl Mørck, is a cynical investigator who has taken responsibility for the care of his former detective partner who was paralyzed in a routine police action gone horribly wrong, leaving another officer dead. He is forever aggravated in very humorous ways by his two assistants: Hafez el-Assad (a Syrian emigrant with an unusual skill set), and Rose and her “twin” sister (who sometimes randomly comes in to work her shift). The humor is welcome, because Adler-Olsen writes some of the best page-turning tense noir fiction today. A Conspiracy of Faith begins with a message in a bottle found in a seaside town in Scotland. Through an accident of fate the note, written in Danish in what turns out to be blood, was forgotten on a shelf for many years, before its significance is suspected and it is sent to Denmark for investigation. Adler-Olsen intricately weaves the investigation of a past kidnapping/murder case, with glimpses of another kidnapping of two children which mysteriously has not been reported to police. The dramatic merging of these two story elements is masterfully accomplished. Warning: I lost a lot of sleep over this one, as I could not put this book down. I ate with it, kept on reading it while working out on the elliptical trainer, and even read it while brushing my teeth. It was so well-written I turned around and reread it immediately, just to savor the story’s perfect construction. I highly recommend this book!
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The Master and Margarita
by
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russian lit-mystery fan
, August 29, 2012
Master and Margarita is one of the five books I would choose to keep with me if I was stranded for life on a desert island. Through wit and sarcasm Bulgakov managed to skewer the Soviet system in a magical twist on the Faust legend, while writing one of the most romantic stories I have read. There are great quotes throughout: “Love leaped out in front of us like a murderer in an alley leaping out of nowhere, and struck both of us at once... She by the way, insisted afterwards that is wasn’t so, that we had, of course, loved each other for a long, long time, without knowing each other, never having seen each other…” Nothing is predictable in this story, and every moment is memorable. It took Bulgakov 12 courageous years to write, and another 25 years after his death before it could be published in the Soviet Union. His masterpiece was instantly recognized as one of the greatest works of fiction of the 20th century.
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CCCP Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed
by
Frederic Chaubin
Russian lit-mystery fan
, September 04, 2011
Western media images from the Cold War era of the USSR often emphasized drab but huge buildings (when not focusing on military parades), suggesting the only interesting architecture was produced prior to the Russian Revolution. This book shows that there were amazingly creative structures sprinkled throughout the empire's vast 11 time zones. Some buildings look like sets for science fiction movies, while others display unexpectedly beautiful attention to detail. CCCP provides a fascinating look at public and private spaces in the late Soviet era (1970-1990).
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The Cathedral Clergy
by
Nikolay Leskov and Margaret Winchell
Russian lit-mystery fan
, September 04, 2011
What a joy to see this book made accessible to English speakers! Leskov has been called the most Russian of Russian writers; and this is regarded as his masterpiece. Leskov's insights are invaluable to understanding the era of his more famous contemporaries, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
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Made in Russia Unsung Icons of Soviet Design
by
Michael Idov, Andrew Biliter, Gary Shteyngart
Russian lit-mystery fan
, August 16, 2011
A fun introduction to Soviet "pop" culture, this book is a breezy and affectionate "show and tell" of everything from toys and candy, to snowmobiles, cameras, cars (with removable floors for ice fishing), and space satellites. The longer essays give interesting insights into how people interacted with these objects: I loved the afterlife of the Saturnas vacuum cleaners, for example: their tops are popularly used as medieval helmets in role-playing games! Made in Russia humanizes those who lived on the other side of "the curtain."
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Doctor Zhivago
by
Boris Pasternak, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
Russian lit-mystery fan
, July 22, 2011
This is one of the greatest novels - ever! If you have seen one of the movies or mini-series based on Pasternak's story, but have never read it, I highly recommend you read this masterpiece - in this translation. Although it could be classified as a historic novel, there is nothing dry in this story. Full of passion, romance, intrigue, all set in the context of civil war, the story is compelling. Pasternak showed great courage in having it smuggled out of the USSR and published using his own name. He faced possible imprisonment, or worse, for daring to write critically about the birth of pangs of the Soviet State. He was pressured by the government to decline the Nobel prize, due to his unflinchingly honest depiction of human suffering at the hands of the Bolsheviks (though he was also truthful to show that no side of the civil war was blameless). Pevear and Volokhonsky again provide a highly readable translation, which effectively catches the nuances of Russian literature. HIGHLY recommended!
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Siberian Education Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld
by
Nicolai Lilin
Russian lit-mystery fan
, July 22, 2011
Interesting read, though I am skeptical of how much truth there is. It is probably at least 50% fiction - though perhaps not as far from reality as one could hope. There most definitely is a tattoo language in the Russian criminal world. I have read enough different accounts (as well as viewing the documentary The Mark Of Cain) to realize that these markings are taken very seriously in the underworld of Russian crime. Some of this author's anecdotes reek of hyperbole, however. I suspect the best approach to the book is to view it as a novel, based on a germ of truth. It reads quickly - though some scenes are quite gruesome. Not for the faint of heart.
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Whisperers Private Life in Stalins Russia
by
Orlando Figes
Russian lit-mystery fan
, July 22, 2011
A well-researched and organized history of life in a terrorist state. Fear, violence, betrayal, deception, privation, compromise and paranoia were the daily fare for millions of people over a period of decades. There are numerous tragic accounts people who learned a half century after the fact of the death of loved ones, and also many tales of incredible reunions after years of searching. Although a challenge to read, I came away amazed at the resiliency of humans to find ways to truly live in the midst of the most trying circumstances. Particularly interesting are the many former labor camp slaves, who chose to remain in Siberia when they were released - and who felt great pride in their accomplishments in building cities, factories, mines, etc., and many powerful stories of true forgiveness. A harrowing, yet often unexpectedly inspiring book - it is essential reading for students of 20th century Soviet/Russian history, and anyone who wants to understand how the previous century shaped Russia today.
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Pushkin's Children: Writing on Russia and Russians
by
Tatyana Tolstaya
Russian lit-mystery fan
, July 22, 2011
In the 1990's, as her country experienced national identity crises, threats of civil war and upheaval, Tatyana Tolstaya enjoyed a new-found level of freedom as she wrote a fascinating series of essays on life in Post-Soviet Russia. Alternately provocative and witty, she challenges Western assumptions about her native land. Her eye-opening reviews of books such as Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb" and Radzinsky's "The Last Tsar" provide real food for thought. And her take on Alexander Solzhenitsyn really should be read by anyone seriously interested in modern Russian attitudes - a category to which Solzhenitsyn most definitely does not belong, in her view! Other essays deal with Stalin's legacy, Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin, poetry, snow and daily life, all of which are no less interesting. Jamey Gambrell's translation captures the rhythm of her writing brilliantly. Illuminating, and a quick read, I highly recommend this volume!
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Firewall Kurt Wallander
by
Henning Mankell
Russian lit-mystery fan
, January 10, 2011
This is one of the best of the Wallander books. A wonderful police procedural, with all the special Swedish touches that mark great Scandinavian noir. The novel is a real page-turner, with a jigsaw/kaleidoscopic puzzle. If you saw Kenneth Branaugh's adaptation of the novel for PBS, you got a flavor of the story line - but there is much more to this book. Throw in flashes to Africa and adept commentary on international banking and internet vulnerabilities, and it becomes apparent that Henning Mankell is the real deal, edgy and human at the same time.
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
by
Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland
Russian lit-mystery fan
, January 01, 2011
This book provided a satisfying end to a great trilogy. I loved the characters, and Larsson did a great job developing the story arc through three novels. Each book was a real page-turner, and the most talked about book series among my serious reader friends.
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