The Encyclopedia of the Dead

4:03 am in Eastern/Central Europe, Kiš, Danilo, Recommended, Russia & USSR, fiction, short stories | No Comments

The Encyclopedia of the Dead

by Danilo Kiš (1983)

A collection of metaphysical short stories set in various times and places, luminously darkened with the themes of fate and death’s impenetrability.


A Tomb for Boris Davidovich

4:36 am in Eastern/Central Europe, Kiš, Danilo, Recommended, Russia & USSR, fiction, short stories | 3 Comments

A Tomb for Boris Davidovich

by Danilo Kiš (1976)

Seven different yet casually interlinked short stories about revolutionaries, mostly centering around the Russian Revolution


Heart of a Dog

6:04 pm in Bulgakov, Mikhail, Russia & USSR, fiction | No Comments

Heart of a Dog

by Mikhail Bulgakov (1925)

A renowned Moscow scientist implanted the pituitary’s gland and the testes of a dead criminal into a stray dog with the unexpected result of Sharik turning into a complete human.


A History of Modern Russia

9:37 pm in Russia & USSR, Service, Robert, history | No Comments

A History of Modern Russia

From Nicholas II to Putin
by Robert Service (2003)

Lucidly written with a lack of political bent and a handful of wry humour, this revised and updated history of Russia is a useful general reference on Soviet past with the main focus on the period of communist government.


Darkness at Noon

11:31 am in Eastern/Central Europe, Koestler, Arthur, Recommended, fiction | No Comments

Darkness at Noon

by Arthur Koestler (1940)

A fictional account of a show trial during Stalin’s 1930s purges, Rubashov, the protagonist, once a revolutionary disillusioned by the regime, is abducted, jailed, tortured (psychologically) and finally confessed to a series of “counter-revolutionary” crimes he didn’t commit, for the ideals of the Revolution.


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A division of coffee-cat.net that houses reviews of books I have read, sporadically written. (More info)

If you live in Surabaya, Indonesia, you can find (most of) these books available to borrow from C2O library . cinematheque . cafe.

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