0249 | The Torrents of Spring – Ivan Turgenev
Context: I read this in near-freezing conditions as our boiler broke down and a useless and very expensive plumber took 10 days to fix it. REVIEW Oh, I’ve got an…
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0246 | A Hero of Our Time – Mikhail Lermontov
Context: This is the first of a few books I’ll be reading from the collection of Russian literature the guy we’re living with has. REVIEW Never heard of Lermontov, Philistine…
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0244 | Mountains Beyond Mountains – Tracy Kidder
Context: Started this off at a friend’s house in Studley Green in the rolling Chiltern hills. REVIEW Another book given to me on my last birthday which I thought I…
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0215 | 11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour – Joseph E. Persico
Context: Finished this off, appropriately, on Remembrance Sunday here in the UK. This morning we’d attended the Remembrance Service at our local church. REVIEW My mate Gareth lent me this…
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0209 | Fathers & Sons – Ivan Turgenev
Context: finished this off on a 2 mile run with a lovely sunset and autumn breeze in my face. REVIEW I’ve not read a Russian novel that has disappointed me….
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0190 | Smiley’s People – John le Carré
Context: Got my first cold in a year and a half just as I finished this off. I should have been reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold!…
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0152 | The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Context: Listened to this while working in the kitchens of Wycliffe UK – cutting onions mostly. REVIEW It’s quite a simple plot really. Each brother represents a different element of…
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0141 | War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy
Context: Finished off the last of this epic (a Christmas pressie from the mother-in-law) over coffee with Mrs Arukiyomi. She was the one with the coffee. REVIEW What can I…
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0117 | Oblomov – Ivan Goncharov
Context: started this on a walk in the country in Portugal with my family. REVIEW Never heard of this and would never have done if it wasn’t for the 1001…
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0090 | The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Context: Started reading this in The Idiot restaurant in St. Petersburg. REVIEW This is my third Dostoevsky and I’m really beginning to develop a taste for this guy and starting…
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0086 | Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar – Simon Sebag Montefiore
Context: Finished on the Trans-Mongolian Express as we headed from Irkutsk to Moscow. REVIEW This is stellar piece of research and the book, once you get used to Montefiore’s style,…
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0085 | Gulag: A History – Anne Applebaum
Context: Finished on the Trans-Mongolian railway somewhere in the Gobi desert. REVIEW A very compelling description of the infamous Russian camp system which strikes a great balance between the politico-historical…
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0047 | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ~ John Le Carre
REVIEW Not read an overt spy novel before. Never read any Carre either. Not sure I’ll read either anytime soon…
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0036 | Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
If you enjoyed this book, you’re going to love the map. REVIEW It took two attempts but I’ve finally finished this classic. The first time, I gave up after the…
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0032 | Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Read in 51 daily installments from dailylit.com REVIEW: Narrated in the first person by a socially disfunctional philosopher, this is a rollercoaster ride on the rails of insecurity. Plagued by…
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0003 | Cancer Ward – Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
REVIEW I started this wondering where the novel was going to come from. Then it crept up and hit me with such force that I was left reeling for the…