(no subject)

[lizphiz.livejournal.com]

Hi, it just occurred to me a couple days ago that a community like this might exist within the world of lj...lucky me, it does. ;)

I may be a little ahead of myself, here, but I'm finishing my second year of Russian and want something to read (in the original Russian) besides the short stories about soldiers we've been translating in our reader. Something vaguely recent would be awesome; I'm a picky reader and the classics like Anna Karenina haven't really done it for me. (Sacrilege, I know. I read the English translation last year; that might be part of the problem, but even English classics don't really hold my attention anymore.) I don't mind reading with my hand on a dictionary the whole time, but I'm having trouble finding stories that make me want to keep reading.

Any suggestions? :/

Comments

[freyja-freyja.livejournal.com]

I myself prefer to train language on modern literature. Why don't you pick Boris Akunin, for example? He's extremely popular nowadays; cannot say he's a genious, looks more like a compilator; but he writes quality page-turners.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

What about some sci fi?

good taste!

[dr-zhivago.livejournal.com]

:O My favourite is "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky, followed immediately by Crime and Punishment :D

[hellga.livejournal.com]

I absolutely hated it. I couldn't read it for more than ten pages without hurling the book across the room and having to go eat something to calm down.

Hope this helps!

[dr-zhivago.livejournal.com]

if you like poetry, there are a ton of late-soviet and post-soviet poets that are divine. I like Akhmatova. Other authors that come to mind (not neccasarily "modern") are Aleksandr Kuprin, Chekov, Potapenko, and Yevtushenko.

Anna Karenina (like most Tolstoy novels) is a difficult read (and, honestly can be dull!) - try Dostoevsky's short stories, which tend to be fast paced and train-of-thought. I very highly reccomend Nabokov's Lolita. It will most certaintly challenge your ideas of morality and sexuality it's generally held as the only true love story of our time, which i certainly beleive to be true. :)

There's a great anthology out called "Glasnost : An Anthology of Russian Literature under Gorbachev" which I remember being a great read, but dont recall any author in particular.

I will admit these are all english translations, and as im sure you know, translating russian to english can be very difficult, because russian is particularly long winded and elegant - and english, well, is much less so. None the less, they are good translations, and worth a read.

Re: Hope this helps!

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

If short stories by Dostoyevsky you may try my favorite - Неточка Незванова

[http://users.livejournal.com/_teemon_/]

lib.ru will save you. Lots of book to choose from.

[dark666.livejournal.com]

Try to read Sergey Lukyanenko - he is extremely popular sci-fi writer these days you can find lots of his short stories for free at http://lib.ru/LUKXQN/.
Try to start with http://lib.ru/LUKXQN/ability.txt or http://lib.ru/LUKXQN/at_dream.txt

[cema.livejournal.com]

Go to lib.ru (http://lib.ru) and read Понедельник начинается в субботу by Стругацкие. May be a bit of a challenge for a second year student, but worth it.

Read poetry by Пушкин. Seriously. :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_beast/]

i would suggest the book titled "великая страна" (http://www.vavilon.ru/texts/kostyukov7-1.html) by leonid kostyukov.

the language is not very complicated (at least, not as in, say, "crime and punishment" =), the writing style is vivid, the plot is funny, and the book is just hilarious. you, as a native english reader, would be entertained even more by wordplay which was by purpose LITERALLY translated/borrowed from english to russian (such as using the word "уверен" instead of "да", which is literally translated "sure").

have fun!

[oryx_and_crake]

This might not be a very good idea, because one should learn standard language first before he is able to get the wordplay and to tell the anglicisms from the normal Russian. If lizphiz picks up all those "уверен" and starts using them in normal conversation nstead of "yes", I am afraid she will not thank you for that...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_beast/]

correct me if i'm wrong, but from the original post it in unclear if lizphiz wants to enhance her SPOKEN language by reading. on the other hand, it is clear that she is looking for something entertaining/interesting to read, so i assume that my recommendation is still relevant.

but let me ask you another question: after reading, say, "trainspotting", do you start speaking the way the book is written? i don't think so...

[oryx_and_crake]

No one is able to read "Trainspotting" unless his language level is good enough. And, as to lizphiz, she's only in her second year of Russian - I am not sure that this level of knowledge will allow to distinguish between correct and uncorrect language constructions.

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

What about Dovlatov? Sergey Dovlatov? The language is not complicated, and it's contemporary, not 19-th century.

I'd also recommend Куприн. (the beginning of 20-th century.) "Гамбринус."

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

Людмила Петрушевская. Try it.

[carminagitana.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I translated several of her stories for a translation class I had. Very human, gossipy stories, brief, easy to read. That'd be my choice :)

Otherwise, Bulgakov (Master & Margarita, White Guard, Notes of a Young Doctor, etc.) is both "classic" and really engaging (IMO) :)

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

And my advice is "А зори здесь тихие..." by Борис Васильев. Both the film and the book are the best anti-war pieces I know.

[surok75.livejournal.com]

Dovlatov.
Lukyanenko
Lyudmila Ulitskaya

I think Lolita would be difficult for a second year student.

Non-fiction: Would really recommend anything by Svetlana Alekseivich - there is one about how the war in Afghanistan affected those who fought and their families. Цинковые мальчики, Zinky Boys in English. Also one about the Chernobyl disaster. The language is pretty simple, apart from some topic specific words.

[a-garvey.livejournal.com]

Brothers Arkadiy and Boris Strugatsky - best Russian Sci Fi writers. Oldi, best (IMHO) of new generation of Russian Sci Fi.
Max Fray, very popular fantasy writer

[florentia.livejournal.com]

Chekhov Anton - Антон Чехов.
His short stories are simple and nice

[farkash.livejournal.com]

Here is Akunin (http://www.litportal.ru/index.html?r=15&a=35)
Here is a soft (Bookshelf)to help you to read the books on your computer (it is with the dictionary) (http://www.text-reader.com/)
Here is an online library with books in Russian (http://www.aldebaran.ru/rproz/)
Enjoy!