Category: Books

Notes about everything related to books, including reviews of books I’ve read

Yutaka Yazawa “How to Live Japanese”

No comments

Asia has always attracted the “white man” with its otherness. America, by and large, isn’t that different from Europe these days. There’s almost nothing left of its authentic culture, and everything else has been imported from the Old World, though slightly transformed over time. Russians also differ culturally from Europeans and Americans. But none of these differences compare to how distinct we are from Asian cultures. For millennia, they developed in their own way, and this has influenced their way of life, traditions, and even values.

Modern globalization is blurring these boundaries, and cities like Tokyo resemble other major metropolises in America. However, there are still many things that can’t be changed in just a hundred or two hundred years.

Japan is one of those countries. That’s why it was so fascinating to read the thoughts of someone born in Japan, who then left, only to return to live there again after turning forty.

Read more

Boris Akunin “The History of the Russian State. The First Superpower”

1 comment
istpriya-7

Well, I continue to follow the history of Russia as interpreted by Boris Akunin, contrary to the opinion of some acquaintances who think it’s not worth doing.

This volume is dedicated to two emperors—Alexander I and Nicholas I. It covers the time when Russia was already recognized as a superpower, claiming the right to shape the world’s destiny.

Unfortunately, the closer the author gets to modern times, the more superficial the narrative becomes. And it raises more and more questions.

Even the first chapter suffers from uneven storytelling. Alexander is portrayed with quick strokes from different angles, but before we even get a proper description of his reign. We haven’t been told in detail about the significant events of his time, yet those events (the War of 1812, Austerlitz, etc.) are constantly referenced. We are tossed back and forth across decades, and due to this lack of sequence, a full picture doesn’t quite come together.

Read more

Andrey Valentinov “Diomedes, Son of Tydeus”

1 comment
diomed

The two-volume novel Diomedes, Son of Tydeus by Andrey Valentinov is formally considered the second in Valentinov’s Mycenaean cycle. However, it doesn’t have much connection with the first book, The Grey Kite. In fact, there’s not much about Mycenae in this book either—Mycenae is just another city-state here. It could just as easily be called part of a Trojan cycle since most of the story focuses on Troy.

What does connect it, though, is the parallels with H. L. Oldie’s Odysseus, Son of Laertes. Both books were written at the same time, with the authors collaborating during the writing process. The events overlap significantly, though in Valentinov’s novel, they are shown through the perspective of a different hero, Diomedes.

Both novels also share a similar narrative style. They begin with the heroes’ childhoods and trace their lives through their coming of age and the crucible of the Trojan War. Both books are a bit more challenging to read compared to other works by these authors.

Diomedes as a Greek hero is much less well-known compared to other figures. He didn’t perform any grand feats, so why should anyone remember him? He wasn’t Perseus, the slayer of Medusa. He wasn’t Heracles with his twelve labors. He wasn’t Theseus, the conqueror of the Minotaur. And he wasn’t Odysseus, who spent ten years returning to his beloved Penelope while encountering numerous adventures. Diomedes was just one of the many participants in the Trojan War.

Read more

Lynn Visson “What Mean?: Where Russians Go Wrong in English”

No comments
what_mean

As unfortunate as it is to admit, foreign language education in the USSR was of very poor quality. Of course, there were specialized schools, but overall, most of us were taught in a rather sloppy and ineffective manner. I am a typical product of this education system: after seven years in school and then several more years at university, I could barely say anything in English (except for memorized phrases like “London is the capital of Great Britain”). However, I needed the language for work, so I turned to self-study. And I know many people who went through a similar path. Unfortunately, with this approach, people often carry a lot of accumulated problems that either stay with them forever or require careful correction, sometimes with the help of a good teacher.

Year after year, I’ve been actively working on improving my English, but it’s still far from perfect. Moreover, it’s impossible to fully master a foreign language once and for all. It’s a never-ending process—you will always be learning something new. That’s why I am very interested in how to improve language skills, what typical mistakes we might make, and why.

Then, unexpectedly at the end of 2019, a colleague recommended the book What Mean?, subtitled Where Russians Go Wrong in English. The author, Lynn Visson (née Elena Vladimirovna), grew up in the U.S. in a family of Russian-speaking emigrants. Her husband is also an emigrant from Soviet Leningrad. She holds a PhD in Slavic studies and worked for many years as a simultaneous interpreter at the UN from Russian to English. So she has an excellent grasp of the Russian-English language pair.

Read more

Dmitry Brushko “Zmena. Sergei Brushko”

No comments
ZMN_cr

I really love good photo albums, especially with photos of Minsk or Belarus. So, when someone I know shared a link in the spring of 2019 to a crowdfunding campaign for a book of photographs by Sergei Brushko, I had almost no doubts and immediately contributed. No, I didn’t know about photojournalist Sergei Brushko at the time, but I really liked several of the shared photographs and the theme of the book. And finally, my copy reached me, and I was able to look through it calmly and even read it (as it’s not just a photo album).

Sergei Brushko passed away in 2000, but during his career, he worked as a photojournalist for several Belarusian publications, and as a documentary photographer, he participated in several international exhibitions. His son, Dmitry Brushko, followed in his father’s footsteps, and it was Dmitry who initiated the release of this book and served as its compiler.

Read more

Andrey Podshibyakin “Time of Games!”

1 comment
vremya_igr_

It seems that the book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels was quite successful in demonstrating that the public is very interested in stories about games and their creators. Suddenly, previously published books started being reprinted, and new ones began to appear quickly. One of these is a book by Andrey Podshibyakin, who started his career in the gaming industry as a journalist for the “GAME.EXE” magazine. Unlike Jason Schreier’s aforementioned book, Andrey focused only on Russian games and companies, including our very own “World of Tanks.”

Like Schreier, Andrey Podshibyakin selected a few games around which he built his book, giving it the subtitle “The Russian Gaming Industry in Faces and Dreams: from Parkan to World of Tanks.” The list includes:

  • “Parkan,” 1997
  • “Vangers,” 1998
  • “Hard Truck,” 1998 (and sequels from 2001 and 2009)
  • “Rage of Mages: The Seal of Mystery,” 1998
  • “Sea Dogs: The Curse of the Distant Seas” (actually, it’s called “The Curse of Far Seas”), 2001 (and the sequel from 2003)
  • “IL-2 Sturmovik,” 2001
  • “Silent Storm,” 2003
  • “Perimeter,” 2004
  • “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl,” 2007, and “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky,” 2008
  • “Cut the Rope,” 2010
  • “World of Tanks,” 2010
  • There are also several unreleased titles, such as “Vseslav the Sorcerer” and “The Adventures of Captain Blood,” among others.

Even this list shows that just text may not be enough for such a book. While Schreier covered globally recognized games, here are titles that many modern readers may not know, and those who do may not remember the details. Hence, illustrations would be very helpful. Memory is unreliable: you may recall that something was fantastic, but you still want to look back and compare those breakthrough graphics with today’s standards.

Read more

Andrey Valentinov “The Grey Kite”

1 comment
350702_original_cr

It’s no secret that H.L. Oldie wrote their Achaean cycle in parallel with Andrey Valentinov’s Mycenaean cycle, which is why some characters migrate from one book to another. Of course, all of them come from real mythology, but in the books, they appear specifically in the interpretations of Oldie/Valentinov. Diomedes, Son of Tydeus is considered the second novel of the cycle, and it generally tells of events parallel to the book Odysseus, Son of Laertes by H.L. Oldie, sometimes offering an alternative perspective on the same events. However, the novel The Grey Kite stands apart, telling the story of Mycenae long before the events of the Trojan War.

And while I read the second novel about Diomedes many years ago, I somehow avoided The Grey Kite. Now, having plunged once again into the history of Ancient Greece, I decided to complete the marathon in full.

This is the story of a mercenary from Babylon who, by a twist of fate, becomes the ruler of Mycenae. The locals aren’t particularly fond of having an outsider on the throne, but things are not that simple. Even the protagonist himself starts to wonder — is he really an impostor?

Read more

Fred Van Lente, Ryan Dunlavey “The Comic Book History of Comics”

1 comment

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of comics, but there are some superheroes I quite like (in their more modern interpretations), and I have read a few comics. I don’t consider it a lowbrow genre—many comics, in terms of emotional intensity, are just as good as highly respected books. Still, my familiarity with the genre is fairly superficial. That’s why it was all the more surprising that I became interested in a book about the history of comics. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the book itself is made in the form of a comic.

Both authors, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, are comic creators themselves (not just this book), so they know the industry from the inside. In their book The Comic Book History of Comics, they set out to show where the essence of modern comics comes from, how they developed, became international, faced persecution, and evolved according to local traditions.

Initially, the book seemed light and purely entertaining, but it quickly proved that the authors were taking the subject very seriously. They draw constant parallels between comics and the animation industry, as these two art forms were closely connected in the early stages. Disney’s Mickey Mouse first appeared in a cartoon but quickly transitioned to comic book pages. The style of Disney’s animated films had a huge influence not only on American comics but also on the development of their Japanese counterpart, manga.

Read more

Asya Kazantseva “The Brain is Material”

No comments
mozg-materialen

Asya Kazantseva made a rapid entrance into the world of popular science in 2013 with her first book, Who Would Have Thought! While she had been involved in science popularization earlier, it was the release of this book that catapulted her to megastar status as an author of popular science literature. The book instantly became a bestseller, receiving praise and recommendations from the scientific community. What set it apart was its accessibility — it was easy to read, and even those far removed from science could grasp the ideas and conclusions with ease. The language wasn’t the typical dry, academic tone but rather felt like a close friend explaining complex ideas, sprinkled with humor. In Who Would Have Thought!, Kazantseva explored the science behind our bad habits, seasonal mood changes, and the “chemistry of love.” The book quickly won the “Enlightener” award for its contribution to popular science, and I was absolutely thrilled by it, recommending it to all my friends.

A couple of years later, her second book, Someone on the Internet is Wrong, was published. This time, Asya focused on hot-button topics that spark fierce debates online: vaccines, GMOs, homeopathy, and the mortality of HIV. While this book also became a bestseller, I personally found it slightly weaker than the first. And then, in 2019, her third book, The Brain is Material, was released.

Read more

Boris Akunin “The Fortunate Adventures and Reflections of Lucius Catin”

2 comments
dobrokluchenia

Boris Akunin is gradually approaching modern times in his works on the history of Russia. He has already covered the era of the empresses, followed by a novel about the most famous one—Catherine the Great. The reign of this remarkable woman has long attracted creative minds. In fact, the third season of a TV series about her is currently airing. And indeed, many fascinating events took place during those years as Russia underwent rapid changes. Naturally, this novel was expected to be filled with intrigue, adventure, and honorable duels—the typical swashbuckling flair.

However, even the title of the latest novel, The Fortunate Adventures and Reflections of Lucius Catin, seemed a bit disconcerting. It didn’t have the adventurous spirit one might expect. In his previous book about the era of Peter the Great, Akunin skillfully portrayed the times without delving too deeply into the specifics. Yet, while I devoured that book, this one was more of a gradual read, something I had to return to in bursts.

Read more