Category: Books

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

Book: Elena Khudenko – “Translation and Localization: An Introduction to the Profession”

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I’m absolutely in love with the field of localization in development. Once, in my youthful overconfidence, I dove headfirst into translation and became the translator of the first novelization set in the Starcraft universe in Russian (these days, I would never agree to such a thing—so youth definitely has its advantages). Later, I helped build and for many years led the localization department at Wargaming (though I’ve mentioned that many times already, I think). That’s why almost no book on this topic escapes my attention. And that’s exactly the case with Translation and Localization by Elena Khudenko.

From the blurb, it seemed that Elena would dive into the specifics of the field—why it’s important and interesting. Especially since she herself has extensive experience in this area. She has translated books, brought Russian text to many TV shows (Killing Eve, Silicon Valley, and others), worked as a localizer for the Duolingo app, and translated many video games into Russian (The Whispered World, Batman: Arkham Asylum, etc.). In other words, she truly knows what she’s talking about.

And in this book, she tries to cover different types of translation, essentially following the arc of her own professional experience.

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Book: Ivan Belov, the ‘Zastupa’ series

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I love fantasy, especially the kind rooted in Slavic folklore, filled with all sorts of dark creatures. But I only discovered Ivan Belov’s Zastupa series thanks to a review by a friend. I got curious and almost immediately decided to read it — and I have no regrets.

This isn’t just another gothic novel about vampires, even though the main character throughout the series is undead — a vurdalak (actually a vampire) named Rukh Buchila. He serves as the zastupa in a village near Novgorod — that is, the protector of its people from other dark forces, literally the one who “stands up for” them (in Russian — ‘zastupaetsya’).

Although it’s the 17th century and the village is located in Novgorod lands, this isn’t the world we know. In the world of the zastupa, mysterious portals once opened on Earth, unleashing hordes of demons and other monsters. And while humans had long shared the land with other races like the navki and the white-eyed chud’, these new invaders permanently redrew the map.

Ancient Kyiv was besieged and destroyed, some peoples swore allegiance to dark powers and even founded their own empire near the Balkans. The Novgorod Republic managed to defend its lands and independence, though it still occasionally fights with both the Muscovite Tsardom and the Swedes.

People have learned, with great difficulty, to coexist not only with familiar beings like leshies and domovoi, but also with those who came through the portals — not all of whom turned out to be purely bloodthirsty. Even chorts (imps) have found a place in society, and in Novgorod they’re even honored, since it was the chorts who once saved the city. You can’t really trust them, of course — but with the right oversight, even chorts can be useful.

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Book: Alexander Grigoriev “Word on the Slide”

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Many years ago, I absolutely did not know how to make presentations. I won’t say that I’m great at it now either, but at some point, I realized that the fate of your project, team, and even just an idea depends on how you present it. And although my public speaking is still far from ideal, my presentations in the form of files and face-to-face, based on them, have clearly become much better. First, thanks to experienced colleagues who taught me to do it better and always expressed constructive feedback. Second, because work required me to do it more often, both using standard templates and more creative ones to sell a great idea. And third, because I became increasingly interested in what those who do this constantly recommend.

Surprisingly, when talking specifically about presentations as a set of slides, much can be learned from related fields. For example, the ability to structure your speech more competently and simply is also a key to success. And here many tips from the book “Write, Shorten” would be quite suitable (although I have many other issues with it). Guy Kawasaki in his book “Art of the Start 2.0” dedicates a separate section specifically to preparing presentations. Alexander Bogachev in “Charts That Persuade Everyone” shows how to better convey your thoughts through graphical representation. And Kirill Egerev’s book “This Button Needs Text,” although not related to presentations, touches on important aspects of creating short, concise, and clear texts for UI, and these rules are universal, so they work in presentations as well.

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Book: Henry Lion Oldie “The Door into Winter

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I read this book by Henry Lion Oldie exactly one year ago, just a couple of months after their wartime diary, Invasion. This book is a collection of science fiction stories, but all of them revolve around one central theme — the war in Ukraine.

And today, it is impossible to separate them from real events, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it’s “just fiction.” Because this “fantasy” feels far too real, and all the speculative elements are simply a backdrop for what’s going on in the minds of the authors — and in the minds of many people right now.

Normally, I try to write thoughtful and fairly in-depth reviews of books, but with this one, I couldn’t bring myself to write anything substantial for an entire year. It always felt like whatever clever ideas or interpretations I might come up with, any metaphors or hidden meanings I could find, would all crash into the wall of reality — a reality more fantastical and terrifying than fiction itself.

Even in their stories, the authors include fragments of autobiography. In The Small Circle, there are brief excerpts from their real diary.

And in the story Those Who Follow Me, they describe a magical wall that shuts the world away from the horrors of Mordor. A few years ago, I would have read that as quirky sci-fi. But now I realize — this is a dream many people share. They truly want an impenetrable wall to keep Mordor out. For many, many years to come.

I considered writing nothing about this book at all. But in the end, I decided to limit myself to a short note. Not all of the stories struck me as strong pieces of science fiction — and I did try to evaluate the book as a work of literature — so my overall rating is lower than for other story collections, whether by Oldie or other authors.

However, as a kind of mirror to our era and this war, the book deserves a much higher score. It is a must-read. At the very least, to get a glimpse of how this is being experienced, and how it finds expression in literature, by those who have now lived with this war for three years. Where people are dying who never wanted to fight — and every month brings news of children killed, children who should only have ever learned about war from history books.

P.S. I’m sorry I’m not able to write a proper review right now.

My mark: 3.5/5

Book: Ruchi Gupta with Kristin Loberg “Food Without Fear”

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There are a lot of people in the world with allergies, and research suggests that the number is only growing. Some even call allergies one of the defining illnesses of our generation. Back in my childhood, we would bring treats for the whole class on birthdays, but nowadays, before sending anything to school for a child’s birthday, you need to check a list of dozens of allergens. It’s often easier to just bring nothing at all to be safe.

I’ve had food intolerances since childhood. For example, cabbage always gave me an unpleasant sensation, which was commonly referred to as heartburn (though now I know that real heartburn feels quite different). Mayonnaise also made me feel unwell, so I never ate this supposedly great human invention. Then and now, I always substitute sour cream for mayonnaise in salads. Yes, I’m that person who eats Russian salad with sour cream. And yes, adding an apple to it can be quite nice.

However, by the time I turned 25, my reactions became significantly worse. A few times, my whole body broke out in an itchy red rash. And on a couple of occasions, I even experienced Quincke’s edema—when everything swells up inside, making it difficult to breathe. Let me tell you, it’s not a great experience. Especially when you’re gasping for air, and the emergency operator on the phone is still trying to determine if you really have swelling and if you’re actually wheezing into the phone because you can barely breathe.

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Book: Mikko Vill “Deadly Forest”

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It’s always interesting to read works by new, unfamiliar authors—especially when that author turns out to be the pseudonym of a former colleague. (He’s not actively advertising that “Mikko Vill” is his pen name, but he’s not exactly hiding it either). Creative people tend to be creative in multiple areas, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that this colleague dabbles in various forms of art. But the fact that he also writes books? That one somehow slipped past me.

And now, his novel “Deadly Forest” has been released in the mystical fantasy genre—apparently, the first book in the “Chronicles of Ivar” series. So, of course, I had to give it a try.

The premise is fairly classic: there’s a forest people shouldn’t enter because, well, sometimes they don’t come back. But there are always daredevils who refuse to believe “old folks’ tales” and set out to prove them wrong. And then, the same old folks have to find someone to go in and drag those “skeptics” back out. (That’s as vague as I can be without slipping into spoilers).

Since this book is intended as the first in a series (the author is currently editing the second one), we also get to meet the protagonist, Ivar. He’s the one unlucky enough to be tasked with solving this whole mess—not that he seems too upset about it. He’s a rather odd and reclusive character, the kind people like to call “not of this world.” But precisely because of that, he’s in high demand as a lone warrior who simply does his job—exceptionally well.

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Book: Boris Akunin “My Calendar”

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At one time, I really enjoyed Boris Akunin’s collections of short essays on various fascinating facts—“The Life of Remarkable People and Animals“ and “The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia.” Both were “compiled” from different short posts the author had originally published on his LiveJournal. In a similar fashion, he occasionally shared notes about specific days of the year—highlighting interesting events that had happened on that particular date.

Of course, almost any day you pick from the calendar has seen at least something noteworthy happen somewhere in the world throughout human history. So, in the end, it would be possible to gather an entire calendar of such notes. And that’s exactly what Boris Akunin did when he released his book “My Calendar.”

However, he set a rule for himself: for almost every day, he tries to choose just one event—the one he finds most interesting—and tells its story, whenever possible, backing it up with photos or illustrations. He then wraps up almost every “day” with an optimistic message. He does this so that the book can be used like a tear-off calendar—you wake up, read about the day in the morning, get some encouraging words, and ideally, the day should go well for you.

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Book: Ihar Sluchak “10 Centuries of Statehood and Discrimination of the Belarusian Language”

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Ihar Sluchak is a Belarusian lawyer and an active advocate for the Belarusian language. For many years, he has dedicated himself to preventing the language from disappearing and being undeservedly discriminated against in favor of Russian in the Republic of Belarus. Despite the seemingly hopeless nature of such a mission in the current circumstances, Ihar has managed to defend the rights of his native language. For this, he is strongly disliked by many Belarusian officials and propagandists, it’s worth noting.

Holding a Master of Laws, Ihar Sluchak devoted his dissertation precisely to the history of the Belarusian language. Later, he reworked it slightly and published it as this book: “10 стагоддзяў дзяржаўнасцi i дыскрымiнацыi беларускай мовы” (in English, “10 Centuries of Statehood and Discrimination Against the Belarusian Language”).

The uniqueness of the Belarusian language lies in the fact that it is formally the first state language of the Republic of Belarus. For a time after the collapse of the USSR, it was the only state language; later, Russian was added. However, the actual situation with the language is dire. It has been systematically suppressed for many centuries, and the Soviet era (along with most of the post-Soviet years) is not an exception but rather a direct example of this trend. The majority of the country’s population speaks a form of “trasianka”—a mixture of Belarusian and Russian, often with elements of Ukrainian and Polish, depending on the region’s proximity to a particular border. In Minsk, you are far more likely to hear Russian, while in other cities, even the Russian spoken often includes Belarusian words or carries the accent and nuances of Belarusian pronunciation.

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Book: Raphaël Lucas “The History of The Witcher”

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The Witcher is one of the few Eastern European franchises to achieve worldwide fame and recognition. In his book, Raphaël Lucas set out to tell the story of how this franchise came to be.

I know that many fans of both the games and Andrzej Sapkowski’s literary original were thrilled when this book was announced. It quickly became a coveted gift for any occasion. I’ve read the main saga (except for the later novel that stands somewhat apart) and played through all three games in the series adapted by CD Projekt RED. My feelings toward the books are lukewarm, which has earned me the disapproval of some of my more fervent fan friends. Among the games, I especially highlight the third one, where the developers clearly sold their souls to the devil (and I say this with firsthand knowledge of what it takes to create games).

That said, I’m always interested in reading about how such iconic products come to life, especially from industry peers, so it didn’t take long for me to pick up the book—luckily, it’s not very long.

While expecting a comprehensive overview of the franchise, I knew this wouldn’t just be about the games (even though the cover prominently features a poster from the third installment). However, the author started from an even earlier point.

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Book: Alexander ‘Balu’ Balunov “Korol i Shut: Between Kupchino and Rzhevka…”

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In my previous post, where I discussed the TV series The King and the Jester (Korol i Shut), I mentioned that the show largely adheres to the real history of the band. I was able to compare the fiction with real-life events thanks to the memoir of one of the band’s creators and long-time members—Alexander Balunov, known by the nickname “Balu.”

Balu has written several books, and I decided to read his very first one, published in 2016: Korol i Shut: Between Kupchino and Rzhevka…

The book is a collection of memories about the creation of each of the band’s albums, various episodes from their lives, the members of the golden lineup, and, of course, the two main leaders—Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev and Andrey “Knyaz” Knyazev. Although Balu is the primary narrator, for many chapters he brought in other contributors, including Knyaz, violinist Maria Nefyodova, Alexey Gorshenev (Gorshok’s brother), and even their mother.

Balu made the book interactive from the start. The print version includes numerous links (in the form of QR codes) to audio fragments he references throughout the narrative. These links were intended to direct readers to Balu’s personal website—kroogi.com. However, the site is no longer functional, meaning these links now lead nowhere. But Balu also created an audiobook version, which he narrates for the most part, occasionally enlisting actors to help. This audiobook is completely free and available on the author’s YouTube channel. There, you can either listen to the entire book (though without the photographs included in the text version) or access the mentioned audio fragments directly: the audiobook on YouTube (with audio fragments matching the book chapters exactly).

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