I'm using this page to try and connect the links to particpant blogs and those writing their own reviews for the challenge. This page will be placed under the upper left tab (Eastern European Challenge) on the home page, so that if you are looking for reviews or links, check there. This is a work-in-progress, hopefully by next week it'll be a place where you can come and put your link right in the comment box to this post.
Links will go here, soon:
From Daisy: Cold Snap: Bulgarian Stories
http://aconcise.blogspot.com/2011/01/cold-snap-bulgarian-stories-by-cynthia.html
PLACE LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE OR REVIEWS IN COMMENT BOX
http://aconcise.blogspot.com/2011/01/cold-snap-bulgarian-stories-by-cynthia.html
ReplyDeleteI reviewed Andrej Blatnik's You Do Understand today: http://www.damiankelleher.com/drupal/review/andrej-blatnik-you-do-understand-0
ReplyDeleteI also reviewed Lucian Dan Teodorovici's short story, Chewing Gum on January 6th. http://www.damiankelleher.com/drupal/review/lucian-dan-teodorovici-%E2%80%93-chewing-gum
And Bosnian author Igor Štik's A Castle in Romagna on the 5th: http://www.damiankelleher.com/drupal/review/igor-%C5%A1tiks-castle-romagna
And on the 4th, Monika Kompaníková's short story, Slávko. http://www.damiankelleher.com/drupal/review/monika-kompan%C3%ADkov%C3%A1-%E2%80%93-sl%C3%A1vko
So yeah. I've (accidentally) been fairly busy for this challenge already.
I've read and reviewed The Successor by Ismail Kadare
ReplyDeletehttp://potpourri-of-books.blogspot.com/2011/01/successor-by-ismail-kadare.html
A few more:
ReplyDeleteI reviewed Péter Nádas' Love
and Uršuľa Kovalyk's Mrs. Agnes's Bathroom (short story)
Also, I don't think I mentioned it, but I'm in Australia.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59127587 is a link to Chrissie's Good Reads review of the book House by the Dvina: A Russian Scottish Childhood by Eugenie Fraser. I absolutely loved this book, but it does not count for the challenge since I read it in 2009! Great book! I strongly recommend it!
ReplyDeleteChrissie
I reviewed The Visible World by Mark Slouka. He is the son of Czech immigrants and the protagonist of the story is also the child of two immigrants. In the story the son returns to Prague to attempt an understanding of his mother's past.
ReplyDeleteOK not a promising start. First book was a DNF (Marek Krajewski's Death in Breslau was a bit too surreal for me). And the one I have finished so far was ... well... wordy Pelagia and the White Bulldog by Boris Akunin.
ReplyDeleteI have just read Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin. A very enjoyable spy adventure set during the Russo - Turkish War of 1877. My first experience of contemporary Russian fiction. My review is here: http://alister-rutherford.blogspot.com/2011/02/turkish-gambit-by-boris-akunin.html
ReplyDeleteHere is my review of Dracula by Bram Stoker!
ReplyDeletehttp://mdscroggs.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-6-dracula.html
Hi, Amy! I just finished my first title for this challenge: Brigid Pasulka's A Long, Long Time Ago, and Essentially True. It was brilliant, after a bit of a slow start! Definitely one to consider if you're interested in recent Polish history. My review is at http://colreads.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-review-long-long-time-ago-and.html
ReplyDeleteJust finished The White King by Gyorgy Dragoman (Hungarian)
ReplyDeleteMy review is at http://potpourri-of-books.blogspot.com/2011/02/white-king-by-gyorgy-dragoman.htm
My review of Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski (Poland) is here: http://ignacioescribano.blogspot.com/2011/03/entanglement-by-zygmunt-miloszewski.html
ReplyDelete1/4.
My reviews for the challenge so far:
ReplyDeleteA Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova (Russia)
The Snows of Yesteryear by Gregor von Rezzori (Romania)
My first book for the Read East Challenge - Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles; set in Ukraine. Check it out below.
ReplyDeletehttp://bookventuresbookclub.blogspot.com/2011/03/moonlight-in-odessa-janet-skeslien.html
My second book is Sam Eastland's EYE OF THE RED TSAR
ReplyDelete... not brilliant I'm afraid (though I'm one of the few who thnks so)
I think it's time I look for something other than crime fiction for this challenge (shocking I know)
Hi! I'm not listed as participating but I am. I even got my first book finished:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cookiesbooksbikes.com/search/label/sergei%20lukyanenko
It is for Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko. It is a Russian urban fantasy novel and is awesome! I can't recommend it enough for people who want to try something not originally not in English and gives a little exposure to a different part of the world. It is great for those or shy away from nonfiction or general fiction.
I posted my review for End of a Family Story by Peter Nadas
ReplyDeletehttp://potpourri-of-books.blogspot.com/2011/05/end-of-family-story-by-peter-nadas.html
I finally got a review posted about a fantastic book set mostly during the Siege of Leningrad, by a Canadian author:
ReplyDeleteThe Forest Horses by Byrna Barclay
I read Fateless by the Hungarian writer Imre Kertesz. It's posted on my web site—Potpourrir of Books
ReplyDeleteJust finished, and reviewed, my second book for the challenge. It's a collection of short stories translated from Ukrainian focusing on female childhood and adolescence in last century Ukraine:
ReplyDeleteWarm the Children, O Sun
Up to four now:
ReplyDelete3. The Russian Album by Michael Ignatieff (Russia)
4. Far to Go by Alison Pick (Czech Republic)
I've read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
ReplyDeletehttp://booktrek.blogspot.com/2011/02/we-yevgeny-zamyatin.html
Just reviewed my 5th book for the challenge: The Gardener's Year by Karel Čapek (Czech Republic).
ReplyDeleteOkay, here are links to two of my books and their reviews:
ReplyDeleteCreating the Nation, by David Cooper
and
Visualizing Russia: Fedor Solntsev and Crafting a National Past, edited by Cynthia Hyla Whittaker
Here's my review of First Love by Ivan Turgenev:
ReplyDeletehttp://booktrek.blogspot.com/2011/08/first-love-ivan-turgenev.html
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/134308916
ReplyDeleteMy review of Laurie Manchester's "Holy Fathers, Secular Sons."
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55607200
ReplyDeleteMy review of Catriona Kelly's "Children's World: Growing up in Russia, 1880-1991"
My review of Timothy Gorton Ash's "The Magic Lantern: The Revolutions of '89 witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodreads.com/review/show/118047459
My review of Christiane Ruane's "The Emperor's New Clothes: A History of the Russian Fashion Industry, 1700-1917"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57171202
My review of David Shimmelpenninck van der Oye's history book, "Russian Orientalism": http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/125340567
ReplyDeleteMy 6th book for the challenge: The Legends of Prague by František Langer.
ReplyDeleteMy 7th book for the challenge: Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi.
ReplyDeleteI've read & reviewed 3 more, finally reaching --and passing -- my "tourist" designation of 4 books! They were all very good:
ReplyDeletePenguin Lost by Andrey Kurkov
Faithful Ruslan by Georgi Vladimov
Anna's Shadow by David Manicom
This is my review of Sally West's "I Shop in Moscow," which is a history of consumer culture in imperial Russia:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodreads.com/review/show/243060823
My 8th book for the challenge: Sunflower by Gyula Krúdy
ReplyDeleteMy 9th book for the challenge: How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed by Slavenka Drakulić
ReplyDeleteJust reviewed by 10th and 11th books for the challenge:
ReplyDeleteCafé Europa by Slavenka Drakulić
Prague Tales by Jan Neruda
This was my final list for this Challenge:
ReplyDelete1. A Long, Long Time Ago, and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka
2. Ivan and Misha by Michael Alenyikov
3. The Possessed by Elif Batuman
4. The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis
Thanks so much for hosting, Amy!
I finished my first book for this challenge: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, set in Bosnia. My review is here: http://www.rosecityreader.com/2012/03/review-people-of-book.html
ReplyDeleteMy plan is to read a couple of translated books by Eastern European authors, but I am also trying to pick from books on my TBR shelves. We'll see how those two goals work together.
Here's my review of 8 Pieces of Empire
ReplyDeletehttp://maphead.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/lawrence-scott-sheets-serves-up-20-years-of-dispatches-from-the-former-soviet-union/
Two more:
ReplyDelete6. Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down by Zdena Salivarová
7. Under a Cruel Star by Heda Margolius Kovály
Here is my review of Doctor Zhivago: http://www.rosecityreader.com/2012/11/review-doctor-zhivago.html
ReplyDelete