I'm pretty light headed so it evens out quickly.

Martin

I'll second that. Great Read.

Martin - the husband of one of my dearest friends was a Russian translator for the Army. I'll see if I can get some suggestions from them for books. It may take a few days, since she travels a lot in her job.

Just tell her to travel over here next, problem solved! :)

Thanks, lrd. What do you suspect her focus will be?

Martin - who had a good lunch with a travelling girl a few hours ago.

Martin, if she could manage it in any way, I know she'd travel over and deliver the books personally.

She was a Polish translator, medically discharged from the Army due to complications from a tour in Berlin before the wall came down. She's one of the most well-read people I know, so you might get a little of everything.

The yearbooks are a good laugh. I've got one from 77 at home in NZ where it claims the military was peaceful and non aggressive. We all know where they went camping the very next year.

Will be very interesting to hear!

I hope you didn't take my first line as demanding, it was meant to be humoring. (on the other hand, it would have been fun, sounds like an intriguing person :) )

M

I knew what you meant - I just forgot to put the smilie after my response. :)

I got a reply from her last night. They are going to make up a short list for you to get started...

Greetings from Moscow! Just saw your post. I have several books in my library that might be of interest. I can't give you the titles now as they are located in another city. I will be there (the other city) on the weekend of the 25th 26th March and will bring the titles back with me. I saw you were planning on being in Peter in May. Perhaps we could arrange a meet and I would be glad to give you some of the books I have that may be interesting.

RE: Master and Margarita it was a very interesting read for me. A film was made recently (in Russian) and broadcast on television as a serial. the DVDs are available in Russia now and it is a well done treatment of the novel.

Hi Sir! That's mighty kind of you and would probably have been a lot of fun. The little detail missing is that I was there last year. :)

I would really like going back, but am not sure if I could cover the expenses for doing that this May or summer. Have been getting ready for a possible flu outbreak, which means SEK+USD slash fund, evac car, food, medicine... and I'm eyeing a pair of boots and ruck, to get specific in training. I'll give you a shout if circumstances change... If I remember correctly, it takes a while for visas to clear.

Names of books, though, would be appreciated.

Holler if you ever pass by Sweden! We have Guinness here...

Martin

Thanks for sharing that, Lurch, I'll try to see if I can get my hands on a copy.

Have you by any chance gone to see the underground dramatic version of the book? There's a little theater on the outskirts of Moscow which was built just before the collapse of the USSR by the actors themselves. It was built specifically for this "play," which is actually the book acted/read out from beginning to end. It takes about five hours and they all talk very fast but it was an amazing experience. I had never seen a play that good before and doubt I ever will again.