I'm confused because Jacob said you guys would connect with me and Greg on our Russian literature book club, which we will initiate next month, but then Rebekah said you were going to pick your own book and to hell with us.
We really would prefer to start with Doctor Zhivago because Master and Margarita reads MUCH better after a conditioning of Gogol (the connections, parallels and stylistic similarities are legion). As a result, we came up with a schedule that looked like this:
March 15 - Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
April 15 - Alexander Pushkin, Boris Godunov
May 15 - Viktor Pelevin, Buddha's Little Finger (potentially sci-fi)
June 15 - Fedor Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov
July 15 - Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons
August 15 - Evgeni Zamyatin - We (sci-fi)
September 15 - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (first half)
October 15 - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (second half)
November 15 - Nikolai Gogol, The Nose and the Overcoat
December 15 - Mikhail Bulgakov, Master and Margarita (potentially sci-fi)
January 15, 2011 - Fedor Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground
February 15, 2011 - Ivan Bunin, Sukhodol
We could move M&M up on the list to coordinate with a book club, but having it as the next book club would preclude having Gogol before it. Maybe there's a happy medium here that would have it as the book club say, in May, with Gogol in April, and have Zhivago as the March book club, with the main club and the Russian book club splitting after May?
We really would prefer to start with Doctor Zhivago because Master and Margarita reads MUCH better after a conditioning of Gogol (the connections, parallels and stylistic similarities are legion). As a result, we came up with a schedule that looked like this:
March 15 - Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
April 15 - Alexander Pushkin, Boris Godunov
May 15 - Viktor Pelevin, Buddha's Little Finger (potentially sci-fi)
June 15 - Fedor Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov
July 15 - Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons
August 15 - Evgeni Zamyatin - We (sci-fi)
September 15 - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (first half)
October 15 - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (second half)
November 15 - Nikolai Gogol, The Nose and the Overcoat
December 15 - Mikhail Bulgakov, Master and Margarita (potentially sci-fi)
January 15, 2011 - Fedor Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground
February 15, 2011 - Ivan Bunin, Sukhodol
We could move M&M up on the list to coordinate with a book club, but having it as the next book club would preclude having Gogol before it. Maybe there's a happy medium here that would have it as the book club say, in May, with Gogol in April, and have Zhivago as the March book club, with the main club and the Russian book club splitting after May?
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
So...what is the decision on the main book club?
- 13/02/2010 03:17:16 AM
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There are two official book clubs. 
- 13/02/2010 09:50:15 AM
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- 13/02/2010 09:50:15 AM
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By which I mean to say that your order should stand. *NM*
- 13/02/2010 10:29:50 AM
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*NM*
- 13/02/2010 10:29:50 AM
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We're happy with that...I was trying to make sure we didn't fracture things too much.
- 13/02/2010 02:29:15 PM
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So are we a go for Doctor Zhivago for March 15?
- 13/02/2010 07:34:21 PM
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I was considering reading it, too.
- 14/02/2010 10:37:14 PM
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Yeah, I know.
- 14/02/2010 11:26:45 PM
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Nope.
- 14/02/2010 11:31:14 PM
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Out of curiosity, why not the library?
- 15/02/2010 06:33:07 AM
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Are you guys going to recommend a particular translation of each book for us non-Russophones?
- 14/02/2010 01:27:24 PM
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Uh...I hadn't thought about that. I will try to find out which translations are better.
- 14/02/2010 03:08:08 PM
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That's why I thought it might be good to remind you that the rest of us will have to 
. *NM*
- 14/02/2010 03:37:21 PM
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. *NM*
- 14/02/2010 03:37:21 PM
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I would recommend the Max Hayward/Manya Harari translation.
- 14/02/2010 04:55:05 PM
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Good thing that translation is the main one available in the US (the tradeback form)
- 14/02/2010 05:01:33 PM
502 Views
Interesting. I have a Hayward/Harari translation
- 15/02/2010 04:38:36 PM
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I have seen a lot of very irresponsible things said about this novel.
- 15/02/2010 06:08:27 PM
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I bet
- 16/02/2010 10:32:46 AM
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No, actually the plot in the movie and plot in the book are quite different.
- 16/02/2010 01:39:12 PM
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Hmmm. Since the majority are reading it in English, I suppose I should too.
- 14/02/2010 11:34:20 PM
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Regarding M&M
- 15/02/2010 02:22:14 AM
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Rebekah says there's a good reason for it to be in December. So I'll just go with the plan. *NM*
- 15/02/2010 08:48:04 AM
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Actually, I'm not sure what the reasoning would be, other than to space things out.
- 15/02/2010 07:00:29 PM
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Doesn't seem to be an Audible for Pasternak. *NM*
- 14/02/2010 03:36:33 PM
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Maybe. I've never been interested in finding out what an Audible is.
- 14/02/2010 04:56:21 PM
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I just noticed one glaring omission
- 15/02/2010 08:06:32 PM
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All of Nabokov's significant work was written in English while he was living abroad.
- 15/02/2010 10:37:20 PM
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