Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

From Russia, With Love

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

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I went into Doctor Zhivago with no small amount of trepidation, not just because of its length and complex plot, but because of my history with this edition’s translators, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. In our previous encounters, I have been stymied by their translations, which always seem clunky and impenetrable to me. They ruined my experience reading The Master and Margherita, and several times since I’ve abandoned plans to read one Russian classic or another because the only translation available was theirs. Because Doctor […]

I hate everything you say, but not enough to kill you for it.

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CBR10Bingo – Banned Book   Not only was this a banned book…it’s almost THE banned book. Maybe I am cheating here, but rather than focus on a book banned by America, I am choosing a book that was not even allowed to be published in its own language before being translated several different times in different countries. Pasternak was already a very famous and renowned poet for a long time before starting to write this book. The book itself is a kind of Russian Romantic […]

A review almost as long as a Russian novel

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As the nights grow longer and temperatures begin to drop, atmospheric conditions become right for reading some Russian literature, with its deep snows, howling wolves, tragic lovers, wars and revolutions. Given their lengthiness, if you’re stuck at home with nowhere to go, a classic Russian novel will keep you occupied for a good long time. Plus, if the unthinkable happens on November 8th, it’s not a half bad idea to be on cultural speaking terms with our new overlords. CBR8’s recent survey of classic novels […]



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