Good morning! Tuesday was a very successful Bout of Books day. I started one of my Russian classics, Dead Souls, and this book is nothing of what I expected. I think I expected something like "devastating downfall of a tortured Russian soul, caused by moral degredation and mental poverty", but instead, I'm reading a quite funny satire with highly comical characters. Can't say I am complaining though, it certainly makes a good Bout of Books read. I'm almost half way through, so we'll see how today goes!
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| My copy of Dead Souls. In Estonian we write Russian names differently (Tšitšikov - Chichikov), so the whole affair with the unpronouncable Slavic names gets even more complicated :p |
Pages read on Tuesday: 194
Books finished: 1
What do my cats think about the books at hand:
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| Mammucat with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Apologies about the quality. Jan took this out of my TBR pile, so unless he finishes it this week, I won't be reading this Harry Potter book during Bout of Books. |
Flavour of the day: Coffee with a little bit of coffee-flavoured cream liqueur (mmm...)
Hehe, love the cat :) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suzie :)
DeleteAnother successful day, it seems! I was under the impression that Dead Souls was a bucket full of Russian misery and morality with a side of social commentary so I'm pleased to hear it's more of a satire.
ReplyDeleteI love your photography, Riv!
I was also under the impression that Dead Souls is "a bucket full of Russian misery", but it's completely something else. It is heavy social commentary though, but it's written in such a humorous way (at least in Estonian - I am actually really curious how this would feel in English).
DeleteThanks, Ellie, it's nice to see that someone appreciates the silly photos :)
Mammucat is so awesome! :-) He picks the best places to sit. I can't believe you'll be reading in 2 languages (if HP comes back to you) during Bout of Books, but then I have no foreign language capabilities whatsoever, sadly. Anyway, I hope all your books turn out to be as good as this one!
ReplyDeleteMammucat is awesome yes :) (She's a girl though.) English isn't actually my native language but I read majority of books in it because it's easier to blog in English if you read in English.
DeleteThank you!
Awww Mammucat :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's a good English translation of Dead Souls? Cause I am all for funny, entertaining classics.
The translation I thought about myself, because I can see how English would be maybe a bit limited for the extremely rich language of Gogol. I made a quick research and apparently Pevear & Volokhonsky translation is best be avoided. I personally would try the translation by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, if that copy is still available (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119075.Dead_Souls), apparently it was approved by Nabokov as the best translation that had come out by his time. The problem is that Gogol uses quite a bit of slang and diminutives, which can make a hilarious reading (I'm just laughing out loud at some of the dialogues), but they are probably quite difficult to authentically translate into English.
DeleteFantastic description: "devastating downfall of a tortured Russian soul, caused by moral degredation and mental poverty". I'm sure that book will show up soon. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why it feels like most important Russian works deal with the matters of tortured souls and questions of morality - there is actually so many lighter, funnier books that come from Russia! :)
DeleteIt sounds amazing, great job on your progress! Thank you for stopping by my post and good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellie, good luck to you as well!
DeleteIt's always lovely when a book is a pleasant surprise like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the cat photo, but then I always do :)
So true, Sam, so true :))
DeleteGlad things are going well. I have never read any Gogol, but now I am intrigued and may have to add this book to my pile. I love your coffee mug!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary. I like the mug as well - it's my ownly literary mug and it was quite difficult to choose among all those Penguin ones, but I think "The Common Reader" characterises me pretty well :)
DeleteI have that cup! :)
ReplyDelete(Sorry, that's not a very insightful comment but I just had to SAY).
Hehe :) Don't be sorry, I think literary hot beverage containers are an underrated discussion topic! :)
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