Book log again

[blinker]

Read over the past week or two:
The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket. Laugh-out-loud funny in a juvenile way.
The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin (in translation). Awesome subway reading, but I think I may have missed one in the series despite my best efforts to read them in order.
The Devil in Nanking by Mo Hayder. Normally, I love dark, creepy mystery novels set in Japan, but this one tried too hard.
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Maybe this one is better if you did your undergrad at Princeton (where the story is set), but otherwise it's kind of like a very watered-down The Name of the Rose.

Not sure what to read next, but I have a bunch of ideas. Kelly asked me to make some space on our bookshelves over the weekend. In the process, I found a short stack of books I had never gotten around to reading, so maybe I'll try one of those.

Since I started keeping track about two months ago, I have read 18 books. I just got around to joining the 50bookchallenge community, not so much because I need to keep count as because it seems like a good source for recommendations.

Comments

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

I was reading Akunin on the subway, but I haven't spotted anyone else around here doing the same thing.

[call-me-al.livejournal.com]

hey, i'm sorry, that came out sounding wrong. but then i keep hoping more russian writers would be known out there than tolstoy, chekhov, and dostoyevsky, though akunin probably wouldn't have been my first choice :)

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

We have to make do with what we can get in translation, you know. Do you have any recommendations?

[call-me-al.livejournal.com]

one contemporary author that has been translated into english (though i haven't seen the translation and can't vouch for it - but i think it should be good) is victor pelevin. i haven't read his most recent books, but here are a few i enjoyed very much:

homo zapiens (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00013AXA8/sr=8-4/qid=1150547924/ref=pd_bbs_4/102-1474924-5630567?%5Fencoding=UTF8) (in russian, generation "p")
life of insects (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140279725/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-1474924-5630567?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) life of insects
omon ra (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811213641/sr=8-6/qid=1150547924/ref=pd_bbs_6/102-1474924-5630567?%5Fencoding=UTF8)
clay machine gun (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0571201261/sr=8-10/qid=1150547924/ref=pd_bbs_10/102-1474924-5630567?%5Fencoding=UTF8) (chapayev and the void, in russian)

it's contemporary russia + black comedy + a lot of creepiness.

mikhail bulgakov is a soviet-era classic, that's stalinist russia + black humor + a lot of creepiness :) master and margarita and a dog's heart are probably his best known books, but make sure you get a recent translation if you get those, because the older translations are horrid.

if you get into it, i'll have lots more recommendations, but i think these would be a fun intro :)