Library

Back to Journal Recent Comments

Category Sociology

2012-07-03
8:08 PM

Heller, Zoe - The Believers

this was another book from book club this book reminded me of Ordinary people where a family unravels under the strain of losing a loved one. The ordinary every day events creep the past into oblivion, characters revealed, lives transformed. At the core of Litvinoff's family is Litvinoff, a lawyer who takes pride in defending and befriending imbeciles; his wife Audrey, who believes she says things others think; Rosa, is adamant in finding a cause of her own weather it's communism or jewdaism; Lenny, is a druggy floater and Karla, struggles with her weight and her overbearing family. What i liked is how well written this book is. The commentary flows, the language is superb and i had to look things in thesarause yay (now give me a dictionary so i can learn how to spell). I realized that Xorovod came from Bulkan horah. I love those little trivia bits i'll forget in a month. I loved the revelation that Audrey's daily routine of nastiness was originally a defense mechanism in social situations. It has grown into a defining character trait and she feels trapped by it. It is now a reflex and she catches herself not being able to get out of it. Good example is her meeting with Berenice. I entirely sympathize with Karla. I just like her. i don't like the rest for now. since i'm still reading. 8]

2011-07-17
3:21 PM

Gibson, William - Pattern Recognition

a book about a rougue film footage being published on the web. Casey is hired by an English magnate to determine what it is and who made it. Her search leads her to Tokio and Russia. very 'noir' , moody

2007-06-20
3:07 PM

Voinovich, Vladimir - Moskva 2042

Владимир Войнович "Москва 2042"

easy read. absurd.
a man travels to the future Moscow and describes political situation (communism/monarchy)


ch2
У нас здесь, конечно, полная свобода в пределах разумных потребностей,


ch4
- Ах, дорогуша, - устало улыбнулся Дзержин. - Вы же сами знаете, что есть такие люди, которым лишь бы что-то писать. А что из этого получается, им совершенно неважно.

Я вспомнил: когда-то один человек в сером костюме сказал мне во время допроса: "Будь вы дураком, мы бы вам все простили. Но вы не дурак и хорошо понимаете, что именно содержится в ваших писаниях". Но он был не прав, потому что на самом- то деле я был дурак. Если бы я был умный, я бы выдавал себя за дурака. Но я был дурак и потому выдавал себя за умного. Однако за шестьдесят с лишним лет, прошедших с тех пор, я все-таки поумнел. И я самым решительным образом стал уверять Искрину в своей глупости и отсталости. Чем она, как показалось мне, была обескуражена.

ch5
- Да что вы! - Эдисон Ксенофонтович огорченно махнул рукой. - Он оказался обычным интеллектуалом. Голова большая, знаний много, а мысли не одной. Пришлось аннигилировать.

2006-10-30
12:39 AM

Nabokov, Vladimir - Lolita

Interesting. very interesting. ok provocative, gives food for thought, easy read, loved the style, excellent imagery. Sick. Sorry Vladimir.

i mean lets be open minded and decide that given that he was in love only with Lolita and didn't care about other little little girls this makes him less of a pedophile than he is. certain parts of this story almost make you forget that she's 12 and he's god only knows how old. almost though not really. and the excuses... she came on to him, the mother died almost as though someone was helping him...

but i guess that makes it interesting. to get into the head of a pedophile. makes you actually wonder about Vladimirs ways. this is not the first book he wrote about a pedophile taking on a child after the mother tragically dies...

p.s. for some reason reading it in Russian. although it was written in English. had no idea it was so.


read a little bit of it in English ohhhh myyyy such akward language why is it considered a classic????? i couldn't go through a paragraph of that nonsense. it sounds much better in russian

ohh and he's still a pervert yak

11/20 i'm almost at the end. he stoped chasing Lolita and is now reminiscing. I don't like the style the language and i don't like the topic. but i'm still reading, skipping the most annoyingly reminscing to death parts. mind numbing really.


question the term Lolita has always ment (at least in my mind) a promiscuous little girl), how the hell did it come out from this book?



Перемена обстановки - традиционное заблуждение, на которое
возлагают надежды обреченная любовь и неизлечимая чахотка

2006-01-25
3:04 PM

Friedman L. Thomas - The World Is Flat

an interesting book about globalization, out-sourcing etc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374292884/002-6665180-4569652?v=glance&n=283155

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/

2005-12-30
1:22 PM

Kundera, Milan - Unbearable Lightness of Being

1968 Check Republic

http://lib.ru/INPROZ/KUNDERA/legkost.txt

01/06 yup yup reading it right now. it's fabulous . in russian since i don't speak Check(?). will right about it later sooo recomended.

fabulous. one of the most beautiful things i have ever ever read.
just read a passage about the idea that this life that we are living is a scetch. Everything is led by chance and the decisions that we are making by this chance because the future and the consequences are unknown to us. This Earth is our first life. First trial. But there is another Earth where we are reborn with a knowledge of our first life. What decision will be made by us based on our previous knowledge. Would we be wiser? And then there is a third earth and we are reborn there as well with the knowledge of the previous 2 Earths. And so on and so forth. Fascinating.


"Она никогда не задавалась вопросами, которые мучат человеческие пары: он любит меня? любил ли он кого-нибудь больше меня? он больше меня любит, чем я его? Возможно, все эти вопросы, которые обращают к любви, измеряют ее, изучают, проверяют, допытывают, чуть ли не в зачатке и убивают ее. Возможно, мы не способны любить именно потому, что жаждем быть любимыми, то есть хотим чего-то (любви) от другого, вместо того чтобы отдавать ему себя без всякой корысти, довольствуясь лишь его присутствием."

"счастье есть жажда повторения."

2005-11-10
2:51 PM

Gladwell, Malcolm - The Tipping Point

This is in the same league as <a href="http://journals.fotki.com/OLKA/Library/entry/wwqftsqqkgf/">Freakonomics</a> The World is Flat, Blink ... etc...

Book is about how the epidemics spread, fashion trends are set, news is spread, crime is stopped.

What i found interesting is that he tackles basically the same ideas as the author of Freakonomics does from a different angle. Which on is correct... is a different question.

<a href="http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html"> Tipping Point Site</a>

2005-09-21
5:35 PM

Fomenko, Anatoly

History: Fiction or Science?

ohh boy, what did i get myself into??? I bought it only due to the rave reviews by a bunch of very smart guys. Little did i know i wasn't smart enough.

I was barely able to grab the jist of it. I suspect the translation from Russian to English complicates already difficult language. It is very much math oriented filled with graphs and statistical data. Not for a casual reader.

The idea is facinating: the timeline given to us by historians is dead wrong. He recalculates everything.

Sad to say i was not able to finish it, thus leaving it for better times when i'll become a bit smarter ;).

<a href="http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01098.htm">History: Fiction or Science</a>

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/2913621058/103-0209738-6478263?v=glance">Amazon</a>

2005-07-29
3:57 PM

Khlebnikov, Paul - Conversation with Barbarian

Разговор с варваром

this book is one of the more frustrating books i've read. I am surprised that it hasn't been translated to English. It discusses the views and believes of Chechen musclims, goes over the history of Chechen havoc in Moscow, and philosophizes on the prospects of civilization.

The book was published in 2003. Khlebnikov was violently killed in 2004 on his way to work. it is widely believed that Chechens put a contract on him:
http://www.command-post.org/nk/2_archives/013518.html
Russian Editor of Forbes Magazine Shot to Death in Moscow


Photo of murdered Russian Editor of Forbes Magazine, Paul Khlebnikov, from Pravda.us

As reported on July 10, 2004, on the Pravda website:

- - - - - - -

Chief Editor of Russian edition of the Forbes magazine Paul Khlebnikov was wounded to death with shot at his head outside his office in Moscow at night of July 9.
He died in the ambulance car.

The police believe that the murder of Paul Khlebnikov resulted from his work in the magazine, Echo of Moscow reported.

According to the investigation, the two killers started firing at the journalist when he was going out of his office. They made 10 shots, 4 bullets hit the journalist. The criminals escaped in VAZ-2115 vehicle of dark color. The police conducted operation to capture the criminals, but it produced no results.

Police have found the VAZ car in which those who killed Pavel Khlebnikov escaped, the press secretary of the Moscow prosecutor's office, Svetlana Petrenko, told Itar-Tass.

- - - - - - -

American journalist of Russian origin Paul (Pavel) Khlebnikov was known as the author of the scandalous book "Kremlin"s Godfather Boris or the story of looting Russia". Before publishing the book, Mr. Khlebnikov published in Forbes the article saying that then-Secretary of Security Council Boris Berezovsky was involved in criminal business. Mr. Berezovsky sued the magazine for the article, the legal hearing lasted for several years and finally Berezovsky won. In 2003 Mr. Khlebnikov published one more scandalous book - "Conversation with Barbarian" on his communication with Chechen rebel commander Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev. Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky said to reporters on the phone after Khlebnikov's murder that he was careless in handling with facts.



It is worth saying that in May 2004 the Forbes published the list of the richest people in Russia. The magazine wrote that only Moscow alone accommodates 39 billionaires - more than in any city of the world. After publishing the list Khlebnikov told that the most of the people mentioned by the Forbes as billionaires, were indignant, they said the information about their wealth had been exaggerated and even threatened. However, Khlebnikov considered this as just emotional reaction and said that the threats were about suing the magazine.

- - - - - - -



Photo of murdered Russian Editor of Forbes Magazine, Paul Khlebnikov, from Forbes.com

After Khlebnikov's death, Steve Forbes, President and Editor-In-Chief of Forbes Magazine, sent this statement to Forbes employees:

- - - - - - -

It is with the deepest sadness that I inform you that Paul Klebnikov, 41, editor of Forbes Russia, was murdered in Moscow this evening. He was reportedly shot four times as he left work and died shortly thereafter.

Paul became the first editor of Forbes Russia at the magazine's launch in April 2004. Forbes Russia is a joint venture with Axel Springer.

Paul joined Forbes in 1989 and rose to the position of senior editor at the magazine, specializing in Russian and Eastern European politics and economics, before assuming editorship of Forbes Russia.

Paul was the author of Godfather of the Kremlin (September 2000), a biography of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian tycoon.

Paul embraced the opportunity to become the first editor of Forbes Russia. He knew Russia well. It was a country he loved deeply.

Paul was a superb reporter--courageous, energetic, ever-curious. I eagerly anticipated reading his stories. The information was always fresh, insightful, fascinating. He exemplified the finest traditions of our profession and served his readers well.

All of us at Forbes are devastated by what has happened and send our condolences and prayers to his wife and family.

- - - - - - -

Interfax reports that the matter is being investigated by the Moscow city prosecutor's office:

- - - - - - -

Investigators probing the murder of Paul (Pavel) Klebnikov, editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, believe the crime was related to the victim's professional activities, a Moscow prosecutor's office spokesman told Interfax on Saturday.

"Taking into account the special significance of the criminal case, a decision was made that the case would be passed from the Moscow Northwestern district prosecutor's office to the city prosecutor's office for investigation," he said.

The Moscow prosecutor's office told Interfax that the capital's prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev ordered the Klebnikov case to be handled by the gangsterism and murder investigation department. "This is because the investigators from that department have gained vast experience in investigating contract killings," they said.

- - - - - - -

Per Pravda, the Russian prosecutors are linking the Forbes editor's murder with his investigative reporting:

- - - - - - -

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office believes there is a direct link between the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russian edition of the Forbes magazine, and his investigative reporting, spokespeople for the Prosecutor told RIA Novosti Saturday. Khlebnikov was fatally wounded outside his office late July 9, and he died from the wounds in hospital.

Prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev has reportedly decided to hand the case over to the murder and banditry department of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. Investigators of this department have vast experience in probing contact killings. Criminal proceedings in connection with Paul Khlebnikov's murder have been launched as pursuant to Article 105 of the Russian Penal Code.

Before being taken to hospital, the journalist told a by-stander that he had been shot at by a man he had seen before. Accounts by other eye-witnesses indicate that Paul Khlebnikov was followed by a dark-colored car. The driver stopped the car ten to fifteen meters away, opened the left-hand window and fired several shots at his victim.

Investigators who worked at the crime scene found nine 9-millimeter shells, one bullet of the same caliber, and other relevant objects, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office says in a press release.

- - - - - - -

The link to the nikita demosthenes post is here.

Posted by nikita demosthenes at July 11, 2004 07:39 PM | TrackBack

Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.

2005-06-23
4:42 PM

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins - Yellow Wallpaper

another one i read in an english class

husband (John) and a wife move into the summer cottage so that she can rest. Apparently she has a case of nervousness. She is forbidden to do anything including writting so she obsesses on one thing she hates in the house - yellow wallpaper

2005-06-10
11:32 AM

Levitt D. Steven and Dubner, J Stephen - Freakonomics

hmmm... very pop, very engaging...
there are a lot of wrong in that book. what i like is authors lack of sugarcoating social issues. a geniune attempt to call things their own names. many thought provoking questions are being asked and some excellent attempts to answer. i can totally see activist groups making a big fuss about a number or issues. definitely recommended.


Chapter 1: What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?
In which we explore the beauty of incentives, as well as their dark side-cheating.

Chapter 2: How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?
In which it is argued that nothing is more powerful than information, especially when its power is abused.

Chapter 3: Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?
In which the conventional wisdom is often found to be a web of fabrication, self-interest, and convenience.

Chapter 4: Where Have All the Criminals Gone?
In which the facts of crime are sorted out from the fictions.

Chapter 5: What Makes a Perfect Parent?
In which we ask, from a variety of angles, a pressing question: do parents really matter?

Chapter 6: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
In which we weigh the importance of a parent's first official act-naming the baby.

<a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/">Official Site</a>
Advertise on Fotki