Contents
Do you already know what books you will take on vacation? If not, take a look at our selection. Trying to take into account different tastes, columnist Natalya Lomykina followed the main principle – pleasure.
Emotions
“Euphoria” by Lily King
A novel filled with passion – for science, for life, for adventure, for people. It is based on the biography of the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead, but not literal.
The heroine Nell Stone took the main thing from Mead – intuition and euphoria of scientific research. In the 30s, Nell and her husband Fehn explore one of the New Guinea tribes, but they can’t wait to move further along the Sepik River, where British Andy works. His prototype in life will become Mead’s third husband. Strong feelings will flare up between rivals. But together Nell, Fen and Andy will make a discovery that will change not only their lives.
Translation from English by Maria Alexandrova. Phantom Press, 304 p.
Harmony
“Bird Market”
A collection of short stories is always a box of surprises. It contains 37 stories told in different ways by contemporary authors, from Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Tatyana Tolstaya and Yuri Rost to Evgeny Vodolazkin and Alexei Salnikov.
One wrote a story about the way of life and thoughts of a lion, the other shares stories about a beloved cat or worries about a sick dog. The bird market stretches perfectly for the whole vacation: there is a story for any weather and mood.
Edited by Elena Shubina, 448 p.
Intrigue
“Hidden Place”, “Shadow Behind” by Tana French
Queen of the Irish detective, Tanya French, manages to follow the classic canon—a clever crime, a deep motif, subtle clues, and a pair of charming detectives—and at the same time transform genre works into highly artistic prose.
In A Secret Place, a young and ambitious investigator, Antoinette Conway, takes up an archival case about the murder of a teenager in a closed girls’ school. Together with patrolman Stephen Moran, they manage to figure out the intricacies of girlish friendship. In the second novel, Conway and Moran take on a case that only at first appears to be a domestic manslaughter.
2 books. Translation from English by Gleb and Maria Alexandrov, Viktor Golod, Igor Alyukov. Phantom Press, 576 p. and 510 s. respectively.
Romance
“Call Me By Your Name” by André Aciman
The plot is known from the Oscar-winning film of the same name by Luca Guadagnino (2017). Now you can turn to the source and look at the story of the awakening of the first love through the eyes of one of the two heroes – Elio.
The young man was 17 when the 24-year-old scientist Oliver came to his parents’ house on a hot summer day. Elio experiences confusion and bliss, follows unfamiliar feelings to the touch, intuitively deciphering the signals, being deceived and making mistakes, and, finally, experiencing the all-consuming happiness of love.
Translation from English by Anna Zakharieva. Popcorn Books, 362 c.
Beautiful
“Theatrical people” Sergei Nikolaevich
With many of his heroes – Alla Demidova, Alisa Freindlikh, Mikhail Baryshnikov – the critic and TV presenter Sergei Nikolayevich is well acquainted. His portraits are full of details, his essays are imbued with love for the stage. Nikolayevich, as they say, is a “watched spectator” – he talks about Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” as a person who has seen him on stage hundreds of times, about the work of Inna Churikova – as a fan who knows all her performances.
The theater lives while someone looks at the stage from the audience, the author notes. The look of Nikolayevich himself, attentive and, as far as possible, objective, impresses me very much.
Edited by Elena Shubina, 432 p.
Enthusiasm
Smiling Dane Aurel Bronte has been running a Scandinavian restaurant in London for 12 years. In it, she follows the traditions of her country: not too much, not too little, just right.
The recipes in the book are also balanced: a hearty lunch is followed by a light dinner, but after a green salad, you can afford a chocolate dessert. Fragrant rundstykker buns (literally “round things”), baked fish, a cloudberry cocktail are appetizing and very beautiful.
Exmo, Bombora, 176 p.