Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Top 10 books of Russia

James Meek worked in Moscow as a foreign correspondent for the Guardian from 1991 to 1999, and has won several awards (including Foreign Correspondent of the Year) for his reporting from Iraq and Guantanamo.

His books include the novels We Are Now Beginning Our Descent and the Booker-longlisted The People's Act of Love, which is set in Siberia in 1919 and tells the story of an obscure Christian sect and a stranded regiment of Czech soldiers.

In 2005 he named his top ten books of Russia for the Guardian. One title on the list:
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodr Dostoyevsky, 1879

A pious brother, a wild-living brother, a political brother and their wretched father.

"'So you married a lame woman?' cried Kalganov.
'Yes. They both deceived me a little bit at the time, and concealed it. I thought she was hopping; she kept hopping ... I thought it was for fun.'"
Read about another title on Meek's list.

The Brothers Karamazov also appears among James Runcie's top ten books about brothers and Norman Mailer's top 10 works of literature.

--Marshal Zeringue