Books in Russian

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Anton Chekhov was a master of the short story. The son of a former serf in southern Russia, he attended Moscow University to study medicine, writing short stories for periodicals in order to support his family. What began as a necessity became a legitimate career in 1886 when he was asked to write in St. Petersburg for the Novoye Vremya (New Times), owned by millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin. Chekhov began paying more attention to his writing, revising and developing his own principles and conceptions of truth, for a time coming under the influence of Leo Tolstoy. As a result of his widespread popularity, Chekhov amassed a vast collection of short stories displaying an early use of stream-of-consciousness writing, as well as his powerful ideas concerning the individual, the tedium of life, and the beauty nature and humanity. "Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov" including many of the author's greatest shorter works. Learn More

This collection of Fairy Tales includes stories written by Chukovsky K., Barto A., Mikhalkov S., Oster G. For preschool age. Learn More

What a fruitful and animated world of human like vegetables is created in Rodari's work! Just take a look at the names of the inhabitants of that garden kingdom: Cipollini - the little onion, Signor Tomato, Prince Lemon which speaks of the traits and habits of their bearers. The real and fictive worlds interweave and poignant and acute humor fills the pages which doesn't prevent the author from addressing the gravest problems including tolerance and peace between different strata of society. Learn More

Colorful book for little ones. Through this edition child develops fine motor skills, memory, imagination and logical thinking. Learn More

Colorful book for little ones. Through this edition child develops fine motor skills, memory, imagination and logical thinking. Learn More

To Alexei Tolstoy (1883-1945) history, in addition to an artistic theme, was also a means of studying life. The novel "Peter the Great" was preceded by various works on this theme (Peters Day, On the Rack) which depict the formative stages of the authors conception of history. Tolstoy published the first part of the novel in 1929, the second in 1934, working on the third part until the day of his death, yet leaving it unfinished.The novel is dynamic. It shows the epoch and Peter himself, a true national hero of Russia and creator of the Russian state, in all their magnificence and multiplicity, in all their contradictions. The author describes the transformation of Russia into a mighty power. The novel is imbued with pride for Russia and faith in the Russian people. This profoundly realistic work has greatly influenced Soviet writers working in the field of history. Tolstoy won the Stalin Prize for this novel. Learn More

This autobiographical collection of character sketches provides an engaging glimpse of four generations of a Soviet family that suffered relatively little, even under Stalin, and enjoyed considerable upward mobility. While there are a few grim moments, the emphasis is on the absurdities of Soviet life and the manipulability of the system for those who, like the Dovlatovs, have the right connections. Learn More

Best known for The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov is one of twentieth-century Russia's most prominent novelists. Learn More

Based on Dovlatov's experiences as a juornalist in the Soviet Republic of Estonia, this is an acidly comic picture of ludicrous bureaucratic ineptitude, which obviously still continues. Learn More

An unsuccessful writer and an inveterate alcoholic, Boris Alikhanov has recently divorced his wife Tatyana, and he is running out of money. The prospect of a summer job as a tour guide at the Pushkin Hills Preserve offers him hope of regaining some balance in life as his wife makes plans to emigrate to the West with their daughter Masha, but during Alikhanov’s stay in the rural estate of Mikhaylovskoye, his life continues to unravel. Learn More

Sergei Dovlatov’s subtle, dark-edged humor and wry observations are in full force in The Suitcase as he examines eight objects—the items he brought with him in his luggage upon his emigration from the U.S.S.R. These seemingly undistinguished possessions, stuffed into a worn-out suitcase, take on a riotously funny life of their own as Dovlatov inventories the circumstances under which he acquired them, occasioning a brilliant series of interconnected tales: A poplin shirt evokes the bittersweet story of a courtship and marriage, while a pair of boots (of the kind only the Nomenklatura can afford) calls up the hilarious conclusion to an official banquet. Some driving gloves—remnants of Dovlatov’s short-lived acting career—share space with neon-green crepe socks, reminders of a failed black-market scam. Learn More

The underground masterpiece of twentieth-century Russian fiction, Mikhail Bulgakov’s THE MASTER AND MARGARITA was written during Stalin’s regime and could not be published until many years after its author’s death. When the devil arrives in 1930s Moscow, consorting with a retinue of odd associates — including a talking black cat, an assassin, and a beautiful naked witch — his antics wreak havoc among the literary elite of the world capital of atheism. Meanwhile, the Master, author of an unpublished novel about Jesus and Pontius Pilate, languishes in despair in a pyschiatric hospital, while his devoted lover, Margarita, decides to sell her soul to save him. As Bulgakov’s dazzlingly exuberant narrative weaves back and forth between Moscow and ancient Jerusalem, studded with scenes ranging from a giddy Satanic ball to the murder of Judas in Gethsemane, Margarita’s enduring love for the Master joins the strands of plot across space and time. Learn More

The Cossacks is a short novel by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1863 in the popular literary magazine The Russian Messenger. It was originally called Young Manhood. The Cossacks is believed to be somewhat autobiographical, partially based on Tolstoy's experiences in the Caucasus during the last stages of the Caucasian War. Tolstoy had a morally corrupt experience in his youth, engaging in numerous promiscuous partners, heavy drinking and gambling problems; many argue Tolstoy used his own past as inspiration for the protagonist Olenin. Learn More

Anna Karenina is the wife of a prominant Russian government official. She leads a correct but confining upper-middle-class existence. She seems content with her life as a proper companion to her dignified, unaffectionate husband and an adoring mother to her young son, until she meets Count Vronsky, a young officer of the guards. He pursues her and she falls madly in love with him. Her husband refuses to divorce her, so she gives up everything, including her beloved son, to be with Vronsky. After a short time, Vronsky becomes bored and unhappy with their life as social outcasts. He abandons her, returns to the military and is immediately accepted back into society. Anna, a fallen woman, shunned by respectable society, throws herself under a train. Learn More

In order to rescue his beloved Lyudmila, who has been abducted by the evil wizard Chernomor, the warrior Ruslan faces an epic and perilous quest, encountering a multitude of fantastic and terrifying characters along the way. Learn More