A welcome revival of a 1980s comedy prophesying the collapse of the Soviet UnionHere is a revival of a 1983 film from the Georgian director Eldar Shengelaia (still alive at 90) and it is revealed as an intriguing, and perhaps even remarkable creation: a dapper, droll satire on Soviet bureaucracy, a shaggy dog story of absurd humour that creeps up on you, culminating in a truly bizarre apocalypse. The satire was arguably lenient enough to get the film made and lenient enough to win it the USSR State prize, but we can see from our 2023 vantage point that it is a deadpan prophecy of the Soviet Union’s imminent collapse. If we could go back in time to this film’s first release and tell Shengelaia that just six years later the Berlin Wall would come down and with it the entire Soviet system, would he have been surprised? Perhaps only about the fact that it was going to take so long.The scene is a state publishing company that also supervises printing and takes delivery of noisome chemicals in its basement courtyard. A would-be writer called Soso (Ramaz Giorgobiani) is scurrying about the building, desperately trying to interest its harassed or indolent functionaries in his novel, entitled Tian Shan, or The Blue Mountains – and therefore, we must assume, literally or metaphorically about the central Asian mountain ranges, although no one ever asks him about it or discusses literary matters in any way. No one definitively rejects him or accepts him. He is always referred to... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-06 13:00:00 UTC ]
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In reckoning with her friend's suicide, the author pulls readers into that empty space where loss and grief reside.The Guardians: An Elegy Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#sarah manguso
'Tinderbox: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and the How the World Can Finally Overcome It' describes what spread the pandemic and what could rein it in.Tinderbox Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This is a comprehensive biography of the president and an assessment of his leadership qualities on and off the battlefield.Eisenhower in War and Peace Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The novel takes place across decades and tells overlapping stories as it tries to piece together a fallen world.Gods Without Men Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This collection of short stories includes the fine 'Frankenwittgenstein,' 'Considering the Bittersweet End of Susan Falls' and uneven others.Hot Pink Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury Press has acquired a title about cooking for dogs by the founder of petfood brand, Lily... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Web magazine will publish an expanded look at books on the first Saturday of each month, as stand-alone book review sections in newspapers have dwindled. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeff Kinney's comic tale beats 10 bestselling titles to be named best children's book of the last 10 years. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With care and craft, the novelist and essayist seeks to summarize Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 art film 'Stalker,' finding elements that will keep the non- cinéaste onboard.Zona Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A creepy professor eavesdrops on a woman's therapy sessions and becomes obsessed with her.By Blood Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The death of language is explored via plague-carrying children and their horror-struck parents in a wildly inventive tale by Ben Marcus.Spend too much time with 24-hour news networks and it's easy to feel that exposure to that much talk can make you sick. Taking the idea a few steps further,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'Enemies: A History of the FBI,' Tim Weiner ('Legacy of Ashes') offers a scathing indictment of the FBI, before J. Edgar Hoover and since.Each week, the FBI sends reporters an email of "top ten news stories" that it hopes will hit the headlines. The press releases usually highlight crooks... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tracie McMillan takes us to agricultural fields, Wal-Mart and Applebee's, where she works short stints and tries to eat healthfully on meager pay.The American Way of Eating Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomas Mallon's novel deftly paints a picture of 1970s America and adds an imaginative back story to the characters.Watergate Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author's short stories paint vivid pictures of growing up Filipino American.In a smoke-stained San Francisco hotel room, Felix Starro is making fake blood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and a family's violent rise to prominence is given gripping life.On a morning in August 2007, a slender masked man ran up to Chauncey Bailey on an Oakland sidewalk and fired two shotgun blasts at the journalist. The first slug tore through Bailey... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Books Ireland has acquired the autobiography of footballer Roy Keane's dog, Triggs,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Aperture, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting photography, is gearing up for a big year in 2012. In addition to celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, it has teamed with Paris Photo, the annual French photography fair, to launch The PhotoBook Review, a new biannual publication on... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An MP has joined the Bookseller Association's calls for the government to respond to the Mary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Booksellers Association has welcomed Mary Portas report into the future of the high... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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