BootsnAll Travel Community

I will be traveling through the former USSR countries and I am looking for a cool book to read that involves the area. I think it would be really cool to get a book that is a personal account of what it was like during the years before and after the fall of ther berlin wall. I'm not looking for a dry history book, but at the same time it would be nice to get some history in there.

Any ideas anyone?

This may not really be a 'guy book', but if you're interested at all in Catherine the Great, I'd definitely recommend
Elizabeth and Catherine, Empresses of All the Russias by Robert Coughlan (1974) Maybe you can get it at the library. We just went to the Crimea so it's particularly interesting when you read how they traveled in those days in sleigh/caravans that were kind of like traveling mobile homes. After reading this book, you get a good glimpse of court life in Russia which will put any visits to St. Petersburg into perspective. It puts some present day attitudes Russia has about the Crimea into perspective.

I'm not sure what part of the former USSR you're headed to, but if it's the 'Stans, Here's a good one.

I'm a slavophile. Nothing like Russian literature - makes much of the rest look like shallow crap (there's a visual for you...).

What are you particularly intersted in? Social novel? Pure fiction? Written by locals? Particular countries? Need more input!

The geek I am, I walked the path Raskalnikov took when he went to kill the old lady. (Crime and Punishment - Although, I prefer The Brothers Karamasov).

Then, as cliche as it is, there's always War and Peace. Beautiful insight into its time.

One of my favorites (Ukrainian) is The Master and Margarita. Great book. Beautiful read. And quite fundamental if you have a bit of background knowledge on what was going on in Soviet Russia.

If you want that directly from a witness (one of the few who lived to tell AND got to publish it), then there's always Solzhenitsyn (Gulag Archipelago or simpler One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich).

Viktor Pelewin is a contemporary Russian writer. Not sure if his work has been translated into English yet. 'Buddhas little Finger' (my translation) is a very powerful, imaginative account on the civil war between the Reds and the Whites after the Revolution.

Ossendowski's 'Beasts, Men and Gods' sounds very interesting - also set in the time of the civil war - combines historic facts, mysticism and travel. Difficult to get your hands on though.

I found a copy of In Siberia on the road. It was ok to read, simply because I've been to quite a few places he went to. If you are interested in a Westerners view on travelling in the USSR, that's a ok one. (Same author as the book Haci Richard suggested.)

Ok, leaving it there for now. Hope it helps.
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