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One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit?s?yn
Presents a new translation of the fictional account of the daily hardships a prisoner endures in a Stalinist labor camp
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review
psalva
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | ????????? ??????? ??????????
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Pickpick

This is a low pick for me. It‘s not that the story isn‘t impactful, being autobiographical fiction about a day in a Russian prison camp in the 40s. It‘s more so that the writing style made the story drag, even though it‘s only 140 pages. Nonetheless, I do feel that this was intentional. After all, time must be experienced differently in a prison camp like this, especially when one expects exile at best upon release. In the end, strong stuff.

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Nebklvr
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Pickpick

Solzhenitsyn introduces the reader to Shulkhov, an inmate of a Siberian work camp. How much does ones survival depend on learning how to live with minimal food and clothing in the bitter cold? Even as he struggles, Shulkhov finds joy and satisfaction with the little triumphs he experiences even as he despairs over ever really being free again. Gorgeous writing and a great character. Much more hopeful than his nonfiction.

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ChelseaM6010
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Pickpick

“Just one of the 3,653 days of his sentence, from bell to bell. The extra three were for leap years.”

This book follows Ivan Denisovich Shukhov for a single day while he is serving a term in a Stalinist labor camp. Definitely recommend wearing a jacket and having a hot beverage nearby because it‘s gonna be cold! I could feel the chill of the Siberian winter when reading this from the warmth and comfort of my own house! 🥶

ChelseaM6010 This was my #Bookspin read for the month of February. Also: #1001Books#RoryGilmoreReadingChallenge (edited) 14mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 14mo
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ChelseaM6010

First line: “The hammer banged reveille on the rail outside camp HQ at five o‘clock as always.”

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RedCurly
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenietisyn
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Pickpick

I think it was a big thing when originally published and it still good but I did'nt learn any new thing from it.

#readtheclassics #russian

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rachelk
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | ????????? ??????? ??????????
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Pickpick

Although this is a fictionalized account of a day in the life of an unjustly imprisoned man in a Soviet forced- labor camp, the author drew from his personal experience in the Gulag. It‘s astonishing that this novel was ever published — at one point in the 1970‘s it was banned. The book is short but dense and a somewhat difficult (though worthwhile) read, especially given the historical significance.

Suet624 I always wanted to meet him. He lived in Vermont for quite some time. 2y
rachelk @Suet624 I didn‘t know that! I would have wanted to meet him too. What a fascinating person. (edited) 2y
See All 6 Comments
rachelk @Suet624 Wow, thank you for posting. I love how everyone was so protective of him and his family. 2y
AshleyHoss820 This slim book has managed to stay with me long after I read it! Excellent book! 😊 2y
rachelk @AshleyHoss820 Yes. I keep thinking about how brave Solzhenitsyn must have been to write it. 2y
41 likes6 comments
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DGRachel
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Pickpick

One of these days, I‘ll tackle The Gulag Archipelago, but this short novel is a good introduction to the horrors of that tome. It‘s dark and sad, but Solzhenitsyn is one of the Russian authors whose writing I can get through (*shakes fist at Dostoyevsky). This is my pick for the bridge country of #Russia for #ReadingAsia2021.

BarbaraBB Glad to hear this one‘s a pick for you. I think it‘s one of the #1001books to read before you die. 2y
Librarybelle Good choice! 2y
Centique Yes! Popping into this post very late, but yes! I can read Solzhenitsyn but haven‘t managed Dostoevsky - I will shake my fist too 😂 2y
DGRachel @Centique I am so glad I‘m not the only one! I loved Ivan Turgenev‘s Fathers and Sons but while I finished Bulgakov‘s Master and Margarita, I did not like it. Russian authors are so hit or miss for me. 2y
Centique @DGRachel I will have to try Ivan Turgenev - thank you for the recc! 2y
42 likes5 comments
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mobill76

Shocking, like a horror movie. it's the punishment of Gulag Archipelago rolled into one punch to the stomach. The images are stark and stay with you for the rest of your life. Read this and take nothing for granted again.

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danx
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Pickpick

It seemed fitting to follow Wild Swans with this short memoir. A day in a soviet gulag. Insightful, human, strong and full of perspective. At times I felt physically cold while reading it. Highly recommend.

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ChemistKat
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Picked this up at the bookstore today.

SamAnne I picked that off my family bookshelf in my early teens. Was not prepared for the darkness! 4y
2 likes1 comment
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vlwelser
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Thank you for the tag @Buechersuechtling

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView

1. I just recently read the tagged book. I also tend to read a lot of Scandinavian mystery novels. My theory is that if they weren't good, no one would bother translating them.

2. Yes. French. But I have been trying to relearn Spanish so I haven't been doing that lately. Anyone else hooked on Duolingo?

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 🤩 4y
31 likes1 comment
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vlwelser
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Pickpick

I'm adding this to my list of recommendations for books to read when you need some perspective. Things might be bad right now, but you're not in Siberia in a forced labor camp. Actually, this is surprisingly upbeat.

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holarosarita
Pickpick

I still don‘t understand a damn thing about how Russians go about naming each other. But this is a good book.

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holarosarita
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Going back a little to last year‘s Read Harder (which I never finished): a book written in prison. I‘ve always had a hard time with the Russians, so we‘ll see how this goes.

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ameliashley
Mehso-so

Probably would have been better read in Russian like the OG..

DrexEdit I think I probably added this to my TBR from a recommendation on Litsy. Glad to know your thoughts about it! Welcome to Litsy! 😊 👋 4y
17 likes1 comment
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Lucy_Anywhere
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Pickpick

It only took me a day to read this short little book, but this chronicle of a single day in a Siberian labour camp is going to stay with me for much longer. Quiet and understated and very, very human, this is a tale of how the gulag changes the people inside it and how the prisoners struggle to retain their dignity and self-respect in whatever ways they can.

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Ruthiella
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Pickpick

#RedroseSeptember
#adayinthelife

A short, powerful and oddly hopeful book about one man‘s day of survival in a Soviet gulag. Highly recommend!

rubyslippersreads ❤️💚 Gumby and Pokey! 5y
Ruthiella @rubyslippersreads Turns out they are both big readers! 🤪 5y
arlenefinnigan Excellent! 5y
See All 13 Comments
Ruthiella @arlenefinnigan Thanks! 😀 5y
Cinfhen Love the photo and extra 💕for Gumby 5y
Ruthiella @Cinfhen Thank you 😊 5y
Blaire Great book! 5y
Ruthiella @Blaire It is! The Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn is also good! 😀 5y
gradcat Great book!! 👍 5y
Ruthiella @gradcat It really was! I was surprised given the subject matter. 😀 5y
gradcat I know, but he‘s such a good writer that no matter the material, the books soar...I love his books. 5y
Ruthiella @gradcat What would you recommend I read next from him? 😀 5y
gradcat Well, I read “The Gulag Archipelago” first. But it‘s long (3 vols.), arduous, and deep (as it‘s nonfiction, you can easily understand why), but I think my favorite novel is probably 5y
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Andrea313
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit?s?yn
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This book was assigned to me at the beginning of my Freshman year of high school, and was a very eye-opening read for me. I've read it a number of times since and may be due to pick it up again soon. #ADayInTheLife #RedRoseSeptember
@Cinfhen @arlenefinnigan

Cinfhen This title made me think about the book with the gorilla on the cover / I‘m blaming it on my jet lag 5y
Andrea313 @Cinfhen Ha! Pretty different reads, but now I might have to read them as companion pieces and see what I discover! 😉 5y
Cinfhen Ya never know what works 😊😂 5y
arlenefinnigan This seems pretty tough for high school reading! 5y
19 likes4 comments
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CafeMom
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Pickpick

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a former Soviet battery commander and is a survivor of the notorious Soviet Gulag. The story is fictional but clearly written by someone with first hand knowledge. The story expressed the challenges prisoners went through just surviving the day especially in the Siberian cold. Bread is an important component of this story and I will never look at a piece of bread in the same way especially the crusty bits. #1001books

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Jess861
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We had to read this book in Junior High (about 20 years ago) and I didn't enjoy it at the time. I found it painfully descriptive and it just didn't hold my interest. Although, I did gain some understanding of how hard life could be in Russian camp and I felt for the character. I find myself wanting to re-read this book - as I feel with age I might gain more from the book.

#LetsTravelJuly #Russia @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

OriginalCyn620 👌🏻📚❤️ 5y
Lynnsoprano I think too often students are made to read books they just aren‘t ready to appreciate. For me, it was The Scarlet Letter. 5y
Jess861 @Lynnsoprano - I completely agree! However, while I wasn't ready to fully appreciate the book, I think it opened my eyes to some of the history that has gone on throughout the world. I'm glad I read it when I did although I do need to re-read to fully appreciate the book. (edited) 5y
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MayJasper
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit?s?yn
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#wanderingjune prompt 12: #russians @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB
I have read all of these with the exception of Maidenhair. All impactful reads.

Centique Wow! That‘s impressive! I‘ve read one Solzhenitsyn and one Tolstoy and I‘m determined to improve on that. Next year I‘m planning to tackle some 💪🏼😁 5y
BarbaraBB Great examples! 5y
MayJasper Thank you @Centique I have yet to tackle Tolstoy. Not sure where to start. 5y
Centique @MayJasper I enjoyed Anna Karenina. Found it an easier read than Solzhenitsyn for sure. 😊 5y
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Tove_Reads
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#readingtheworld #Russia It‘s so short that it feels like a chapter from some of the other Russian classics 😂

Emilymdxn Beautiful edition! 5y
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Staci
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Mehso-so

good story. I can tell you one thing, I would never commit a crime in Russia.

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MrBook
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These are the new additions for my 20th-Century #Classics Display, have you read any of them? This one may be the best performing of my January displays, turn-over is massive, which is very heartening since only several books were borrowed off of it last year. 😁👏🏻

#LitsyLovesLibraries #MrBooksDisplays

Gina Jean Rhys is my girlllll 5y
rwmg I read "The Once and Future King" as a child and most of the Jeeves books 5y
KV9 Gone with the wind is a fabulous book and the Maya Angelou books are on the tbr pile. Still I Rise is one of my favourite poems. I work with autistic teenagers and trying to convince them how kick ass it is didn't really work out lol. 5y
Dragon Love Jeeves! 💙 5y
Lexeegee Gone With The Wind is one of my all time faves and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings 5y
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MelissaSue81
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1. Librarian Meme
2. Computer tower
3. I have no idea how to classify this genre? Political fiction?
4. Not sure but there are some in my freezer.
5. Noooo!
#humpdaypost @MinDea

Chelleo 😂 5y
55 likes1 comment
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MelissaSue81
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Mehso-so

This book just wasn‘t my thing, but it did hold my interest for its short runtime. :)

ravenlee I found it interesting but not compelling. If it had been longer I‘m not sure I would have stayed with it. 5y
MelissaSue81 @ravenlee - agreed.. there wasn‘t really a plot or anything but its interesting that it was based on his real experience 5y
ravenlee I remember my sister had a high school classmate who was upset that there was no resolution to the story - apparently he missed that part of the title that says it‘s one day of his life. 😆 5y
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j9brown
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Pickpick

Such a grueling and miserable life, but Ivan hustles and takes pride in his work and find joy in the littlest things. Simple yet powerful. That last paragraph, man.

#russianlit #nobelprize

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overtheedge
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Pickpick

# 12 of 100 Classics Challenge

Tells of a 24 hour period in the life of Ivan Denisovich, in one of Stalins forced labor camps. Ivan's crime was not against another person, his crime was speaking out the communist oppression . His sentence was 25 years.
This is sad, and hard to believe there are people who feel ok or justified treating others so poorly. The discrimination will never end.
Recommended!

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overtheedge
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# 12 of 100 Classics Challenge

This looks like a quick read....another from TBR pile. This challenge is chipping away at the pile....

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Pam.Kokomo
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Pickpick

“The end of an unclouded day. Almost a happy one. Just one of the 3,653 days of his sentence, from bell to bell.”

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loleebs
Pickpick

IB

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Anna40
Pickpick

The work of the prisoners is described in minute detail. Survival strategies, the experience of hunger, food, freezing cold, and the toll all of this takes on the body, make it a very oppressive read. I did not enjoy this book, it is hell. However, as a document of Stalin's atrocities it has to be read, in the hope that we learn from history's worst moments.

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Anna40
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AAmuses
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Pickpick

In an emotionally barren and physically cold Soviet camp, he managed to maintain his humanity and find virtue and happiness.

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Jenna22
Pickpick

👍🏼

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AAmuses
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vespertine.volumes
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A favorite of Soviet literature. A perfect example of the era, and a masterpiece of literature.

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MayJasper
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#numbertitles #riotgrams
I read this decades ago and it still stays with me. State sanctioned cruelty should be read about.

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andrew61
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"a day without a dark cloud, almost a happy day"
Is surviving resistance? Definitely a book i need to reread and see the film again.
#junetunz #resistance

saresmoore Oh yes, I want to reread this one, too. I'm not sure if I could handle a film adaptation, though. 7y
Lwiesman This sounds good!! 7y
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Soubhiville
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I read this in school and it left a huge impression on me. It's a look at Stalin era labor camps, and it's intense. I've reread it a few times, and it's got punch every time. #backintheussr #rockinmay

Cinfhen Oooooh, sounds good and only 200 pages!!! Now I'm even more inclined to try this book 💙 7y
saresmoore @Cinfhen Due to the insane volume of books you've added, I certainly hesitate to call anything a must-read. But this book is just that good. I second @Soubhiville's recommendation! 7y
Cinfhen Hahaha...it's so true @saresmoore I have created a TBR MONSTER 👹👺👹👹👺 7y
See All 6 Comments
Soubhiville @Cinfhen this is a quick read, and something that will really stick with you. 7y
Dragon I read this one and Cancer Ward but could never finish The Gulag Archipelago ( too horrifying) 👍 7y
Soubhiville @Dragon I'll have to look for those! 7y
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i.z.booknook
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Pickpick

This was a fascinating little story! Set in Stalin's Russia in a prison camp, we follow one single day in amazing detail! Seeing how they controlled the prisoners and how the prisoners reacted/what things really mattered in such circumstances. Also really interesting whilst reading it to know that the writer spent 8 years in these camps! But it's surprisingly and beautifully up beat at the end! A very good translation. Thoroughly recommend 📚😊

saresmoore Good review! 👏 This is one of my favorites. 7y
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i.z.booknook
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"How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?" This quote is very poignant in the world today ??

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AshleyHoss820
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Pickpick

This is literally an account of one day in the life of a man in a labor camp in Siberia. It's a straight-forward, this-is-life story. Solzhenitsyn himself spent time in the gulags and it is clear he knows what he's talking about. 58/1,001 #1001Books #RoryGilmoreChallenge

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Knowledgelost
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Pickpick

A terrifying yet fascinating insight into life in the Gulag under Stalin. But I find myself needing to know more, so will have to pick up the seven volume collection of The Gulag Archipelago

vivastory Also recommend Nadezhda Mandelstam's memoir "Hope Against Hope." It's about the arrest & sentencing of her husband, the great poet Osip Mandelstam. 7y
BooksForYears I'll recommend Journey Into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginsburg - firsthand female experience in Stalin-era prisons and gulag. 7y
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ABookGeek
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Pickpick

Such a great, profound book. Short, but will have to read again.

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Simona
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Pickpick

Ivan's day in a soviet labor camp with strong emotional impact, where inhumanity, humiliation and struggle for survival are brought to the limit and fellow man becomes the enemy and when a piece of bread (200 g) becomes everything.
The story made me to think about my own attitude towards life and how grateful I should be for all the things that I don't need in my life, but I have them and I take them for granted.

Gissy Definitely, I need to read this one! For what you wrote in your comment, reminds me Night! By Arlie Wiesel. 7y
Simona @Gissy I love reading nonfiction books about the Soviet Union and Solženicin was mentioned in nearly every book. And I'm not sorry to reading them, because the stories are basically simple, but profound reflection of Communist times. (edited) 7y
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Simona
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My reading buddies has only one rule - the one that comes first, can lie on my head and because of that I am grateful for the Kindle, it is easier to read with device than with a physical book.

#photoadaynov16 #readinginbed

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Simona
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Back from the library. I went for one book and came back with a bunch of them. And a little story - father with daughter (probably under 3yo) and she didn't want to return the book with kitty. Librarian couldn't tempted her with another book. And I thought, while listening to an explanation how the library works - baby I know how you feel, sometimes I don't want to say goodbye to books too.

#readingwithoutwalls

Titles translations 👇

Simona From the top: Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisevich, Kingston - The Woman Warrior, Solzhenitsyn - Gulag Archipelago, Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being 7y
See All 8 Comments
Litlady Reading more Russian lit is on my literary bucket list! 😊 7y
Reviewsbylola I am pretty sure my kids would return any book as long as they get to put them in the return slot themselves. That is their favorite part. 😂 7y
Simona @Litlady Russian literature is close to my Slavonic soul and I'm interested in their history. 7y
Simona @Reviewsbylola You have to have some fun 😂 7y
Dragon I remember this as a tough book , things were very bleak for Ivan. I couldn't finish the Gulag Archipelago because so many triggers. I can't tell you how much I admire Mr Solzhenitsyn. 7y
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BookishTrish
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A day in the life of a Gulag inmate #politicalfiction #photoadayNov16

Simona I've read quite a few books on the subject of the Soviet Union, communism...and Solzhenitsyn is quoted and mentioned in almost all of these books, but I haven't read it. Time to visit my library, 7y
Dragon I read this one and Cancer Ward years ago. A very frightening look at Soviet Russia 7y
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