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I disliked this short story the first time I read it years ago and I forgot I‘d read it. I still don‘t like it. It‘s quite sad though because it could be quite good—about why an old woman gave up gambling. Then the ending falls so flat. Fortunately it‘s very short so there‘s that. #letterQ #halloweenatoz

#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper

Published in 1834, this is a memorable, ironic tale about greed. There‘s a supernatural component, but we don‘t know if it‘s meant literally or if our man Hermann is losing it.

This acclaimed short story is easy to digest in one sitting — and just like that you‘ve read Pushkin. ♠️

More interesting than enjoyable, this collection is exactly what the title suggests, fragments of various unfinished novels and short stories. The introduction posits that Pushkin's importance to Russian literature is greater than even Shakespeare's to English literature, a claim I can believe given the universal reverence the great Russian novelists of the late-19th and 20th centuries had for him. I've been told Pushkin's poetry can only be...

He was wearing a black frock coat, turning white along the seams, and summer trousers (even though it was now well into autumn), and on his yellowish shirt front, beneath a worn black cravat, shone a false diamond; his fraying hat had clearly seen both sun and rain. Meeting this man in a forest, you'd take him for a brigand; in society-for a political conspirator; in your vestibule-for a charlatan peddling elixirs and rat poison.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Peter the Great sent a number of young men to foreign lands to acquire knowledge necessary to a Russia he had transformed; among them was his godson, an African named Ibrahim.

(I couldn't find my book in the database, but it's 'Peter the Great's African, Experiments in Prose' by Pushkin.)

In preparation to see Queen of Spades in theater, took some of the Pushkin's novels to read.
40 p. The Negro of Peter the Great has a promissing premise, unfortunately is an unfinished novel. It is a story based on true facts and it is unclear why he never finished it.
#pushkin #classics

This was part travelogue, part Russian literature review, and part food diary. I wasn‘t sure if I would follow it because I‘m not a Russian literature expert, but I enjoyed it quite a bit despite my reservations. Sara Wheeler has a dry sense of humor, and a spirit of adventure that I like. #FoodandLit

I can‘t think of any one book, but poetry often reminds me that I am not alone in how I feel and that other people even if they lived years before me have felt as I do.

1. Having trouble posting a link but, Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins.

2. I‘m grateful for my family and democracy.

#ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon Thank you for the tag! @sprainedbrain

I was hoping for a little more history and a little less romance but I‘m still enjoying it. 🇷🇺

Taking a break from historical fiction about Pushkin to start a travelogue... about Pushkin #sensingatheme