April 29, 2022

Hard Times Ahead


Hard Times Ahead
Colorful, but with dwindling value. The Russian Life file

Alexei Kudrin, former head of Russia's Ministry of Finance and currently president of the Accounts Chamber, revealed his forecast for the Russian economy.

He's not optimistic.

Kudrin predicts the Russian economy will contract by 8.8% in 2022, inflation will hit 20.7% (with another 6% in 2023), and GDP could decline as much as 12.4%.

All of this, of course, is a result of western sanctions.

For context, Russia saw an economic decline of around 3% in 2020, a relatively small amount compared to other states during the COVID pandemic.

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KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

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Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Life Stories
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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
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White Magic
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White Magic

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