November 11, 2021

Spider-Man, Siberian Tigers, and Sputnik V


Spider-Man, Siberian Tigers, and Sputnik V
In Odder News

In this week's Odder News, Russia eats too many burgers and fries, leaders get COVID-vaccinated six times, and a Chechen boxer has a magic touch.

  • Spider-Man is on the loose in Moscow – specifically, in the metro system. Though typical in cities like New York, buskers hanging from subway poles and flinging their legs inches from unsuspecting riders' faces is not normal in Moscow, although, apparently, increasingly common.
  • Fast food narod? This week, Komsomolskaya pravda bemoaned the fact that the pandemic has made Russia a country that consumes massive amounts of fast food. The "big three" are McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King. (Sadly, Russian KFCs do not sell bowls of mashed potatoes and gravy. What a waste!) There is no denying that fast food – especially when it is delivered right to your house – has helped some people get through the pandemic. Meanwhile, the pandemic hit traditional "sit down" restaurants hard, with a 52% collapse in the industry's profits in the first half of 2020. The number of purely takeaway joints has risen two and a half fold. The KP journalist writes with regret: "We're turning into a fast food country."
  • "Give him an Oscar!": At a boxing tournament in Grozny, Chechen boxer Abdul-Kerim Edilov defeated his opponent practically just by touching him. Boxer from Ghana Richard Larty lost "artistically and improbably." Edilov barely hit Larty, who fell to the mat and surrendered, leading to calls online to "Give [Larty] an Oscar!" for his acting performance.
  • An Amur (Siberian) tiger is on the loose near a village in the Khabarovsk region. Family dogs are especially under threat as Amur tigers have an "inexplicable craving for dogs." A tiger will watch a dog and its owner for hours and then strike as soon as the owner is no longer near the dog. Keep your dogs hidden and with you at all times, and call 112 (the Russian 911) if you see an orange blur.
  • The head of Russia's Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug got six Sputnik V vaccinations against COVID-19 as part of an "experiment." She got vaccinated back in March 2021 and yet, somehow, was pretty sick with COVID in October 2021. Apparently quantity does not change the likelihood of getting infected. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also reported getting six jabs since vaccines became available in Russia.

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Some of Our Books

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Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
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A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

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Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
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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.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
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Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

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Chekhov Bilingual

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Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

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.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
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The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

White Magic
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White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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