Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Russian audio books.

I wrote in one of my HTLAL logs that I didn't know what Russian audio book to listen to after I finish Anna Karenina, but now I realize that it is perhaps a better idea to write about it here since more Russians probably read this blog. I will just copy what I wrote in the log.

What I am mostly thinking about right now is what book I will listen to after this one. I would really like to listen to a book that I can become passionate about. Can anyone recommend any classic in particular? Classics are so much easier to understand so I would prefer that when it comes to audio books.

3 comments:

  1. If you have little trouble with Anna Karenina, you’re advanced enough to choose pretty much anything you like.

    I broke into the language through the immortal classic of Russian literature called “Shogun”. I find large chunks of Anna Karenina still too hard for my (refined) taste so my next book was "Alien".

    I'm pretty sure that some of your Russian readers will swoon in terror upon reading this.

    My guess is that you’ve been reading heavy-duty stuff, so I’ll mention:

    The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
    by Vladimir Voinovich

    just to lighten up the things a little bit.

    There is also The Twelve Chairs (Russian: Двенадцать стульев, Dvenadtsat stulev) - a classic satirical novel by Ilf and Petrov.

    I like Taras Bulba very much - that's not haha funny but it's certainly lively and a good read.

    I would also like to chime in and ask someone to recommend something in Russian that’s uh funny and well written or a bit like Taras Bulba. Finding clssics that are NOT funny or where nothing happens for a very long time is certainly not a problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually have Двенадцать стульев, as a "normal" book. And I haven't actually read much heavy-duty stuff yet! Just snippets of things here and there, so any classic author is fine really.

    I'll check out Voinovich and Bulba, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Вот не пойму: ну какой смысл в том, чтобы изучать местечковые языки, у которых нет ни практического применения, ни обширной базы носителей, как, например, у английского или китайского?

    Чтобы читать книги на этих языках в подлиннике? Сомнительное удовольствие, если учесть, что 90% русских классиков — унылое говно.

    Кстати, что касается русских классиков. Не понимаю, почему большинство садомазохистов, обрекших себя на изучение русского недоязыка, начинают именно с них — язык у них сухой, скучный и бесцветный, как в учебнике по физике, и зачастую полон архаизмов. Я молчу уж про антураж — мало кому будет интересно читать о событиях, которые якобы произошли в позапрошлом столетии с каким-нибудь вымышленным опричником или дворянином. Так что то, чем Вы занимаетесь, — полнейший мазохизм, а следовательно, вся Ваша затея с изучением быдлорусского копронедоязычка не только бессмысленна, но и обречена на неудачу.

    До скорого.

    ReplyDelete