Two recently published works of fiction that we liked and wanted to share with you.

Throughout his long life, Leo Tolstoy had many strange hobbies. One of them was bicycling, which he learned at the ripe age of 67, and which he loved. But that's not to say there weren't some humorous incidents...

Forced to retire from the entertainer’s life at an early age, Victor turned the world into his stage.

An excerpt from the fine new novel Zuleikha, by Guzel Yakhina, about a woman's survival in Siberia exile, inspired by childhood memories of the author's grandmother.

Catherine the Great was a prolific letter writer and her missives offer a uniquely intimate view of her personal life and political development (to say nothing of her humor and passion).

A longtime businessman with deep ties to Russia considers the passing of a true friend, in the context of deteriorating US-Russian relatins.

In the winter of 1968, ousted Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was brooding in his government dacha outside Moscow, readying to send his memoirs abroad. Then the British military attache and his son stopped by for a visit.

There are many ways to learn music, but just one 
“Russian Way,” as cellist Marianne Ide finds out.

In which we continue our year-long look at the events as they unfolded during the year of revolutions, 1917. Coverage is divided into Politicians, Artists and The Military

It gave birth to the greatest novel ever written, brought down Napoleon, reshaped Europe, led to the end of serfdom, the invention of terrorism, and, eventually, the end of tsarism. It was tremendous folly, horrific hubris and astounding heroism. And it happened 200 years ago this fall. We turn to people who lived through the War of 1812 for their first person accounts.