Russia's Still Odd in 2021

This week, we ring in 2021 with babies in costume, butter thieves, and sled funerals.

A recent poll found that more than a third of Russians (35%) are hoping for the end of the pandemic in 2021. Other popular wishes included health for themselves and families (51%); higher wages (44%); and happiness (42%). Unsurprisingly, however, only 2% yearn to go back to the office.
A man in Yakutia charged with stealing 380 kilograms of butter (840 lbs) has received a punishment of 400 hours of labor. Hey, we get it: sometimes you've got a lot of toast. 840-pounds-of-butters' worth.
Babies born January 2021 in Yekaterinburg will be starting life in style: a local hospital will be clothing them in Russian New Years' garb as they're sent home. We envision infants with big Ded Moroz beards and long Snegurochka braids.
A new sports complex in the Russian republic of Chechnya has been named after the 15-year-old son of local leader Ramzan Kadyrov. This is the same guy who named his daughter to a ministerial post, so this is par for the course.
A scandal in the town of Penza in which a coffin was transported to its gravesite by sled has ended with the governor's firing of the head of the cemetery, as, reportedly, he failed to clear the snow. Frankly, however, sleds are not a bad way to go.

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Dostoyevsky Bilingual

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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This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

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Kashtanka – A Bilingual Reader

A bilingual presentation of one of the great classics of Russian literature.

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout.

Fish: A History of One Migration

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