Bears in the Caviar Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Latchkey Murders Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
At the Circus (bilingual) 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.
Jews in Service to the Tsar Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Survival Russian Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Okudzhava Bilingual Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards.
Far & Away ~ Tales from Rural Russia 33 original stories about modern (and not so modern) life in rural Russia.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual) The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Fish: A History of One Migration This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
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.
Piter's People – Natalia Kapiturova A project in which readers meet regular St. Petersburgers, to learn about their lives and their favorite places in the Northern Palmyra. First up: coffee!
Piter's People – Nikolay Predtechensky St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as a port on the Baltic Sea, and about 10% of its surface area is water. So we meet a boat rental company owner and find out the best place for pizza in the city.
Piter's People - Katya Kotlyar Graphic designer, traveler, instagram explorer, Katya Kotlyar knows her home city inside out, and sees it as an artist would, as a beautiful backdrop for living.
Piter's People – Sergey Goorin St. Petersburg is often thought to be a gray city, as it only has about 75 sunny days each year. Still, photographer Segrey Goorin finds inspiration here for his black and white photography, capturing street life, extraordinary locals and numerous parties.
Piter's People - Ekaterina Khozatskaya Ekaterina is an artist who is constantly sketching in St. Petersburg bars. Her hobby led to the creation of the Instagram blog “Between the Bars,” where she captures the city's bohemian atmosphere.
Piter's People – Tigran Ayrapetyan Tigran loves history and music, plays piano, and founded hotels. Oh, and he also tries to make time travel possible.
Piter's People – Dusya Gorbovskaya Dusya is a Vasiliyevsky Island local, whose job it is to promote a creative space located on the island – Sevkabel Port.
Piter's People – Nikita Filippov Nikita was trained as a philologist, but gave it all up to co-found a craft brewery.
Piter's People – Kseniya Schastlivtseva Kseniya is an architect, who found her passion in jewelry making.
Piter's People - Mikhail Ivanov Mikhail is the director of a book store that has been operating in St. Petersburg since 1926.
Piter's People – Darya Aleksandrova Few Russians know who Julia Child is. Yet Darya still chose to name her restaurant after the iconic American chef.
Piter's People coping with Coronavirus Given all that has been going on, we thought it would be a good time to check in with some of the people we have profiled in Piter's People and see how they are doing.
Piter's People – Maxim Kosmin Maxim is a blogger and photographer who helps everyone to see the charm of St. Petersburg historic apartments.