Arnaud's lazy log (Russian & co)

[Arnaud]

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[Arnaud]

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[Arnaud]

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[Arnaud]

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[Arnaud]

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[Arnaud]

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[Ogrim]

The books of Alexievich are generally built on testimonies, so the language is more approachable than in a fiction book.

Alexievich is an excellent writer and I think the Nobel prize was fully deserved. In my Russian class we are working on texts from Alexievich's book Время секонд хэнд, and it seems really interesting, so I have decided to try and read the whole book, more than 400 pages. Also this book consists of lots of testimonies in the form of monologues, from people who grew up under Soviet rule and experienced the transition in the 1990s and 2000s. According to my teacher, the book is a great help to understanding the mentality of Russians today - how the end of the Soviet system and the introduction of capitalism totally transformed many people's life, for better or worse.

The challenge with the texts we have read in class is that there are a lot of cultural references which are almost impossible to understand for a "Westerner" who has not lived under Soviet rule. In class the teacher has explained these references, but I won't have the luxury of her explanations when reading the book on my own. Still, I hope I can manage.

[Arnaud]

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[CittaKyle]

- I watched the 1st season of House of Card in english. Kevin Spacey is really remarkable in this series, imho, but I don't know if I want to watch the other seasons. I'll see...

I felt season one and two were really, really good. Season three and four were just OK.
If you need recommendations for television shows on Netflix, I'm the guy to ask Tell me what kind of shows you like, and I'm sure I can think of several

[Arnaud]

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