Xmmm's list of books worth reading

[Xmmm]

Listed in order of my preference ...

Italian (easier)

1. Il deserto dei Tartari by Dino Buzzati
Some rather haunting meditations on life, a precursor to magical realism.

2. Sostiene Pereira by Antonio Tabucchi.
A novel about fascist Portugal, but with a fascinating digression into some psychological theories that affect the plot

3. Arrivederci amore, ciao by Massmio Carlotto
Simple, brutal noir.

4. L’Oscura immensità della morte by Massimo Carlotto
Extremely dark noir.

5. La verità dell'Alligatore by Massimo Carlotto
Light-hearted noir ... to an extent

6. Il mistero di mangiabarche by Massimo Carlotto
Light-hearted noir ... to an extent. Some interesting action in Sardinia and Corsica.

Italian (harder)

1. A ciascuno il suo by Leonardo Sciascia
A crime novel that subverts its genre and shows how the mafia really works in Italy

2. Il contesto by Leonardo Sciascia
A crime novel that subverts its genre and shows how politics works in an unnamed country that is explicitly not Italy (but is).

3. Un anno sull altipiano by Emilio Lussu
Reminiscences of World War I from the Italian side of things

4. Cristo si è fermato a eboli by Carlo Levi
Life and culture of Sicily in the 1930s.

5. Il fu Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello
Mattia Pascal's misadventures

6. Il giorno della civetta by Leonardo Sciascia
A crime novel that subverts its genre and shows how it doesn't pay to be a police officer in Sicily

7. Todo modo by Leonardo Sciascia
A really weird book that requires some intricate knowledge of Italian politics and religion of the 1960s. I don't really understand it yet.

[Xmmm]

Russian (Hard)

1. Арчипелаг ГУЛАГ (1,2) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Easier to read than most Russian fiction I've looked at. Still you have to be willing to look up a lot of words.

2. Собачье сердце by Mikhail Bulgakov
I think this is Bulgakov's best book. The Master and Margherita by contrast, in my opinion, is a hot mess which Russians love for political/historical reasons and not because it's a better book.

3. Леди Макбет Мценского уезда by Nikolai Leskov
Noir before noir existed. Leskov was actually very familiar with life among Russian peasants -- unlike, for example, Tolstoy.

4. Записки юного врача by Mikhail Bulgakov
Episodic, which is a plus for language learners.

[Xmmm]

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[Xmmm]

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