Review: Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator

Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator by Darryl Cunningham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This comes out February 15th and I had a digital copy from Drawn and Quarterly via Netgalley - to read the story of Putin is to better understand the story of Russia, unfortunately. He was born in Leningrad/St Petersburg only eight years after the siege and clawed his way to positions of power and money. He's like the Dick Cheney of Russia, where for every shady situation, you pull back the curtain and there he is.

This is content that probably exists in biographies and other critiques of Putin and his policies, but for me, easier to consume in graphic form. It's really astounding how Putin can have such a high popularity rating when we know about the people he's had killed (goodbye, free press, goodbye, vocal opponents), the countries he's invaded or destroyed, but since we have a person who copies his playbook, it also feels familiar.

In my year of reading Russia I worry I lack the knowledge to understand the subtext of the literature I'm reading, and from that perspective this graphic non fiction book helps provide context about Russia's power and control from the fall of the Soviet Union to the present day. Putin has been there all along....

View all my reviews

Books Read January 2022: 1-14

This might be the least number of books I've read in a month. I had one week with family in Myrtle Beach, the first time traveling with kids and also cooking meals so I found I had even less time to read. We returned home to one child in covid quarantine and another in virtual school for the week for covid/weather issues at the school. I was also dipping into some Russian novels that won't be reflected yet, but do take some time.

The Ozeki was the one book I had started in 2021, and my top five-star read was the Shafak.

A gentle reminder that all reviews can still be seen on my Goodreads profile (the review will be with the book; the format will be specified unless it's in print.) And the books with green outlines are my 5-star reads for the month!

1. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. The Possessed by Elif Batuman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura, translated by Lucy North ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
8. An Evening with Claire by Gaito Gazdanov, translated by Bryan Karetnyk ⭐️⭐️⭐️
9. Breath Better Spent: Living Black Girlhood by DaMaris B. Hill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
10. Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood, narrated by Emma Link ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
11. Anna Karenina Fix by Viv Groskop ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
12. Sticker by  Henry Hoke ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
13. Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin by Emilie Plateau, illustrated by Emilie Plateau ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
14. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

 Books read: 14

Audiobook: 1
Ebook: 9
Print: 4

Library: 6
TBR: 1
Purchased 2022: 0
Review copy: 7

Around the World: 5
Melanated Reader's 20 Books by Black Women: 2
Reading Envy Russia: 3
Sword and Laser: 1
Tournament of Books: 2

Books Read December 2021: 257-280

Ah December, so many books to finish but never enough time. I still managed to hit a few challenges and while I didn't finish all my Europe books on the shelf, I churned through them to the end!

A gentle reminder that all reviews can still be seen on my Goodreads profile (the review will be with the book; the format will be specified unless it's in print.) And the books with green outlines are my 5-star reads for the month! 

 

257. The Women's Coffee Shop by Andriana Ierodiaconou ⭐️⭐️⭐️
258. Last Summer in the City by Gianfranco Calligarich, translated by Howard Curtis X ⭐️⭐️⭐️
259. Reparations Now! by Ashley M. Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
260. Revelator by Daryl Gregory ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
261. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire, read by Warsan Shire ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
262. O Beautiful by Jung Yun ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
263. Rise the Euphrates by Carol Edgarian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
264. Three Girls from Bronzeville by Dawn Turner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
265. And Then the Grey Heaven by RE Katz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
266. The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
267. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott ⭐️⭐️⭐️
268. Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena, translated by Margita Gailitis X ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
269. The President and the Frog Carolina de Robertis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
270. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, read by Gordon Griffin ⭐️⭐️⭐️
271. Iona: New and Selected Poems by Kenneth Stevens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
272. Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
273. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
274. Please Don't Sit On My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson, read by Phoebe Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
275. Toufah by Toufah Jallow ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
276. The Pastor by  Hanne Ostavik, translated by Martin Aitken ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
277. Stork Mountain by Miroslav Penkov ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
278. Subdivision by J. Robert Lennon, read by Nicole Poole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Total Books Read: 22

audio: 5
eBook: 13
print: 4

Library: 7
TBR:  3
Purchased 2021: 2
Review copy: 10

Around the World: 12
Europe 2021: 8
National Book Award finalist (long or short): 1
Read the World 21 (UK): 2
Tournament of Books: 4

Memoir: 3
Poetry: 1
Romance: 0
Sci-fi/fantasy: 2
Translated: 3
Women in Translation: 3

Reading Envy 238: Inanimate Objects with Courtney

Courtney is back and before we jump into discussion of books we've read and liked recently, we discuss how our reading has changed over time. 

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 238: Inanimate Objects

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: Subscribe
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Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Books discussed:

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Apple Island: Or the Truth about Teachers by Douglas Evans

Other mentions: 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Picnic in the Ruins by Todd Robert Peterson
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
Ragnarok
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone
Seeds of Blood and Beauty by Ann Lindsay
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
The Emotional Life of the Toddler by Alicia F. Lieberman
The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature by Viv Groskop

Related episodes: 

Episode 179 - Think of the Bees with Courtney Burson
Episode 222 - Minty Fresh with Courtney

Stalk us online:

Courtney at Goodreads
Courtney is @conservio on Litsy
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy



All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Reading Envy 237: Reading Goals 2022

Jenny talks about her reading goals for 2022, starts thinking about Russian novels, and reflects on reading goals for 2021. Next time we'll be back to our regular episodes!

Download or listen via this link:
Reading Envy 237: Reading Goals 2022

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via Apple Podcasts by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Or listen via Stitcher
Or listen through Spotify 
Or listen through Google Podcasts

Discussion Links:

Reading Envy Russia - shared folder with challenge documents, etc.
Reading Envy Readers - discussion in Goodreads (join the group)
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Brothers Karamazov by Leo Tolstoy
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
Untraceable by Sergei Lebedev
Oblivion by Sergei Lebedev
Zuleikha by Guzel Yakhina
Brisbane by Eugene Vodolazkin
An Evening with Claire by Gaito Gazdanov
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

Furrowed Middlebrow
Indigenous Reading Circle
Reading Around the World - countries still needed
Updated Europe focus for 2021
The Free Black Women's Library
#ReadtheWorld21 (look for it in Instagram)

Related episodes:

Episode 210 - Reading Goals 2021

Stalk me online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy


All links to books are through Bookshop.org, where I am an affiliate. I wanted more money to go to the actual publishers and authors. I link to Amazon when a book is not listed with Bookshop.

Suggestions for Final Countries in Reading Around the World

My last post was about how I am so close to finishing my project now over ten years in the making of reading a book from every country plus as many island/standalone territories that are geographically unique from their parent countries as I can. I got a lot of suggestions and someone suggested I post them somewhere, so here we go.

**I will keep coming back to update this if I get more recommendations**

ASIA

Afghanistan 

    Dancing in the Mosque @pleasepeas 

    Kite Runner (I actually have this on my shelves, I read his more recent book before 2012) - @ilibbyyoung and @lauren_o_reads

 

Hong Kong

    The Impossible City by Karen Cheung

Macau

    Pilgrimages: memories of colonial Macau and Hong Kong (eBook at Furman)

Maldives

Paracel Islands

Spratly Islands

Tajikistan

Tibet

Turkmenistan

AFRICA

Burkina Faso
    So Distant from my Life by Monique Ilboudo; translated from the French by Yarri Kamara, coming Sept 2022 from Tilted Axis Press

Burundi

    Small Country @lauren_o_reads (And me realizing I own this!) 

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros
Cote d’Ivoire

    The Bitter Side of Sweet @lauren_o_reads 

Guinea

    THE KING OF KAHEL by Tierno Monenembo @thescienceofreading 

Guinea-Bissau

Mayotte

Sao Tome and Principe

Seychelles

Togo

    An African in Greenland @end.notes 

Western Sahara

CARIBBEAN

Antigua and Barbuda

    At the Bottom of the River @lauren_o_reads 

    Jamaica Kincaid @bookynooknook and @thescienceofreading

    Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid @end.notes 

Costa Rica

Grenada

Nicaragua

    The Country Under My Skin by Gioconda Belli  @thescienceofreading and @robinlgustafson

    The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli @julioinka
    Belli's poetry @thescienceofreading

    Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea by Sergio Ramírez, Michael Miller (Translator) @robinlgustafson

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

    Walcott (poetry) @end.notes
 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

EUROPE

Belgium

    War and Terpentine @lauren_o_reads 

Liechtenstein

Malta
Man, Isle of

San Marino

MIDDLE EAST

Bahrain

PACIFIC

Cook Islands

Timor

Fiji

    Epeli Hau’ofa @iren_jsi 

Marshall Islands

Micronesia, Federated States

Nauru

New Caldonia

Niue

Northern Mariana Islands

Solomon Islands

Tonga

    Epeli Hau’ofa @iren_jsi

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

SOUTH AMERICA

Bolivia
    The Puma Years by Laura Coleman (Andrea in my Around the World group said it was one of her top reads for 2021, and then it went on sale with the Amazon World Book Day promotion in 2022)

Easter Island
    Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes (good or not, I've had this on my shelf for ages)

French Guiana

Suriname

    Cynthia McLeod, The Cost of Sugar @picturetalk321

    The Riverbones by Andrew Westoll @dryapyapi  

Venezuela

    Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos - @librosintranslation 

    Night in Caracas @lauren_o_reads and @katie_sikkes

Reading Around the World - The Completist

In 2021, I read 19 more places I had on my unread list, most of them in Europe, but I also crossed off Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, and Puerto Rico (yes I know this is technically USA but following my rules it is also separate).

Here is what remains, first the map and then the list. I welcome any and all recommendations, although I always prefer authors from the countries and set there. I'm sticking to my original rules where only books I've read since my project began count, but a few countries on the remaining list are taunting me, for instance Afghanistan, which I have read at least twice, but prior to 2012. I've also read books that might include one of these countries but if it isn't the full focus, I don't count it (otherwise Sovietistan would have crossed off a couple!) Some of these places may not even be on my list accurately ten years later.

ASIA

Afghanistan

Hong Kong

Macau

Maldives

Paracel Islands

Spratly Islands

Tajikistan

Tibet

Turkmenistan

AFRICA

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros
Cote d’Ivoire

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Mayotte

Sao Tome and Principe

Seychelles

Togo

Western Sahara

CARIBBEAN

Antigua and Barbuda

Costa Rica

Grenada

Nicaragua

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

EUROPE

Belgium

Liechtenstein

Malta
Man, Isle of

San Marino

MIDDLE EAST

Bahrain

PACIFIC

Cook Islands

Timor

Fiji

Marshall Islands

Micronesia, Federated States

Nauru

New Caldonia

Niue

Northern Mariana Islands

Solomon Islands

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

SOUTH AMERICA

Bolivia

Easter Island

French Guiana

Suriname

Venezuela