Donna Tartt, " the secret history”

This book was given to me by a friend, I started reading it a couple of times, but I kept putting it off for later. And one day, I realized that the moment had come. In General, everyone knows Tartt from her novel "the Goldfinch”, and" the secret history” is her first book, which brought her fame.

A fresh graduate, Richard moves to green mountain and forest state, Vermont, where he plans to study ancient Greek. With perseverance, he gets into a special course in ancient Greek, and at the same time joins the “state-in-the-state”, a closed group consisting of five not-like-all peers and a teacher. They are spoiled, young, smart, fond of mythology and, to the surprise of the main character, take him to their company. Richard thinks that they will be forever young and always together, but one tragic accident changes the course of life not only of friends, but also of the entire small campus. A story spiced with snobbery, whiskey, Greek homework, incompetence, disillusionment with adulthood, and an attempt to escape to another content. Well, where is the detective without a murder — it is in the” Secret history " says on the first pages, so it is not even a spoiler.

If you have English at the upper intermediate level, I strongly recommend reading in the original and emphasizing all words that you do not know — you will be able to significantly expand your vocabulary.

Jean-Michel Genesse, “the Club of incorrigible optimists”

Let's start with the fact that the Frenchman Jean-Michel Genesse first wrote scripts for French television, and novels came later. So far, there are only two books in his bibliography — this one and the Amazing life of Ernest Che (which I also highly recommend). In his first novel, he manages to tell about the growing up of a twelve-year-old boy, Michel Marini, who, apparently, has yet to become a participant in the student strikes in 1968. In the meantime, a very young Marini is experiencing a local ethnic war in his family, where his French mother and Italian father can not find a compromise, is fond of photography and reading, and goes to play chess in the bistro” Balto " not far from home. There, he meets a dozen emigrants who tell him stories, drink an aperitif, try to make a young man Kasparov and slowly wait for their fate to be decided. Being rejected in the family, Michel finds friends in “Balto” and each of them becomes a student, listener, friend.

Despite the volume, the book is read in one breath. Unfortunately, when I read it, I still had to write a diploma, so I set the alarm to distract myself and finally read something academic. These 600 pages flew away in three or four days, and for a long time I was impressed by the brilliant translation and swirling lines. Since I am still “white acacia flowers of emigration”, I love to read stories about how people move from one country to another, so here I have definitely found what I like.

Sergey Dovlatov, "Reserve", "Suitcase”," Compromise”, "Branch", " Foreigner”

Among my friends, I am known as a violent dovlatovomaniac, I read all his books, biographies, letters, everything that is written about him in Wikipedia, the memoirs of his friends and wives. Thanks to Dovlatov, I discovered several other writers of his era-Alexander Genis, Peter Weil, and many others. Dovlatov had a difficult life from the beginning to the end — he was born in evacuation, died in exile, worked as a staff correspondent in Estonia, was expelled from SPbSU for failing due to an unsuccessful love affair, worked as a supervisor in a camp. His "Notes on" Underwood " went on literary anecdotes — I used them successfully to pick up guys.

Dovlatov was able to listen to others, write down what they said, frame it in literary language and show it in a way that you don't know whether to laugh or cry. And he himself, one of the last literary heroes of the Soviet era, simply, as if in spirit, tells about what he sees, while hiding a lot. “I'll write to you between the lines” " he says in the Reserve. In " FILIAL”, he tells about his mad love, which overshadowed the world and sent him to serve in the Komi Republic, in “foreign Woman”, he observes the twists and turns of the life of his friend Marusia Tatarovich, who is trying to find the meaning of his stay in America. in a suitcase” Dovlatov puts things that he will take with him to emigrate, and each of them has a story associated with it. Well, " Compromise”, in which Dovlatov works in an Estonian newspaper.

Uwe Timm, " Discovery of curry sausage”

It is said that the curry sausage, that is, the curry sausage — is a purely Berlin invention. In fact, no: traditional Berlin food is dener, which is sold at every turn, and curry sausage came to Berlin from Hamburg. Another collector of stories, Uwe Timm visits a lady in a nursing home who, according to rumors, actually invented the dish by accidentally spilling Indian powder on a sausage.

Timm uses the pretext to find out the story of how the young Frau Brucker (the name of the discoverer) hid in her house, and actually took a young Lieutenant hostage to her love, who did not want to die in the bombing before the German capitulation. Brucker is old enough to be the Lieutenant's mother, but falls in love with him. She does not allow him to go on the floor, so she did not hear the neighbors, looking for food and, in General, loves it as you can, and when the war ends, don't tell him about it.

This story is not about war, but about choice, about what a woman is capable of not to die of loneliness, and most of all about love — not for life, but still bright and memorable. And, of course, this is the story of how a post-war startup still young Frau created a new culture not only in Hamburg, but throughout Germany.

Sven Regener, " Berlin Blues”

The musician of one of the famous German bands “Element of Crime” wrote his debut novel, which I think was copied from one of his friends, or maybe it is a kgiga about his own youth. At the center of the book is a young semi — idler, Frank, who fled from military service and boredom to West Berlin. He lives in the underground district of Kreuzberg bordering the GDR and works in a bar. On page five, he gets a dog drunk in front of the police, falls in love with a cheeky cook, and waits for his parents to arrive from the provinces. In parallel, his artist friend plunges into madness on the eve of a solo exhibition, Frank himself is suffering from idleness, and the lady of his heart sets him a date in the city pool. While Frank is busy with his own Affairs, demonstrations are raging in Berlin, and residents are demanding that Gorbachev " break down this wall."

As a person who has been living in Berlin for two years, just near the border of capitalism and democratic socialism, I would like to say that this book should be issued on arrival to everyone under the age of 30. It doesn't matter if it's 1989 or 2016, I still see and am friends with those whom Regener described in His book. You're thirty, you're a bartender, but everyone asks what you really do, and no one will ever think that you really like it. The artist Karl can't stand the tension before the exhibition and goes off the rails, because the responsibility becomes exorbitant. Slowly you draw portraits of those who live next to you. For them, “Berlin Blues " is not a book title, but a motto for life.