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You also might want to check out A Dead Man's Memoir: A Theatrical Novel, which appears to be a new (2007) translation by Andrew Bromfield of Black Snow. I suspect this is the version that I will eventually read (although Glenny's translation can be found for much less). Glenny seems to be falling a bit out of fashion as a Bulgakov translator, though most critics seem to feel his Heart of a Dog remains better than Mirra Ginsburg's version.

Ok, this is probably only of interest to Bulgakov buffs, but still... Anyway, an odd coincidence struck me. It turns out that a Russian critic (Yuly Aikhenvald) -- an early supporter of Nabokov -- died in a tram accident in Berlin in 1928. I can't find any direct evidence that Bulgakov interacted with him, but I think he would have had to have heard of the accident, given how close-knit Russian literary circles were at the time. I do wonder if the incident helped shape the early drafts of the Master and Margarita. Now I currently have three translations, but after this exercise is over, I will give two away and hold onto the Peavar and Volokhonsky. (This picture is a bit blurry. Michael Glenny's somewhat outdated translation is on the left; P-V is on the right.*) As I said before, the Burgin-O'Connor translation is very good indeed, but I think P-V go just that extra half-step and reveal some of the slyness of the novel. Here are two examples (with P-V as the second entry): The Muscovites (an editor and a poet) say the Devil, like God, doesn't exist. The professor (actually the Devil) responds. 1) "Well, now, this is really getting interesting," cried the professor, shaking with laughter. "What is it with you? Whatever comes up you say doesn't exist!" 2) "Well, now that is positively interesting!" the professor said, shaking with laughter. "What is it with you -- no matter what one asks for, there isn't any!" During the professor's performance of black magic, an self-important bureaucrat is "exposed" as having an affair with a minor actress. 1) The young relative was seized with another fit of satanic laughter. "If anyone can lay a hand on him, I certainly can," she answered through her laughter, and again her umbrella was heard, cracking Arkady Apollonovich over the head. 2) A second brief wave of satanic laughter seized the young relation. "Who else should dare touch him," she answered, guffawing, "if not me!" And for the second time there came the dry, crackling sound of the umbrella bouncing off the head of Arkady Apollonovich. In the first example, I get the echoing of rationing and empty (cheese?) shops that doesn't come into play with the "doesn't exist" formulation. The second example is a bit more of a tie. It should be fairly evident to a careful reader that the distant relation is also involved with the bureaucrat and she is giving him "Elin" but his loathesomeness and the fact that he has to use his influence to win over ladies comes through a bit stronger. Again, this is mostly taste. I think P-V get it just a bit more right, but both are very readable, and I would encourage anyone who enjoyed the novel to borrow the other version for the notes at the end, since they do cover different aspects of the novel. I certainly feel I understand the book much better on what is essentially the second and third go-around. * I can't attach using this browser; I'll have to fix tonight.

No. When I mean comparing translation, I just mean putting them side by side, and seeing which works better based on internal logic or my own tastes really. On rare occasions I will try to read French novels or poetry in the original. That's really the only other language I can read. This has been a great opportunity to see if Peavar and Volokhonsky really should be considered the gold standard in Russian translation, and I have to say the hype seems justified. Most of the time, you can only compare their translations to Constance Garnett and not to a modern translation based on the most accurate text. And I don't mean to diss Ms. Garnett either, though I do think Peavar and Volokhonsky are more capable translators. I grew up on her translations of Dostoevsky, and without her prodigious efforts*, 2 or 3 generations of English-speakers might not have read these works, particularly Chekhov and Turgenev. This is less true of Dostoevsky (and Tolstoy**), who would eventually have been translated, of course. * Over 70 translations! ** To my shame, I have read nearly nothing of Tolstoy (penciled in tentatively for 2012) and I may well skip over her translations in favor of Peavar and Volokhonsky. I can't possibly read two versions of War and Peace back to back. Even Anna Karenina seems too long at over 700 pages, though I might read her version first for old times' sake and then P-V a couple of years down the road. But I did read nearly all of Dostoevsky growing up, even ripping through the Brothers Karamazov in just under two weeks. What I would do with that kind of time now!

That's a shame. I liked the Borders in Cambridge and occasionally did stop in and buy a few things. It was one of the few places in the city centre open past 7 pm.

I'm still debating this, but am in no hurry. For me, the ability to display PDFs is quite critical, but maybe even more important is the TIF format, since I have been converting literally thousands of pages over into TIFs (before OCR'ing them). But most likely TIFs will remain in the province of laptops, and I am not going to carry around a laptop and a Kindle-equivalent. But most likely for books that I want to read on the train, I will stick with paperbacks. I even have a few books that I had in electronic format (from Project Gutenberg) that I went ahead and ordered in paperback.

So I am slightly over half-way through both translations of The Master and Margarita. This is a pretty interesting novel, and having to go back and forth is slowing me down so I can really appreciate it (often on rereading a book, I will rip through it and the finer points are wasted). I'll post my thoughts on the translations a bit later. I'm doing a mini-survey of Soviet literature before starting in on my ambitious plans to go through Nabokov, Narayan and Mafouz in 2010-11. Vladimir Voinovich is definitely an heir to Bulgakov, esp. the Ivankiad, which I read many years back, and The Fur Hat (which may well be inspired by an episode in the Master and Margarita). Currently, I've checked out The Life & Extraordinary Adventures of Private Chonkin, and I'm trying to get my hands on Moscow 2042. I'm also going to read Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. This was another case where there are multiple translations (at least 3 in print). It looks like the most popular translations are Clarence Brown (Penguin) and Natasha Randall (Modern Library). (For some reason the Mirra Ginsburg version isn't discussed much.) So I was able to borrow both of these and do some comparisons. While it is a pretty short novel, I am not going to read both translations. I think Randall gets the linguistic devices a bit better, and I generally prefer her style. Brown seems inordinately proud of the fact that he predicts that uniform would be shortened to uni and not "unif" which is what most translators use. However, he is a total prat about it -- and he doesn't actually use "uni," but "yuny." I'm sorry, but there is no chance in the world that uniform would end up shorted to "yuny." Having to read "yuny" on page after page? No thank you. That sealed my decision, and I ordered a copy of the Modern Library version.

I thought the early paperbacks started from the beginning; am I wrong? Just wondering as I still have the first few. So I got this for Christmas (thanks, Santa), and it is a nice package. Much thicker than I thought (284 pages). I think the review on Amazon overstated how many new cartoons there are. There are definitely some not in Loose Tails, but probably more on the order of 5%, not 50% as one reviewer hinted. On the other hand, I have no problem with the reproduction quality. If you have all the old books, this is probably not necessary. I have the oversized collections still, but not the other ones, so for me, it is worth getting. Breathed glosses some political and pop culture references in the margins, but not others. It's kind of an odd effect.

I've completely given up on Borders as far as CDs or DVDs. It is always cheaper elsewhere. Occasionally, the 30% off coupon can give them a slight edge over some book I see on Amazon. However, I am finding more and more that many books are simply unavailable in their system, particularly academic books. I can think of 5 books in this category, including Bulgakov's Six Plays, which they certainly should carry. It used to be if it was in Books in Print, you could get it there (or special order it). Now you are just out of luck if it isn't on their website. I even emailed the chain and got a response that it was out of their control whether a publisher would send it to them. How weird and how sad. I went in for about 5 minutes to see their Boxing Day sale and it was complete tripe. I still don't think they will exist as a chain five years from now.

A mixed bag as in most things. I moved to New York in 2000 and had the best job of my life, bar none. Unfortunately, my wife disliked living in New York and we moved back to Chicago (then to the UK, then back to Chicago) and my work career has been trending downhill since then. On the personal side, I had two beautiful children and they are finally starting to be somewhat independent (one is in kindergarten, the other starting preschool). I wrote a play and am more creative than I have been for a long time. I'm on the board of a small theatre company. But still some major pieces need to get put back together again, particularly on the work front. I think 2010 will be pretty much more of the same, but have some hope for 2011.

Something very similar happened to a friend of the family. She was getting remarried and was dropping weight like crazy (to the point where she became unattractively thin) and then she had some blood sugar problem (leukocytes?) and went into cardiac arrest. She was about 36. If Britney Murphy was indeed anorexic, then catching any kind of illness could definitely push her over the edge. So sad. RIP

Astonishingly, the storm didn't come anywhere near Chicago. (The weather patterns are such that it usually moves across the US, and New York gets Chicago's weather one day later.)

We have different blends of cards here. Most of the debit cards are still issued with Visa or Mastercard on them, so that they can indeed be used overseas. I actually managed to get by for 18 months in the UK with a Barclay's debit card, a US debit card (that said Visa on it) and a Discover card (that was truly useless overseas). Since then I've managed to keep my debt levels very low, though a broke-down refrigerator and some computer repairs have kept me a little bit in the red.

So I got started on this a little early. The temptation of reading the dueling Bulgakovs at Christmas was too tempting to pass up (if you are familiar with it, it involves the devil (or his surrogate) coming to Moscow and finding the people easy pickings, interwoven with chapters of Jesus and Pontius Pilate). My feelings so far are that the Peavar-Volokhonsky translation is a bit better than Burgin-O'Connor, in part because they seem to have worked from the most complete version. I do think the notes from the Burgin-O'Connor just a bit better, however. To add to the confusion there is a mass paperback of the Peavar-Volokhonsky (that I've only ever seen in the UK) without any notes or footnotes. I would probably steer away from that as some notes are helpful. But either translation is fine. Heck, even the original one I read by M. Glenny is good. If you are at all interested in Russian (or particularly Soviet) literature, you should read this book.

I can't actually find it in the phone book. It is a new place, and currently they don't have the credit card machines, though they are working on that. So it is books by the pound, cash only. (A co-worker said this was exactly how students were treated when they sold books back in India ) Anyway, it is one or two stores due east of Comix Revolution, which is 606 Davis Street (near Chicago Ave). A couple other bookstores of note in Evanston are: Howard's Books 2000 Maple Avenue (@ Foster), Evanston, IL (847) 475-3445‎ Amaranth Books (866) 999-0779 828 Davis, Evanston, IL 60201 For just general fiction, I tend to favor Howard's Books, which is a bit off the beaten path. For even cheaper books, you can always check the charity shops. Two that I actually go to from time to time for a pretty good selection are: Brown Elephant Resale Shop 3651 North Halsted Street Chicago, IL 60613-4315 Ark Thrift Shop 3345 N Lincoln Ave (between Marshfield Ave & Paulina St) Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 248-1117 (773) 549-5943 One very important thing to know about The Ark is that is a Jewish philanthropic organization so it is open Sunday, not Saturday.

Well, I found The Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi on sale at YesAsia and am cautiously optimistic that it will get here (by Jan perhaps). I have ordered through them before, so I know they are not just a fly-by-night website. That still doesn't change the fact that it is a (minor) scandal that her albums don't have distribution in the US. I guess she has such a low profile that it isn't even worth Lonehill's time to put out her early albums. Maybe she didn't hit her stride until 1961 which wouldn't be up for grabs for another couple of years (not that this has stopped them in the past), but I can think of 3 or 4 worthy albums released in 1958 or before. Oh well.

So upstream there was some talk about a second Akiyoshi select that would feature the live recordings. Is this still a possibility or has the economy deep-sixed this? Anyway, it is so frustrating that her early albums are so hard to come by (outside of Japan). I would think iTunes or Amazon would be able to sell them as downloads at least.

Maybe this isn't unique, but I have just come across a used book store that doesn't price books individually but rather sells them by the pound (or kilo ) There is one price for fiction/non-fiction/children's books and then a higher price for comic books/manga. Kind of weird, and maybe a bit disrespectful. Interestingly, the book store is not full of trashy paperbacks but mostly trade paperbacks and a lot of good literature that was current about 3 years back. I picked up Klima's Love and Garbage and a couple of other titles.

I could basically take it or leave it. I actually didn't have a TV when Seinfeld was really big, so I never watched too many episodes, maybe caught a couple in reruns. My wife became a fan, and I got her Season 1 (or maybe it was a Season 1/2 combo). Anyway, this was right around the time that Michael Richards went on that infamous rant, and she decided flat-out she didn't want anything more to do with the show and that watching Kramer's antics was now so spoiled, so I ended up selling the set. Don't think she would appreciate getting it under the Xmas tree this year, even if it is super cheap... I see that the regular price of the complete MASH has dropped to about $100. I'm just not sure I would get around to watching all of these. But this practicality is in direct conflict with my hoarding instincts (it's such a bargain and bonus features you can't get anywhere else!). I think I will hold off for a while longer.

As it turns out, I am seeing him tonight!

Picked up a few CDs (as gifts): Ella in Hollywood Haden-Paredes Dialogues Then for me: Cal Tjader plays the Music of Mexico and Brazil Curtis Counce Exploring the Future I'm leaning towards a Integration by Amancio D'Silva, as well as Ghana Funk, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Picked up a few CDs (as gifts): Ella in Hollywood Haden-Paredes Dialogues Then for me: Cal Tjader plays the Music of Mexico and Brazil Curtis Counce Exploring the Future I'm leaning towards a Integration by Amancio D'Silva but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

A Street in Bombay - Amancio D'Silva This is from an album that went unreleased for ages and then came out as Konkan Dance. There may have been some unaddressed rights issues, as it has vanished and fetches over $80 used (well, sometimes the LP can be had for more like $30-40). Too bad! It's sort of in the same vein as Miles in India, but actually I think this works better. I'm listening to it off the Impressed 2 CD mixed by Gilles Peterson (itself on the rarish side).

All CDs out. Thanks again! Some price drops above, probably more by the weekend. A few more clear-out specials. 15 Oscar Pettiford First Bass -- some light scratches that do not affect play 8 Patrick Lenoir Sans Transition (Doron) 8 Julien Pinol Le Banquet (Doron) 8 Julien Pinol Trio We Free (Doron) Doron special - all 3 for $15 6 Antoine Roney The Traveler (Muse) 6 Wallace Roney Seth Air (Muse) Both Roneys for $10 - free shipping 5 Charles Lloyd Jumping the Creek (ECM) 7 Charles Lloyd Rabo de Nube (ECM) Both Lloyds for $10 - free shipping

Hmm, I never had a problem with FreeRip, which I used on a bunch of the cactus discs.

I wrapped this up the other day. It is probably the best novel about NYC post-9/11, though the bar is kind of low. (If I recall, O'Neill's Netherland is sort of about a parallel universe version of post-9/11, so that might be a contender as well.) Anyway, imagine a fusion of Langewiesche's American Ground and PDK's A Scanner Darkly with a few dashes of The Wire. The lead character is a NYC cop who is recruited into a shadowy agency that is tracking down the documents that were blown out of the Towers. A key plot device is that the lead character keeps slipping in and out of consciousness, and then will find himself in a completely new situation and will have to come with grips to find out what he is supposed to do. This happens every few pages. It does get a little wearing. There are certainly some strong passages, but I am unlikely to read it again. I also read some more short stories. Self Help by Lorrie Moore, which kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and Self Storage and Other Stories by Mary Helen Stefaniak, which I liked much better. So as 2009 comes to a close, I feel I did a pretty good job of going through books on my shelves that I wanted to read once before selling or giving them away. A couple threw me for a loop and I kept them (Yiddish Policemen's Union; My Present Age by Guy Vanderhaeghe). 2010 is going to be a time for more enduring fictions that I want to make sure I read (not that I am planning on checking out anytime soon). I actually had a plan like this almost 20 years ago and I stuck to it pretty well. I read one book a month by Barbara Pym, Saul Bellow, Graham Greene and got through their works. My plan for 2010-11 will be first to read the two competing new translations of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita (I've heard both editions are better and more faithful than the version I read). Then one book a month by Nabokov (probably skipping several of his "Russian" novels), Narayan and Mahfouz. However, I would end with the Cairo Trilogy to read in one chunk. After this, Dos Passos' USA Trilogy. Rereading Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. John Fante's Bandini Quartet. And finally Proust. I think I'll probably be exhausted of high-brow lit for a while after that, but I'll have hit all the "best" books on my shelves and make sure I crack the spines at least.