Comrade Koba

Comrade Koba by Robert Littell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Probably most complicated way (so far) to tell enigmatically about some events from history of Soviet Union.
I acknowledge author's knowledge of Soviet Union's history and effort he put to write this book.
Yes, there were some lines when I smiled, but generally I was bored and frustrated.


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Pedalling Poland

Pedalling Poland by Bernard Newman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was motivated to read this book when I learned it has been recently published in Poland.
Firstly I found the idea strange - to publish a sort of cyclist's memories some 90 years after they have been originally published.
The second reservation was - memories from cycling trip.
My own experience says, that it cannot avoid frequent references to condition of the roads and some details of cycling effort.
That's correct - I would say it takes some 20% of the book.
What remains?
Many, many scenes from the world which no longer exists.
Poland between world wars was a strange country.
It has been created at the conference table in Versailles after 123 years of non-existence. Politicians who created it, had to consider interests of many countries and a very volatile political climate. In the effect, Poland had a very irregular shape and included few areas boiling with political conflicts.
Effect on the book - we read quite a number of stories from a very volatile world, which was doomed for disappearance and which disappeared.
Here I give credit to the author for being an honest and compassionate judge.
On the other side - personally I do not find such scenes enriching, after reading them I felt rather empty.
Important point - the author is quite optimistic about the future of Nazism. He acknowledges economic progress it brought to Germany and is absolutely sure that in years to come, this orderly and hard working nation will turn it in a good way.
How wrong!
In the last scenes of the book, the author visits a site of a battle of Tannenberg - a massacre of Russian Army in early stages of WWI. Nazis build there a gigantic memorial glorifying the victors and it looks like the author was strongly and positively impressed by it.
I found it very disappointing.

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Music you can live without

Basically I am quite sceptical about opinion polls.
ABC/Classic's 100 countdown is an exception.
Reason is very simple - it does not promote any consumables nor any actions. Just music.

This year though it stirred some negative emotions - just the title - Music you can't live without .

It brought to my imagination an image of a young, visibly overweight person, pushing forcefully a monstrous sandwich into his/her mouth and gasping - I am starving. 

The point is that we can live without music as this person would not starve without this sandwich.

This title I interpreted as an outcome of self-centered universe ruled by enormously inflated I.

 I expected ABC/Classic to avoid this trap. I was wrong.

The results are:
1. Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 5.
2. Beethoven - Symphony No 9.
3. Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending.
4. Vivaldi -The four Seasons.
5. Elgar - Enigma Variations.

Piano Concerto No 5 - I agree.

In my young years my musical experiences were limited to weekly concerts of Warsaw Philharmonic and the program of Polish Radio.
Somehow I got a number of chances to listen, on radio and live, to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4, but Number 5 - never.
I was already in my mid-twenties when it came on me,  unexpectedly, just part 1 - Allegro.
The impact was paralyzing, probably one of most memorable in my life...
But the piece ended, over 50 years ago, and I am still alive.

So to stay alive on a lighter note I recommend a quiz available on ABC/Classic website

Can you recognize a classical piece after hearing just the first note?

A link to Beethoven - HERE

To J.S. Bach - HERE.

I got some reasons for satisfaction...

At the end  - my choice - Opening chorus from J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion.
I specifically selected performers dressed suitably for our current weather.

Dance, dance, dance

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

No story about a non-person.
Emptiness interrupted by some memories from swimming club in ancient Egypt and blind wandering in darkness., maybe something more, but it is really irrelevant.
I had a break after some 20 pages, when I realized that a main character is a non-person.
Due to lockdown I could not return book to the library nor borrow another one, so I gave it another chance, but it was too hard.
Looking at gray skies is more exciting.
After all this effort, one question still remains - what Jack's London book was the main character reading?

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To Hell and Back

To Hell And Back: The Banned Account of Gallipoli's Horror by Journalistand Soldier Sydney Loch by Sydney Loch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The title says it all.
In November 1914, a young Australian volunteer was sent to fight in Europe in the I WW.
Firstly he landed in Egypt, after few months his contingent was transferred to Turkey. On 25th of April 1915 they disembarked on the coast in, what was later called, ANZAC Cove.
Amazingly honest and sincere report of daily life in Gallipoli trenches.
Here I have to distance myself from the book.
My point is, that I did not receive it as a book, as a story.
In my opinion, there is no story. The author reports, day after day, his small experiences, and they are small - deliver a message, find a colonel, wait, wait.
This is punctuated with observation, that someone fell and did not raise.
So, from this point of view, I can't honestly say - I liked it, or recommend to someone.
I just appreciated it very much.
As the title explains, the book was banned in Australia when authorities realized it is not a fiction.
It contains notes on the history of publishing the book and on life of Sydney Loch, which was much, much more than one military campain.
In this context I consider it as a very important reading.

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A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

My impression - no story about nobody.
One of the first lines characterizes him well - Asked to state his occupation, he replies, “It is not the business of a gentleman to have occupations.”
Sentenced by Soviet regime to idle life in the hotel, he lives idly and on random occasions shows his "class". End of story.
Sorry (relief for me), I put the book away after some 45 pages.

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The Spy who loved

The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare Mulley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a hard read for me.
I classify it as a thoroughly presented biography and a number of times I wondered whether it was a proper way for presentation of such a haphazard life.
Christine Granville, real name Krystyna Skarbek, was born into Polish aristocratic family.
Her father, Jerzy Skarbek, to rescue family finances, married a daughter of Jewish bankers. It looks like he was not suitable for family life.
They had 2 children, but after the end of Great War, Jerzy realised that the times of great Polish untamed landlords ended so he spent the rest of his life in casinos all over Europe.
Krystyna looks to me like a copy of her father.
Never decided for a stable career path, tried few temporary jobs and when her finances took a bad turn followed steps of her father - married a rich Jew.
The marriage did not last long and then it looked that she met a match - Jerzy Gizycki, equally untamed Polish gentleman.
Unfortunately a breakout of the II WW did not give them a chance to try to share life. Jerzy enrolled to Polish army in France, Krystyna to British intelligence, which sent her to the post in Hungary where she could cooperate closely with Polish Resistance.
Here it came a diffilult time for Krystyna and for the author.
The nature of working as a spy close to the frontier, is not to be noticed.
So, how to wear off boiling energy?
So what to write about?
Clare Mulley chose to mention many, many, fragmented reports about Kristina's activities.
Reading them was frustrating and tiresome for me, but I appreciate honesty of the author. I appreciate also her insight into quite complicated history of Poland and of it's resistance network in the early stage of German occupation.
Long list of minor facts is punctuated with some dramatic events like crossing border to Poland, being arrested by Germans, escape from Hungary and landing in Middle East.
And there is a parallel story - contacts with men on whom Kristyna has a magic influence.
Again, Clare Mulley chose a tactfull and honest way of reporting this side of Krystyna's life.
Stay in Middle East lasted almost 3 years and it was extremely frustrating time for Krystyna who was boiling with energy and will to help her country. On the other hand it was time when world leaders had to make decisions on which life of millions peoples depended and unfortunately these decisions were devastating for Poland.
In 1944 Krystyna eventually is send on the front line - south of France, where she shines as the most effective secret agent.
And then the war ends and she becomes a troublesome person for all parties involved.
France under general de Gaulle wants to forget about years of its weakness, all British agents are requested to leave within 24 hours.
Poland, free Poland, does not exist.
England has to bring its life to normality, Krystyna with her checkered life becomes a trouble.
On the personal front it goes even worse.
Krystyna is in touch with a number of men, who dream of spending the rest of life taking care of her, but it looks like she instinctively knows, that she will not fit into regular family life.
And so her life ends abruptly.
It left me, the reader, extremely sad and disappointed.
I can imagine a book which would dramatise Krystyna; story in a way, which could satisfy the reader, but I appreciate honesty of the author, who chose the hard but true way.

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