News: 2006-11-29

Julia's recommendations for booklovers

Booklovers rejoice! On November 28th, the most famous bookstore of the city moves home to the Singer Building at Nevsky 28. The art noveau styled building with the globe and eagle on the top stands on the corner of Nevsky prospect and Kanal Griboedova. It was built in 1902-1904 by Russian architect, Count Pavel Syuzor to house the offices the Singer Sewing machine company(I am a happy owner of Singer sewing machine which was produced in 1900 and which is in a perfect state of preservation-I have inherited it from my granny and embroider on it).Seamstresses used to sit in the windows sewing up a storm as a bit of free advertising.And who says marketing is a modern concept!!Dom Knigi which means "House of books", moved there in 1919 and remained there until two years ago when they moved to Nevsky 62, while the building underwent renovation.They have the whole department of books in English including art books (open 09:00am-09:00pm).

I recommend you also to drop at "Anglia" bookshop (Fontanka embankment,38, in Turgenev house. Open 10:00am-08:00pm)

Here you'll find the best English translations of Russian classics and a wide selection of material on Russian culture, history and politics.

As a private guide in St Petersburg and a big booklover I recommend you my personal list of books about Russian culture, history and art (almost every book is available at www.amazon.com)

1. "The land of Fire Bird", by Suzanne Massie (Russian culture)
2. "Peter the Great", by Robert Massie (Russian history)
3. "The final Chapter", by Robert Massie (sad destiny of last Russian tsar)
4. "A people's tragedy: Russian revolution 1894-1924", by Orlando Figes
5. "Natasha's dance", by Orlando Figges (Russian culture)
6. "Pavlovsk", by Suzanne Massie (remarkable story about the creation, ruining and restoration of my favourite palace Pavlovsk in the suburbs of St Petersburg)
7. "Stalin:  the court of the Red tsar", by Simon Sebag Montefiore
8. "Stalingrad", by Anthony Beevor (about turning point in the WW II)
9. "Little tenement on the Volga " by C.S Walton (about experience of  an Englishwoman who has been working in the  provincial city Samara on the Volga river as  a teacher of English for 3 years  in the post perestroika period)
10. "Night of stone" (death and memory in twentieth-century Russia) by Catherine Merridale
11. "Chechnya, a small victorious war" by Carlotta Call and ThomasWaal
12. "Russia 1855-1991 from Tsars to Commissars" by Peter Oxley
13. "50 Russian artists"by Dmitrienko, Kuznetsova, Petrova and Fyodorova
14. "The Hermitage" by Jessica Norman (the history of The Hermitage and and its collections)