Sep 19 2026
Victor Sebestyen offers a readable, one-volume history of Budapest from its Roman beginnings as Aquincum (plus a little more than a page on pre-Roman findings) through the time of the book’s publication in 2022, although it is very light on the years after the anti-communist uprising of 1956. Out of the book’s 377 pages, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/09/19/budapest-by-victor-sebestyen/
Sep 13 2026
“But life works in such a way that social progress and a better future can only be achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay the price for their right to have their own beliefs. The more of them there are, the less everyone has to pay. And the day will come …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/09/13/patriot-by-alexei-navalny/
Mar 07 2026
with an introductory essay by Owen Hatherley After two books on Soviet bus stops, an eccentric topic from a world that’s receding into history, photographer Christopher Herwig turned his attention to a slightly more expected topic: stations of various metro systems across the former Soviet Union. This book echoes its predecessors in size and style. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/07/soviet-metro-stations-by-christopher-herwig/
Sep 29 2024
Mein litauischer Fürherschein — My Lithuanian Driver’s License — carries the subtitle “Ausflüge zum Ende der europäischen Union,” “Excursions to the End of the European Union.” He means one of the geographic ends of course, not the demise of the Union. I’m not sure I would have chosen Lithuania as the end of the Union …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/29/mein-litauischer-fuhrerschein-by-felix-ackermann/
Aug 13 2024
Hello, readers! We have a fresh excerpt from a Wall Street thriller publishing today. Inspired by the author’s experience in corporate branding and international public speaking, particularly in Ukraine, this debut novel is a gripping tale of ambition, temptation and the precarious nature of wealth’s pursuit. Growing up in the shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/13/zephyrs-war-by-james-r-gregory-excerpt/
May 11 2024
By the early 1960s, Vasily Grossman was in an odd position with the authorities of the Soviet Union. He had been a recognized writer starting in the 1930s, and as a war correspondent he was both beloved by regular troops and honored by the state. His novels were serialized in major newspapers, and his time …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/11/an-armenian-sketchbook-by-vasily-grossman/
Dec 11 2023
Doug and his kid thoroughly enjoyed this book but I genuinely did not expect to fall in love with it as hard as I did. It’s a cold, snowy evening when Hershel of Ostropol walks into a village where he was expecting a warm reception on the first night of Hanukkah, with lights, latkes and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/11/hershel-and-the-hanukkah-goblins-by-eric-a-kimmel-trina-schart-hyman/
Nov 12 2023
Here is how I last introduced a book by Jozef Czapski: World War II in Europe began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in the early days of September 1, 1939. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east. Less than three weeks later, the Nazis and the Soviets had conquered all of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/12/memories-of-starobielsk-by-jozef-czapski/
Oct 31 2023
I thought I’d bend my own scheduling rules and do a quick graphic novel twofer, reading and reviewing this for the last official day of Spooky Season, and I’m so glad I did! First, let’s talk about how creator Ennun Ana Iurov is actually Romanian, living in Romania and writing this brilliant little cautionary tale …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/31/whisper-of-the-woods-by-ennun-ana-iurov/
Sep 07 2023
The jacket copy from the Süddeutsche Zeitung edition of Jaan Kross’ historical novel The Tsar’s Madman, first published in 1978, is tough to beat for a concise summary. “In his diary, Jakob Mättik tells the dramatic story of his brother-in-law, the Baltic German nobleman Timotheus von Bock, who won not only renown in 1812 in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/09/07/der-verruckte-des-zaren-by-jaan-kross/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire