Read with me: M. Bulgakhov

Cover of Master and Margarita by M.Bulgakov

Today I want to introduce you to one of my favourite Russian authors who might not be as widely known abroad as Dostoevsky or Tolstoy - the giants among the classics, but Mikhail Bulgakhov was a prolific 20th century writer and his book Master and Margarita is considered one of the masterpieces of the 20th century literature. It has to be one of my favourite books along with 2 others that I will tell you about today. My Irish husband has read all 3 of them (in English) and he recommends them to all his friends and family now:)

Master and Margarita is one of my absolute favourites - a book I read and re-read whenever I get a chance. It gives me comfort and food for thought. It is a book about God and Devil, Good and Evil, or rather about the absence of absolute Good and absolute Evil. Everything is relative, everything is interconnected in this universe. Like love and pain, night and day, cruelty and mercy.
This book is an incredible phantasmagoria, a philosophical parable, a love story, a detective story, a mystery, a thriller - all in one.

Heart of a Dog is another unusual book - in essence it is a political satire of bolshevism and communism, but even if you are not interested in history and politics, this book reads like one hell of a sci-fi story: a renowned professor picks up a stray dog and performs an experimental surgery on it, transplanting some human glands to the dog's brain and testicles. You can then sit back and watch (this book has also been made into a film:) an amazing transformation of a lovely kind stray dog into not so nice a human being.

My next recommendation is known in English as either A Young Doctor's Notebook or A Country Doctor's Notebook and it was an unexpected discovery for me: for the first time I saw this book in one of the bookshops in Dublin in English and I read it in English and it was a really good translation and both my husband and I absolutely loved it! In 2012 the book was turned into a TV series starring Daniel Radcliff (but I haven't seen it yet). The book is a collection of short stories about the life of a newly qualified doctor who was sent to work in a small village hospital  and is based on Bulgakov's personal experiences as a young doctor. (Yes, he was a person of many talents - a doctor, a playwright and a writer!). The stories are shocking, gruesome, kind and funny at the same time and are a celebration of human nature, compassion and knowledge.

I hope I've managed to convince you to give this amazing author a try whether in Russian or in English or in whatever language you speak.