Book news
Dear readers! It took some time, but I finally outsmarted those turkeys and am back at my desk, just in time for the impending release of The Possessed, which you can preorder right now from Amazon for the low, low price of $10.12. Those with concerns about my interns’ nutritional intake are particularly encouraged you to order from one of the links on this page: that way, thanks to the Amazon Associates program, we get 4% extra per copy.
That means for every copy you buy, we get $0.40: the cost of approximately 1.78 fl. oz. Ensure High Protein Complete Balanced Nutrition Drink!
I’m really proud that The Possessed has received kind mentions in venues ranging from O the Oprah Magazine to the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as Bookforum, Publishers Weekly, the Library Journal, Vogue magazine, and, most recently, the Los Angeles Times.
Because I am such a delicate, retiring flower, reviews still really freak me out, even positive ones—I’m too scared to actually read them, so I just forward them right away to my parents. However, my much-respected editor at FSG just emailed me the concluding line of the LA Times piece, and I was deeply moved to learn that, “If Susan Sontag had coupled with Buster Keaton, their prodigiously gifted love child might have written this book.” Honestly, though, I was also slightly freaked out, and didn’t forward the link to my parents, who, it occurred to me, might conceivably resent the usurping of their vital roles in my physical and intellectual growth by Ms. Sontag and Mr. Keaton—to whom, oddly, they bear no readily apparent resemblance. I guess that’s the kind of mystery Viktor Shklovsky had in mind when he wrote that “the legacy… from one literary generation to the next moves not from father to son but from uncle to nephew.”
Dear Bay Area readers! I warmly invite you to the book launch for The Possessed, to be held on Wednesday February 24 at 7pm at the illustrious City Lights Bookstore. I am told that there will be vodka martinis. I believe the vodka martini was Tolstoy’s favorite kind of martini.
In March, I will be doing more readings in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York:
3/3 – Los Angeles, CA
ALOUD at the LAPL
In conversation with David Ulin
3/10 – Corte Madera, CA
Book Passage
3/11 – Menlo Park, CA
Kepler’s Books
3/15 – New York, NY
McNally Jackson
In conversation with Keith Gessen
3/17 – Boston, MA
Brookline Booksmith
4/25 – Los Angeles, CA
LA Times Festival of Books
In April–May, I’m really hoping to get to Chicago and New Orleans, two beautiful metropolitan areas which are home to some of my favorite dear readers. Nothing definite yet, though—really it depends whether my interns can build up enough muscle mass by then. Remember, every little bit counts!
Tags: Elif's mom, Keith Gessen, libraries, money, publications, reviews, Russian literature, THE POSSESSED, Tolstoy, Viktor Shklovsky
February 14th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Sam Anderson on ‘The Professor and Other Writings,’ by Terry Castle and ‘The Possessed,’ by Elif Batuman — New York Magazine Book Review
http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/63773/
February 15th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Laura Miller review at Salon.com – http://beta.salon.com/books/what_to_read/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2010/02/14/the_possessed
February 16th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Barnes & Noble essay on The Possessed
by Jessica Allen
http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Reviews-Essays/The-Possessed-Adventures-with-Russian-Books-and-the-People-who/ba-p/2186
February 16th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
molodchina! see you in boston.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
NY Times
Books of The Times
Tolstoy & Co. As Objects of Obsession
By DWIGHT GARNER
Published: February 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/books/17book.html
February 16th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
NY Times
Excerpt
‘The Possessed’
By ELIF BATUMAN
Published: February 16, 2010
Babel in California
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/books/excerpt-the-possessed.html
February 20th, 2010 at 5:54 am
‘The Possessed,’ by Elif Batuman
Bob Blaisdell, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, February 19, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/19/RV6Q1BU92U.DTL
February 20th, 2010 at 10:12 am
The Possessed
Book review
Time Out New York
by Eryn Loeb
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/books/82851/elif-batuman-the-possessed-book-review
February 20th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
dear elif,
i spent four years in the PG.3776’s of the university of chicago, and wrote my BA thesis on fyodorov and platonov, etc. i read the brothers karamazov for the first time in a bathtub in istanbul (where i sat through the night so as not to wake any of my fellow travelers with the lights), and spent one september of my life drinking samagon and digging potatoes with old believers. since tuesday, when i acquired your book, i have been making calculations like whether i should walk down the metro escalator and miss 26 seconds of potentially reading of the possessed, or make the train. i routinely decided it was worth reading instead, because the worst that would happen when i missed the train was that i’d stand reading your book for another seven minutes, which is what i was going to do when i got home, anyways. i work at an independent bookstore in dc, and i have been putting it in everyone’s hand, and this week i might have semi-dramatically read it aloud to my coworkers, and also, sent a copy to my comp lit friend from samarkand.
thank you, it’s wonderful! and anthemic (which you surely won’t hear in the reviews) for people such as i.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:16 pm
‘The Possessed’ by Elif Batuman offers fresh perspective on Russian literary giants
By Plain Dealer guest writer
February 23, 2010, 12:00AM
http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2010/02/the_possessed_by_elif_batuman.html
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:49 am
Turkish Digest: The Possessed
Quirky, comical essays explore the relationship between Russian literature and life.
By Heller McAlpin / February 22, 2010
http://www.turkishdigest.com/2010/02/possessed.html
February 24th, 2010 at 6:40 am
By Rachel Dovey
Elif Batuman: To Russia, With Love
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/02/elif-batuman-to-russia-with-love.html
February 24th, 2010 at 10:35 am
A Comedian in the Academy
Who knew studying Russian literature could be so funny?
By Adam Kirsch
Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/id/2245194/
February 25th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Paperback Nonfiction Bestsellers For Feb. 25 : NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124092149&ft=1&f=1032
[. . .]
14. The Possessed
Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
By Elif Batuman
Weeks on list: 1 • In The Possessed, Elif Batuman explores the lives of the great Russian authors, from Pushkin to Platonov, and of the people they continue to influence up through today. She retraces Pushkin’s wanderings in the Caucuses, explores why Old Uzbek has a hundred different words for crying and visits an 18th century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva River in Russia.
Paperback, 304pp, $15.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2010
[. . .]
February 26th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Interview with Elif Batuman, Part-Time Professor of the Possessed
by Ilana Simons
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unabashedly-Bookish/Interview-with-Elif-Batuman-Part-Time-Professor-of-the-Possessed/ba-p/486969
March 1st, 2010 at 5:27 am
Bookslut
February 2010
Janet Potter
nonfiction
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman
http://www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/2010_02_015789.php
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
The Possessed: Academia hasn’t killed Elif Batuman’s sense of humor
By Jonathan Kiefer
Published on March 01, 2010 at 12:22pm
http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-03-03/culture/the-possessed-academia-hasn-t-killed-elif-batuman-s-sense-of-humor
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:59 am
recent booklists
Mar 3 2010
Elif Batuman: Dangerous Friends
http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/5266
March 5th, 2010 at 5:27 am
GO EAST, YOUNG WOMAN | More Intelligent Life
~ ALICE GREGORY
http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/blog/alice-gregory/go-east-young-woman
March 6th, 2010 at 5:51 am
Reading to Live – The Brooklyn Rail
by Jenny Hendrix
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/03/express/reading-to-live
March 6th, 2010 at 5:55 am
Largehearted Boy: Book Notes – Elif Batuman (”The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them”)
“In her own words, here is Elif Batuman’s Book Notes music playlist for her book”
http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2010/03/book_notes_elif.html
March 7th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Book review: ‘The Possessed’ by Elif Batuman | Dallas Morning News
Sunday, March 7, 2010
By ED NAWOTKA
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_possessed_0307gd.ART.State.Edition1.4b95ace.html
March 9th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Adventures in Russian Literature: ‘The Possessed’ by Elif Batuman – Wall Street Journal
By ALEXANDRA ALTER
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111503804014096.html
March 9th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Ha, the WSJ piece includes an unattributed quote from super guestblogger Peli Grietzer! The unattributed quote is: “You killed Tolstoy.”
March 10th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Books
Off-page with…
Elif Batuman
The author sheds light on her love of Russian lit.
By Parul Sehgal
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/books/83634/elif-batuman-off-page-the-possessed
March 11th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Review: The Possessed by Elif Batuman
March 11, 2010
Publishing Perspectives
By Edward Nawotka
http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=12847
March 11th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
March 11, 2010 By MARION WINIK. Special to Newsday
THE POSSESSED: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, by Elif Batuman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 296 pp., $15.
http://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/books/the-possessed-by-elif-batuman-1.1807011
March 12th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
March 11, 2010 By MARION WINIK. Special to Newsday
THE POSSESSED: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, by Elif Batuman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 296 pp., $15.
Alternative link:
http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=8928E078A3194B790C3C.1834?site=newsday&view=entertainment_item&feed:a=newsday_10min&feed:c=entertainment&feed:i=1.1807011&nopaging=1
March 14th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
The Book Haven » “Don’t compare yourself to Tolstoy, young lady!”
“Elif Batuman gave her reading at Kepler’s Thursday night, and spilled all about the angry letter-writers who attack her.”
http://bookhaven.stanford.edu/2010/03/dont-compare-yourself-to-tolstoy-young-lady/
March 15th, 2010 at 5:07 am
The Leonard Lopate Show
Monday, March 15, 2010
Airs weekdays at 12PM on 93.9 FM and AM 820
“Treasures and the Treasury
“We’ll get two takes on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner—from The New Yorker’s John Cassidy and The Atlantic’s Joshua Green. Then, Elif Batuman talks about the great Russian novelists…and the people who read them. And Paddy Moloney, leader of The Chieftains, the most popular traditional Irish music group in the world, discusses their latest album. Plus, geopolitics expert Charles Emmerson looks ahead to what the future might hold for the Arctic.”
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2010/03/15
March 15th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Harper’s
April 2010
New Books
By Benjamin Moser
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/04/0082904
March 15th, 2010 at 9:21 am
The Bookseller
Batuman signed by Granta
15.03.10 | Catherine Neilan
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/114611-batuman-signed-by-granta.html
March 19th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Dostoyevsky and Me
By LIESL SCHILLINGER
Published: March 18, 2010
“Hilarious, wide-ranging, erudite and memorable, ‘The Possessed’ is a sui generis feast for the mind and the fancy, ants and all.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/review/Schillinger-t.html
March 19th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
March 19, 2010, 1:37 pm
Book Review Podcast: Jill Abramson and Elif Batuman
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/book-review-podcast-jill-abramson-and-elif-batuman/
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
* Paste
* Books
* Reviews
Published at 3:00 PM on March 22, 2010
By Burke Nixon
Elif Batuman:
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
[Farrar, Strauss and Giroux]
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/03/elif-batuman-the-possessed-adventures-with-russian.html
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:33 pm
So, Elif, lured in by the NYT review today (how did I miss the first one?) I am going down to B&N this evening to see if they have your book. There are already 3 holds on each copy at the library, and I can’t wait.
The h eadline sucked me in right away – a generation ahead of you, I, too, fell for Russian language and literature (the exact title of my undergrad degree), tho’ I’m more the language/linguistics end of the passion. Oblomov? (I read your earlier posts) Shudder. I couldn’t cope with Oblomov, too much like my own struggle with depression, which makes me want to sleep when in the throes of it. But AK? W&P? The Possessed? er, the Devils?
Yes, yes, yes.
молодеец, дорогая!
If you’d put San Antonio on your book tour, I’d take you out to our “Russian Bar,” or to the Twig, our independent bookstore, or both. Or whatever. Can’t wait to read the book.
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:35 pm
er, correction, молодец! (typo, so embarassing)
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Elif Batuman: ‘Orhan Pamuk made novel writing an acceptable profession in Turkey’
“In an interview with Today’s Zaman, Batuman speaks about her new book and shares her musings on Turkish literature.”
23 March 2010, Tuesday
RÜYA KARLIOVA
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-205105-110-elif-batuman-orhan-pamuk-made-novel-writing-an-acceptable-profession-in-turkey.html
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
3/23/10 Monitor Books podcast, including interview with Elif Batuman, author of “The Possessed”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2010/0323/3-23-10-Monitor-Books-podcast-including-interview-with-Elif-Batuman-author-of-The-Possessed
April 1st, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Review of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman, originally published in BookBrowse.com, March 2010
by Julie Wan
http://www.juliewan.com/?page_id=182
PDF: http://www.juliewan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Possessed.pdf
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/2397/The-Possessed
April 6th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
‘The Possessed’” A fun glimpse into Russian literature
Elif Batuman explores the minds behind great Russian novels in this witty, intelligent and fun book.
By ANDREA HOAG, Special to the Star Tribune
Last update: April 6, 2010 – 2:01 PM
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/90003432.html
April 9th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Alexandra Juhasz
Media Maker/Prof/Activist
Posted: April 9, 2010 08:22 PM
The Possessed: Academics Going to the Trades
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandra-juhasz/the-possessed-academics-g_b_532637.html
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Moments of truth
* Judith Armstrong
* From: The Australian
* April 24, 2010 12:00AM
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/moments-of-truth/story-e6frg8nf-1225856021715
April 26th, 2010 at 4:27 am
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
By Michael Buening 26 April 2010
Containing Multitudes
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124417-the-possessed-by-elif-batuman
April 26th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Utah News, Sports, Events – Daily Herald Newspaper / Legislature
Book Buzz: ‘The Possessed’ and ‘The Elements’
Laura Wadley – Correspondent | Posted: Sunday, April 25, 2010 12:04 am
http://www.heraldextra.com/legislature/article_66894f7a-4dc7-5962-b941-03dd63ad30d1.html
April 27th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Provoking, presenting, plays, programs and the possessed
April 27, 2010 – 10:49 am, by Angela Meyer
[. . .]
If you’re anything like me, you will love a book being released in Australia today, The Possessed, by Elif Batuman (Text). It’s a passionate, personalised journey through Russian literature, its authors, and the people who read and write about them. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year – warm, smart, sweet, poignant, even slightly eccentric. Quite captivating, especially if you’re already passionate about literature. I’ll be interviewing the author on the blog soon, too!
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/literaryminded/2010/04/27/provoking-presenting-plays-programs-and-the-possessed/#comments
May 1st, 2010 at 5:15 am
Zach Dundas
Renegade Sportsman
True/Slant
Apr. 21 2010
Elif Batuman’s ‘The Possessed’: Or, When Pushkin Comes to (From Russia With) Love!
http://trueslant.com/zachdundas/2010/04/21/elif-batumans-the-possessed-or-when-pushkin-comes-to-from-russia-with-love/
May 1st, 2010 at 5:39 am
Megan Heffernan
April 30, 2010…4:08 pm
Adventures in Academic Land
http://uncollectedthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/adventures-in-academic-land/
May 8th, 2010 at 4:55 am
The Possessed Reading Group Gold
“Whether you read The Possessed with your book club, with your thesis adviser, or in solitude, this guide is designed to enhance the journey.”
media.us.macmillan.com/rggguides/9780374532185RGG.pdf [N.B.: .pdf]
May 12th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Book Review: The Possessed by Elif Batuman
11 May 2010 By Caitlin
http://1416andcounting.com/?p=2224
May 14th, 2010 at 9:39 am
The Rumpus
From Russia with Love
Thomas Larson · May 13th, 2010
http://therumpus.net/2010/05/from-russia-with-love/
May 19th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Colin Miner
Gutenberg Revisited
Possessed by Elif Batuman
http://trueslant.com/colinminer/2010/05/19/possessed-by-elif-batuman/
May 20th, 2010 at 4:37 am
SF Weekly
People & Places
Best C-List Writer – 2010
Elif Batuman
http://www.sfweekly.com/bestof/2010/award/best-c-list-writer-1983718/
May 21st, 2010 at 4:48 am
Powell’s Books – Review-a-Day – The Possessed
http://www.powells.com/review/2010_05_21
May 27th, 2010 at 4:44 am
Amelia Atlas
On Elif Batuman’s The Possessed
Posted on | May 26, 2010
http://www.ameliaatlas.com/?p=68
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:48 am
Issue #23.22 :: 06/02/2010 – 06/08/2010
Obsessives Abroad
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
BY RODNEY WELCH
http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064186640&ShowArticle_ID=11010106101026763
June 15th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Those Wacky Russian Literature Scholars (And More)
Reviewed by Nancy Klingener
http://keysnews.com/node/24029
June 16th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
June 16, 2010
ARTicles, a project of
the National Arts Journalism Program
An Original
By
Robert Christgau
http://www.najp.org/articles/2010/06/generally-when-i-write-about.html
June 19th, 2010 at 4:45 am
NPR
Summer Books That Make The Critics’ Cut
Also recommended: The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman. “A hilarious collection” of essays and travel stories about people who obsess about Russian novels. [Laura] Miller says even if you can’t get through a Russian novel, you’ll find something to laugh about in this book.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127918885
June 19th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Excerpt: ‘The Possessed’
by Elif Batuman
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127768229
June 19th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Book review
‘The Possessed’: Open to anything, as long as it’s Russian
Elif Batuman’s “The Possessed” is a highly original memoir of one woman’s obsession with Russian life and literature. Batuman discusses her book Monday June 21 at Seattle’s University Book Store.
By by Valerie Ryan
Special to The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2012136029_br20possessed.html
June 25th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Indian Express
The Big Love
Aishwarya Subramanian
Posted: Sat Jun 26 2010, 22:51 hrs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/The-Big-Love/638509
June 28th, 2010 at 9:32 am
The Possessor
by ELENA SCHILDER
http://thisrecording.com/today/tag/elif-batuman
July 19th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
The Moscow News
The Undercover Critic
Russ Lit remix
by Mark H. Teeter at 19/07/2010 19:47
http://www.mn.ru/critic/20100719/187938361.html
July 20th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
The Book Haven » Life in exotic Palo Alto
Cynthia Haven
“Palo Alto is often portrayed as a boring and staid address, the southernmost fringes where hip San Francisco fades into the dull heart of Silicon Valley. The most recent Times Literary Supplement to arrive in my mailbox makes it seem positively exotic.
“Andrew Kahn reviews Elif Batuman’s The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them.”
continues here:
http://bookhaven.stanford.edu/2010/07/life-in-exotic-palo-alto/
August 8th, 2010 at 8:33 am
“If you’re going to read just one book about conference planning, Isaac Bable…”
August 8, 2010, 10:12 am
Posted by Margaret O’Brien Steinfels
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=9469
August 24th, 2010 at 4:52 am
M/C Reviews
Uzbek watermelons and Tolstoy – The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Reviewed by Julie Kearney
http://reviews.media-culture.org.au/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4143
August 31st, 2010 at 4:48 am
The Millions
Reviews
Adventures in Reviewing Elif Batuman’s The Possessed
By Ujala Sehgal posted at 6:23 am on August 31, 2010
http://www.themillions.com/2010/08/adventures-in-reviewing-elif-batumans-the-possessed.html
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Chicago Tribune
Printer’s Row
09/03/2010
Editor’s Choice: ‘The Possessed
— Elizabeth Taylor, literary editor
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/09/editors-choice-the-possessed-elif-batu.html