…I’d love to see you at my book launch. But the invitation comes with a warning: the book may not be what you expect on the basis of my other work.
Those who read my books for their ideas will be disappointed: there are precious few of those in this one.
Those who for some unfathomable reason are interested in the details of my life, will be disappointed too, if less so. For the book really isn’t so much about me as about Russia – admittedly as seen through my eyes.
Disappointment all around then? Well, not necessarily.
What I’ve tried to do is help the reader learn about Russia the way a child and a youngster would learn it while growing up there. Actually, that’s the second objective. The first one is to keep the reader entertained and amused.
You’ll laugh quite a bit at some of the stories. But if you get in the spirit of it, you’ll laugh the way I did – through tears. In Russian literature this combination of mirth and lacrymosity goes back to Gogol, or later to Bulgakov and Platonov.
It’ll be up to you to decide how well the same trick can work in very English prose. One way or the other, this promises to be a hell of a good party.
Hope to see you there – but please let me know if you’re coming (sonata@btinternet.com). We don’t want to run out of wine.
You are cordially invited to the launch of
How the Future Worked
by Alexander Boot
an anecdotal account of Russia based on the author’s
not altogether happy memories of it
Published by Bretwalda Books
Wednesday, 25th September
at Daunt Books, 158-164 Fulham Road, London SW10 9PR
6.30 to 8.30 pm
RSVP
email: sonata@btinternet.com
telephone: 020 7736 3286