I was reading Davydov’s post about the official list of 100 books that every school student is supposed to read. I went to look at the list itself and discovered that there are loads of books on it I haven’t read, and some I’m ashamed to admit I’d never even heard of (“The Treasure of the Narts,” “Shurale,” “Russia: A Success Story”). Here it is: List of “100 Books” on the History, Culture, and Literature of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, Recommended for Independent Reading by School Students A. Adamovich, D. Granin — The Blockade Book Ch. Aitmatov — The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years / The White Steamship V. Aksyonov — A Ticket to the Stars / The Island of Crimea A. Aleksin — My Brother Plays the Clarinet V. Arsenyev — Dersu Uzala V. Astafyev — The Shepherd and the Shepherdess / The King Fish I. Babel — Odessa Stories / Red Cavalry P. Bazhov — The Malachite Casket (Ural folk tales) L. Belykh, L. Panteleyev — The Republic of ShKID V. Bogomolov — The Moment of Truth (In August of ’44) Yu. Bondarev — The Battalions Request Fire / Hot Snow A. Bokhanov — Emperor Alexander III M. Bulgakov — The White Guard K. Bulychyov — Alice’s Adventures I. Bunin — Dark Avenues V. Bykov — The Dead Feel No Pain / Sotnikov B. Vasilyev — The Dawns Here Are Quiet... / He Was Not on the Lists G. Vernadsky — An Outline of Russian History A. Volkov — The Wizard of the Emerald City A. Gaidar — Timur and His Squad / The Blue Cup / Chuk and Gek R. Gamzatov — My Dagestan / Poems V. Gilyarovsky — Moscow and Muscovites I. Goncharov — An Ordinary Story A. Goryanin — Russia: A Success Story (in 2 volumes) A. Grin — Scarlet Sails / She Who Runs on the Waves L. Gumilyov — From Rus to Russia N. Gumilyov — Poems A. Denikin — Essays on the Russian Turmoil M. Jalil — The Moabit Notebooks S. Dovlatov — The Zone / The Suitcase / The Reserve / Stories F. Dostoevsky — The Idiot V. Dragunsky — Deniska’s Stories V. Dudintsev — White Robes N. Dumbadze — Me, Grandma, Iliko and Illarion M. Ibragimbekov — There Was No Better Brother I. Ilyin — On Russia. Three Speeches I. Ilf, Ye. Petrov — The Twelve Chairs / The Little Golden Calf2 A. Ishimova — The History of Russia in Stories for Children F. Iskander — Sandro of Chegem V. Kaverin — Two Captains / An Open Book L. Kassil — Be Ready, Your Highness! / Conduit and Shvambrania V. Katayev — A Lone Sail Whitens V. Kondratyev — Sashka N. Konchalovskaya — Our Ancient Capital V. Krapivin — The Boy with a Sword V. Kuzmin — The Treasure of the Narts: From Kabardian and Balkar Legends of the Nart Heroes A. Kuprin — The Duel / The Garnet Bracelet L. Lagin — Old Khottabych N. Leskov — The Enchanted Wanderer D. Likhachov — The Tale of Igor’s Campaign and the Culture of Its Time / Reflections on Russia / Stories from Russian Chronicles Yu. Lotman — Conversations About Russian Culture / Alexander Pushkin’s Novel “Eugene Onegin”: A Commentary V. Nabokov — The Gift / The Defense / Invitation to a Beheading V. Nekrasov — In the Trenches of Stalingrad N. Nosov — The Adventures of Dunno / Dunno on the Moon / The Living Hat / Mishka’s Porridge V. Obruchev — Sannikov Land Yu. Olesha — The Three Fat Men N. Ostrovsky — How the Steel Was Tempered K. Paustovsky — The Story of a Life / The Meshchera Side V. Pikul — Requiem for Convoy PQ-17 / Miniatures A. Pristavkin — A Golden Cloudlet Spent the Night L. Petrushevskaya — Stories and Novellas B. Polevoy — The Story of a Real Man Kozma Prutkov — Works V. Rasputin — Farewell to Matyora R. Rozhdestvensky — Poems N. Rubtsov — Poems Sh. Rustaveli — The Knight in the Panther’s Skin A. Rybakov — The Dirk / The Bronze Bird / The Shot D. Samoylov — Poems K. Simonov — Poems / The Living and the Dead L. Solovyov — The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin A. Strugatsky, B. Strugatsky — Monday Begins on Saturday / Hard to Be a God V. Tokareva — Stories and Novellas A. Tolstoy — Prince Serebryany L. Tolstoy — Hadji Murat / The Cossacks / Anna Karenina3 G. Tukay — Shurale (a creature from Tatar folklore) Yu. Tynyanov — Pushkin / The Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar E. Uspensky — Crocodile Gena and His Friends / Uncle Fyodor, His Dog, and His Cat A. Fadeyev — The Young Guard / The Rout R. Fraerman — Wild Dog Dingo, or The Story of First Love K. Khetagurov — Poems E. Schwartz — The Dragon / The Snow Queen V. Shukshin — Stories N. Eidelman — Lunin / Your Nineteenth Century I. Ehrenburg — People, Years, Life V. Yan — Genghis Khan. Batu. To the Last Sea V. Yanin — I Sent You a Birch-Bark Letter Epics, bylinas, chronicles Alpamysh Geser David of Sassoun Jangar Kalevala Koroghlu Manas Olonkho Ural-Batyr Ancient Russian Poems Collected by Kirsha Danilov The Tale of Bygone Years Bylinas (compiled by K. Checherov, P. Ukhov) Tales of the Peoples of Russia (compiled by M. Vatagin) So then, shall we compare ourselves to a well-read schoolkid? [Error: Invalid poll ID 1891724]