A sad day for Russia. Alexander Solzhenitsyn passed away this weekend.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL31313220080804

I heard that on the news today.

Yes, sad news. I heard it on the news Sunday.

"A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (Один день Ивана Денисовича) was the first grown up book I read in Russian. Prior to that, it was all poems and children's stories.

That was an excellent book too. A great figure in Russian history has passed. Let us hope the lessons from his work and writings are not lost on his people.

Solzhenitsyn was a rock. Like Chris, I hope his legacy endures inside the borders of his own country.


That's very impressive, by the way.

Not as impressive as it sounds - I think it took me a year to read it. I had the book, and my Russian-English dictionary right next to me...Then I read it in english to make sure I understood it all. It's interesting to read an original work in the original language - things do get lost in translation.