St. Petersburg

Rating:
Summary: One of myt favorite books on St. Petersburg
Review: I have over 60 books on Russia and St. Petersburg, and this is one of my favorites. Steve Ramer is a National Geographic photojournalist who spent considerable time in St. Petersburg during a period of great change. The book is beautifully illustrated with an easy to read informative text. Ramer shows everything from the palaces and opera houses to ordinary people on ordinary streets. Having been to St. Petersburg twice, I can appreciate the honesty of his images. This is a great coffee table style book. In his epilogue to the book, Ramer states that he took 26 rolls of film to make the book. The images he selcted for the book are very good. I only wish I could see the rest of his photos. If you are looking for this book and are unable to find a copy, you may want to look through old National Geographic magazines from the early 1990's for Ramer's article on St. Petersburg. Of course, if you do, you'll only have a greater desire to find the book.

Rating:
Summary: One of myt favorite books on St. Petersburg
Review: I have over 60 books on Russia and St. Petersburg, and this is one of my favorites. Steve Ramer is a National Geographic photojournalist who spent considerable time in St. Petersburg during a period of great change. The book is beautifully illustrated with an easy to read informative text. Ramer shows everything from the palaces and opera houses to ordinary people on ordinary streets. Having been to St. Petersburg twice, I can appreciate the honesty of his images. This is a great coffee table style book. In his epilogue to the book, Ramer states that he took 26 rolls of film to make the book. The images he selcted for the book are very good. I only wish I could see the rest of his photos. If you are looking for this book and are unable to find a copy, you may want to look through old National Geographic magazines from the early 1990's for Ramer's article on St. Petersburg. Of course, if you do, you'll only have a greater desire to find the book.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This has to be one of the worst books ever written. I had a terrible time following the plot of the story as the book jumped around and bored the reader with uninteresting conversation as way too much description of unimportant objects. I had to force myself to read it and did not finish it. Supposedly, the novel is full of symbolism, yet I can find little to none of that. Perhaps the translation is off. Or maybe the book itself is over-emphasized as a great novel. I would not recommend this book to anyone.