Happy Wednesday, everyone! Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday updates. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS.
The mechanics for WWW Wednesday are quite simple: you just have to answer three questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What have you finished reading?
- What will you read next?
What are you currently reading?
It’s already the middle of the week. How has your week been so far? I hope it’s going well and moving in the direction you hoped for. Thankfully, tomorrow is a holiday here in the Philippines, although I wish it had been moved to Friday so we could enjoy an even longer weekend. August 25 is also a holiday. But for those who have to report to work, I hope you make it through the rest of the week. As time takes its natural course, I hope everything is going well for everyone. I hope you’re being showered with blessings and good news. May the rest of the year be filled with answered prayers, more blessings, and healing. I hope everyone is doing well, both physically and mentally. I also hope you’re making steady progress toward your goals. With the year approaching its inevitable close, I wish for the remaining months to be kinder and gentler to you. Reading-wise, I’ve been lagging behind on my reading challenges. To catch up, I’ve shifted my focus to my reading lists, immersing myself in European literature; many of the books on my challenges are written by European authors.
Among the books I included in my 2025 Top 25 Reading List is my current read: Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. Before the pandemic, I had never heard of this Russian writer, whom I had always assumed was German. It was only upon reading the book’s introduction that I learned he was Russian, born in Ukraine. I first came across Life and Fate early in the pandemic through an online bookseller. Always eager to explore unfamiliar worlds, I acquired the book. However, like most of the books I own, it was left to gather dust on my bookshelf. This was the primary reason I included it in my 2025 Top 25 Reading List. From the introduction, I learned that Grossman was a prominent figure in Soviet literary circles. He served as a war correspondent during the Second World War – after being rejected for military service in 1941 – and was second in popularity only to Ilya Ehrenburg.
Originally published in 1980 as Жизнь и судьба (Zhizn’ i sud’ba), Life and Fate is the third and final book in Grossman’s Stalingrad Trilogy. The novel takes us back to World War II, focusing particularly on the Battle of Stalingrad. It begins with the German army’s advance into the Soviet Union’s desperate defenses. As chaos erupts and the worst seems inevitable, we’re introduced to a diverse cast of characters. The novel primarily follows two families. Members of the Shaposhnikov family were involved in the war effort in various capacities, and some held prominent roles in Russian society. Yevgenia (Zhenya) Nikolaevna Shaposhnikova, a dedicated Communist Party member, was originally married to Nikolay Grigorevich Krymov. When we first meet her, she is in a relationship with Colonel Pyotr Pavlovich Novikov, whom she reconnects with as the war intensifies. After their reconnection, they retreat to Kuibyshev, although she struggles to obtain a residence permit due to local bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, we are also introduced to the Shtrum family. The patriarch, Viktor Pavlovich, is a brilliant physicist and a member of the Academy of Sciences. He is married to Lyudmila (Lyuda) Nikolaevna Shaposhnikova, Yevgenia’s older sister. The couple has a daughter, Nadya, while Lyuda has a son, Tolya, from a previous marriage to Abarchuk. Like Yevgenia, they are forced to flee due to the advancing German forces, relocating from Kazan to Moscow. Viktor’s storyline adds an intriguing dimension to the novel. As a Jew, he faces discrimination—his mother was sent to a concentration camp, and the Russian Empire also had a long history of anti-Semitic violence. His scientific work is discredited by the Academy and his peers, solely because of his heritage. He must navigate both political red tape and deep-rooted prejudice.
Politics is a central theme in the novel. Some characters experience revelations related to their political ideologies. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Vladimir Lenin are all referenced. Due to its themes and scope, Life and Fate is often compared to Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and is even considered its 20th-century counterpart. I can understand why. The historical detail is immersive, but the novel also weaves in references to literary classics such as Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, adding a layer of nuance. I’m just over 200 pages away from finishing the novel, and I’m excited to see how it all concludes.
What have you finished reading?
Reading-wise, the past week wasn’t as prolific as the previous ones. This is primarily because I’ve been immersed in two hefty Russian literary classics in succession—technically, I’m still reading Life and Fate. But this foray into Russian literature began with another great Russian author. The works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky—whom I first encountered through various must-read lists—have certainly captivated me. I started exploring his oeuvre with The Brothers Karamazov, which I read back in 2016. I followed it up with his beloved Crime and Punishment. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I began reading more of his works, and now, nearly a decade after my first Dostoyevsky novel, I’ve completed my fifth novel by the literary titan.
Interestingly, I hadn’t planned on reading The Idiot, but the opportunity presented itself—so I went with it. Originally published serially in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869, The Idiot is part of a literary quartet many critics consider among Dostoyevsky’s most defining works, written after his return from exile in Siberia. By reading this book, I’ve completed that quartet. The titular “idiot” is Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties, descended from one of Russia’s oldest noble families. When we first meet him, he is en route to St. Petersburg on a cold November morning, returning to Russia after spending four years in a Swiss asylum for severe epilepsy. His journey marks a kind of homecoming. His first stop is the household of General Yepanchin. The general’s wife, Lizaveta Prokofyevna Yepanchin, is a distant relative of the Prince, and he seeks to become acquainted with her. During his journey, the Prince meets Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, a young man of the merchant class. The Prince’s interest is piqued by Rogozhin’s intense—almost obsessive—devotion to Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, a strikingly beautiful and enigmatic woman. As fate would have it, this encounter proves to be a pivotal moment.
At the General’s household, the Prince meets the general’s ambitious and somewhat vain assistant, Gavril Ardalyonovich Ivolgin (nicknamed Ganya), who is set to marry Nastasya. We soon learn, however, that she is also the mistress of the aristocrat Afanásy Ivánovich Tótsky. Ganya secretly yearns for Aglaya, the youngest and most beautiful of the Yepanchin daughters, complicating things further. His family, meanwhile, disapproves of Nastasya as a potential wife. In an attempt to confront Ganya’s family, Nastasya ends up in a tense situation—but is stopped by the Prince, who inadvertently saves her from humiliation. The Prince, in turn, finds himself increasingly drawn to her. What follows is a love triangle, with the Prince and Rogozhin competing for her affection. While the love triangle provides a dramatic thread through the novel, the primary focus remains on the Prince himself. Against the sophistication of the Yepanchins and the corrupt society around him, the Prince stands out. His naiveté and blunt honesty make him an object of fascination. He is Dostoyevsky’s attempt at portraying a truly beautiful and innocent soul in a world steeped in materialism, cynicism, and moral decay—a world where people have no scruples about taking advantage of him. Overall, The Idiot is yet another compelling read from one of the true masters of Russian literature.
What will you read next?
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 