Received a letter asking me to tell you which three books influenced me in childhood and adolescence?

1. Probably the book that influenced me most was “The Three Musketeers.” Moreover, it influenced three times and each time differently.

First of all, I started to really read with this book. Just as many children today start reading with Rowling, I started reading with Dumas. Read voraciously. My parents couldn’t kick me out into the street - stop reading, at least go for a walk.

Secondly, I once read about the trial of one of our dissidents. The judge asked him:
- Well, tell me, how did you, a simple Soviet person, become an anti-Soviet? They probably gave you some subversive books to read? Which? And who exactly gave you these books?
– Indeed, I became anti-Soviet when I read one book. It was called "The Three Musketeers". Remember the place when d'Artagnan and his friends decided to go to England for pendants? And do you know what they did? They just got on their horses and rode off.

And thirdly, having re-read the book as an adult, what struck me most was not the adventures of the brave musketeers, but how much ethical standards had changed. And it turned out that the courageous Porthos is a gigolo who lives at the expense of the old prosecutor from Chatelet, sir, Madame Coknard, who is at least fifty years old and who still pretends to be jealous. At the end of the book, Porthos marries her and the coveted chest contains eight hundred thousand livres.
Refined Aramis lives on the money of Madame de Chevreuse.
The fearless d'Artagnan sleeps with the maid Katie, who is in love with him, in order to read my lady's letters.
And even the noble Athos (in our yard everyone wanted to be Athos) hanged his sixteen-year-old wife from a tree, tearing off her dress and tying her hands.

2. “Noon, XXII century” by the Strugatsky brothers
It was the most powerful utopia I have read in my life. Of course, then I read Plato, and Thomas More, and Campanella, but I would not want to end up in any of these worlds for any price. And I would like to live in the 22nd century of the Strugatskys. I’m even scared to imagine what kind of crisis the science fiction writers had to go through in order to start with “Noon” and reach “The Doomed City”.

3. A small book of stories by Borges had the strongest influence on me. I was amazed that it was possible to remove almost all of its “beauties” from literature and, leaving only the almost bare framework of the plot, achieve the strongest effect. I felt almost physical pleasure from the incredible erudition of the author and the boldness of his parallels. I decided that this genre is the future of literature.

At that time, I worked as a loader at the Progress bookstore in Park Kultury and organized a club for Borges lovers there. At that time, there were numerous book exchanges in Moscow, from which we took Borges and distributed it to everyone we knew. I remember that I gave 17 collections of “Aleph” in a dark red cover.

And then I translated it from Spanish. In fact, I started blogging “like Borges” - throwing out everything I could. Leave just one thought.

What books can you name? And what exactly did they hook you with?
Thank you

Among the melting candles and evening prayers,
Among the spoils of war and peaceful fires,
There lived bookish children who did not know battles,
Exhausting from my petty disasters.

Children are always annoyed by their age and way of life,
And we fought to the point of abrasions, to mortal insults,
But our mothers patched our clothes on time,
We devoured the books, getting drunk on the lines.

Hair stuck to our sweaty foreheads,
And it sucked sweetly in the pit of my stomach from the phrases.
And the smell of struggle turned our heads,
Flying towards us from yellowed pages.

And we, who have not known wars, tried to comprehend
Those who mistook a howl for a war cry,
The mystery of the word “order”, the purpose of boundaries,
The meaning of the attack and the clanging of war chariots.

And in the boiling cauldrons of former wars and unrest
So much food for our little brains,
We are in the role of traitors, cowards, Judases
In children's games they designated their own enemies.

And the traces of the villain were not allowed to cool down,
And they promised to love the most beautiful ladies,
And reassuring friends and loving neighbors,
We introduced ourselves to the roles of heroes.

Only you can’t escape into dreams forever,
Fun has a short life, there is so much pain around.
Try to unclench the palms of the dead
And take the weapon from weary hands.

Test it by taking possession of a still warm sword
And having put on the armor, how much, what how much?!
Test who you are - a coward or the chosen one of fate,
And taste the real fight.

And when a wounded friend collapses nearby,
And over the first loss you will howl, mourning,
And when you suddenly find yourself without skin,
Because they killed him, not you.

You will understand that you recognized, distinguished, found,
He looked at the grin - it’s a grin of death,
Lies and evil, look how rough their faces are
And there are always crows and coffins behind.

If you haven’t eaten a single piece of meat from a knife,
If you fold your arms and watch from above,
But he didn’t enter into a fight with a scoundrel, with an executioner,
This means that you had nothing to do with anything in life.

If the path is cut by your father's sword,
You've wrapped salty tears around your mustache,
If in a hot battle you experienced what it costs,
This means you read the right books as a child.

Translation into Russian or English of the song text - This means you read the right books as a child. performer Vladimir Vysotsky:

Amid oplyvshih candles and evening prayers,
Amid the spoils of war and peace fires
Lived books children who did not know the battles
Exhausted from the small of his disasters.

Children ever annoy their age and life,
And we fought to abrasions, to mortal offense,
But we patched clothes mother -in-time,
We swallowed the book, getting drunk on the lines.

Hair stuck in our sweaty foreheads,
And sucking in his stomach from sweet phrases.
And circled our heads smell struggle,
From the pages yellowed fly off on us.

And we tried to comprehend, not knowing wars
During the war cry took howl
Secret words & order & quot ;, fiat boundaries,
The meaning of the attack and the clang of chariots.

A boiling pot of previous wars and unrest
So much food for little of our brains,
We're on the role of traitors, cowards, Jude
In the children’s games of their appointed enemies.

And the villain footsteps not allowed to cool,
And beautiful ladies promised to love,
And friends and neighbors calmed loving,
We’re on the role of the characters introduced themselves.

Only in dreams can not be permanently escape,
Short century have fun, so much pain around.
Try to pry the palm of the dead
And weapons to take out the tired hands.

Try it, seizing the sword still warm
And wearing armor that how much that how much?!
Try it, who are you - coward il chosen fate
And try to taste the real struggle.

And when the next crash wounded friend
And on the first loss you vzvoesh, grieving,
And when you stay without skin suddenly,
Because that killed him, not you.

You will understand that I learned, the difference, found,
By grin took - a death grin,
Falsehood and evil, look like their faces are rough,
And always behind Raven and coffins.

If the meat with a knife you have not eaten any piece,
If arms folded, watching from above,
But the fight did not come with a scoundrel, with the executioner,
So, in the life you were innocent, innocent.

If the path cutting through his father's sword,
You salty tears into their heads wrapped,
If the hot battle tested that how much,
So, we need books you read as a child.

If you find a typo in the text or translation of the song It means you read the books you needed as a child, please report it in the comments.

If, cutting the path with my father's sword,

You've wrapped salty tears around your mustache,

If in a hot battle you experienced what it costs, -

This means you read the right books as a child!

This is what we read in childhood under the stagnant, totalitarian, communist regime under the USSR in the 60-80s? Are you thinking of books for the school curriculum? No! I can barely remember anything from the school curriculum... Only if “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, only because I never read this novel...

I remember Pushkin: “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, Lermontov - “The Poet, Slave of Honor Died...”, something about “Muma” and “Fathers and Sons”... Yes, Gorky’s “Petrel”...

But Alexander Dumas “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “The Three Musketeers”... Walter Scott “Ivanhoe”, Fenimore Cooper “St. John’s Wort”, “The Headless Horseman” by Mine Reed, “Children of Captain Grand” by Jules Verne... etc. P. After all, no one forced them to read, but they themselves ran to the Library, stood in line and then disappeared with these books somewhere in the Hayloft or Attic, so that no one would interfere...

What are these Books about? About the struggle between Good and Evil, about Love, about Loyalty, about Justice... Where do Russian people, from childhood, have a craving for Good, for Justice? And it was almost all of them... They exchanged books with each other. They fought with wooden swords. We set sail on ponds and rivers... We fought to the point of blood for our little girlfriends...

Well, Vladimir Vysotsky was an idol in our youth. All his songs were played on a creaky cassette player and listened to somewhere in a park on a bench... And the first chords and songs on the guitar were also from Vysotsky...

In the morning there was the film “The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe” - a Soviet feature film based on the novel by English writer Walter Scott “Ivanhoe”, filmed by director Sergei Tarasov in 1982. Box office leader of 1983...

Once again the Soul was hooked...

I'm sharing with you...:

Vladimir Vysotsky - Ballad of struggle

Among the melting candles and evening prayers,

Among war trophies and peaceful bonfires

There lived bookish children who did not know battles,

Wearying from our petty disasters.

Children are always annoyed

Their age and life, -

And we fought until we were scratched,

To mortal insults.

But the clothes were patched

Our mothers are on time,

We devoured books

Getting drunk on the lines.

Hair stuck to our sweaty foreheads,

And it sucked sweetly in the pit of my stomach from the phrases,

And the smell of struggle turned our heads,

Flying down on us from yellowed pages.

And tried to comprehend

We, who have not known wars,

For the war cry

Those who received the howl,

The secret of the word "order"

Purpose of boundaries,

The meaning of the attack and clang

War chariots.

And in the boiling cauldrons of former slaughter and unrest

So much food for our little brains!

We are in the role of traitors, cowards, Judas

In children's games they designated their enemies.

And the villain's footsteps

They didn’t let it cool down,

And the most beautiful ladies

They promised to love

And, having reassured my friends

And loving my neighbors,

We are in the role of heroes

They introduced themselves.

Only you can’t escape into dreams forever:

Fun has a short life - there is so much pain around!

Try to open the palms of the dead

And take the weapon from weary hands.

Experience it by taking possession

Still warm sword

And putting on the armor,

What's the price, what's the price!

Figure out who you are - a coward

Or the chosen one of fate,

And taste it

A real fight.

And when a wounded friend collapses nearby,

And over the first loss you will howl, mourning,

And when you suddenly find yourself without skin

Because they killed him - not you -

You will understand what you have learned

Distinguished, found

He said with a grin:

This is a grin of death!

Lies and evil - look

And I would like to think that thanks to reading, we were at some point in history the most educated nation in the world, and our country was a superpower.

Immersing yourself in books read in those years is like revising your personal biography and the biography of the USSR: after all, people in those days felt like residents of one great country, reading Mikhail Sholokhov (his “The Fate of Man” wounded him right in the heart, and “Quiet Don” taught understand the place of man in history), Yuri Nagibin, the fiction of Alexander Belyaev (after all, we remember “Amphibian Man”, and “The Head of Professor Dowell”, and “The Island of Lost Ships”!), Ivan Efremov, Yuri German,

We read Daniil Granin, Vasily Bykov, Vasily Aksenov, Chingiz Aitmatov, Yuri Trifonov, military books by Konstantin Simonov and “Vasily Terkin” by Alexander Tvardovsky.

We really read everything, or almost everything. And not only the intelligentsia, and not only in the capital. In the subway, in line to see the doctor, on trains, buses, on the beach. They read especially voraciously at night, because only in the Soviet Union there was such a “trick” - to let you read a book at night! And they read a novel by Nodar Dumbadze or Boris Vasiliev in one sitting.

In the 30-50s, books about the big and eternal were at the peak of popularity, helping to survive in conditions that were hardly compatible with life. We also learned from “Two Captains” - honor and the ability to personal growth, from Ostap Bender - a sense of humor. Both the captains and Bender made the authors who created these heroes cult writers of all times. Ilf and Petrov with their “Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf” (unprecedented textbooks of satire) were stolen for quotes and are still read. Like Kaverina, of course.

Until the end of the sixties, we read books about non-pretentious feats, personal freedom “of the abyss on the edge”, we adored Yesenin, who became a powerful symbol of protest against officialdom.

We read the stunning novel “Monday Begins on Saturday” by the Strugatskys and “The Andromeda Nebula” by Ivan Efremov, who, in fact, wrote about the future of victorious communism.

In the 70s, the star of Valentin Pikul rose: he was read with delight, fascinated by the description of a dying empire, which did not yet understand that it was dying.

At that time there were not enough books talking about human relationships: Victoria Tokareva became famous because she transferred the action of the stories to the kitchens of small apartments, talking to us not about life, say, in Ancient Rome (and the historical novel was very common in Soviet prose ), but about our own lives.

Very few years will pass, and it will become fashionable to read Bulgakov - first “The White Guard”, and then “The Master and Margarita”, a novel that for a long time became the most “promoted” book in our literature. Not only the book has become a cult favorite, but also the quote from it: “Never ask for anything! They will offer and give everything themselves.”

The Strugatskys revealed to us another - the magical, magical, absurd side of reality. “It’s Hard to Be a God”, “Roadside Picnic” and everything, everything, everything they wrote taught us worldview. “Where grayness triumphs, blacks always come to power.” The Strugatskys were iconic figures of the 60-80s for us, no less than Vysotsky. They expressed the spirit of the times, becoming “prophets” in our Fatherland, when Soviet culture was already going downhill. Their books entered forever into the Greater Context, the one where “art ends and soil and fate breathe.”

However, “Dunno on the Moon” by Nikolai Nosov is about the same absurd irrational reality, and it is unlikely that Dunno, who visited the Moon, was loved only by children, because this is a book about us, who dream of beauty far away!

We began to understand that the world is hardly structured rationally, that it is impossible to live with historical optimism, that it is difficult or even impossible to save the world, but you can love, thereby saving yourself and your loved ones. By the time of the collapse of the USSR, various writers (and not only Soviet ones) gave us a wonderful world, but full of joy. Many books of those years are undeservedly forgotten or criticized, but more often they are remembered with nostalgia and love.

A separate world - children's literature. Do you remember how wonderful new books smelled as a child? I didn’t want the book to end, you kept looking at how many pages were left until the end.

Books were read in class, under the covers, when our parents put us to bed. We lived in a world of books. We were very proud that our Motherland was called the most reading country, because we really read a lot back then. Since then, those who come from the Soviet era have had a surprisingly warm feeling about those times.
We borrowed books from libraries: a lot and often! The books there were tattered and well read.

Do you remember “The Bronze Bird”, “Dirk” and “The Adventures of Krosh” by Anatoly Rybakov, “The Golden Key” and “Aelita” by Alexei Tolstoy, “The Adventures of Captain Vrungel” by Andrei Nekrasov?

One of the most favorite books of Soviet children were the stories of Nikolai Nosov. How can we forget “The Living Hat”, “Mishka’s Porridge”, “Vitya Maleev at School and at Home”? Well, and the multi-volume Dunno, of course. We, and then our children, loved the thick volume “Vasek Trubachev and His Comrades” by Oseeva. Yes, we liked Vasek Trubachev even more than “Timur and His Team” by Arkady Gaidar, because Vasek was also endowed with some negative traits, which means he was closer to reality! But he’s both a leader and a good guy!

Everyone has their own top favorite childhood books. But it probably contains “Dinka” by the same Valentina Oseeva, and “The Road Goes Away” by Alexandra Brushtein, and Valentin Kataev with his novel “The Lonely Sail Whitens”, and Gaidar’s excellent stories “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer” , “The Blue Cup”, as well as “Conduit and Schwambrania” by Lev Kassil with endless imagination and humor, “The Wild Dog Dingo, or the Tale of First Love” by Reuben Fraerman, a book about Gula Koroleva “The Fourth Height” by Elena Ilyina, “The Republic of SHKID” Grigory Belykh and Leonid Panteleev, “Old Man Hottabych” by Lazar Lagin, “The Wizard of the Emerald City” and “Seven Underground Kings” by Alexander Volkov (a real “textbook” of correctness!), “The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors” by Vitaly Gubarev, “Three Fat Men” by Yuri Olesha. “White Bim Black Ear” by Gavriil Troepolsky, over which we cried in childhood, “Deniska’s Stories” by Viktor Dragunsky, over which we laughed.

Later, children began to read Vladislav Krapivin and Kir Bulychev. Many of them, having become adults, re-read Krapivin; he hit the bull’s eye with a doublet, proving interesting for any age.

And books for the little ones!

First they were read to us, then we read them to our children and grandchildren: Marshak, Mikhalkov, Chukovsky, Barto... Everyone in the house in Soviet times had favorites from the series “My First Books” and “Book after Book”.

We are nostalgic, and will be nostalgic as long as we are alive, for the phenomenon of reading in the Soviet era and for the books that left a mark on our lives. Maybe we won’t even undertake to re-read them, so as not to destroy, God forbid, the mysterious aftertaste that lasts for years and years in us, that very unfading trace.

“You need to write for children the same way as for adults, only better,” this phrase is also attributed to Maxim Gorky, and Samuil Marshak, and Korney Chukovsky. It was said bitingly, but most importantly, it was true. And it is not a sin to quote this axiom today - April 2, when International Children's Book Day is celebrated.

The realities of our time are such that such a beautiful and such a true phrase will have to be cut in half, trimmed to the following: “You need to write for children.” The situation with modern children's literature is frankly lousy - in fact, it does not exist. They don't write. However, it's not that scary. In any case, our list of 7 children's books, without which childhood has every chance of becoming dull, boring and colorless, makes perfect sense of the classics.

1. Alexander Volkov. "The Wizard of Oz"

It will not be possible to limit oneself to the first volume of a series of six books. And thank God. Each of them is a clear guide to the question: “How to set policy priorities.” Against the gorgeous painted backdrop of the Magic Land, where animals talk, miracles happen and a straw effigy comes to life, children from our world stage coups d'état, repel invaders and wage successful wars. All this is in the name of perhaps the most sympathetic principle: “Live and don’t stop others from living.” Anyone who disagrees with this is guaranteed to get hit with a tambourine. The main thing is not to make sudden movements and plan everything correctly, as the Scarecrow the Wise taught: “A river is not dry land, and dry land is not a river. You can’t walk along the river, so the Tin Woodman must make a raft, and we will cross the river!”

2. Clive Staples Lewis. "The Chronicles of Narnia"

Again a cycle, but this time with seven books. Again a magical country, but still different. The main thing for Lewis- not a technique for organizing a coup in the name of good, but how to figure out where the good is and where the evil disguised as it is. Critics accused the writer of the fact that Narnia does not instill practical life skills in children. They say that even after reading the entire series, you will not learn how to build a boat. “You won’t learn,” Lewis agreed. “But you will know how to behave if you ever find yourself aboard a sinking ship.”

3. Astrid Lindgren. "Kid and Carlson"

A trilogy that is most often published under one cover. The main character introduces himself like this: “I am a moderately well-fed man in full bloom.” In fact, Carlson is a cheerful impudent and selfish person. A rare and vital character in children's literature. Vent. A ray of light in the kingdom of the continuous: “You must always give in, listen to your elders, sit quietly, how dare you, who allowed you, besides rights there are also responsibilities.” A little egoism, especially cheerful, and a little impudence, especially witty, dilute this monstrous picture. In short, if the “housekeeper” Miss Bok has decided to make a “silk child” out of you, remember Carlson’s precepts and his methods of struggle: “There are three ways - smoking, bringing down and fooling around. And I'm going to apply all three at once."

4. Vladislav Krapivin. "Boy with a Sword"

In literature classes they teach that a book should teach life. At first glance, this is utter nonsense. A book should give joy. Nevertheless, there is a rational grain in this. And teachers don’t even imagine what a mine they are placing under the orderly edifice of the school hierarchy. Every child 10-12 years old, who picks up “The Boy with a Sword,” receives a unique tool for confronting school stupidity, dullness and social bullshit. If you have self-esteem and want to emerge victorious, take the example of Seryozha Kakhovsky, who puts the presumptuous adult fool in her place: “The main thing in an argument is not to rush. Let the other person say everything to the end. And then you need to answer - briefly and clearly. Like blade defense. When to defend and when to counterattack. And if you are indignant, interrupt, they will say that you are rude, that’s all. And then, even if you burst, you won’t prove anything.”

5. Arkady Gaidar. "A military secret"

For some reason, it is believed that death and violence should never be allowed into children's literature - bright and cloudless. Soviet classic Arkady Gaidar had a different opinion. And he left the most piercing description of the child’s death: “On that grass, face down and with a stone at his temple, lay motionless the rider of the “First October Detachment of the World Revolution,” such a little boy - Alka.” He dies from a stone thrown by the hand of a rogue and selfish person, who, of course, is imprisoned. But what will happen if such selfish people suddenly become masters themselves? And here’s what: “You and I would go to the mountains, to the forests. We would gather a detachment, and all our lives, until our death, we would attack the whites and would not change, we would never give up. Then, during the uprising, we would all rush to the city, throw bombs at the police, at the White Guard headquarters, at the gates of the prison, at the palaces of the generals, and the governors. Be brave, comrades!

6. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. "The Hobbit"

The story is that even in the most stupid man in the street, who is strong in hindsight and shallow worldly wisdom, there remains a child who craves something unusual and exciting. For example, a visit from a wizard: “Are you really the same Gandalf, by whose grace so many quiet boys and girls disappeared to God knows where, going in search of adventure? Anything from climbing trees to visiting elves. They even sailed on ships to foreign shores!”

And also that there is no need to be ashamed of this “inner child,” even if the chorus of ordinary people traditionally shouts about the danger of infantilism. Because in critical situations, of which there are plenty in The Hobbit, it is this very “infantile spirit of adventurism” that helps Mr. Bilbo Baggins survive and win.

7. Sergey Alekseev. "Glory Bird"

If you want unofficial patriotism and true love for Russian history, then it would be better to purchase the entire line of books by this writer. But, of course, it’s worth starting with this one. Here is the entire Patriotic War of 1812. It is written easily, coolly, fascinatingly and truthfully. And, most importantly, with amazing skill. The rhythm pulls you in and doesn't let go. Alekseevskoe Borodino is not much inferior to a textbook poem Lermontov. Here, for example: “After an attack comes an attack. The French know no fear. He climbs onto flashes instead of killed new heroes. But Russians are not sewn with a rusty needle. The Russians have no less courage. Two walls came together. Hero fights with hero. A daredevil is not inferior to a daredevil. Like a scythe and a stone. The Russians are not a step back, the French are not a step forward. Only mounds grow from beaten soldiers. The soldiers fight and fight. Three o'clock after noon. Who said that the Russians retreated?!” If you wish, you can write this down in a column - impressive poetry will come out. But several hundred pages have been written like this. And everything is read in one breath. And they give much more than a boring story from a textbook.