Most of the stories and poems in this are not memorable, though they are short enough to not make me regret reading them. Sometimes it seems Russian literature is some of the most profound things I've ever read, and other times it completely escapes me, like this book. ( )

A short selection from Pushkin's short stories, long poetry, plays and poetry. It is natural that Pushkin Press would want to publish some Pushkin and this is useful as a taster if you can get hold of it cheaply (I had it for 99 pence in the New Year Kindle sale), but otherwise a slightly unsatisfactory mishmash, other than the two short stories. I'm not certain the extracts from longer poems (e.g. Onegin) really work out of context, and I found the shorter verse a bit melodramatic. At the price I paid, handy to have to dip into while waiting for a bus, but hard to see how this would convince anyone to seek out more by this author. ( )