Status Updates From The Collected Stories of Is...

The Awakening and In the Basement are interesting stories. Easier to follow, more autobiographical, filled with a lot to dig into, with big themes like following your dreams and pressure of fitting in.

I liked Karl-Yankel story.

Just read the story of my dovecoat

Finished red calvary tales and now moving into 1920s-1938 short stories

Finished the Odessa Stories. Started the Red Calvary stories. Realized I can listen to Russian audiobook so first two Red Calvary stories I listened in Russian, while following along in English. Makes the translations and flow in different languages interesting and keeps my Russian sharp. Enjoyable and interesting to learn about how this Russian Jewish writing was so revolutionary at the time.

Odessa stories are interesting and dense. Interesting writing style and I hadn’t read Jewish gangster stories before, much less really learned about Jewish life in Odessa, which was a very Jewish city back when he was writing these.

The King in Odessa Stories is interesting. A bit longer and more grotesque. I have now seen his writing as realism in life and his Jewish characters are more than just scholars, but this is the first one where Jews are the gangsters. Interesting!

Early stories were good and started to give a taste of his writing. Stories are like 1-3 pages but dense and can be hard to follow. Gemini helped explain a lot and unpack things I wouldn’t have gotten myself.

Excited to read the Odessa Stories now.

The end of hypatius is an interesting short story explaining the start and end of the Romanov dynasty. Short and detailed, Gemini is helping me understand all the layers that Babel writes and that a novice wouldn’t fully appreciate

Appreciating the short, punchy, and deep meanings behind the early stories. I am reading and then getting additional context and clarity with Gemini, but enjoying learning about the stories he created based on history unfolding around him.