This story began over 20 years ago. I was living in Bloomfield Hills, a suburb of Detroit, and one of my more intense special interests was learning the Русский язык (Russian language Russkii Yazik). It was hard to get books in Russian, especially on a budget, though I did score some free books of Russian lessons from the Soviet Union's Radio Moscow service.
They had this really big used book sale in our area and as a family of book lovers we all went. And in the section with assorted foreign language books, I first saw Букварь (pictured above) and for me it was love at first sight.
Букварь (bukvar) is the Russian word for primer or first reading book. This particular Букварь was a school book published in 1973 and printed in the German Democratic Republic (Communist Germany).
It was a charming, beautifully illustrated little book, though with a few scary pictures of Vladimir Ilich Lenin who was being touted as a friend of children in spite of being the guy who ordered the murder of the Tsar's five children and many others.
As a learning tool it is a delight since it introduced those strange Russian letters one at a time, and used primarily short words (though it was troublesome looking up each one in a Russian-English dictionary).
Last night I spent a good deal of time on eBay looking at their selection of Russian children's books. I found many different examples of Букварь, with the most interesting and charming being the most expensive. Finally I came across an example of my own beloved Букварь, though a much written-in example.
I decided to curb my coveting of all those other Букварь and to appreciate my own more. Besides resolving to study through the whole Букварь in the next couple of months, I decided to make a photographic record of my Букварь for those not lucky enough to possess one of their own.
It is available on Facebook at this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.195913197246744.1073741841.149187465252651&type=1&l=b9a97761e6
Question: Do you have any unusual books you particularly love? If you are an Aspie, do you have any special interests which drive you to want to purchase hard-to-find books? Is it hard to control your spending on such books?
Posts on this blog are shared on my blog's Facebook page. It's a great place to continue the conversation.
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt
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| A page from Букварь |
Very interesting! I am part Russian, but I can't speak a single word in Russian. lol
ReplyDeleteThe odd book I have was passed down to me from my mom called "How the HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUAA Got it's Name" by Coco Joe. It's a Hawaiian legend about "the fish with a big name". She got it when she lived in Hawaii and it was published in 1970. :)
That book sounds cool. But anything by 'Coco Joe' is bound to be cool.
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