During the first stage of the 5th season of the book award “Espreso. Readers’ Choice 2021” received 210 applications from 31 publishing houses of Ukraine. The organizing committee carefully checked all publications sent by publishing houses for compliance with the requirements. After that, Long lists of books for the competition were formed in three nominations: “Literature for adults”, “Literature for teenagers” and “Literature for children”.
By the second stage, 84 book novelties from 19 publishing houses of Ukraine made it to the Long List of Books in the “Literature for Adults” category.
The second part of the list:
“37 Buddhist pieces. How to survive embarrassing times” Olha Kornyushyna (publishing house “Nash Format”)
This book is not about Buddhism as a religion. It is about how Buddhist practices change our state and help us in troubled times. How to experience losses and not cling to the past? How to respond to gossip and injustice? Can regular practice make us calmer and kinder? How to manage emotions? Why does helping others make us feel better? The author talks about this. She offers 37 steps that can change our psychological state and attitude to life. At the heart of each step is Buddhist wisdom, supported by stories from personal experience and parallels from the fields of psychology, self-help, and neuroscience. As a scientist, Olga Kornyushyna explores the similarities in the vision of modern science and Buddhist methods of training the mind. And as a coach, he offers exercises that will help you work through each step qualitatively and get on the path to balance, harmony, and peace.
“Gradus of Love” Serhii Mozgovy (“CONDOR” Publishing House)
How to accept yourself and be happy despite society and life’s disagreements? Bohdan decides to radically change his life and, in search of himself, sets out on a journey through countries and his inner world. On this path lurked anger, hatred, feelings of injustice, mixed with feelings of love and care, which confuse and determine his future fate. How far do you need to deviate from the “norm” in order to be yourself and become happy?
“Delivery of freedom is guaranteed” by Oles Osadchiy (“CONDOR” Publishing House)
The Milky Way galaxy. Future. Spaceship captain Harry Tom, whose starship has been confiscated, pours out his grief in a bar on Earth, where he unexpectedly receives an attractive offer – to receive a high-tech ship as a gift. But in turn, he has to carry out a dangerous mission – to lead the delivery of a special passenger to one of the free planets in order to preserve its independence. The novel will appeal to everyone who likes the series “Firefly”, “The Adventures of Captain Han Solo” from “Star Wars” and just high-quality and exciting fiction.
“People without a profile” by Dmytro Afanasyev (“CONDOR” Publishing House)
The new government recognizes people without a profile on the Web as criminals and begins to persecute them. Because of this, the so-called profileless, has to hide from hundreds of fighters for years. Young agent Dob Avos is among the hunters of the LBP, who after the very first task puts on the glasses of a murdered faceless girl and instead of the usual ideal world, he sees a destroyed city around him. Since then, the boy has been trying to figure out what the real world looks like. Yes, as the inhabitants of the Network see him, or as profileless? But why do people delete profiles anyway? But all these answers require great sacrifices for the boy. Will he agree to them? Is this price worth the truth? But does this truth need anyone but him?
“Spiral of Silence” by Iryna Vlasenko (“CONDOR” Publishing House)
Television journalist Viktoriya Tereletska suffered from insomnia after the elections. She is sure that this is not an accident. Four years ago, something similar happened to her, and then insomnia led to terrible and tragic events in her life. Analyzing the past and the present, she realizes that the spiral of silence, in which she was hiding from reality all the time, has spun in the opposite direction to the starting point of the irresistible truth. Now you need to find the courage and strength to accept it.
“Yes, what “in the subject” Lyudmila Yasna (Condor Publishing House)
All people long for love. But the fate of some leads to happiness in unbearable ways. Not everyone finds their soulmate right away. It is especially difficult for girls and boys with a non-traditional orientation, because they have less choice. And some of them suffer not only from the condemnation of society, but also from insecurity that they have the right to be the way nature created them. The novel “The one who is in the subject“ shows how Ruslana’s heroine suffers from internal homophobia towards herself. Fortunately, her family and friends, in addition to her mother and fellow teachers at school, accept the girl as she is. In search of herself, Ruslana tries to combine the incompatible, reconcile with the world, which forces her to live according to established rules. But gradually the girl understands that this is not an option and that she must defend her identity.
“Killing citrus aroma“ Oleg Bondar (Publishing house “CONDOR“)
Abandoned by her husband, left with a child in her arms, Ganya is forced to say goodbye to her dream of higher education. To make ends meet, the girl works as a cleaner in an office building and, like every young woman, dreams of love and family comfort. Unexpectedly, fate smiles at her, and Ganya meets the prince of her dreams, and later achieves a rapid career rise. It seems that nothing can stand in the way of the dreamed happiness, but the war and the woman’s excessive ambitions make their harsh corrections.
“Anyone but me“ Halyna Kruk (publishing house “Vivat“)
In this collection of short stories by Galina Kruk, gentle, intimate, and sometimes scary experiences are woven together. The heroes of the book roam somewhere among us, but only on these pages will we be able to read their thoughts. Here are quarantine chronicles with real anxieties and consolations that each of us had to experience. And the feeling of loss when only an old photo card remains instead of a person. And telephone conversations, which cannot happen anyway, because the subscribers are unavailable to each other… Seductive, emotional, close – stories in “Anyone, but not me“ woven from feelings. And, despite the name, they are about us. It’s about us.
“(In)visible“ Ivan Baidak (publishing house “Vivat“)
Ready for an honest conversation about otherness? To the discussion that people are not always able to accept in others – or in themselves. Vitiligo, Tourette’s syndrome, alopecia, hemangioma – the heroes of this book are ready to talk about what distinguishes them. So you have an opportunity to talk to those who have acutely felt all the pain of not accepting traits that are not up to them. Their experience proves that the most important thing is to learn to love yourself, regardless of what others say. This book is a frank confession about the daily struggle of those who need acceptance and support. Here everything is true and sincere. Here finally the voice of those who usually strive to be invisible is heard.
“I will die for Ukraine, but it is not certain“ Artem Zakharchenko (publishing house “Vivat“)
Whose prison grinds people more terribly – Russian or Ukrainian? Orest is one of the activists of the patriotic movement. Due to his own complexes and unfortunate coincidences, he falls into the clutches of the Russian security forces. He is tortured, he is broken, he is betrayed. Lyosha is an entrepreneur, he likes to say that he helps Ukraine with deeds, not with noise. But he also ends up behind bars, right here in Ukraine, when a prosecutor keeps an eye on his business. Olya is the communications director of a Russian bank in Ukraine. She tries to save her career and image, and pays a terrible price for it. One of them must die for Ukraine. But it’s not exactly… This is a story for those who, seeing a firewood and a pear, immediately recognize them as patriotic symbols. A story about the betrayal of those closest to you and about the eternal choice that again and again faces generations of Ukrainians: what is more necessary for the Motherland, your life or your death?
“In the fire of the smelter. Silver“ Hanna Horozhenko (publishing house “Folio“)
A lively, light and at the same time deep novel about the events of the beginning of the 17th century – “In the fire of the smelter.” Silver“ — based on historical facts. These times are not so often mentioned in literature, as is the entire history of the Commonwealth of Nations and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which has very little in common with present-day Lithuania, the larger and dominant part of the population were Ruthenians, that is, the ancestors of the current Ukrainians and Belarusians). The story of Samiil Koretsky, told by the author, is almost Dumas! The reader’s attention is firmly held by the main battle, the main intrigue of the novel is the enmity of two incredible women, the real-life princesses Anna Koretskaya and Sofia Ruzhynskaya. This battle is purely brutal, medieval actions: attacks, poisoning, destruction of entire villages and cities, contempt for justice and supreme authority. All this against the background of religious confrontation between Catholics, Orthodox, Uniates… and not priestly passions at all.
“Chornobyl chronicle. People“ Olga Kuprienko, Alla Bagirova (publishing house “Folio“)
This is a book dedicated to heroes who 35 years ago risked their lives and health to save millions of other people. It contains the stories of sixteen fighters for our lives. These are witnesses and participants in the elimination of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: nuclear workers, firefighters, doctors, assemblers, operators. They tell “in X-ray style“, uncompromisingly honest. They remember their own formation, about life in the city of Pripyat before the accident; they talk about events that will later be called a man-made catastrophe. Today, they are members of the public organization “Ray 5-2“ — unification of participants in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Every page of the book is worth the most careful reading, because not everything has been said and heard by society. Every word spoken by the eyewitnesses of those events has great weight for future generations. The business of the living is to remember.
“Cain“ Volodymyr Eshkilev (publishing house “Folio“)
“It is in our time that the future of states and dynasties is determined for the coming centuries“, — Cardinal Mazarin’s spy says to the young noble Pavlo Moshkovsky (the future hetman of Teteri). And he is right – the middle of the 17th century. not only opened the gate of the New Age of European history, but also drew the apocalyptic contours of the world in the twilight of which we now live. The dark shadow of the firstborn of the Grandmother Eve has been rising over the last four centuries, claims Volodymyr Yeshkilev in the historical novel “Cain”, the second of the trilogy “Cursed Hetmans“. Among the heroes of the novel, the reader will meet those whom he met on the pages of “Union“, and many new ones who had to live and act during the Ruina years. The hetmanship of Teteri, one of the most slandered and disgraced rulers of Ukraine, falls on these stormy times. Eshkilev offers his own — non-canonical and unexpected — vision of this historical figure. It also complements the artistic story with a kind of “encyclopedia” political, diplomatic and occult processes and events of the 17th century. And not only those that are familiar to the reader thanks to chronicles, memoirs and textbooks.
“One of us“ Halyna Datsyuk (Publishing House “BUKREK“)
The stories revealed in the book will tell you about one of us – a Ukrainian woman. And although we climb Everest, receive Paralympic medals, write books and take up arms in the East, we still have to overcome stereotypes that we are not capable of something every day. We do not live for show, but we know for sure that each of us also has a unique experience that should be told to the world. Thanks to One of Us“ we are taking the first step towards this. Our stories are full of inspiration, they are about strength of spirit and love – despite any obstacles: physical or psychological. We talked about ourselves on the radio, you can read about us in a book – paper and electronic. And to be closer to you, the audio edition in a special format will help – precisely for those who can only listen to the book.
“You are young“ Lyudmila Taran (Publishing House “BUKREK“)
Youth and old age are two poles of human life. Each season is joyful and dramatic in its own way. Both youth and old age are characterized by love, love. Enjoying today is a difficult science for both the young and the mature. Ludmila Taran’s new book of short prose encourages this. For a wide range of readers.
“Cruz and Fox. The day before“ Anton Sanchenko (Publishing house “BUKREK“)
It is not surprising that the first Russian expedition around the world was commanded by a German and a Ukrainian – it was Ukrainians and Germans who built the Russian Empire. It is surprising how Russians know how to appropriate and make “Russian people“ of all successful figures, even if the surname of one of them is von Krusenstern and he is an Estonian baron, and the other is Lysyansky and he is from a Cossack regimental town. In all the biographies of Lysyansky, Nizhin is spoken of as a tongue-in-cheek and no different from some Russian town, and Krusenstern is introduced to him even before the expedition set sail from Kronstadt, despite the fact that they studied together in the Sea Cadet Corps, fought and had many years of practice in the British Navy. Anton Sanchenko undertook to reconstruct the beginnings of the stellar career of the future Knight of the Order of St. George, the owner of the golden sword of his name, captain of the first rank Yuriy Lysyanskyi. The result was an exciting and witty story about fateful feasts and the right best man, about the benefits of learning foreign languages and maritime terminology, about brigantines on the Oster River and alcoholic cocktails on the Loiseau frigate“, about collecting sea urchins and the secret of Nizhyn zucchini caviar.
“Pumpkin compote“ Olga Kari (Publishing house “BUKREK“)
“Pumpkin compote“ is a series of reportage sketches and essays describing how a whole generation of Ukrainians grew up against the background of the breaking of eras and political systems. This book is about what it was like to live in the 90s, when “pineapple” squash compote and “mushrooms” from eggplant were born, when everyone was gripped by a total knitting mania, people grew accustomed to hoarding absolutely everything, and the first pads just began to change the lives of Ukrainian women. The author, relying on her own memories, tells how the punitive gastronomy of that time worked, how the famous good-neighborly relations were quite often manifested, and how Abkhazia hosted Ukrainian schoolchildren a few months before the war.
“Express to Galicia“ Bohdan Kolomiychuk (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
“Express to Galicia“ — a new detective novel by Bohdan Kolomiychuk, in which tangled cases and dangerous investigations await the reader. Spring of 1906. During a vacation in Switzerland, Lviv police commissioner Adam Vistovych unexpectedly gets involved in a dangerous spy game in which not only human lives are at stake, but also the fate of empires. After deciphering the secret document, Vistovych learns too much for an ordinary detective from the distant Austrian Lviv. At the same time, a strange Russian patient disappears from a clinic in the spa town of Baden, who is wanted by the intelligence services of several countries at once, and an unremarkable translator from German is murdered in Venice. Vistovych will have to find out how these events are connected and why the traces of seemingly unrelated cases lead to Lviv.
“I saw him alive, dead and alive again“ Valery Puzik (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
“I saw him alive, dead and alive again“ — Valery Puzik’s stories about childhood, feelings and relationships, about peace and war. The point of view in all these texts is very unexpected, the conflict is mostly internal, and the events unfold in an unusual way. The author is a master of details, a master of the episode and the situation. His stories, at first glance impressionistic, airy, watercolor, will actually give the reader the opportunity to reflect, to experience every moment of the story with the author – to inhale the construction dust, touch the skin of the river water, absorb the obsessive hum of the engine, feel the full effect of presence.
“Three ropes for Mary“ Serhiy Osoka (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
Each novel by Serhii Osoka is a small big story of a simple person, which, perhaps, no one would have noticed on this earth, if not for the attentive master of words. Because he does not just write, but creates a three-dimensional picture of human life with a few strokes: it seems that you can listen and hear how reeds rustle, fish splash in the pond, how apples fall, old doors creak, how human sighs, muffled laughter or sobs mix with the wind. And you can also feel the smells – sometimes thick and dense, to the point of choking, sometimes volatile and transparent, like the scent of a flower. Somewhere in this 3D format you can see a person, with all his beautiful and ugly features, with the rough surfaces and deep recesses of his troubled soul. It seems that the plots of these novels are small or secondary, but that is only the key that opens the portal through which you enter the world of great literature.
“The Lexicon of a Nationalist and Other Essays“ Mykola Ryabchuk (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
This collection of journalism is a comprehensive and far-sighted look at the past, present and future of Ukraine in political and cultural aspects. The author painstakingly describes the phenomena of Ukrainian realities, in particular, analyzes the Maidans of Ukraine (2004 and 2013), examines the crisis of the Ukrainian elite, the crisis of the identity of Ukrainians by nationality and/or citizenship, and also details the facts of the USSR iron curtain of the 20th century in the sphere of culture and literature in particular. Most of these essays were published in periodicals, most often in English and Ukrainian, sometimes in Polish and German, and sometimes in such exotic languages as Farsi, Turkish, and Catalan. The author prepared all Ukrainian versions with the hope of a synergistic effect of personal experiences and experiences collected under one cover — with the hope of awakening from the Soviet delusional dream that has not yet dissipated.
“Ask Miechka“ Evgenia Kuznetsova (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
What should sisters do who are so easily lost in their own thoughts and desires in the big city? Everything seems to be fine, but I want to put life on pause, at least until September, and return to the place of my childhood. The braided walls of the old house fence off the whole world with its many questions, and Teya’s grandmother does not ask anything, but is always there. But time does not stop summer: people from past, present and future lives appear at the door of the house. Everyone in this house – the sisters themselves, and the grandmother, and the Indian cousin, and the confused mother, and even the red-haired cat with no name – is on the verge of change. Summer is coming, pumpkins are growing for export, conversations are not stopping, and problems and solutions are running ahead.
“Iron water“ Myroslav Layuk (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
Have you ever tried to follow Lesya Ukrainka to the most remote Carpathian village? This “weak, poor girl“ she conquered mountain routes fearlessly, on a par with everyone else; locals still tell legends about it. What was left in those regions in memory of her, Frank or the Okunevsky family, except for the contradictory testimonies of eyewitnesses, which were passed down from generation to generation? The novel unfolds a story related to the main woman of Ukrainian culture. A theater director and a young man who returns to his homeland after a long absence – how far are they ready to go in search of a unique letter that could shed light on one of the most mysterious and resonant stories in the history of our literature? At the beginning of the last century, how did an unknown poetess, a simple hutsulka, a plowman and a Bernardine nun follow Lesya?
“The death of Cecil the lion made sense“ Olena Styazhkina (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
“The death of Cecil the lion made sense“ — a novel by Elena Styazhkina about our war and the fate of people who were accidentally brought together in the Donetsk maternity hospital in 1986. The magic of photography and borrowed names turns strangers into branches of a family tree – and they eventually become a family, the head of which is a little girl. In the book, there are many transitions – a dentist becomes a military surgeon, a goat becomes a sapper dog, a cowardly Soviet official acquires the features of a guardian angel, a cosmetics saleswoman turns into a sniper shooting instructor… In the Ukrainian Donbass. At the beginning of the XXI century. However, time in the book is a rather arbitrary value. This is the author’s first novel in the Ukrainian language – however, not completely: by design, Ukrainian here is perhaps the most important point of transition, in which a conscious farewell to Russian means for heroes and non-heroes the opportunity to be themselves.
“Ivanko, or Men is…“ Lyudmila Taran (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
“Ivanko, or Men is…“ — a new book by Lyudmila Taran, a Ukrainian writer and journalist. In the center of the book are men of different generations and characters. Strong and weak, loyal and treacherous, romantic and cynical, young and old. And next to them, bright and apt female images appear. Lyudmila Taran’s honest and sensual prose prompts a rethinking of the usual and deep existential experiences.
“The first investigation of the empress“ Natalka Snyadanko (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
A rare violin, on which Mozart also played, is usually not exported abroad. An exception was made for the festival in Lviv, but no one even assumed that it would become an important link in the whole chain of spooky events. Unexpectedly for everyone and herself, the legendary Austrian empress Sissi successfully investigates not only the mysterious assassination attempt on her own husband, but also a number of other mysteries. Natalka Snyadanko’s new novel, based on documentary materials of the life and adventures of the imperial family, immerses the reader in a heartbreaking detective story with political undertones. Additional intrigue to this story is given by the duality of the narrative, thanks to which the events of the middle of the 19th century unexpectedly sharply echo in Lviv at the beginning of the third millennium.
“Treats for Medor“ Andriy Bondar (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
“Treats for Medor“ — a collection of essays that Andrii Bondar wrote during 2017–2020. Essay writing here is a way to explore and make sense of the world through one’s own system of values and experience. Behind the intellectual reflection, frankness shines through, and in the form of short prose, deeper meanings and sometimes unexpected conclusions are hidden: the void can be filled, the definition of “falling from the height of one’s height“ can refer not only to bodily injury, but also to moral decline, which always occurs from the height of one’s own ethical construction, and losses can later turn into gains, it is only necessary to look at them from a different angle.
“Three Marthas“ Iryna Savka (“Stary Lev Publishing House“)
Three Marthas – three women, three loves of one man. The stormy times of war, collective farm yoke, and repatriation intertwined their destinies into one canvas from which you cannot pull out a single thread. This family saga is a reflection of an entire century that swept through a small western Ukrainian village with all its horrors, executioners and good people. When love, dedication, forgiveness and mercy save from death and hopelessness.
In the second stage, each expert in the nomination “Literature for adults“ will choose five candidate books from this list, which will be ranked by place.
Accordingly:
1st place (5 points) — winner and further
II place (4 points),
III place (3 points),
IV place (2 points),
V place (1 point).
The organizing committee, by counting points, will determine 3 books in the nomination “Literature for adults“, which will take place in the third stage of voting. These finalist works will be presented at the discretion of readers in libraries throughout Ukraine. During this voting, the final winner will be determined.
Book prize “Espreso. Readers’ Choice“ founded by the TV channel “Espreso“ and is supported by the NGO “Demforum“. Its presentation took place on May 18, 2017 as part of the Book Arsenal“ in Kyiv.
The award is designed to celebrate the best Ukrainian modern literary novelties of the year, to support the interest of Ukrainians in reading books by domestic authors. To help readers choose interesting books, and publishers to find a way to readers. The winners of the Award will be announced at the beginning of December 2021 on the air of the Espreso TV channel“, on the websites “Espreso.TV“ and “Demforum“.
