Bulgaria Books

I visited Bulgaria in 7/99 and travelled around for almost 3 weaks with a rented car. Before going there i have read everything I could find (books and internet) - this was the only book that gave good information, intersting details, and enlightments about Bulgaria. One must remember that a developing country such as Bulgaria rates change, places are being closed' and new open every days. However as for the hotels and restorants most of the details were pretty acurate as for the 'what to see' i have never met a better guide. I do recommand this guide to anyone who travels to Bulgaria, if he wants to know what to do there and to understand the country

Book is nice-give a lot of info.Unfortunately ,thing are changing really fast so don`t expect everything to be the way it is mention in the book -if you decide to visit
Anyway I live in US but my country is really nice to visit and holiday-really cheap ,everything is natural,beautiful women:)
I am sure you will love it

Wide coverage; history, transportation, culture, food, language(s), attractions. Covers a lot of the country and many towns and villages in each region. This is one of the most interesting and useful travel books I have encountered.

This is a great guide covering everything from the best places to eat and the best hostels to stay for cheap backpackers to cultural history. Everything is arranged in easy to find geographic regions. Especially enjoyable is the small sections scattered thoughout on major historical figures. The glossary of Bulgarian terms is a little short but who would really understand you with your thick accent anyway

The guide is good but don't expect everything to be exactly as it is in the guide. Bulgaria is a place of rapid change and many places close and open rapidly. Travelers beware many palces outside of Sofia close between 2 and 4.

This book seems hastily written without much research. We found much of the information in the book to be unclear, misleading, or just blatantly wrong. One of the most aggravating problems was the map of Varna, for which the side street grid does not conform at all to reality. Already the book is out of date as many museums and restaurants have closed, moved, changed hours, or downsized. There is no information in the book about tipping, and the information about hotel and restaurant costs is severely limited. Unfortunately, there are not many other guidebooks that include detailed information on bulgaria, and those are regional guidebooks and not country specific.

Rebeccasreads recommends LION OF THE BALKANS as a tale about a time & place steeped in history. It is based upon the author's family letters, diaries & tales told by his grandmother who lived during those turbulent times. It is unabashedly passionate & a larger-than-life dramatic recreation of the glory & tragedy of time when horsepower & pageantry dominated. Where the royalty & the military were inextricably entwined, & when courage & honor were beset by subterfuge & alliances.

Better than a history text book, twice as lively, if a bit unedited!

Genre: Historical Fiction/War
LION OF THE BALKANS
AUTHOR: VLADIMIR CHERNOZEMSKY
War stories are not usually my fist choice for fiction, but Vladimir Chernozemsky's newest novel, "Lion of the Balkans," is no ordinary war story. It is a wonderful and exciting read, filled with action, intrigue and romance. From beginning to end, it captured my attention, and left me wanting to read more by this prolific author.
Using renditions of the events gathered from family members, diaries, and letters, Vladimir Chernozemsky vividly describes the conflict between Bulgaria and Turkey, and the devastation that results. He brings out the true horrors of war, seen through the eyes of those on all sides. Giving this novel a unique quality is the fact that the politics, though certainly crucial to the plot and circumstances, become secondary to the complexity of human relationships, entwined during a time of such turmoil and contradiction.
The very long list of characters at the front of the book, with unfamiliar names and complicated titles, may at first appear intimidating, but it is these characters that give the story its amazing richness. From the moral struggle of childhood friends, one the son of a freedom fighting Bulgarian, the other the son of a Turkish officer, who both must choose between the bond of friendship and patriotic loyalty; to the greedy Tzar, so consumed by his own thirst for power and glory that he would rather have all his countryman slaughtered than to admit his mistakes. Opposing him, a patriotic but humanitarian lieutenant colonel, who would risk his life for his country and the men under his command, to become a hero and martyr to the Bulgarian people and his faithful and kindhearted wife, whose work with the wounded men brings her the treasured friendship of the Tzar's beautiful mistress. Add to this multiple romances, trysts, and betrayals, and you have an enthralling, realistic story, that comes highly recommended!
Author, Vladimir Chernozemsky, was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He came under intense political scrutiny while working as a documentary director in Sofia, after which he made a harrowing escape to the west. The author of 44 novels, plays and screenplays he has been hailed "an exceptional literary talent." Reviewer: Nancy Morris, Allbooks Reviews
Title: Lion of the Balkans
Author: Vladimir Chernozemsky
Publisher: Triumvirate Publications
ISBN Number: 1-932656-01-4
Price: $24.95 Length: 425 pgs

Prolific Bulgarian-American author Vladimir Chernozemsky sets his novel Lion of the Balkans during the bloody Balkan War. Grounded in bitter realism, from the family letters, diaries, and tales told by family of devastating times, Lion of the Balkansrecounts how, after five centuries of rule by the Ottoman Turks, Bulgaria allied with its neighboring nations to drive the Turkish army to the gates of Constantinople. In reclaiming its independence and restoring its territory, Bulgaria became the Lion of the Balkans - although later events of history would surely engulf the Lion in more warfare. An exciting saga of sweeping conflict, fierce pride and unbridled determination in spite of great cost.

How does a war begin? Is it possible to really get down to the very beginning of World War I? How does such conflict come to be? Vladimir Chernozemsky shows us in his Historical Fiction, "Lion of the Balkans."

The Ottoman Turks had occupied the Balkans for five hundred years, until finally, Bulgaria - the lion of the Balkans, and its neighbors pulled together and drove the Turks out. Triumph and peace at last...that did not last. Trouble broke out again when it came to deciding who got what of the territories they'd defended. Hence, the end of the Balkan War became the very beginning of WWI. Through it all though, people lived their lives. People overcame differences and developed friendships. People fell in love.

This epic novel tells of the lives behind the war...from the highest Bulgarian royalty to the simple houseboy. Chernozemsky is the real life grandson of the novel's hero. He has taken from family letters and diaries and the tales that his grandmother told him of the story, and created a fictionalized accounting that you will not soon forget.

Included in the book are several maps and a long list of characters and how they relate to one another. This is necessary as the book is quite involved. The beginning of the book may prove a struggle to some as there are so many people to get to know and numerous plots to follow, however, it is all worth it in the end. The dialogues flow naturally and the author's descriptiveness enchants the tale to life.

For a bit of understanding of our world's war history and perhaps some insight into today's conflicts as well, and a story that exudes the realities of living, "Lion of the Balkans" should be on your "to-read" list.

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com.

I simply cannot understand all of the postive press Vladimir Chernozemsky's "Lion of the Balkans" has received. Perhaps it is because the topic covers a period of history little-known to American audiences. It is, however, the worst written book I have read in my adult life. Mr. Chernozemsky must feel that liberal use of adjectives, overworked cliches, American slang, superlatives, and generalizations can do the work of clear character development and motivation. The list of Principle Characters and maps are only a smokescreen for the muddy writing that follows. Not until the "Epilogue" does the author put aside his purple prose long enough to speak in his own voice. It's too bad he didn't begin on page one as he obviously has an exciting and interesting tale to tell about the ways in which Bulgaria has made disastrous decisions which led its people into even more disastrous wars -- a condition, I might add, not limited to Bulgaria. This review gives "Lion of the Balkans" one star only because I am forced to give it some designation.

This book has been in my heart for many years, I could not forget it. Now I want others to have its beauty, also.

They say it's easy to write half a book and unfortunately Brian did just this, but with two different books which he put together as one. The first half is a pretty good bicycle tour book but somewhat hard to keep up with his progress. However, he seemed to lose his track and drifted off into politics, women and party life in a former communist country which left me less than breathless. I suppose if you want to visit former Soviet enclaves, it's OK but I bought it to read about bicycle touring.

Jim Foreman

Brian Hall's enjoyable account wants to accomplish different goals. One, how one bicycles across Balkans and Carpathians and the plains in between, is surprisingly absent from much of the text. Looking at the map of his route, you realize how little of it he describes in detail. Not a bad thing in itself, for the day-by-day relation of one's travel wherever it is gets annoying--like seeing home movies of another's trip--but it left me wondering why the mechanics of the route gain only attention when the bike breaks down. Almost no sensation of going up and down what must be magnificent vistas appears here; you forget that he's pedalling for months, and the heights are rarely present. Only the stays on the dreary flatlands (with one great exception in Melnik, admittedly).

Now these two points--breakdown and stay in mountain hamlet--are highlights of the book, and Brian's meeting with a know-it-all "fixer" in a horrible industrial city is told remarkably well, but still I was left ignorant of so much that must have happened along the route just in terms of being on the saddle.

Perhaps Hall wants to focus on the human side? Second goal of the book. In his Romanian visit with Georgina and her letter, he again gets to the heart of living under constant and evasive scrutiny. He lets one incident speak presumably for many others.
His economical telling of these events makes them engrossing, but you wonder: why so few events given the length of his route and the folks he must have seen?

His natural descriptions are sparing, less vividly told than, say, his predecessor Patrick Leigh Fermor. But when he chooses to relate his visions they are wonderful: cakes in a bakery, brush fires at twilight, that mountain village near the Greek border, and the Chain Bridge in Budapest all receive glowing but tempered vignettes. His language is tbat of the Harvard grad you'd expect: mercifully not too bookish, savvy and colloquial, but with a hint of deeper insight and erudition sprinkled in when appropriate among the clearly told scenes. He intersperses historical accounts inro the work, not as smoothly as Fermor, more like an another American visitor a decade later, Eva Hoffman (Exit From History). But for the newcomer, these help.

So, why three (and a half) stars? The book does not gel. After two-thirds of the book, the Romanian and Bulgarian parts, the Hungarian section that follows leaves you scratching your head. Third goal unmet. Like Fermor's Angela in the second volume of similar climes, Hall's reticence in elucidating his relationship casts a shadow on the page. For Fermor, it was out of necessary discretion. For Hall, I'm puzzled. At the start of the book, he mentions that he met "someone" in Budapest and would be going back there, but much of the Hungarian bike ride, and the whole countryside that he must have seen, is missing from his urban account.

True, the best scenes in Romania and Bulgaria come near borders for Hall, but his focus on the domestic and the familial in the latter third of the book as he lives with Zsosa and visits her family seems like it should have been a separate memoir.

He could have told a more complete picture of Hungary as lived through the eyes of his girlfriend's family if, you sense, he had lived there longer and taken time to travel about the nation whose language he's learning. Skilled in languages, comfortable among strangers, skilled with surviving by his wits, you wonder why Hall left evidently for Boston to write the story. Did Zsosa come with him? Did they separate? He dedicates the book to her and notes that he was surprised that she, his "love", liked it.

But this only leaves us wondering what the afterward was to his story, and why he never explains how they met, how he supports himself while spending the mornings at her place writing his account, and why he then returned for home. He may have run out of money, but what about her? A worthwhile book but an elusive and intentionally I suppose--given his obvious attention to detail--circumspect story.

for letting this beautiful book fall out of print! The author writes gorgeously about his bicycle trip through Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Anyone interested in this region (or anyone who likes vivid, well-written English) should flood Amazon with requests for the book.

I liked this book very much because of the diversity of countries where the Danube flows. How often I'll use it I'm not sure, but its nice to have the resources of the different cuisines. I hope they are as authentic as they seem to be. :)

This book fell apart as soon as I opened it. The glue wasn't strong enough to keep the pages together, and they fell right out of the book. And that was just a foretaste of the fact that the recipes were not going to be very useful at all. The problem is that it is very poorly organized...there is a heavy concentration on the countries involved instead of the dishes I was interested in trying. The author couldn't decide whether it was a cookbook or a historic and geographic tour guide. She needed to make up her mind, but didn't.

An excellent book that takes you along the Danube, stopping to
eat at every country and sample a little of their cuisine. The recipes are a great collection of comfort food that all are
sure to enjoy.

My Aunt has every state and country cookbook this was the only one missing made her chritmas. hard to find

Overall, a good article that will be useful to those working in the field. However, it is clear that this civillian author would find it difficult to make it through any sort of Marine Corps training herself. This author needs a dose of the real world.

At the center of Z. Anguelov's memoir is the intriguing concept that life choices can be the result of one's political environment. For us, people raised in democracy, Bulgarian communist reality looks worlds apart. Yet, I found this memoir extremely interesting and admirable on several levels. First of all, the complexity of the several stories, the description of how communism really worked, and the author's personal odyssey through that system are very impressive: to sort all that out and to present it to the reader, especially one unfamiliar to the system, in a way that is absolutely unambiguous is indeed impressive.

I found that the American editor of the book was very astute and sensitive to the author's voice. It comes through very clearly and makes the story even more poignant. For example, one thing that so bothered me initially was the seeming insensitivity of the author to the women he became involved with. At one place, he said that his wife complained before they were married that she was pregnant. And the editor left the word 'complained,' although it is obvious that, if that sentence were to be shown to any American woman, she would immediately say: whoooa ... this man has no responsibility for this event?? Regardless of what he really felt or meant, the word 'complained' in this context is a red flag signaling his inconvenience. But he speaks with his old 'voice,' at the level of sensitivity he was at that distant time, and the choice of word is actually quite precise. At another place, I found it rather endearing that the author described himself as a "spoiled brat," and, of course, why wouldn't he be? He was a super-star among stars in the educational community.

I found deeply moving the descriptions of the little cottage in the country where he and his third wife were able, for at least a few hours, to find their true selves. I think for many of us it is difficult to comprehend on a really profound level how deeply landscape contributes to our emotional life. I am who I am in part because of the Alaskan landscape, which is seared into my unconscious as well as conscious life. The author of the memoir has a very profound understanding of that.

But even more, his descriptions of the continuous assaults on one's personal integrity show why the insidious and devastating effect of communism were so powerful. I think every sociologist and history or political science major should read this book.

The Corpse Dream of N. Petkov is a post-modern novel in structure - the story built of short incrementments of bits of life/imagination/history of Petkov and the author.

The book begins as a hard read - partially because of unfamiliarity with Bulgarian history. Eventually the author and the reader hit their stride and the book becomes a forceful reminder of the cruelity of humanity and the fragility of "heroism". This book is well worth the time required to read - and reflect - on it.

It is very difficult to find well-written texts describing medieval warfare in Central and Eastern Europe, and most of those that focus here tend to be through an Anglo-French lens that, through linguistic difficulties, ignores the existing historiographies. Anyone interested in medieval military history in general should pick it up, if only as a reference. The bibliography, unfortunately, could be more complete.

The games speak for themselves; Peter Leko is one of the world's top Grandmasters, and he recently held Kramnik to a tie in the World Championship (which Kramnik retained by virtue of the rules of the match).

Nonetheless, this book does not fully do Leko's games justice. I imagine it is due more to translation problems than bad writing, but after a few games it detracts from the enjoyment of some fine games. One thing in Soloviov's favor is that he is not afraid to criticize Leko's bad moves, and his praise of Leko is not nauseatingly over the top, as is Damsky's of Kramnik in the book of Kramnik's games.

Generally, I avoid buying "best of" books by players who are living or still active because I don't want to have to buy a second book unless the player is very active or plays for a very long time (like Korchnoi, for example). While I have some reservations about this book, it is definitely worth buying since the problems don't seem to be directly connected to faulty chess or bad analysis; I can work through clumsy style or translation difficulties, although the book should have been vetted better. I recommend this book.