This book really inspired me when I was new in BookCrossing. I was impressed enough with these stories to register four different copies of this book. Wild and controlled releases of these brought some journal entries. I am a different person now. What will I find now in this story that so inspired and intrigued me 16 and 15 years ago. Here are the copies of this 1995 "Penguin 60s" book I registered in ages past:

Tuesday, November 30, 2004
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2269733/
Released Dec. 4, 2004, still in the wild.

Friday, January 14, 2005 (This started a far-flung bookray)
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2399625/

Journal Entry: Saturday, January 15, 2005
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2402128/

Saturday, October 08, 2005:
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3336865/

As I read "The Black Monk" again, it struck me anew. We are often victims of our delusions, following them and sacrificing what is real. This reading, I recognized Andrey as someone in my own life for the first time. His weakness was what might be described as narcissism now. He followed delusions of grandeur. The power of such fantasy often interferes with the reality of life.

PEASANTS was perfect for reading through a Sunday. In the past, I was so mesmerized by THE BLACK MONK that the transition to PEASANTS was challenging. It's a difficult story because it is so painful. Nikolay, a waiter in Moscow, is taken desperately ill. His treatments take all the family savings and he, his wife Olga and their daughter Sasha must move back to his childhood home in the country. It's not as he remembered it. Poverty is oppressive. This is in the historical period after the serfs were freed in 1861. Their life years later is so bleak that serfdom is looked upon with nostalgia by the elderly. The peasants with freedom are taxed now and they are all behind in payments. Still, Chekhov's attention to detail, his descriptions of the people and place of this remote village are remarkable. Though so many of the peasants are bitter and cruel, I found I cared about these people and suffered with them.

Hello! This a gift from BookCrossing, a random community of book lovers. It is released in memory of the man who listened to a Black Monk who flew and the peasant who destroyed him. Together they ruined a garden. If you'd like to join the BookCrossing story of this book, please make a journal entry at our site with the BCID (bookcrossing ID) on the bookplate. BookCrossing is free to join and confidential. You don't have to join to comment.

This magnificent little book traveled away from the Little Free Library at Starfire. I hope it is having good reading adventures.