Russia, the nation that spawned many of the world’s greatest books both thick and thin, is now experiencing some literary hardships. On a recent bestsellers list posted on the country’s online bookseller, Ozon.ru, “six of the top 10 and all of the top three [books] were translations of foreign authors,” reports Murdo Macleod of Scotland on Sunday. In a survey commissioned by Russia’s National Library, “37% of respondents said they never read books, only 23% considered themselves active readers, and 52% never bought books,” while further findings showed that a majority of readers preferred pulp fiction to the Russian classics. Especially disheartening is Russia’s reported return to the centuries-old subscription bookselling system, whereby an author, soliciting potential buyers, publishes his or her own book only when a sufficient number of people have signed up.

Thanks to BookNinja.com for the link.

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