27 used & new from $0.71
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Stories I Stole
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Stories I Stole (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi..." (more)
Key Phrases: wait for the electricity, outer town, Bandit Dato, Giorgi Saakadze, Soviet Union (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


10 new from $10.92 17 used from $0.71

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover, February 28, 2003 -- $10.92 $0.71
  Paperback, February 23, 2004 $11.05 $7.46 $5.29

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny

The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny

by Wendell Steavenson
3.8 out of 5 stars (47)  $16.49
Ali and Nino: A Love Story

Ali and Nino: A Love Story

by Kurban Said
4.3 out of 5 stars (47)  $10.04
The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia

The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia

by Darra Goldstein
4.7 out of 5 stars (19)  $16.46
The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East

by Neil MacFarquhar
4.8 out of 5 stars (25)  $10.78
Georgia Armenia & Azerbaijan (Multi Country Guide)

Georgia Armenia & Azerbaijan (Multi Country Guide)

by Michael Kohn
2.1 out of 5 stars (26)  $16.49
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this collection of wine-soaked stories, former Time journalist Steavenson recounts her adventurous two years living in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Few journalists would have the gumption to do on assignment what the now 32-year-old Steavenson did on a whim-leave a job in Time's London office in the late 1990s for the relatively volatile region of the Caucasus. Her reward is a book, her first, that Chekhov himself would have admired. With a keen journalistic eye and a poetic flair for capturing every detail of her surroundings, Steavenson adeptly renders a vibrant if rather depressed culture amid the detritus of a collapsed superpower. The book is replete with harsh winters, hot summers, rolling blackouts from a shortage of electricity and a crumbling infrastructure, plentiful vodka and bad cigarettes, hearty friends, and an endless number of LAOs (large abandoned objects): bits of rusting pipeline, tractors, half-built bridges, "the debris of the Soviets, the husk of an empire." While each story seems to contain within it several others, most compelling are Steavenson's encounters with Chechen refugees and fighters after the second Russian war in Chechnya broke out. A chapter on the fixed election of "career communist" turned "western media darling" Eduard Shevardnadze is also insightful. Despite its title, it's clear these stories are anything but stolen. And Steavenson returns the favor. After turning down a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, a photographer, he sends her 1,000 roses-a stunning gesture that is surely still recalled among Georgians. This is a remarkable first effort from a writer to watch.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

In 1998, bored with her life in London, Steavenson, a journalist whose CV lists Time magazine in her credits, set out for Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where life is anything but comfortable. The Georgian economy was in such a shambles that it made Russia seem prosperous. Her portraits of the Georgians she befriended are sharply drawn, witty, and convey perfectly the different aspects of "Georgianess." Her portraits of those she interviewed, whether Georgian, Abkhazian, or Chechen, are also finely written pieces, well integrated into the larger story. Steavenson also does a good job of explaining the internecine conflicts in the area. Least interesting is Steavenson's account of her romantic pursuits. A section at the end titled "Ethnic Glossary" sorts out the different peoples of the area. The bibliography, for a change, is actually fun to read. Frank Caso
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Grove Press; First American Edition edition (March 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0802117376
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802117373
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #578,728 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #5 in  Books > Travel > Asia > Georgia

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Wendell Steavenson
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Wendell Steavenson Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
wait for the electricity, outer town
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bandit Dato, Giorgi Saakadze, Soviet Union, Shah Abbas, Kurban Said, Lawyer Dato, Red Cross, Itum Kale, Black Sea, World Bank, Essad Bey, Levan's Magic Room, Misha Chiaureli, Rustaveli Avenue, Beatles Club, Chavchavadze Avenue, Dato the First, New York, Prophet Mohammed, Revival Bloc, Sophiko Chiaureli, The Englishmen, Turtle Lake
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 33 books:
See all 33 books this book cites

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Stories I Stole
77% buy the item featured on this page:
Stories I Stole 3.6 out of 5 stars (11)
The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny
17% buy
The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny 3.8 out of 5 stars (47)
$16.49
Ali and Nino: A Love Story
6% buy
Ali and Nino: A Love Story 4.3 out of 5 stars (47)
$10.04
Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 
(3)
(4)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Taste of Post-Soviet Life, August 28, 2003
By A Customer
Former Time magazine writer Steavenson hits upon a nice variation to the armchair travel genre with this wonderful little book on the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Rather than trying to systematically detail the small country's tangled web of ethnicities and chaotic recent history, she recounts her time there through twenty chapters/stories. These loosely connected and loosely chronological stories provide a remarkably nuanced portrait of a country where nothing works, government seems largely irrelevant, and the people are remarkable. Weaving in many of her own friendships and a relationship with a photojournalist, she covers rigged elections, ethnic tensions, the nearby war in Chechnya, and mainly daily life with remarkable sensitivity. The nice thing is that she doesn't do so with the usual world-weariness of the foreign corespondent, but with a depth of feeling that never falls into sentimentalism or condescension It's a curiously individual work in that there's no real reason for her to be there, there is no larger theme she hangs her stories on, and no gimmicks. Just honest stories about a country where a strange civil war and two secessionist wars over the last decade have utterly destroyed the economy and left the country with little hope. A definite must read for anyone interested in the Caucuses or the fate of post-Soviet republics.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Georgian adventures, September 25, 2003
By A Customer
I felt like I was right there with her seeing what she saw, drinking all that alcohol, and having adventures in Georgia! this book gives you an idea of how Georgian people really are.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant work: Don't miss it !!, August 19, 2005
This review is from: Stories I Stole (Paperback)
This impressive debut works on too many levels to winnow down to a brief review. Ms. Steavenson reminds me a bit of Isaac Bashevis Singer as she brings us into worlds we generally know only through newspaper and television reports. Her attention to detail and her encapsulations of characters and situations and the bigger picture are masterful, particularly at such a relatively young age. She knows what to leave out, so that what's powerful remains. Unlike some reviewers below, I thought the elements she included about her personal life were arresting and completely integrated. Extremely high recommendation for a work that also has the bonus features of a decent map, a glossary of ethnic groups, and background reading for those who want to pursue related works.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Depressia
I think too many people were impressed with the quality of the prose and jumped to give this book a 5 without really considering the content. Read more
Published 11 days ago by A. Wheeler

1.0 out of 5 stars Was Wendell Steavenson paid by the russians to write this book?
This book reminds me of western journalists proudly standing on Red Square in Moscow and "accurately" reporting about events in Georgia (and I've seen quite a few of these... Read more
Published on June 13, 2007 by G. Cherazadichvili

1.0 out of 5 stars Be carefull, readers!
The author happened to meet rather strange characters that make her end up with a pretty inaccurate impressions about the country. Read more
Published on December 7, 2006 by Tinatin Zurabishvili

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll fall for Ms. Steavenson's stories
I admire Wendell Steavenson for this effort. Tbilisi intrigued her - it was a pin on her map and the germ of her idea (go some place unique; collect some killer stories; write a... Read more
Published on May 17, 2006 by Andy Orrock

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book.
Knowing virtually nothing of the Caucasus I felt a little overwhelmed at first; but Steavenson quickly won me over with her absorbing writing and storytelling. Read more
Published on November 3, 2004 by I. A. A.

4.0 out of 5 stars An insightful and sympathetic portrait of post-Soviet life
This is a highly readable and unpretentious collection of stories about the author's travels in the Caucases region, mainly in Georgia. Read more
Published on May 30, 2004 by Brandon Wilkening

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful achievement
This is an absolutely delightful book, both for people who have been to the Caucasus and to those who simply want to read an enchanting fusion of attentive observation and... Read more
Published on December 10, 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Impressive 1st effort
Wendell Steavenson impresses me. Two years in the Caucasus with the intent of writing a book and having an adventure has proved to create an enjoyable travel... Read more
Published on August 13, 2003 by K. E Pearce

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:










i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.