Lot to be see there! I liked the Spacecraft Top Trumps. Good to have you back.

Thanks, S. I'm going to be on the road quite a bit in the next two months, so posting will continue to be spotty.

Title of russian book is "Mary and The Bear".

Thank you, mysterious Russian-book-title-translating stranger!

And the story is about little girl, who was kidnapped and enslaved by big bear while mushrooming deeply in the forest (definitely this is connotation with L. Tolstoy's "Mary and Three Bears" fairy tale). Then she bakes cakes and asks Bear to bring those cakes to her old parents. But instead of filling huge basket with cakes, she is hiding there herself, and Bear takes her to her parents. In the road Bear three times tried to open basket and eat some cakes, but Mary-from-the-basket asks him not to do it. And the Bear, instead of opening the basket to ensure it contains only cakes, keeps moving to Mary's parents. Near their home a brave small dog attacks the Bear and he flees, leaving basket with Mary on the battlefield. Then heart-piercing reunion of Mary and the parents unfolds. Unfortunately, muc more heart-piercing reunion of Bear and Cakes left offscreen, although this small and inevitable detail turns this non-animal-friendly horror story into a classical win-win situation with happy-happy-happy end.

This is true postmodern story, containing connotations both with classical literature (Tolstoy, "Red Hat" fairy tale by Charles Pierro), and modern russian reaity with evil chechen mafia, kidnapping people, enslaving them and then torturing to death. Paradoxically, girl manages to drive it home to bear the idea of driving ransom home, to her parents, not vise versa, as usual. And in the end positive final of the story contrasts with opressive reality of life, giving the reader expectation of better world.

Yes, that's a post-modern Russian story, all right! Thanks again for the translation.

The things you learn in 'comments'!