About the book: 2010 / When a thing becomes familiar, like a candy wrapper, we stop noticing it, we don’t see the need to think about it, even if it is a work of art. “Morning in a Pine Forest,” “The Rooks Have Arrived,” “The Appearance of Christ to the People”—these and other paintings have long since become unshakable milestones of Russian culture, so that the eye glancing over them notes little besides their inviolability. As you know, Alexander Genis writes only about what he loves. And under his gaze, full of love and attention, these famous and unknown paintings come to life again, turning into stories - far from textbook cliches, unexpected, funny and poignant. Alexander Genis is a journalist, writer and cultural critic. Among his most famous books are “The Tower of Babel”, “The American Alphabet”, “Dovlatov and the Surroundings”, “Six Fingers”, as well as “Native Speech”, “Russian Cuisine in Exile” and other things co-written with Peter Weil . Genis's work eludes genre definitions, but always combines the depth of content with the irresistible charm of form..