Books About Georgia

• The Eighth life: (for Brilka) by Nino Kharatishvili-An epic family saga beginning with the Russian Revolution and swirling across a century, encompassing war, loss, love requited and unrequited, ghosts, joy, massacres, tragedy. And hot chocolate.

• Ali and Nino by Kurban Said is a novel about a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku in the years 1918–1920.

• A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West-by Ronald Asmus- IMHO-this is the book which predicted present situation!!! The brief war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 seemed to many like an unexpected shot out of the blue that was gone as quickly as it came. Former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Ronald Asmus contends that it was a conflict that was prepared and planned for some time by Moscow, part of a broader strategy to send a message to the United States: that Russia is going to flex its muscle in the twenty-first century. A Little War
  that Shook the World is a fascinating look at the breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, the decay and decline of the Western Alliance itself, and the fate of Eastern Europe in a time of economic crisis.

• Please don’t call it Soviet Georgia – Mary Russell
  This book about Georgia country that will help you understand why Georgians have such a strong national identity, compared to other former Soviet nations.

• Bread And Ashes: A Walk Through the Mountains of Georgia – Tony Anderson
  This book is great not only for understanding Georgians’ national identity but also for learning about Caucasian ethnicity and culture.

• Flight from the USSR – Dato Turashvili
  Written by one of the most famous Georgian writers, Dato Turashvili, this novel is based on the unfortunate events of 1983, when 7 young Georgian boys hijacked a plane heading from Tbilisi to Leningrad, in a desperate attempt to escape from the USSR.

• For the Love of Wine: My Odyssey Through the World’s Most Ancient Wine Culture – Alice Feiring
  Alice takes us through tales and stories about all the wine-related people she met on her journey across Georgia.

Movies About Georgia

• In Bloom (2013)
  The film reflects Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia in 1992. It is directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß. Friends Eka and Natia are subjected to the terrible situation in Georgia leaving their childhood behind. They try to escape their turbulent family lives and the gloomiest environment in the city. During the “gloomy 90s” people lacked electricity, gas, water, and basic necessities. Queuing up for hours to get bread, bride kidnapping and the high number of crimes and murders were the nightmares of the period. The film acutely resonates with those who experienced Georgia’s 90s.

• Repentance (1984)
  “The day after the funeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden and is secretly reburied. But the corpse keeps returning, and the police eventually capture a local woman, who is accused of digging it up. She says that Varlam should never be laid to rest because he was responsible for a Stalin-like reign of terror that led to the disappearance of many of her friends…” reads IMDb about the film.
  Directed by Tengiz Abuladze, the film represents an allegorical critique of Stalinism and it was banned during the Soviet regime. Repentance was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize, Grand Prize of the Jury, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

• Tangerines
  Tangerines is an Estonian-Georgian movie directed, written and produced by Zaza Urushadze in 2013. Set during the Abkhazia war in the 90s, the film addresses the issues of reconciliation, conflict, and pacifism. The movie was nominated for 87th Academy Awards and 72nd Golden Globe Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film. Tangerines tell a story of a rural ethnic Estonian village in Abkhazia where only two men are left of a large community. They didn’t fled to Estonia once the war broke out. One of the men, Margus, has delayed the leaving until they finish harvesting tangerines. One day Chechen and Georgian mercenaries get into the fight in front of the Margus house, leaving one alive from each side. Margus brings them both to his home and starts to take care of them.

• My Happy Family
  The most recent release of Georgian cinematography, My Happy Family (2017) is a drama directed by  Simon Groß and Nana Ekvtimishvili and tells the story of Manana, a 50-year-old woman who decides to leave her family and live alone. In a patriarchal society, her decision is not met with happy faces, all of her relatives are in shock, while Manana starts a new life without her husband, parents, and children.
  The movie was screened at 2017 Sundance Film Festival in the section of World Cinema Dramatic Competition and had its world premiere at 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Moreover, it is now available on Netflix for anyone interested in watching.

• THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES (1969), SERGEI PARAJANOV
  Also, an enormous name of an international cultural scene Sergei Parajanov’s “The Colour of Pomegranates” is an alluring masterpiece. Not just an acclaimed but Parajanov’s name was also way too controversial in the Soviet Union. Of Armenian origins, he was born in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, then he went to study in Russia, Moscow and started his career in Ukraine. He was arrested with ridiculous accusations but served about four years sentence
  in prison.