>>mitchb+(OP)
I love these two. If I ever read a Russian book I insist on using one of their translations. I can speak and read Russian on a basic level. They're able to make texts sound like Russian, but it English. It's pretty amazing really.
It is quite easy to forget that there are lots of common people like you living their lives in Russia now who are similarly quite unhappy about the current situation, but mostly powerless to change anything.