This month I’m introducing a new occasional series for the blog:

Authors on the Bay

Many of us have been fortunate over the years to receive e-mails from Charlie Adams, a teacher who is a long time summer resident of Long Island, from the various countries he’s taught at in the last few decades. So many times I would ask Charlie, “When is your book coming out?” Now, we’re finally able to read Charlie’s book, “My Amazing Twelve Year Adventure in Russia.” It makes for fascinating reading, between his wonderful stories and anecdotes, as well as personal information (in case you were wondering, as many of us do, “How Charlie met Helen”).
I was able to correspond with Charlie, who winters in Florida, and ask him a few questions for this blog.

1. Did you keep a journal or is your book based on memory?
The vast majority of the book is based on memory and a rather large collection of photographs.

2. What was the hardest part about writing your book and what was the easiest part?
a. The most difficult part was having to write about the break-up of my first family. It is something I did not want to do. I had no idea that Elaine was going to ask for a divorce.

b. The easiest part was writing about the travels with my sons, because they were such enjoyable experiences.

3. Your book is not exactly chronological – how did you decide to arrange your book?
The only thing I tried to do was to separate the Soviet times from the non-Soviet times. In many cases this was difficult to do. It was the dates that gave me the most trouble, as I wasn’t sure about them. Fortunately, my sons helped me with many of them. A friend who was editing for me said I really needed the dates, so I did the best that I could.

4. Did your sons inherit your sense of humor and love of travel? How do they view their time in Russia/Soviet Union?
My sons use to tease me about my sense of humor, saying things like, “that sounds like a Dad joke.” However, they both have healthy senses of humor. As you know, the three of us did a substantial amount of traveling during our time in Russia. However, family life seems to have kept them close to home. At the beginning, Moscow was the last place on earth that they wanted to be. However, they really enjoyed their life in Moscow and were sad when it was time to leave.

5. Briefly, what are your views of Russia today and how it’s changed for the better or worse since your days there?
In a way it was sad for me to witness the downfall of the Soviet Union. Part of this is selfishness on my part, because I had been living the life of a wealthy person up until then. The saddest part, however, was that the elderly were no longer taken care of, and life became much more difficult for them, including having pension checks delayed for months. That was true for teachers as well. Today, I see a leader who is trying desperately to reinstate Russia as a world power. It frustrates me that I don’t know to what degree Mr. Putin is guilty of the many charges that have been leveled against him. I honestly believe that Crimea should be part of Russia. I visited it many times. Eighty plus percent of the people who live there are Russian. It was Russian blood that was shed during the Crimean War. Also, it was being economically neglected by Kiev.
I am not convinced that things are much better now. It use to be that “things” were simply not available to the people. Now, they are available, but many people cannot afford them.

6. Do you have any more books you’d like to write, perhaps about some of the other countries you’ve lived in since Russia?
I actually started to write a second book about my life in other countries; however, after a couple of attempts, it just wasn’t there. Maybe that will change. As you know, I wrote many letters about my experiences in these countries and sent them to friends. Maybe that was enough.

If you are interested in purchasing a book from Charlie, you can send him a check for $23.50 (the 3.50 is for shipping):

Charlie Adams

4104 S Atlantic Ave. #4

Port Orange, FL

32127

or wait until Charlie arrives on the island at the end of June.