Books: What Sosso Said to Budu

MY UNCLE JOSEPH STALIN (235 pp )-Budu Svanidze—Putnam ($3).

When Budu Svanidze told his mother he wanted to be like his Uncle Sosso when he grew up, she slapped his little face. Uncle Sosso lived in the Caucasian Mountains and spent most of his time robbing and killing Russian soldiers and policemen. Since his home town of Didi-Lilo was a two-by-four hotbed of Georgian nationalism, this made Uncle Sosso rather popular with most townsfolk. But when Budu's mother remembered how Sosso had been sent to an Orthodox seminary to be trained for the church,...