As autumn leaves fall and temperatures drop, Bookworm suggests the happy indoor pursuit of reading. One of the most interesting recent publications is a collection of tales of Russia's newly rich and how they got there: Russian Businessmen. 40 Stories of Success, published in Moscow this summer.


The book is not on sale at regular bookstores, although some street vendors carry it. The easiest way of getting the book, for less than 4,000 rubles ($1.50), is by phoning the publisher, the Center of Political Technologies, at 248-2862.


Meanwhile, for dictionary buffs, the bookshelf holds several new offerings:


?Concise English-Russian and Russian-English Dictionary of the Underworld, compiled by Yury Dubyagin and Evgeny Teplitsky, from Terra Publishers, 300 pages, priced at 3,000 rubles.


?A reprint of the Short Encyclopedic Dictionary, originally published in 1907 by Brockhaus and Efron, now available from Terra publishers in four volumes, hardcover, for around 40,000 rubles.


?Historical Etymological Dictionary of Modern Russian Language, compiled by professor Pavel Tchernykh in two volumes. Published by Russky Yazyk, the cost is 15,000 rubles.


Students of language have no doubt noticed that there are dozens of textbooks for studying English on the market now. The undisputed leader is a classic, the textbook by Professor Natalia Bonk and colleagues compiled 34 years ago. It was chosen for use at every state foreign languages course throughout the Soviet Union and became the most popular English text in the country, with millions of prints and reprints in circulation.