Sunday, December 2, 2018

I Read Anna Karenina



To be clear, that is "read," present tense, not "read," past tense. I have just begun to read Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is said by many to be the best novel ever written.

I have an ebook of Anna Karenina and I have the same version as a real paperback. My copy of Anna Karenina has 864 pages and I am on page 30. I've already met ten characters, and the Russian names are beginning to tumble and jumble together in my mind.

I can see that reading Anna Karenina is going to be an event.

Why, you may be asking, are you reading Anna Karenina at this most busy time of the year?

The simple answer is that Anna Karenina was my draw for the Classics Club Spin. (You do, of course, know about the Classics Club, right? If you do not, check here for more information, and sign up with your fifty classics today...time's a-wasting.) This spin is unique for Classics Club Spins; we have been given two months---the entire months of December and January---to read a book on our list. We were encouraged to pick our longer books. I stacked the deck and offered up my five longest books to the spin gods and Anna Karenina is what I drew.

How is it going? you may be wondering. The short answer is: slowly. I expected that, of course. I'm good at setting a pace, though, and I've already figured out that I can make it to the end if I average just fifteen pages a day.

I will read Anna Karenina by January 31st. I will.




Have any of you read Anna Karenina? Do you have any pointers for me with this very-long novel? Any helps out there?

What did you draw for the Classics Club Spin? How do you feel about your Spin pick?






What is the Sunday SalonImagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've
wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound
 journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens
at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their
own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly,
mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 
 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read”
book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted at The Book Date.

22 comments:

  1. Ooo... best of luck! Though I read this book longer ago than I care to recall - the way I got around it was to read at least an hour a time, otherwise it went too slowly and I never managed to emerge from the morass of description and alllll those Russian names!

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  2. It's been a little over a decade, but I read Anna Karenina... the key (for me anyway) was translation. A Pevear & Volokhonsky edition is a must and it looks like you've got it.

    No CC Spin for me this time around. I've just started The Duke's Children (Palliser #6) by Anthony Trollope... my goal is to finish the series by the end of the year.

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  3. I read Anna Karenina when I was a teenager. I was reading lots of long books back then...I didn't have a life. LOL.

    I loved it, and I also read Dostoevsky one summer, which I called My Russian Novel Summer.

    Those names are challenging. I don't think I took notes back then, but I certainly would now.

    Enjoy!

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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  4. This is one of those novels (along with War and Peace) that completely intimidates me. Good for you for reading and for setting a realistic pace; 15 pages a day is totally do-able!

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  5. It's very good, but depressing too. Well, I don't know any super happy Russian novels, lol!
    my spin is A Moveable Feast, I'm now hopeful it will work for me

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    1. I loved Moveable. It’s set in Paris and that gives it bonus points.

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  6. I've never tackled that one (my sister did), but have read Les Miserables. I've also successfully finished several other very long books -- Pillars of the Earth, World a without End & all of the Outlander novels. Good luck!

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  7. I don't really read classics, but this is one I'd like to read. I never read it. I hope you enjoy it.

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  8. I've never read it! I hope it goes well for you though. I think if I were going to I would take it in small chunks, maybe an hour a time like someone mentioned above. Let my brain percolate a bit in between sessions. :)

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  9. I read this and can tell you: it is definitely not the best book ever written. It is a soap opera.

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  10. Good luck with that one! I'm a low-brow sort of reader and avoid Classics if it is at all possible. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  11. No. I haven't read it but I have read other long books from the era. Take it in small manageable chunks. Don't feel like you have to understand all of it; you're not in school. Have fun. Give yourself permission to skim.

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  12. I read Anna Karenina. I enjoyed it. It's been a long time ago. I also liked everything Charles Dickens. There were many other classics as well. I hope you enjoy! Anne - Books of My Heart

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  13. I loved Anna Karenina! I read the Maude translation, which was good too.

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