In high school I had a pact with a friend to read Anna Karenina, and neither of us ever followed through on it. I think 2025 will finally be the year I do it, and I am telling you this, Bluesky, so you HOLD ME TO IT.
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Turned off replies to this because I really didn't expect it to spread quite as wide as it did, and I don't need to know what every Bluesky user thinks about Anna Karenina
Before I had a toddler, I tried to read one enormous book a year. Some of my favorites were Moby Dick, Kristin Lavransdatter, and War and Peace. Wrote about the latter two even.
Maybe I’ll try again.
War and Peace starts with the incredibly soporific:
“He went up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the sofa.”
LOL. I told myself I needed to read some of the Russians. I loved Master & Margarita and then The Twelve Chairs.
What's another good one that won't leave me utterly depressed?
I've started it 5 times....only to stop. How much can one learn from an author or people that have lived in perpetual serfdom and endured communism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism....I mean what the fuck? I know all about suffering already.
it's my favorite book. i wish i could always be reading it. i read it years ago and still ache for the characters as if they were people i once knew. the names and nicknames is one of the hardest parts imo, it helps if you have some kind of family tree to reference or can do it as an audioboook
It was one of my “walking books” during the pandemic. I listened to the audiobook only when on my almost daily 5-mile hikes. It took me 120 miles to finish. Great book.
I've read it in high school, being so close to Russia it was a mandatory read,I didn't enjoy it at all, I found it to be too long and I didn't like the writing style at all.
One of the things I loved about the early days Kindle was that the classics were absolutely free. Most of the good stuff is still kindle ultd available and there are a lot of $1 books.
There was a really good read-along on fb (gross but I got an alt just for it) about a year ago. The audiobook made it more enjoyable for me so I didn’t get stuck on how to pronounce the Russian names.
It's an undertaking because of all the societal and farm commentary that regularly pushes the actual story aside, but I've never been so happy to be continually interrupted by agricultural advances.
I am an artist nearing 79 years old and have read hundreds of books in my life. Anna Karenina is the greatest book I have ever known. Wishing you well on your unfolding journey to come.
That's a solid goal. Personally, I think War and Peace is better. They are both journeys, but if you are going to earn a "Tolstoy Merit Badge" you might as well make it for a better book.
DO IT!! I listened to an audio book version for a book club and I'm so glad I did. It's not something I'd usually pick up but I actually enjoyed it so much. Much more entertaining than I was expecting. Very thought provoking but not boring. I can see why it's a classic.
Read it. Made a pact with myself to read Ulysses, Moby Dick, War & Peace, Finnegan's Wake, Dante's Divine Comedy, Homer's Odyssey & Iliad, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Marx's Capital. Finished four of them, still working on Dante, Joyce (Ulysses), Marx & Chaucer. Finnegan still daunts me.
Start Ulysses w chapter 4. Leopold's chapters are easier than the Stephen ones and that's a good one. "Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls."
I don't find it difficult, but rather turgid (albeit not as dull as Atlas Shrugged). I saw the film back in the early '70s, and have it on DVD now, to help me navigate it better, when I am ready to continue. I'm working on other titles now, including the Trask translation of Casanova's diaries.
Haven’t read Ulysses (except for Tennyson’s poem), Finnegan’s Wake or Marx’s Das Kapital, but read the others in the past. Also Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov.Reading Dostoevsky was like going to a funeral, having someone die during the funeral, then going to their funeral where someone else dies.
I read Anna Karenina when I was in high school… it was a waste of time. I didn’t have enough life experience to appreciate it. I read it again when I was 35 and boy, did it ever hit home!
A Russian character can have their name, their full name, a pet name, AND a nick name. It can be confusing to keep straight who is doing what. So, print off a list of the characters with ALL of their names. Someone on Reddit made a pretty good one.
What would make this possible? What would make it _fun_?
Where and when do you read? Do you take a train or otherwise have obvious non-competitive downtime? Before sleeping? Side by side with loved ones?
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I finished the Iliad thirty years after the college course in which I should have finished it.
Did you know that the great Victor Hugo was also an artist? - a visual artist. Sometime check out the book, From Stones to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo. His art was way ahead of his time.
I got through half of it in high school before a waterline broke and destroyed it in my locker, I was secretly relieved that this was a good reason to give up 🫣
So, in helping to hold you to it, you have to tell us when you get a copy of this great book (shorter than War & Peace) and you can’t use your friend’s putting it off again as an excuse.
Please? Okay?
I read it for the first time a couple years ago and loved it! Once you start, it will immediately seem 100% less daunting because it’s really engrossing from page 1.
I read it a few years ago. It took me ages to get through. I did not enjoy it. Jesus, Levin, enough about farming. Clearly I’m in the minority on this, but if you DON’T love it, you aren’t alone. Godspeed.
I swore I would get through War and Peace but I have not. I DID manage to get through The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - don't ask me how. OK, with a lot of booze.
Anna Karenina was possibly the best experience I ever had reading a book. It's a great book, but also one that seemed really accessible and captivating to me. I loved the characters and the compassionate way they were treated by Tolstoy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I’m not gonna hold you to it, Emily, because the world‘s going to be depressing enough. If you want to read a classic about a loveless marriage and its consequences, why don’t you try Lady Chatterley‘s Lover? Guaranteed no tears, maybe some laughs
I read it when I was at uni, and honestly probably too young in some ways. I hadn’t truly been in love or had my heart broken yet, but once I had, Anna was one of the first things I thought of. It was a book I grew with, instead of it growing on me. I love it and I would love to hear your thoughts!
You got this! And I'm feeling inspired to tackle a new (to me) long book myself, maybe Don Quixote or War and Peace. (Although I do have an unread copy of Anna Karenina waiting on my shelves as well....)
This is what makes the world such a diverse and brilliant place. I found both books to be tediously long and yet you loved them. Neither of us are wrong, it's how we personally experienced them.
There was a three pack of great books of women, I bought one time.
Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, and
Madame Bovary.
Talk about self centered and narsisistic. I didn't think any of the main characters had any redeeming qualities.
I absolutely hated all of them.
Anyone else? Or just me? Lol
lol when i was 11 i decided to start reading classics. but war & peace seemed too big, so i went with anna karenina and short stories by gogol ... i think i only retained the gogol. to this day never read w&p. lmk how AK goes
War and Peace is a big ol’ soap opera! It’s the only book I read my whole first year in graduate school (because I was so busy) and it took me that whole year… but it was a nice diversion!
I loved them both, Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Don’t give up- have a soothing drink, put your feet up, and let the language and imagery wash over you. They are beautiful, and read Death of Ivan Ilyich as well.
I had a pact with myself to read it in 2023. I hope you have a better experience than mine. I thought it contained a masterpiece that could be edited own to something like 450-500 pages. But... it could have been the translation. IDK.
It's a relatively short novel. You could read it in a couple of days, or over several evenings. Unless you're reading it in Russian, what's your excuse?
The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation is very good, I got further with them than on previous attempts, but still ran headfirst into....well, perhaps better not to say, if we don't talk about it maybe you won't notice and breeze through!
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https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/8/19/21372453/war-and-peace-tolstoy-good-read
https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/5/7/21250016/kristin-lavransdatter-novel-sigrid-undset
War and Peace starts with the incredibly soporific:
“He went up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the sofa.”
It’s making me tired just thinking about it.
What's another good one that won't leave me utterly depressed?
Yes. Shame on me.
There is still time.
Beautiful souls recognise beautiful souls. Keep being genuine. Your people will find you.
I could do a spoiler and save you the angst.
https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/8/19/21372453/war-and-peace-tolstoy-good-read
I’m on a Russian literature kick, I guess. Lol
Great story.
I thinks it’s good you waited.
Where and when do you read? Do you take a train or otherwise have obvious non-competitive downtime? Before sleeping? Side by side with loved ones?
-
I finished the Iliad thirty years after the college course in which I should have finished it.
"That's a Kareninaw from me, dog"
Please? Okay?
When you finish it, I recommend the Greta Garbo film adaptation. There are of course many.
Even with my confidence I have managed to follow through mamy times.
I listened to it for a week while I deep cleaned my house.
Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, and
Madame Bovary.
Talk about self centered and narsisistic. I didn't think any of the main characters had any redeeming qualities.
I absolutely hated all of them.
Anyone else? Or just me? Lol
Can I join your book group?
It could have been genetic predisposition and a viral trigger, but what if….