What are you currently reading?

[Brian]

500 pages down, 800 pages left in War and Peace!

[vers la flamme]

500 pages down, 800 pages left in War and Peace!

In 1 week? Or am I misremembering that you started at the top of the month...? Impressive! 

I miss Russian lit. I'm thinking of rereading Anna Karenina which I read in high school and enjoyed, but now barely remember. I want to save War & Peace for a few years down the line.

I've made very little progress in The Crossing & Labyrinths, they're both slow reads. I'm thinking of picking up another book that I know I'll be able to finish quickly, just to feel like I'm making progress.

[BWV 1080]

I've made very little progress in The Crossing & Labyrinths, they're both slow reads. I'm thinking of picking up another book that I know I'll be able to finish quickly, just to feel like I'm making progress.

This site  has free online versions of both books along with every analysis that has ever been published, although it may take a while to find

[Florestan]

I miss Russian lit. I'm thinking of rereading Anna Karenina which I read in high school and enjoyed, but now barely remember. I want to save War & Peace for a few years down the line.

Why don't you go for Turgenev? His novels are not intimidating bricks, his insights are just as interesting as Dostoyevsky's and Tolstoy's and imho he's more delicate, warm, humane and fun to read than both. Ditto for Chekhov's short stories and novellas.

[Brian]

Why don't you go for Turgenev? His novels are not intimidating bricks, his insights are just as interesting as Dostoyevsky's and Tolstoy's and imho he's more delicate, warm, humane and fun to read than both. Ditto for Chekhov's short stories and novellas.

Or Gogol for something a little different!

The section of W&P that I read was the only bit I hadn't fully enjoyed so far (the big hunt scene and following sequence of everyone being depressed about various things). So far, Tolstoy juggles his plotlines really skillfully and, unlike in Anna Karenina, none of them are preachy/boring. (AK would be so great without Levin...)

I started W&P on July 1 so averaging 75 pages per day so far, which is a blistering pace and likely unsustainable.

[Florestan]

Or Gogol for something a little different!

Yes, Gogol too is quite fun.

[aligreto]

Farrington: Marvels & Mysteries of the Unexplained





This is one of those larger sized coffee table books which is designed to be dipped into now and then rather than read continuously. That is what I am doing with it around my other reading. It is not hugely informative but it is thought provoking.

[AlberichUndHagen]

(AK would be so great without Levin...)

I admit I haven't read Anna Karenina completely but judging by what I did read, I actually found Levin one of the most enjoyable characters, funny, witty etc. I remember laughing my head off about his story about simple minded Alyosha (ironic since I couldn't stand Alyosha in Dostoyevsky's Karamazov). I never finished Anna Karenina because the constant train imagery (my other older sister committed suicide by jumping under one) was a bit too much. And at that point I didn't even know what was going to be certain character's final destiny! I might read it soon enough provided the currently on-going family conflict I have right now doesn't escalate into an all-out war.

[Brian]

I admit I haven't read Anna Karenina completely but judging by what I did read, I actually found Levin one of the most enjoyable characters, funny, witty etc. I remember laughing my head off about his story about simple minded Alyosha (ironic since I couldn't stand Alyosha in Dostoyevsky's Karamazov). I never finished Anna Karenina because the constant train imagery (my other older sister committed suicide by jumping under one) was a bit too much. And at that point I didn't even know what was going to be certain character's final destiny! I might read it soon enough provided the currently on-going family conflict I have right now doesn't escalate into an all-out war.

Ah, ok. You also never got to the part about Levin which I didn't like, which is that at the end he ceases to be witty, becomes preachy, and gives up his power to become a farmer with the peasants, and then there's a whole long section about how to operate a farm which is rather boring. We are meant to take the moral that rich people should give up their wealth and return to the earth, but Tolstoy doesn't really consider whether this idea actually makes the world better, or whether it simply allows people like Levin to escape their own guilt feelings.

Also, I'm sorry to hear about your family conflict consuming so much time.

[aligreto]

Amis: Lucky Jim





This is a very well written account of the exploits, thinking and philosophy of the main character. I found it to be a very entertaining and amusing read. The main character is a very human and believable entity particularly with all of his flaws along with his [very] few good points. Human nature does not really change that much over the decades it seems.

[Florestan]

Human nature does not really change that much over the decades millennia it seems.

FTFY. 

[aligreto]

FTFY. 

Yes, more true perhaps. You must be far less tolerant that I am 

[Thom]

Heat of Autumn by Andrew wareham.
I love this Author, all his books

[Florestan]

Yes, more true perhaps. You must be far less tolerant that I am 

I don't know how tolerant you are, but I am very much so --- precisely because I think that human nature hasn't changed much over the millennia. 

What I am indeed intolerant about, is grand, universal and rational schemes and plans for making the world a paradise on earth --- they invariably end up turning it into hell. 

[Florestan]

Ah, ok. You also never got to the part about Levin which I didn't like, which is that at the end he ceases to be witty, becomes preachy, and gives up his power to become a farmer with the peasants, and then there's a whole long section about how to operate a farm which is rather boring. We are meant to take the moral that rich people should give up their wealth and return to the earth, but Tolstoy doesn't really consider whether this idea actually makes the world better, or whether it simply allows people like Levin to escape their own guilt feelings.

I think Levin and Kitty are the most humane, likeable and interesting characters of the novel, far more so than the main ones. I mean, really: a shallow, womanizing officer seducing and abandoning the bored wife of a bore? They are both a dime a dozen, but how many Kittys and Levins do you know?

[aligreto]

I don't know how tolerant you are, but I am very much so --- precisely because I think that human nature hasn't changed much over the millennia. 

What I am indeed intolerant about, is grand, universal and rational schemes and plans for making the world a paradise on earth --- they invariably end up turning it into hell. 

I would like to think that I have mellowed with age but you would really have to ask my wife about that 

[AlberichUndHagen]

Didn't Tolstoy base the character of Levin on himself?

Another character I really enjoyed was Stiva Oblonsky. I know that he's not particularly a good man (he's a faithless womanizer after all) but somehow his joviality kind of wins me over.

[Florestan]

Didn't Tolstoy base the character of Levin on himself?

Most probably.

[Florestan]

I would like to think that I have mellowed with age but you would really have to ask my wife about that

Never a good move that, deferring one's appreciation, or lack thereof, to one's wife. 

[Florestan]

Now that I think of it, I associate Tchaikovsky with Turgenev and Chekhov, Mussorgsky with Dostoyevsky and Balakirev with Tolstoy. What do you guys think?