Currently reading and discussing Anna Karenina, Oprah's book club selection. START AT THE BOTTOM in the right-hand column!
| DATE | MILESTONE |
| 6/11 | Part One, Chapter XVIII-p 66 |
| 6/18 | Part One-p 115 |
| 6/25 | Part Two, Chapter XX-p 180 |
| 7/2 | Part Two-p 236 |
| 7/9 | Part Three, Chapter XVI-p 294 |
| 7/16 | Part Three-p 352 |
| 7/23 | Part Four-p 435 Halfway! |
| 7/30 | Part Five, Chapter XX-p 505 |
| 8/6 | Part Five-p 549 |
| 8/13 | Part Six, Chapter XVII-p 613 |
| 8/20 | Part Six-p 669 |
| 8/27 | Part Seven, Chapter XVIII-p 725 |
| 9/3 | Part Seven-p 768* |
| 9/10 | Finish Anna Karenina |
I am not sure how I did it. I guess I thought we were supposed to be done w/ Part Two on 6/25. What a pleasant surprise when I logged in to see that part 2 isn't until 7/2!
Anyway, enough patting myself on the back!
The two most horrid parts of part 2 for me were:
go to the comments to read them - warning plot spoilers - I moved them there so you wouldn't accidentally see them!
We're back from the softball tournament (two losses = get home early) and I am proud to say that I have finished part one and j-u-s-t started part 2.
I cannot put my finger on *what* I like about this book but it is pulling me forward. Tolstoy is planting all these little seeds and I eagerly anticipate seeing them come to fruition. Lots of character, lots of settings -- how will these all fall together?
I was reading an older edition and did not have a character named "Stepan" that deb's post refers to. Today I purchased my Oprah copy but haven't had a chance to look through it. Perhaps different versions translate the names differently? I do have a "Stivin" character. Are they the same?
I'm about to go jump in the tub and get some reading done. Maybe I'll answer my own question by the time I'm out of the bath. :-)
I hope this site will work -- which do y'all prefer, blog or email?
Lisa
Why does Levin continually imagine his future in such detail, only to have his actual experience differ from what he had expected?
Why does Tolstoy counterpose Levin and Kitty's marriage with Anna and Vronsky's relationship?
After telling her husband about her affair, why does Anna feel that "everything was beginning to go double in her soul" (p. 288)?
We are told that it is unpleasant for Anna to read about other people's lives because she "wanted too much to live herself" (p. 100). Why are reading and living placed in opposition to one another?
When Anna and Vronsky have satisfied their desire for one another, why does Tolstoy compare Vronsky to a murderer?
When Vronsky first meets Anna, "it was as if a surplus of something so overflowed her being that it expressed itself beyond her will..." (p. 61). What is this something? Why is it expressed beyond her will?