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cheesebagel's reviews
218 reviews
The Art of Joy by Goliarda Sapienza
5.0
truly one of the greatest and most beautiful books I’ve been lucky enough to come across
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5.0
read this over a period of several months because I couldn’t commit the weeks it might’ve taken me to get through it in one go.
it was not at all what I expected. it wasn’t dense or challenging to read. the plot was well paced and its subject matter compelling.
this story is beautifully written, which is so so rare in high fantasy, where plot and world building typically reign supreme.
tolkien is truly a master of his craft. it was an utter pleasure to be witness to his brilliance.
it was not at all what I expected. it wasn’t dense or challenging to read. the plot was well paced and its subject matter compelling.
this story is beautifully written, which is so so rare in high fantasy, where plot and world building typically reign supreme.
tolkien is truly a master of his craft. it was an utter pleasure to be witness to his brilliance.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
5.0
a spellbinding and devastating story about ruthless human cruelty and the kinship uniting the sufferers. i wish id had this assigned to me in school because it’s so rich in meaning and intention and beauty. should be on every must read before you die list.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
5.0
Anna Karenina was the first of Tolstoy's novels (and only the second of his total works -- I read "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" for a short fiction class in undergrad) that I've read and man, the hype is well-deserved. I absolutely adored this book, which I was not expecting.
Usually I find it slightly more difficult to motivate myself to read a classic novel, only because it’s a slower read and takes more concentration, but afterwards I generally admire the story and even reread it. This novel was, I think, the first (with maaaaaybe the exception of Dracula) where I could hardly put it down and then, when I wasn’t reading, would think about it constantly. I have no idea how Tolstoy managed to write a book with such a slow plot and so many chapters about dull subjects, like farming and economics, that was simultaneously an absolute pleasure to read. This is where I should mention that I read a fantastic translation of this book. I picked it totally randomly — it was literally just the copy that I’d had in my house since high school — but the cover is plastered with praise for the edition, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (published by Penguin Classics). I obviously can’t compare it to other translations because I haven’t read any others, but it does seem to me that these translators succeeded in conveying the elegance and skill in Tolstoy’s prose, purely based on how lovely and musical even the parts about farming were.
I read several of the 1 star reviews on Goodreads because I was curious to see what the main criticism of this book was. For the most part, it seems like people either didn’t finish it at all and just rated it anyway, or complained primarily about the pace and said it was ‘boring.’ I don’t condemn them for this opinion at all, honestly. I think you need to be a certain type of reader to enjoy plotless fiction and it turns out I am one such reader. But I do think this book was much more of a character study than anything else. I was surprised how little of the book was written from Anna’s perspective given that she’s the titular character. I suppose it’s only named after her because it’s her transgression that’s the focal point of the story. The book has several important characters from whose points of view we come to understand their anxieties and innermost thoughts. I found them all endearing and richly imagined. Each one appealed to me for a different reason and they genuinely felt like real people, which, in my opinion, is a mark of a talented writer. I loved the way Tolstoy characterized Anna, even if it was a bit idealized… but I think the point is for everyone to be in love with her so…
I rated this 5 stars first, because I loved it, but also I think because it surprised me so much for all the aforementioned reasons. There were, however, a couple of things that I didn’t like even though they didn’t compromise my rating. For one, the timing of the book was confusing. Especially at the beginning, I struggled to figure out how much time had passed between one event and the next. I think, roughly, the book spans about 3 years, but this really wasn’t clear to me until the very end. What saddened me the most, though, is that, for some reason, Tolstoy wrote so little about the two most important events of the novel. ** I’m about to spoil the end here so skip down if you don’t want to know what happens. ** The transition between Anna and Vronsky meeting and suddenly being helplessly in love was far to rapid for my taste. For an 800 page book, you would think that the escalation of the love affair would not be brushed over, which makes me think it was intentional although I cannot understand why. It was the same with Anna’s suicide and the aftermath. There are barely a few paragraphs written about how her death impacted the members of society with whom she was close and, again, I’m confused as to why it was done this way because to me that seems like the most important part. Why would Tolstoy write such a tragic ending for her and then neglect to explore the impact? I can’t even begin to comprehend.
I’m going to wrap this up because I want to start reading my next book, but in sum, I would recommend this book quite highly if only because of how much I enjoyed it. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you favour elegant prose over a quick plot, you’d probably like it. It took me a little while to read, but I carried it around with me everywhere if only to read a few pages at a time because it was so ensnaring. I’m definitely going to read War and Peace in the future in the hopes that it’s just as good.
https://thebookmartian.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/anna-karenina-by-liev-tolstoy-review/
Usually I find it slightly more difficult to motivate myself to read a classic novel, only because it’s a slower read and takes more concentration, but afterwards I generally admire the story and even reread it. This novel was, I think, the first (with maaaaaybe the exception of Dracula) where I could hardly put it down and then, when I wasn’t reading, would think about it constantly. I have no idea how Tolstoy managed to write a book with such a slow plot and so many chapters about dull subjects, like farming and economics, that was simultaneously an absolute pleasure to read. This is where I should mention that I read a fantastic translation of this book. I picked it totally randomly — it was literally just the copy that I’d had in my house since high school — but the cover is plastered with praise for the edition, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (published by Penguin Classics). I obviously can’t compare it to other translations because I haven’t read any others, but it does seem to me that these translators succeeded in conveying the elegance and skill in Tolstoy’s prose, purely based on how lovely and musical even the parts about farming were.
I read several of the 1 star reviews on Goodreads because I was curious to see what the main criticism of this book was. For the most part, it seems like people either didn’t finish it at all and just rated it anyway, or complained primarily about the pace and said it was ‘boring.’ I don’t condemn them for this opinion at all, honestly. I think you need to be a certain type of reader to enjoy plotless fiction and it turns out I am one such reader. But I do think this book was much more of a character study than anything else. I was surprised how little of the book was written from Anna’s perspective given that she’s the titular character. I suppose it’s only named after her because it’s her transgression that’s the focal point of the story. The book has several important characters from whose points of view we come to understand their anxieties and innermost thoughts. I found them all endearing and richly imagined. Each one appealed to me for a different reason and they genuinely felt like real people, which, in my opinion, is a mark of a talented writer. I loved the way Tolstoy characterized Anna, even if it was a bit idealized… but I think the point is for everyone to be in love with her so…
I rated this 5 stars first, because I loved it, but also I think because it surprised me so much for all the aforementioned reasons. There were, however, a couple of things that I didn’t like even though they didn’t compromise my rating. For one, the timing of the book was confusing. Especially at the beginning, I struggled to figure out how much time had passed between one event and the next. I think, roughly, the book spans about 3 years, but this really wasn’t clear to me until the very end. What saddened me the most, though, is that, for some reason, Tolstoy wrote so little about the two most important events of the novel. ** I’m about to spoil the end here so skip down if you don’t want to know what happens. ** The transition between Anna and Vronsky meeting and suddenly being helplessly in love was far to rapid for my taste. For an 800 page book, you would think that the escalation of the love affair would not be brushed over, which makes me think it was intentional although I cannot understand why. It was the same with Anna’s suicide and the aftermath. There are barely a few paragraphs written about how her death impacted the members of society with whom she was close and, again, I’m confused as to why it was done this way because to me that seems like the most important part. Why would Tolstoy write such a tragic ending for her and then neglect to explore the impact? I can’t even begin to comprehend.
I’m going to wrap this up because I want to start reading my next book, but in sum, I would recommend this book quite highly if only because of how much I enjoyed it. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you favour elegant prose over a quick plot, you’d probably like it. It took me a little while to read, but I carried it around with me everywhere if only to read a few pages at a time because it was so ensnaring. I’m definitely going to read War and Peace in the future in the hopes that it’s just as good.
https://thebookmartian.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/anna-karenina-by-liev-tolstoy-review/