I’ve been doing the Goodreads Challenge for several years now with varying success. I met my goal in 2016 and 2017, but fell short in 2018. To hold myself accountable this year, I decided to post a roundup of all the books I’ve read in each month at the end of it.
(Yes, I might take this too seriously. But I credit the challenge with making me read more after a period of several years during which I barely read anything.)
- Anna Karenina – Lew Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is my only book for January – and I haven’t even completely finished it! In my defense, it’s a rather long book. Tolstoy is, together with Bulgakov, my favourite Russian writer. I devoured War and Peace, even the detailed battle descriptions. (Hey, I’m a historian. I find shit interesting almost nobody else does.) Anna Karenina was next on my list, but it took a couple of years to get around to that!
I remember when I was in school, my German teacher would refer to the three big marriage novels of the 19th century: Madame Bovary, Effie Briest and Anna Karenina. We had read Effie Briest in class, but being the massive nerd I was (and am) I vowed to read the other two as well. Soon after, I read, and loved, Madame Bovary. And here we are, over ten years later – I might not be the quickest to implement a plan, but I certainly am tenacious! 😀 I’m going to update you on my reading process at the end of February. I hope I’ll be finished with it by then!