Anna Karenina
by Louise Maude · first published 2012
36% recommend59% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Long Tolstoy novel praised for vivid character sketching, a gripping opening, and glimpses of 19th-century Russian life, plus Levin's spiritual and philosophical quest; suits readers ready for big literary fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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- Anna Karenina: Tolstoy knows people better than they know themselves - Brave New World: Aldous Huxley is a genius and a wordsmith - Dune: a sci-fi masterpiece, highly recommended to anyone into sci-fi - Zen and…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…Einstein, Freud, and Darwin were revolutionizing modern thought, and Joyce was resolutely ignorant of them. People say, "What about all the symbolism? What about all the word play?" Again, I say, meh. Anna Karenina -- now that's a great novel.
on “Bloomsday the Library’s One-of-a-Kind Copy of “Ulysses”” ↗…much as his most famous, The Castle. Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa - a trippy collection of tales organised in multiple nested frames. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. Still as breathtaking as I'd remembered it from the previous reading five years ago. Science Fiction: Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun. Wolfe, whom I hadn't read before, turns out to be in a class…
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on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗I am currently listening to Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and it is by far the most interesting book I've read/listened to. I have been moved to tears again and again by this book. Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun (1917) just turned 100, and…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…and Pride and Prejudice. Iliad, Odyssey and first half of the Aeneid. A Room With A View and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Great Gatsby, Call of the Wild and Age of Innocence. War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Don Quixote.
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗…but Lonesome Dove made it happen. I feel like all I've wanted to do since finishing Lonesome Dove in July... is talk about Lonesome Dove. It catapulted itself into my top 3 books list. I have to re-read Anna Karenina to decide which is better at this point. I wish Lonesome Dove was 1500+ pages.
on “Good riddance to long books” ↗Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…death. A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. It was the first of my mom and dad's sf books that I chose to read for myself. It started a lifelong love affair. I outgrew the Xanth, but not the sf. Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy. An unassailable Mount Everest in the peaks of high literature. It's a spiritual journey I've taken repeatedly over the years. The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L Sayers. A meditation on…
on “Books That Changed My Life” ↗…funny. Favorite book? As others have pointed out, this is a ridiculous question -- my favorite kind! Some books I love: Lolita, As I Lay Dying, The Ghost Writer, Goodbye, Columbus, Blood Meridian, Anna Karenina, Where I'm Calling From, Huck Finn, Dubliners and on and on. I read mostly literary novels, but I read fairly widely -- genre stuff (skiffy, crime), history, philosophy, pop science, whatever's good.…
on “Do you read?” ↗Glad, you mention Anna Karenina. That's my all time favorite book. Read twice :-)
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