Frankenstein

So I read this in high school and I guess I was drunk because I don't really remember.  Ok, I probably wasn't actually drunk, but I still didn't recall the book well enough to felt like I'd read it.  Upon this second reading, I was entranced at first- the language was beautiful, the story captivating, and I enjoyed the connection between the characters.  As it progressed, however, I found my feelings oscillating between love and annoyance.  Why?  SOOOOOOOO much BITCHING.

Yeah, that's right.  Dr. Frankenstein was kind of a whiny little bitch.  Sure, he had a right to some melancholy, but geeeeeeeeeez.  After a while I wanted to choke him myself.  Now, to be fair, Mary Shelley did an incredible job with 7/8ths of the book (and she was only 19 at the time of its writing).  The story truly was lovely and my heart broke for "the fiend" that was so unloved and reviled, by all, and especially, by his creator.  His story, as told to Dr. Frankenstein, was so piteous.  I cried for him and yet, the vengeful evilness that was born from it?  I'm gonna go ahead and go with wowzers.

Was it worth my time?  Sure.  It was very good, but it brought back my remembrances of how I persistently felt about reading for myself (until the last 6 months or so, truly)- I ALMOST loved it, but not really.

Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy

For about $10, you can own some of the greatest words ever written.  You, yes YOU, can own the best of Tolstoy's shorter works.

I have been meaning to write this for a while, but when there is almost too much to say, it is hard to say anything at all.  This collection contains so many diverse and wonderful pieces that I am intimidated at the thought of doing it any sort of justice.  So, maybe I'll just not bother with any attempt to really sum up what is so great about it with any sort of detail...  That I can do!

The first piece I read was The Kreutzer Sonata and I was struck.  There aren't really an admirable characters and the look at humanity is less than positive, but it dripped with insightful truth.  The way men and women see each other, the impact of physical beauty, true love (ba!), insane jealousy, and vengefulness.  Rather than try to explain to you the perfection of Tolstoy's words (which I admit, once again, that I "thought," having loved these short stories so much that I would feel the same about "War and Peace," but no, it felt embarrassingly tedious to me- so don't just NOT read Tolstoy because of "War and Peace" if you tried it and failed, as I did).

On the power of beauty...

"It seemed to me that evening that she understood all that I felt and thought, and that what I felt and thought was very lofty.  In reality it was only that the jersey and the curls were particularly becoming to her and that after a day spent near her I wanted to be still closer.

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.  A handsome woman talks nonsense, you listen and hear not nonsense but cleverness. She says and does horrid things, and you see only charm.  And if a handsome woman does not say stupid or horrid things, you at once persuade yourself that she is wonderfully clever and moral."

I can't begin to tell you the plot because once I begin, there will be no shutting me up, so I'll stop.

A few others that really impressed were Family Happiness (with some truly good, though flawed people- Tolstoy's characters are never perfect heroes, which I appreciate, since no real person is either), The Cossacks, and The Death of Ivan Ilych.  I read some others and found admiration for them, but not quite at the level as these 4, for me personally.

In all, the lack of a fairy tale ending, the failed realness of the characters, and Tolstoy's masterful command of language that includes deep insights to the nature of human thought and behavior, especially the ugly side, makes this a must read for me.  Truly, if I hadn't read them, I might not have truly ignited the passion for reading that I have now.