New Things: Weeks 8 & 9

The past couple of weeks have been busy ones. We headed out of town to see friends over the weekend, and the week prior to that, Seester and Brother (her husband) were here for a visit, complete with a trip to see the always amazing "Les Miserables!" It was such a lovely visit. If only we could live closer. . . sigh.

In continuing the tradition of new things (or old things that I stopped doing and would like to do again), I continued my efforts to get crafty by picking up knitting for the first time in years. I never moved beyond scarves when I initially started knitting--and I'm working on a scarf now--but I figure I'll wait to get through that before I tackle something more complicated. I forgot how nice (and even meditative) it can be to complete those rhythmic motions.

The other new old thing for the last couple of weeks--and definitely the most time-consuming--has been reading a classic novel. A year or so ago, I bought a copy of Anna Karenina. Being that it is an 850+ page 19th-century Russian novel, it was hard to really get around to reading it. I have long since given up on reading books just because they are classics (life is too short to read something that you don't like or that bores you), but I do enjoy a good juicy classic now and then, and it seemed that Anna Karenina might fit the bill. The challenge was finding the time to read it without spending six months with it--luckily, the Christmas break gave me a good opportunity to get started, and I finished reading it last week.

I hoped that I would like Anna Karenina. I didn't expect to love it. Despite its length, I tore through it. I loved the humanness of the characters, the depiction of Russian life and society, the novel's philosophical bent, and the subtlety with which the characters change throughout the novel and lead up to the book's conclusion (one that literally left me with my jaw hanging open). It had a surprisingly contemporary feel to it, and it's been a long time since I've been that engrossed in a book. I'd actually love to reread it, but perhaps I'll save that for another time. For now, I'm definitely ready for some lighter fare--perhaps a rereading of the Twilight series?

I decided to start a new list (on the right) called "Bookshelf," just to share what I'm reading and to record what I've read this year. I won't be including any business or organizing books--which take up a lot of my reading time--but I'm hoping to put a nice dent in the never-ending list of books I'd like to get to. I'd love to know what any of you are reading, as well!