First-Impressions: Anna Karenina

For THE LONGEST TIME, I somehow misread the title of this book and thought it was “Anne” Karenina. It was only after I was 10% through this book (ah, the joys of reading on Kindle) that I realised it was “Anna” and was mortifyingly disappointed in myself. I swear I saw it say “Anne” somewhere.. it must be to do with the translation…

Anyways, in yesterday’s post, I discussed how I sometimes know I’m going to love a book before I have read it, and this is partially the case with this book. Partially, because although I knew that this was a timeless classic (check) and the premise was absolutely intriguing (check) and it is considered the greatest novel of all time (wow it’s just screaming at me at this point)… I think this may possibly be the first time I’ve read a Russian book (translated, of course) and my first book from Leo Tolstoy so I wasn’t sure how those two factors would play out. I was also hesitant to begin, because it is one thousand pages long (the equivalent to three normal sized books) and I didn’t want to be stuck into one book for… lord save me, the whole summer.

Nevertheless, I was hopeful. In my experiences in reading Alexandre Dumas’ book The Count of Monte Cristo (which I’m still reading – please forgive me it’s also one thousand pages… there is a story to my relationship with this book which I can talk about in another post – I started on ebook and then purchased myself a lovely copy) I realised the necessity of having a good translation, so I Googled to find the best translation of Anna Karenina and ensured that my ebook had that translation and then I began my reading.

First-Impressions: Turning the Tide: Reawakening the Woman’s Heart and Soul by Suma Din

“A book on the journey and different stages of a woman’s life, from the inception of the soul to the end of life on Earth. Words of wisdom, guidance and compassion from the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) pave the way, and inspire the reader to reawaken their heart and soul. With contemporary thoughts, words of wisdom, guidance and inspiration.” Goodreads

I’m only 90 pages into this book, but I already know that this is going to be one of my all-time favourites… I can feel it. Because this is a “first-impressions” post, I’m not going to spend too long going over the premise and structure of the book because I will go into much detail on that in my review once I’ve finished reading -this is just about all my initial thoughts, which are of course subject to change!

I went into this book with zero expectations, and I honestly think that was the most fitting approach, in this case. Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m very much a reflecting kind of person, and I love to reflect on past events and the present and the future and life, and this makes this book perfect for me as its entire premise is on the journey through a Muslim woman’s life.

First-Impressions: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family

Hello everyone and wow this is the first “first-impressions” post I’ve done in a good while! It’s nice to finally get back into reading… even though it has taken a while for me to properly sit down and absorb myself into this book (lol never heard of reader’s procrastination until now… probably something to do with the fact that I hadn’t sat down and read a book for pleasure in ages) – and so far it has been totally worth it. This is also a non-fiction book so yay I’m making progress on my 2021 reading goal!