Tuesday 13 December 2016

Russian Literature Challenge 2017



I keep telling myself that 2017 will be different. A fresh start, new goals. Let's see if I can actually follow through and complete a reading challenge this year. Russian Literature has always intimidated me but after reading Crime and Punishment a few years back and having my mind blown (instantly jumping into my arbitrary "Top 10 novels of all-time list"), I have been interested in reading more works by Russian authors. Here is the perfect opportunity to do so. Thank you Keely from we went outside and saw the stars for hosting the challenge. All we have to do is read but here is how it works:

Like with many challenges there will be four levels (going to make it interesting and name them after my favourite Russian writers):


  • Level One (Tolstoy): 1-3 books 
  • Level Two (Chekov): 4-6 books 
  • Level Three (Dostoevsky): 7-11 books
  • Level Four (Turgenev): 12+ books

Let's face it, it will be quite the accomplishment if I manage to finish level 1. Here are some titles that have piqued my interest (subject to change):

  • Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky
  • The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
  • Various short stories by Dostoevsky
  • Collected Short Stories by Anton Chekhov 
  • Short Stories by Tolstoy
  • Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
  • Plays by Chekhov? Turgenev?
  • Eugene Onegin by Pushkin
  • We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol
I got this...right?

5 comments:

  1. Dude, where have you been?! I'm very upset with you, you know! ;-)

    Your list looks daunting ..... just don't look at mine. :-Z Best of luck with the challenge!

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    1. Yeah...sorry...I pulled another disappearing act like houdini. You have every right to be upset but hopefully you can forgive me in due time.

      Your list is quite extensive too but you aren't going to be reading all of those works though, right?? Oh, your review of Brothers K. is astounding and I am so pumped to finally read this novel!!!!

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  2. Welcome back to blogging. I love this time of the year when all these challenges come up and I can at least dream of reading more in the coming year (my reading count has been steadily decreasing with every new year.) I'll participate in this, if only to get over my long-Russian-novel-fear, but I can safely commit to reading maybe two books. Anna Karenina is one of my favourites, and look forward to your views on both that and Notes from Underground. Happy reading!

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    1. Hello Priya! It is so lovely to hear from you again.

      Don't worry, I have the same trepidations when it comes to reading those intimidating Russian novels. A lot of them are such huge time commitments and it doesn't help that I have such a short attention span. I shall have to seek out your review of Anna Karenina to galvanize my enthusiasm for this challenge. I am most excited to read 'Notes from the Underground' and will be satisfied if I only manage to read this one work.

      Indeed, this is an exciting year with all of the new reading challenges but I should probably avoid making the mistake of signing up for too many. Besides, I should probably finish the ones from this year and the year before that...

      Btw, I still really enjoy your blog and it makes me so happy to see that you have not abandoned it despite being so busy with life. I have a tendency to do that and then re-emerge sporadically but hopefully I can stick around longer this time around haha

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  3. by the way...
    http://idiotibidem.blogspot.fi/

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