It's cold outside: Books I've been reading

I'm always amazed at how much the weather affects my behavior.  When winter is a 'comin, I bury myself in books and become a bit anti-social (more than usual).  See you next spring!  (I loathe, (loathe loathe loathe -- despise) Pullman winters...)

Anna Karenina
by Tolstoy

It took me a while to get into this book (like 100 pages or so).  The opening chapters really turned me off.  It's a pet peeve of mine to read (or watch) the over sentimental love struck-feet worshiping- male dunce whose life's purpose is only to bask in the glow of his mistress and aid her in her every need  --- it's so deceiving!  Men are not like that! And if so... it's not all the time, no one is.  Really? Instant, undying passion because a woman bated her eyes?   I think it creates women with false expectations of how men see women .... it just bugs.  So the opening scenes were that and I didn't know if I could stomach this book.   But I'm glad I didn't just put the book down because I see now that the overly mushy pages were poking fun of people who do think love is like that... the rest of the novel is plagued with affairs, self deception, and a lot of soul searching on the topic of love and marriage.  (See I knew there was a depressive classic lit hiding).   But the characters were lively and by the end I was so glad that I finished it-- there were some really well written passages on Anna, of her struggles with being a subordinate woman in marraige, love, religion.  You could feel her inner despair at parts and the unfairness of the world crashing down around her.  Classic lit right?

No wonder I began reading my second book... I needed a little bit of a pick me up

In Praise of Stay at Home Moms
by Dr. Laura

I really enjoyed this book.  It's a voice that is not heard enough: put family first! 

Still needing more of a pick me up from Tolstoy .... I thought I'd try out Ulysses by James Joyce .... I don't know why but I couldn't get into it.  I've really enjoyed his short stories Araby and The Dead.   So.. stopped.

So I decided to start reading Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables.  Women writers get such a bad wrap for being overly sentimental.  I never had a desire to read Anne because of the thought that it was childish. It was the same feelings that made me pass over Little Women for so long (another novel that I do not think gets enough credit ...).  I was pleasantly surprised, not only was it well written but I've never felt so endeared to a character as I have to Anne.  So I read the next three novels ... and started reading the fifth in the series Rainbow Valley and stopped.  I thought each novel got progressively less construed and the timeline was going too fast.  Although I did like the fourth better than the second and third. I enjoyed many of the characters found in Anne's House of Dreams.

Anyways,  on the book hunt again. I started reading London's Call of the Wild.  But really... I can't read a novel in the perspective of a dog.