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Announcing The Brothers Karamazov Readalong #Karamazovreadalong

Published on Jun 29, 2021Jul 21, 2021 by Liz45 Comments

“Love is such a priceless treasure that you can purchase the whole world with it, and redeem not only your own but other people’s sins too. Go now, and have no fear.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Karamazov Brothers* (tr Avsey)

In these days of soundbites and short social media posts, the thought of reading a weighty classic novel can feel somewhat daunting. How on earth does one find the time to get through a book which is 2inches thick and nearly 1000 pages long? This year I have realised that there are two motivations that help me with this problem: the arrival of an author’s significant anniversary; and reading little and often.

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The #KaramazovReadalong – Nearly Time To Get Reading!

Published on Jul 21, 2021 by Liz20 Comments

“Everything is like an ocean, everything flows and intermingles, you have only to touch it in one place and it will reverberate in another part of the world.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Karamazov Brothers (tr Avsey)

When I launched the #KaramazovReadlong a few weeks ago with my dear friends Becky and Elisabeth, the start date of 27 July seemed very distant. And yet, all of a sudden, here we are with just a few days to go before we start reading together.

The idea for this reading project came after I completed a readalong for Dante’s The Divine Comedy. I never expected to be able to read that book all the way through, and it inspired me to think about reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, another long book which has always seemed too intimidating to even start.

It has been wonderful to see all the positive messages about the Karamazov Readalong, and to have so many people saying that they plan to join in. It’s going to be quite a party! For anyone still in doubt about whether this is for them, I thought I would share a few thoughts and reflections from my Dante experience which might help with tackling The Brothers Karamazov:

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The Karamazov Readalong

Published on Jul 5, 2021Jul 21, 2021 by Liz5 Comments

Following the announcement of the #KaramazovReadlong, starting on 27 July, Elisabeth has published this wonderfully insightful post with plenty of information on Dostoevsky and our reading journey to come. Thank you Elisabeth! 😀

As you may have seen already, my friend Liz Humphreys from the blog Leaping Life is going to host a The Brothers Karamazov readalong. Her timing is …
The Karamazov Readalong

Six Degrees of Separation: From Eats, Shoots and Leaves to The Golden Thread

Published on Jul 2, 2021Jul 3, 2021 by Liz22 Comments

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme hosted by Kate over at BooksAreMyFavouriteAndBest. She sets the starting point and participants add six more titles linked in any way they choose.

This month we start with Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a great book about English grammar by Lynne Truss. I remember reading and enjoying it when it was first published. But then I am a total grammar nerd (split infinitive, anyone?), so I was definitely its target audience.

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