Your reviews are so genuine. I wish i could read as much as you😭

@MicahCummins

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Thank you for your kind words, Choco! That is very nice of you to say ☺️

Oh no, you dropped the bookmark! I hope you managed to find your place again. I've enjoyed P&V's translations of War & Peace and The Master and Margarita, but I haven't ventured any further than that with them. I'm hoping to try and find some more Russian classics translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, as I really loved their Pushkin translations!

@MicahCummins

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I was able to find my place, thankfully! It did take a minute though, it’s always a heart dropping moment when that happens, well, at least for me anyways. 😂 I haven’t read any translations by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler! I will have to give them a try. I love Pushkin, but have only read him through P&V! What edition for Pushkin do you have?

Dangerous Liasons!! I forgot all about that book! I read it in my 20s think. I really liked that one! The Eye Of The Shoal looks like it might good. I may try that one!

@MicahCummins

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It was my first time reading it, and I enjoyed it. I’m probably going to be giving it a re-read soon, I am sure there is a lot I missed the first time through. I am really enjoying Eye of the Shoal so far, It’s been really interesting!

@TheBookclectic

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@@MicahCummins Fantastic! And did you say it's author wrote The Abyss?

@MicahCummins

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Yes! Both are by Helen Scales. The Abyss is such a fantastic book as well!

The expectations thing is what keeps me away from many classics. It's hard to go in as a "blank slate" when you've heard a book praised forever. Then there's the flipside, which is that sometimes it does help to do background research to see what you're getting into. I also wish I could learn every language so I could read things in the original! In the end, all we can do is try it and see how it goes. Not every classic is going to be to our liking. And that's okay.

@MicahCummins

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I completely agree with you, Yesica. I’m trying to not let it bother me too much, as I really wanted to love it, and instead just let myself off the hook a little. I read it, it didn’t work and like you said, I suppose they can’t all be favorites! That’s what special about those we do love. Thanks for watching!

Dr. Zhivago may be one of those rare instances in which the movie is actually better than the book.

@MicahCummins

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I need to watch that soon!

I've wanted to read Doctor Zhivago for a long time because I love the movie. (I love any movie made by David Lean, the man was a cinematic genius). But I keep putting off reading it the book because I have never heard from anyone who enjoyed it.

@MicahCummins

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I’m really looking forward to watching the movie! I would definitely recommend moving on from the book, but then again, you might love it, so I don’t know!

Hi Micah, I am new to your channel and really enjoying it! I was wondering if when you read (either paper or ebook), do you annotate or take notes while working through a book? THanks!

@MicahCummins

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Hey, Tory! Thanks for stopping by. ☺️ So for me, it really depends on the book, and what I am hoping to get out of the reading experience. A lot of the time when I’m reading history or biography, I will keep some notes, however I primarily focus on highlights. With classics and fiction I usually will take notes as well if I am doing something like a buddy read where I want to make sure to remember everything - but there are also times when I just want to read and not have to think about annotating, and so it really just comes down to a book by book basis, and not a steady across the board habit. I hope that makes sense!

I read Dr. Zhivago years ago. The novel stayed with me. I did not find Yuri a sympathetic character. But I think the story is great. I actually think the movie is better than the book.

@MicahCummins

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I’m most likely going to be giving it a re-read and see how it feels after a second time through. I have heard a lot of wonderful things about the movie - I’ll definitely have to watch it soon!

@jorgem71962

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@@MicahCummins The movie is a masterpiece. There were special techniques used to create the ice and snow. Regarding the poetry at the end of the novel, it does seem out of place and strange. However, Pasternak was a poet before anything else, so it may explain his choice to include the poems.

@MicahCummins

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The fact that Pasternak was a poet does make the poems at the end make more since. I’m eager to see the movie! It sounds stunning.

Between you and Ann I am thoroughly dissuaded from _DrZ_ (but that’s ok). I felt skeptical anyhow. Right now I’m contemplating a Solzhenitsyn dive.

@MicahCummins

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A Solzhenitsyn dive sounds really interesting, David! I bought a copy of The Oak and the Calf recently, I’ll be curious to hear what all you pick up!

@davidnovakreadspoetry

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It would be _Gulag_ just because I don’t tend to read multiple novels by any single author; might as well go for it 😂 but I must finish my current mammoths first.

@MicahCummins

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That sounds great, David! What mammoths do you currently have going?

@davidnovakreadspoetry

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I’m into Gibbon’s 5th volume (or Penguin’s Book 3) and I’ve finished 2/3rds of _Arabian Nights_ (also in the Penguin). Actually for _Decline and Fall_ the ebook works wonders.

Dr. Zhivago is supposed to be a love story? I had no idea. I considered it an observation of that time period in Russia through this Dr.... a Dr. I didn't like. I did empathize with him a little, but overall I thought he was weak, and I spent a fair amount of time thinking I'd like to pop him in the back of head. The thing I did like about this book, is that it illustrated what it must have been like for b the citizens when Russia toppled its monarchy. I had never considered that before I read this book, and it absolutely horrified me.

@MicahCummins

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An observation is a great way of putting it! I agree now looking back over it, it really does seem to line up more as a picture into the time, and less of a romance, because I agree, I didn’t find it to be a romance at all either. The period around the revolutions must truly have been horrifying for the citizens.

I tried to read it right after the movie came out. DNF’d it.

@MicahCummins

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I’m glad to know it’s not just me then!

From what I’ve heard I don’t think you are the only one not impressed with Dr Zhivago at all Micah- I’ve got to say I have no desire to read it. That’s great to hear Essex Dogs was a success- the hype is right for once 😉

@MicahCummins

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That’s good to hear, Jo! I felt bad that I didn’t like it, but it helps hearing others didn’t as well. Oh, Essex Dogs was absolutely wonderful! I really recommend it if you are interested. ☺️

I can understand your disappointment with Dr. Zhivago. I have an older translate, and had a good look the Pevear-Volkhonsky translation, and the English in some passages were excruciatingly bad, clumsy and actually plain badly expressed. I think when you reread Slater or even the older Hayward translations will be easier to read.

@MicahCummins

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I’ll add the Hayward translation to my list for re-read editions, Clare! Thank you. Reading that does help me feel better! I wasn’t sure if maybe I just wasn’t getting something. I’m glad it’s not just me after all.

@battybibliophile-Clare

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@@MicahCummins you are welcome. I like the book, but you have been reading the Russian greats. Pasternak is no competition, good, but not great. Have a rest then have a go at another translation.